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People are throwing around mental instability as a defense for the so-called “avreich” who hit Rav Shteinman.
Maybe he’s just a bad person?
Is this not a reflection of the American society we grew up in, where no one takes responsibility for their actions? Murderers all plead insanity, OTD teens all blame Rebbeim, and any children who can’t concentrate are labeled as ADHD.
(Note: This is not to say that none of those people can use those excuses legitimately. Don’t attack me on that point.)
This question also applies to Levi Aron et al.
The Averiech lived in Israel, not the US
Yes he was unstable and it was exerserbated by religous frenzy. When you start calling everyone names like Amalek and sinners ete, for some people it gets to a point where nobody is a Tzaddik and even the Gadol HaDor is a Koifer.
People need to look at what they reap, what you reap, will sow and blossom.
Murderers all plead insanity
That’s not true at all. Insanity is used as a defense in a tiny minority of cases.
OTD teens all blame Rebbeim
Some do, but I think it’s far from all.
As an aside, what does this have to do with Gedolim? The prohibition against hitting someone applies regardless of the gadlus of the person. Even hitting someone like me would probably be forbidden – no matter how much you thought I deserved it.
The Wolf
@LAB – I’m personally horrified that a young person would actually hit an elderly man over a difference in hashkafa. Who is he to act that way to a Gadol? That’s just sick.
I really don’t know much about Rav Shteinman’s perspective on things, but after that video where he chewed two men out for being too arrogant with regards to the “open-minded” family of a girl in their school, I count him as one of my heroes.
Personally, I don’t think this has anything to do with America. Rather, it reflects badly on our nation as a whole. If kids are hitting elderly people over a difference in hashkafa, it might seem to any outside onlooker that a) frum parents stink at raising well-behaved children, and b) we’ve got a lot of achdus issues.
And this is just food for thought, but would we deal just as harshly with other people who have committed similar offenses against people of lesser social stature?
(On your note, you’re absolutely right that there are people who use those excuses legitimately, but more and more people are just parroting them back to “cry wolf”.)
People have a tendency to label in ways that can defuse further questions. If he was “crazy” then we don’t have to examine the milieu in which the events happened to see what could have led to it.
@Wolf – I only saw your post after I finished my post, so the “cry wolf” analogy was purely coincidental. 🙂
Good point that hitting anyone, regardless of their stature in society, is wrong.
not probably.. it is forbidden! i think its obvious that hes insane and mentally unstable how else could a mainstream healthy person hit the gadol hador?!?
how could someone just be bad? bad comes from anger and can lead ppl to do irrational things.
LAB: When people asked me if my ex was “unwell” I said, it’s called BAD MIDOS-ITIS.
eclipse: but where do u think bad middos come from? doesnt it say in some torah source that nothing is inherently bad? when ppl are rude or cold or some other not nice things it stems from somewhere no? insecurities..
@keepitcoming – Anger isn’t a mental illness, per se, but I think that this man is definitely troubled, and also happens to have anger issues.
i mean mental instability which anger can lead to
LAB: When people asked me if my ex was “unwell” I said, it’s called BAD MIDOS-ITIS.
Double like!!
ZD,
“People need to look at what they reap, what you reap, will sow and blossom.”
This is a fantastic saying. I like the image it projects, where did you pick it up from?
Usually people are only able to reap what they sow, but sometimes you can so confound the issue that you sow what you reap.
Nisht: It’s a Pasuk in Mishlei:
??????? ???????, ?????- (???????-) ?????; ???????? ????????? ???????.
(then again, with me, you will probably claim that “the devil can cite Scripture for his purpose” (and that makes me the Jew of the play))
LAB
It says the Yetzer is bad not his heart. Everyone is born with a Yetzer Hora and the Yetzer Tov comes in at 12 for girls and 13 for boys.
GAW,
The ???? says no different than what I said, that one may reap what he sows. Not that one sows what he reaps.
You don’t even know what you are saying. Perhaps Zdad can help you.
I don’t understand the problem. What you sow, you reap. And the next year, you take what your reaped and you sow it again!!!
What came first, the chicken or the egg?
And my daughter says that “ven you reap your clothing, den you got to sew it back again,”
Pleading insanity is all very nice and highly predictable, but it seems he was fully aware of what he was doing. Hashem Yerachem.
nishtdayngesheft: You’re right, he has the order backwards and I didn’t realize that was the issue you had. I thought you were looking for a source of the actual phrase.
I don’t understand the problem. What you sow, you reap. And the next year, you take what your reaped and you sow it again!!!
Or someone else takes it and sows to your detriment.
I know. I am aware that other excuses are given as well. I was using “all” as a figure of speech, meaning “a large, disproportionate number of”. I thought that was apparent.
That’s fine, but you’re *still* wrong. Very, very few people on trial for murder use an insanity defense. Not “all” or even “a large, disproportionate number.”
The Wolf
What is the world coming to?Hitting an elderly rabbi because of differences in opinion is SICK. I don’t know if the guy that did it is mentally unstable or not, but his actions are most definetly sick.
Is Rav Shteinman okay?
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