The Problem of Too Much Emphasis on Emotion in Judaism

Posted on | September 11, 2012 | By Guest Contributor | 23 Comments

The following article appeared in the Letters to the Editor section of the Summer Issue of the Klal Perspectives Journal. If you would like to contact the author directly, his email is ytalansky@yahoo.com.

by Yitzchak Talansky

Rabbi Moshe Weinberger’s article, ”Just One Thing is Missing: The Soul,” must strike a chord in anyone concerned with the malaise affecting our society. However, his presentation of the nature of the problem, its source, and more significantly his ideas for how to deal with it, give pause for thought. To a degree, this is an issue of emphasis, for רחמנא ליבא בעי is surely part and parcel of our religious outlook, and a yiddishkeit performed by rote, devoid of the fire and passion that so characterized previous generations, is hardly what we are striving for.

Having said that, I propose that the problem lies not in the paucity of emphasis placed on experience and connection, but paradoxically, on the overemphasis of these elements. Almost without noticing, we have adopted the strategy of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” But unfortunately, we have entered a losing battle, because in trying to make the experience of Judaism better than the rest, we have agreed essentially to compete on their terms. By “their” I refer to the modern gentile world, which is characterized by a sophisticated as never before appeal to the senses.

What Rabbi Weinberger essentially advocates is a return to Tevye the milkman. Indeed, it certainly would be preferable if we lived with the kind of everyday relationship with Hashem that he did. But I seriously doubt that short of moving back to Anatevka, we will be able to replicate the feeling of dependency that Tevye had when he mounted his horse, – when we turn on the ignition in our Toyota. The gentile world has very much succeeded in strengthening the apparent causal nexus in life, (to a degree, that actually was their goal,) and we will have to adapt to this new reality. We ignore it at our own peril.

However there’s an even more basic issue. Although there certainly is a prominent place for emotion and feeling in avodas Hashem, one cannot build his religious foundation on it. Human emotion is too fickle; like grains of sand, it blows this way and then that way. One may be inspired to great heights, moved to high levels of deveykus, but then it wears off. By nature inspiration is sporadic, not the solid stuff necessary to build a bedrock of religiosity. The foundation must be built on the solid rock of commitment, and then reinforced with an iron sense of accomplishment. In contrast to emotion, commitment, a firm intellectually based decision to follow a certain path, is by definition, long lasting.

After the first step of commitment, comes connection, which results from involvement, primarily in learning. Not because the laws of a cow that gores will consciously give one a feeling of closeness to G-d, but rather because learning represents the actualization of commitment, which subsequently yields the fulfillment that accompanies accomplishment. For actualizing a commitment is the greatest accomplishment of all, and will naturally be experienced as such, with one critical caveat; people are trained to understand what they’re doing.

This then should be our two pronged educational goal; lorifying commitment fulfilled recasting learning from an endeavor whose sole purpose is defined and measured in terms of intellectual advancement, to one that carries ultimate meaning in and of itself as the fulfilling of a commitment.

To sum up, what strengthens more than anything, a person’s commitment to Torah and mitzvos is a feeling of accomplishment. Rather than increasing the shabbatonim and storytelling quotient in our educational system, we should increase the stress on the accomplishment that is learning.

“The defectors who simply couldn’t go on hiding and faking,” are empty because they have been raised in an environment that inculcates a need to feel constantly “high.” The antidote to this poison is not to try and outdo the other side with an even bigger high, but to reject the whole approach outright. “Lord get me high, get me higher,” sang Reb Shlomo a”h, but he was singing to people who were lost. People who had no commitment, who whose entire frame of reference was secular. This is still employed with some degree of success for that target audience by some in the kiruv industry. But that is not the approach for us. “Lama Nigara?” Because we thankfully, are not starting from ground zero.

Instead we should inform/teach those “who listlessly drag their feet through the motions of avodas Hashem,” who evidently have some degree of commitment, that it is a great and wonderful thing they do. Not a charade, but rather, an incredible accomplishment. Living with Hashem’s dictates, following His Torah, learning His Torah – even without any great kavanos, and intentions, indeed without any intentions at all – there’s nothing more significant in the entire creation. And then to encourage them, that when one does all this with fervor, it’s that much greater. As the Nefesh Hachaim stresses over and over, actions trump intentions, they come first and are more significant even when devoid of feeling.

Yes, we will be going against the tide. In a consumerist world which values experience above all, and has raised the attainment of new and varied experiences to the highest of levels, we will be saying no. But our adherents will come to recognize the joy and value in commitment, of sacrifice, of earning something through self-denial, of sticking-to-it even when you don’t feel like it. They will be energized to try harder, because they will find satisfaction and fulfillment in the effort expended itself, rather than in the experience promised to them.

With the proper training… sacrifice breeds fulfillment.

The reason ”something inside has died,” is not because it was a candle in the wind, but because there’s no longer a candle underneath at all. That being the case, a million sparks and attempts to light it will fail. What is needed is the laying of a solid foundation of commitment, followed by a strong sense of accomplishment. Rabbi Weinberger himself unwittingly alludes to this solution when he writes that “Our communities…..are swarming with Jews….who feel little connection to HaKadosh Baruch Hu…..this is apparent to anyone who has taken a peak outside the beis medrash.” Exactly.

This is not about intellectualism per se. It’s about commitment. Intellectualism is for the minority, but then again, the subset of people who can rise to the level of שויתי השם לנגדי תמיד by emphasizing relationship with Hashem, while existing in the modern workplace is just as small as the intellectual elite. But commitment is democratic; everyone can do it, and everyone can feel fulfilled from it. Young and old, male and female, more spiritual types and less spiritual types, ffb’s and bt’s.

Rather than merely noting that “the most sought after speakers and teachers are not known for their scholarship, but for their ability to inspire….by sharing their own experiences and struggles, we should be donning ashes and sackcloth over such a state of affairs! NCSY has won. It has replaced shiurim in our community’s intellectual life. Of course it has, it requires little effort and makes you feel good too. What’s not to like? But… what do you have to show for it, down the road?

Parenthetically, this whole approach has its roots in the twin devils of narcissism, and the need for instant gratification. “How do I feel?” starts with a concentration on “me.” Furthermore “How do I feel?” implies, how do I feel …at the moment. I want to feel close to G-d, and I want it now. Right now. What is actually needed is patience – patience to work slowly over a lifetime to instill in one’s heart the real relationship with Hashem that only comes by going down that road. “The Jew has taught me how to wait,” remarked Henrik Ibsen the Dutch playwrite. Halevai that it would be so today.

There’s an inescapable irony in Rabbi Weinberger’s observations, that the Aish Kodesh himself was bemoaning his lack of soul (understood, at his lofty level.) And at 40 years old no less. The attainment of an ongoing relationship with Hashem, keenly felt, is presented as a fairly simple accomplishment, accessible to one and all. In reality, it’s a madreiga of the highest order. It comes only after a lifetime of hard work.

Going to a shabbaton and being uplifted by the experience is very nice, but it’s fleeting. Viewed in a certain way, it can actually be dangerous because it gives people the impression that they are achieving something, when in reality they are simply answering emotional needs –having little to do with religious devotion, – that find redress in that type of setting. True, NCSY employs this method to great effect, but again, with a particular audience and with a very specific end-goal in mind, moving the kids on to yeshiva. It’s not a model to emulate for mainstream chinuch.

The end result of the kiruv oriented approach is that after 12 years of yeshiva education, and many more years of hearing inspirational speakers, people are left with very little content. No wonder they feel empty.

Incidentally, this approach has ramifications for many areas in life. When a couple expects to be inspired in marriage all the time…..well, we see what the end result often is. Contrast that with the approach that both partners understand that they are in it for the long haul, for better or for worse. That’s a marriage based on commitment, and it looks completely different.

A friend of mine with twenty years’ experience teaching limudei kodesh on Long Island in a well respected Modern Orthodox high school shared with me a few years ago the school’s educational goals. He said that all they try to do is get the kids to Israel. When I inquired as to why they didn’t think they could accomplish anything more substantial in four years, he responded that they were too busy being mekarev the kids to teach them anything. But these kids get to Israel needing more kiruv than ever!

Can this be called successful education? Maybe things would look different if the kids came out knowing something, and appreciating it. If graduating boys knew 10 daf, (20?) and had it drummed into them that this is an amazing accomplishment, an accomplishment for the ages, they would feel differently about themselves and their relationship to Yiddishkeit. If girls knew a whole sefer of Tanach well, maybe they would feel like they are getting somewhere. (This approach is as equally valid for girls, as it is for boys.)

Is the entire phenomenon of daf yomi not an exemplary proof of this approach? Forgive me daf yomi attendees but, it’s not the intellectual accomplishment. (As a pundit once said, when the Romans outlawed Torah learning, they didn’t have daf yomi in mind.) It’s the experience of learning, of fulfilling a commitment, – ingeniously celebrated with glossy saturation PR campaigns, and attendant mass gatherings. The results speak for themselves.

Indeed, the approach that Rabbi Weinberger advocates, is playing out before our eyes within the modern American yeshivas in Israel. Each succeeding yeshiva that opens, waters down its content a little more in the interest of kiruv. The end result is that this year, there is a new “yeshiva” opening that unabashedly announces on its web site that it offers gemara for a grand total of one hour a day, four days a week. Mind you, this is not a yeshiva for slow learners, or for intellectually challenged students. They are trying to get kids who are heading to the finest of colleges. Their pitch is…kiruv.

Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all panacea, and each one will find the path that suits his neshama. But the path to emunah for our generation, is the emunah gained from detecting and concurrently participating in the commitment that has characterized klal yisrael since its inception. As a matter of fact, this idea is inherent in the very meaning of the word “emunah.” which is correctly translated as “unswerving,” or “steadfast,” and relates to actions.

אל אמונה ואין עוול or ידיו של משה אמונה עד בא השמש

The English word “faith” represents a Christian concept.

As a program for school curricula, I propose that this emunah can be gained in two complementary ways;

appreciation of limud torah. When a student is involved in learning, over time he slowly perceives that he is part of an unbroken chain of commitment stretching more than three thousand years. In this commitment he is joining thousands of others great and small, he is in the same game and on the same team with the likes of Rava and Abaye, Rashi and Tosfos, the Vilna Gaon and R’ Akiva Eiger, as well as with untold thousands of simple but committed Jews just like himself. This should be stressed and brought out in the classroom, for it bestows a sense of transcendence.
history. Students who know Jewish history, – and secular history as well to provide context, – will be overwhelmed by the commitment that Klal Yisrael has shown to its ideals in myriad situations and places. This, too, affords them a context in which to see themselves as part of something larger than their individual selves.

“Making use of the methods commonly used in outreach such as storytelling, music, shabbatonim etc.” will lead to a completely superficial educational experience. Rather than the warm brand of experiential Yiddishkeit R’ Weinberger espouses, we need to get back to basics.

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Category: Hashkafa

Comments

23 Responses to “The Problem of Too Much Emphasis on Emotion in Judaism”

Bob Miller
September 11th, 2012 @ 8:22 am

1. Do kids show up at our Jewish schools already attuned to the modern communications environment that emphasizes flash and spontaneity over order and substance? If so, what would a school following the approach advocated in this article do to overcome this conditioning, to get and hold students’ attention?

2. Most likely, the students will have all the cool instant communications options during the years they are enrolled in Jewish schools. So the competition for their attention (such as it is) doesn’t stop after enrollment.
micha
September 11th, 2012 @ 10:07 am

I have a few thoughts:

1- The question being asked assumes there is one right answer for all people. Some are more academic and cerebral than others. Some are more made for an approached based on thought, some for one based on emotion and experiential Judaism, yet others based on virtues and middos, etc… That’s why Hashem gave us a Torah so open to various approaches. “Derakheha darkhei no’am“, “Its ways” — in the plural — “are ways of peace.”

To my mind, citing R’ Moshe Weinberger and commenting on his emphasis on emotion misses this point. After all RMW is inspiring his congregation using a path derived from Chassidus. Of course his path will be more emotional. And for the population that are drawn to his message, that’s what works.

The question needs to be asked across multiple approaches. In other words, I would ask if we offer too many options that are emphasizing too much perceptive emotion, and not enough to address the more intellectual/judgmental among us. (Use of Myers-Briggs terminology intentional.)

2- Perhaps even if we are not providing as many intellectual options for inspiration, now is a time when that is more appropriate. We are dealing with a population that is the product of near universal Jewish education. Even among the baalei teshuvah among us, there is much effort to catch up on the skills necessary to handle the basic texts. A year off is common, and if not… Well, there is a reason for a blog named “Beyond BT”. And with all due respect to the Baalei Teshuvah among us, they still aren’t numerous enough to define American O culture.

The malaise we are encountering might very well be due to our over-intellectualizing Judaism. To the point that it’s common (myself included) to bring a sefer to shul, because it’s easier to “get religious” while learning something new, whereas the mind refuses to stay on topic when repeating the same words I say everyday.

I had a rabbi cajole me: “It’s chazaras hasha”tz, not chazaras hasha”s!” (The pun won’t translate, but to render into less Yeshivish English: It’s the chazan’s review of the amidah, not your review of the gemara!”)

But if it is due to over intellectualization, then more attention to emotion is exactly where we should be focusing.

3- Or perhaps not. We are not only overly emphasizing the textual in education; we are also limiting ourselves in intellectual scope. Critical thought is reserved for the study of halakhah, starting from the halachic majority of the Talmud. Deep analysis of Jewish Thought and Values is simply missing. These topics are covered in English popularizations, not in in-depth study of primary sources, question-and-answer, and the construction of a mental picture of the landscape of Jewish Thought and where within that landscape a soul of my soul’s shape would best fit.

4- But in any case, I feel that “appreciation of Jewish learning” will not be developed by more learning. The people who will simply be inspired by learning the classical topics already have ample opportunity to do so. They aren’t going to be among the disaffected who have this problem.

Yes, there is a problem when a yeshiva curtails learning the traditional topics in favor of experiential programming to the point where there is only an hour a day left to gemara. R’ Chaim Volozhiner would call that selling a bag of preservative with only very little wheat (c.f. Nefesh haChaim 4:7.)

But if you have a community who are over-brimming with “wheat” as no generation before since Yoshiyahu, then perhaps what the problem we’re having is a preservative shortage.
micha
September 11th, 2012 @ 10:24 am

R’ Yitzchak Talansky writes: רחמנא ליבא בעי is surely part and parcel of our religious outlook, and a yiddishkeit performed by rote, devoid of the fire and passion that so characterized previous generations, is hardly what we are striving for.

To be fair (despite my prior comment), I could strengthen his point. There is discussion among translators about how to most accurately translate the title of “Chovos haLavavos”. (Aside from the question of whether the title begins “chovos” — obligations [of], or “chovas” — [a single] obligation of.)

Most literally, it’s “Duties of the Heart”. But aside from the organ at the center of the body that pumps blood, what did “heart” mean to Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Paquda and his audience? The symbolism of brain and heart in terms of thought and emotion were not the same as they are today. As is clear from the first section of CL, a theological study of Hashem’s Unity and its implication.

As is clear from the Moreh Nevuchim (eg the closing paragraphs, 3:54, their model of how thought, emotion and middos relate places far more emphasis on thought causing emotion than today’s philsophies and psychologies (even CBT) do. The Rambam’s section on laws about virtues is “Hilkhos Dei’os”. What we call “middos” the rishonim called “dei’os”, from “da’as” — knowledge.

So, does Rachmana liba ba’i mean the All-Merciful desires my emotions? My thoughts? Both? There is no indication this quote means that emotions and middos are primary.

(I happen to think ethical refinement is more primary than intellectual. Despite the Rambam. But that doesn’t mean I think this quote proves the point.)
Bob Miller
September 11th, 2012 @ 11:26 am

When a hot societal topic comes up in the communities most geared towards in-depth Gemara study, public gatherings are sometimes held that have a very high emotional content and a rather low factual/analytical content. Why is the in-depth approach scrapped in these instances? Are the responsible parties skeptical that today’s audiences can handle it? Are they afraid that the audiences will come to “wrong” conclusions or be apathetic?
Neil Harris
September 11th, 2012 @ 2:32 pm

After this article surfaced, I had a few very positive email exchanges with Rabbi Dr Talansky, back in mid August.

After seeing this article again today, I will comment that since he brings up the NCSY (the OU’s youth movement), it’s important to realize two things:

1. The success of NCSY (and other kiruv programs) based on the percentage of their “graduates” that go on to experience formalized yeshiva/seminary education.

2. In the mid 1990s, NCSY started to “reach out” to day school/yeshiva high school students, to the point where something called “JSU-Jewish Student Union” became an independant program that focused exclusively within a public school population. Any adult kiruv professional or organization should look at how successful NCSY was when they started working with the day school/yeshiva high school population.

Rabbi Dr. Talansky ends with a call to go “back to basics” and I agree. Just like no two BTs are attracted to the same things in Yiddishkeit, no two FFBs will be inspired by the exact same thing. Those basics are the intellect and the heart.
Mark Frankel
September 11th, 2012 @ 3:36 pm

Neil, I’m not sure I agree with you. Torah Judaism in it’s fullest expression requires a strong intellectual commitment which includes learning Gemora. Of course one has to also focus their emotions and their actions in Judaism, but it’s a big mistake to think it’s leading with a choice of intellect or emotion.

Unfortunately many BTs have been taught the watered down emotion-first version, possibly because it’s hard (and perhaps boring) to teach beginners Gemora. Many of these BTs did not have a fair choice as they were never weaned off of the NCSY/Aish/Chabad emotionalism.

In the rare cases where only an emotionalism-centered Judaism will save somebodies commitment to Torah, then it might make sense. But to say that it is equal or better than an intellectually-centered Judaism is an error at best and very damaging to those who are taught this.
Neil Harris
September 11th, 2012 @ 4:06 pm

Mark,

I will clarify. I didn’t write that we should be “leading with a choice of intellect or emotion”. I agree with you that there has to be both intellectual commitment and emotion. The basics are the intellect and the heart. There is no formula for what percentage of either, but both are needed.

What is being seen today is that many adults are fulfilling the Halachic requirements for keeping Shabbos, but are not always feeling the kedusha of Shabbos. Likewise, you have some adults who are learning Gemara and don’t see the connection between what they are learning and how it related to them.

See this story about Reb Moshe and the broken tape recorder:
http://uberdox.blogspot.com/2011/11/reb-moshe-and-broken-tape-recorder.html?m=1
Mark Frankel
September 11th, 2012 @ 5:48 pm

Neil, the intellect is a much bigger component. In a spiritually developed Jew the intellect harnesses and directs the emotion. The usage of the term heart, often is referring to heartfelt knowledge, that is knowledge that is internalized integrated and a part of you, which is a continual process. It does not mean emotionalism.

In terms of the “disconnection crisis”, among my Shul, the Yeshivos I learn/daven, my neighborhood, and the commentators and writers of this blog, the vast majority are connecting their Torah with their living. And we’re not the most spiritually advanced community on the map. There are many bigger ones where people are connecting.

It’s so sad that we create a false “spiritual disconnect crisis”, so we can come save the day with the new connection cure. And in the process we spiritually cripple thousands of Jews, many of them BTs, with an emotionally driven Judaism.

Don’t cheat yourself, primarily power your Judaism with your intellect, embrace the real thing!
Neil Harris
September 11th, 2012 @ 6:40 pm

Funny, just this past Shabbos night I was thinking about relearning Da’as Tevunos (The Knowing Heart) by the Ramchal.
Michoel
September 12th, 2012 @ 4:23 pm

All in all, I am with Rabbi Weinberger on this. Emotional connection is the pesach that many need to deal with the basics of emunah. If one starts with the basics, they might never get anywhere. Like trying to start an engine that is out of oil. Just dry parts grating against each other.
Mark Frankel
September 13th, 2012 @ 9:12 am

Michoel, I’m not sure if you read both articles, but I think Rabbi Talansky would agree that emotion is certainly a good appetizer, if needed. However, I diet based on emotion instead of intellect will leave you Torah-nutrient deficient.
Neil Harris
September 13th, 2012 @ 11:10 am

Rav Weinberger write the following:

G-d must be brought back into our institutions and into our homes. It makes no difference if one place prefers a Litvishe G-d and the other a Chassidishe G-d. Open and frank discussions about faith and doubt must be encouraged – not feared and stymied. To ignore these critical dimensions of religious growth by claiming that it would supplant the traditional format of chinuch is, I submit, a grave error. All the regular Torah learning must surely continue. If anything, such learning will be energized and uplifted when taught to individuals who are struggling to get to the bottom of what this whole undertaking known as Yiddishkeit is about.

For the record, no one is advocating that people should stop learning Torah (gemara).
Neil Harris
September 13th, 2012 @ 11:22 am

PS- I happen to think there is much truth to the letter posted as a response to Rav Weinberger’s article. The balance between the two is different for everyone. I don’t think any Torah authority would say “intellect and no emotion” or “emotion and no intellect”.
shmuel
September 13th, 2012 @ 1:17 pm

I wondered whether R. Talansky and I had read the same piece by R. Weinberger (which I read when it was published online and then re-read in conjunction with reading R. Talansky’s response). I don’t think R. Weinberger was emphasizing emotion over intellect, and certainly not emotion instead of intellect –I think he wants to add more emotion and enthusiasm to the existing base of intellectual Talmud Torah that he describes. R. Weinberger encourages the study of emuna as part of our Talmud Torah. How does this become religion based on emotion only when studying emuna is an intellectually challenging area of learning?

I can say from my own experience that I have made time in my own learning for learning chumash with rishonim (and occasional acharonim) in depth and for learning machshava of the rishonim in depth and they both have added immeasurably to my religious experience –inlcuding in an emotional way. But it is hard for me to see how poring over a sefer word by word and comparing concepts with other sources and asking questions and trying to come up with answers could be considered lacking in intellectualism.
Steve Brizel
September 13th, 2012 @ 3:42 pm

I think that R Talansky’s letter ignores the fact that Sefer Shmos, which IMO,is a blueprint for kiruv and chizk, begins with events of an emotional and supernatural nature ( Makos, Yetzias Mitzrayim and Matan Torah) and then becomes insistent on an educational and rational component which Chazal equate with the weekday Krias HaTorah as a means of ensuring that we don’t subsist solely on the very important emotional elements ,which so hard to maintain on an ongoing daily basis. That’s why a steady and daily component of Limud HaTorah, in whatever form, is essential for any Torah observant Jew. OTOH, neither a BT nor an energized FFB should ever jettison their connections with the people and approach that inspired them to move in their respective spiritual paths, even if they wound up proceeding in a different direction within the Mesorah.
Steve Brizel
September 13th, 2012 @ 3:52 pm

Neil Harris and Mark Frankel-I agree with Neil that an emotional committment, which NCSY and or Aish provide is critical, but I would agree to a certain extent that unless one translates that into a committment to being a Shomer Torah UMitzvos, and tries to avail himself or herself of a Torah education, then one’s spiritual development will be quite limited.

I think that nuance and balance in one’s Sidrei Limud is important-obviously Halacha and Gemara are critical for men because TSBP is the basis of the covenant between HaShem and Klal Yisrael ( Gittin 60b).

I would add Chumash with the major Mfarshim, with a selected use of sefarim that offer “vertlach”, as a way of getting a sense that the study of Chumash , as well as a careful study of the Siddur/Machzor are two of the keys to understanding the major Hashfafic issues in Yahadus.
Neil Harris
September 13th, 2012 @ 3:57 pm

Steve,

I couldn’t agree more. If you are in a minyan on Shabbos and dancing takes longer than saying the Amidah, then it’s a problem, in my opinion.
Shades of Gray
September 13th, 2012 @ 6:15 pm

As people pointed out, the question is one of balance. I agree with R. Talansky’s point that, as a whole, more kumzitz-type events, without substance, are not necessarily a solution. Nevertheless, many individuals may benefit from a change in balance, just as the Chasidish and Litvish worlds have their own balances in terms of say, a tisch of a rebbe(though such type of events take place in Litvish yeshivos as well, eg, shalosh seudos).

Another point, made in one of the earlier Klal Perspectives, is the lack of statistics. People can talk from their own experience about community problems, but there are many differences and individuals in the community, and I take that into consideration before declaring a universal “crisis”.

With that in mind, below are some quotes from R. Simcha Feuerman, who has discussed emotions in Judaism in his essay(“Are Gedolim Stories Good for Chinuch”). His discussion doesn’t touch on the differences between the Chasidish and Litvish worlds. Rather, he discusses emotions such as compassion, love, or lust that either conflict with, or are not obvious from the Torah (the latter, what he calls the “Fifth Shulchan Aruch”).

As above, I think one can’t generalize, because different people internalize the same chinuch experience differently.

Some quotes from the article:

“As a psychotherapist, it is my impression from the struggles that my clients experience, that certain methodologies of Orthodox Jewish chinuch and culture may inadvertently discourage the validity of emotional life…it is easy to understand why recognizing and discussing the intense energy contained within human emotions is frightening to members of a culture that abide by a strict moral and behavioral code such as ours…the purpose of this essay is to sensitize and encourage readers to treat their emotions and their children’s emotions with due respect and acceptance”

http://www.jewishideas.org/articles/are-gedolim-stories-good-chinuch-1
Mr. Cohen
September 13th, 2012 @ 10:16 pm

How can there be too much emphasis on emotion in Judaism when so many of us pray without any feelings?

How can there be too much emphasis on emotion in Judaism when so many of us celebrate our holidays and perform mitzvot without: joy or fear or love or awe or enthusiasm?

How can there be too much emphasis on emotion in Judaism when so many of us seem to have an attitude of apathy towards their fellow Jews and Judaism in general?

Want quick Torah quotes for your Shabbat table?
Or for love of Torah any time?
Go to the DerechEmet yahoo group, or click on my name.
Mark Frankel
September 14th, 2012 @ 7:21 am

Mr. Cohen, let’s not judge others so harshly!
shmuel
September 14th, 2012 @ 11:42 am

I understood Mr.Cohen’s comment to mean not that he was criticizing others, but rather that that Mr. Cohen was talking about his own experience and assuming that he isn’t so different from the average person. I understood it that way because I am guilty at least at times of the things he said, and I try to be aware of it and try to always improve, and I assume that I am not so different from the average person!

Kach o acheres, k’siva v’chasima tova to all the readers/participants/moderators here and their families.
Bob Miller
September 14th, 2012 @ 12:42 pm

Commenters should also judge each other favorably whenever possible.
Judy Resnick
September 16th, 2012 @ 12:35 pm

A Ksiva V’Chasima Tova, Gut Gbensht Yahr to all.

May the Aibershter watch over Klal Yisroel in the coming year and protect us from the enemies who seek to destroy us.

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The Problem of Too Much Emphasis on Emotion in Judaism

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