The Essential Agus. Steven T. Katz

The Essential Agus - Steven T. Katz


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“saints sitting with their crowns upon their heads, enjoying the radiance of the Shechinah.”14 But, in this world, the Disciple of the Wise must resist the temptation to withdraw from the community and to contemplate Divine truths in splendid isolation. For, like Moses, he is a “servant of the Lord,” entrusted with His work. It is his task to build up the philanthropic and educational institutions of the community and to supervise their operation. Wherever he settles, “the problems of the city become his problems.”15 Like the prophet, he knows that his task is in this world, here and now. “More beautiful is one hour of Torah and good deeds in this world than all the delights of the world to come.”16 But like the pietist, he conceives of Perfection as subsisting beyond the boundaries of “this world”: “Better is one hour in the World to Come than all the glories of this world.”17 Like the philosopher, the Disciple of the Wise seeks to achieve a harmony and an equilibrium in which no endeavor is carried to excess. But, like the saint, he dares to scale the heights and storm the heavens, seeking the “nearness of the Lord,” with all his heart, all his soul, and all his might. Yet, he knows that to love God is “to be occupied in the upbuilding of the world,” not to nurture in serene isolation a glowing ember in the soul, but to labor in the community so that the Name shall be beloved by all.18

      Rabbi Hanina, the son of Dosa, used to say: “He whose fear of sin is prior to his wisdom, his wisdom will endure. But if his wisdom is prior to his fear of sin, his wisdom will not endure.

      “If his deeds are more than his wisdom, his wisdom will endure, but if his wisdom exceeds his deeds, his wisdom will not endure.

      Following are some of the guidelines of the ideal disciple.

      Ben Zoma used to say:

      Rabbi Zadok used to say:

      Yehudah ben Tema used to say:

      “Be fierce as a tiger, light as an eagle, swift as a deer and heroic like a lion to do the will of your father in heaven.


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