Sunday, January 13, 2008

Giving with Freedom


Shimon the Righteous said, "I have never eaten from the offering of a Nazir who was unintentionally impure, except for once..." This is because usually when people accept upon themselves the nazirite vow it is because they were feeling guilty about something that they did. Then later when they inadvertently become impure and consequently must keep more days as a nazirite, they regret their vow. Shimon did not want to eat from an offering whose owner had already changed his mind and is thus bringing his offering to the temple only because the law says he must.
The Gemara is teaching a basic guideline in the service of God. Do not make guilt the basis of your devotion. Guilt may be a very driving force at the beginning but in the long run it does not support genuine service and giving. Guilt is an inner movement of moving away from or reacting to something negative. Shimon the Righteous said he would only eat from an offering that was offered out of feelings of unfettered love and giving. An offering inspired by guilt lacks that holy freedom.
This does not mean that the feeling of guilt has no purpose at all. It is useful as a catalyst. It can remind the person of those values that were very dear to him but for some reason got forgotten. For example, I said something insulting to my friend and I feel very guilty about it. This guilt reminds me how important it is for me to be kind to people in general and how I am fond of this person in particular. Now I can act not out of the negative and reactive feeling of guilt rather out of my internal feeling of kindness.

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