(c) Apr 18 2001 RashiYomi Inc. MY COLLECTED & INDEXED MAIL JEWISH POSTINGS-Ver #1
Individual Postings 1st appeared(& were copied in html form) on the Email List Mail Jewish

From: rhendel@mcs.drexel.edu (Russell Hendel)
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 1997 19:11:37 -0500
Subject: hy do they Cheat

In a previous issue I examine the distinguishing criterian between 4
mitzvoth that do apply to non jews--theft, murder, robbery and weight
deception--and 3 mitzvoth that do not apply to non jews--charity, loving
them as ourselves and returning lost articles. I note that we are
obligated to act justly and fairly with non jews (hence the prohibitions
against theft, murder) but are NOT obligated to trust non jews (hence no
obligation to e.g. return their lost articles since we do not trust that
they will reciprocate).I use this perceived lack of trust to explain why
poor Yeshiva students cheat.

In v25n98, Carl Singer comments

>>it may provide a sociological explanation, reason or excuse, but it
>>doesn't to me address an underlying issue in this forum--that of Torah
>>and midos>>

I thank Dr Singer for allowing me to restate the middoth only mentioned
in passing at the bottom of my previous posting.

>>Also the remedy to this problem (of cheating students) is NOT to call
>>them desecrators of G-ds name but rather to focus on their home and
>>work environments so as to provide them with a sense of equity in
>>which their desire to cheat would vanish

In other words, it is a bad Middah and non constructive to label every
cheating student as desecrating G-ds name. It is a Good Middah to try
and help them achieve a sense of security.

I might add that the approach of one of the giant later authorities, the
Chafetz Chaiim, who is known for this work on Midoth (character traits),
was precisely to do as I did in that posting: In many of this books the
Chofetz Chaiim has a chapter on "Why people sin" "Why people don't give
to charity" "Why people slander" etc. and the ideas can be used for self
improvement.  (See for example his "Love of LovingKindness" "The
Fortress of Faith" etc)

I might add that the approach used in my posting---conceptual
distinctions between technical Biblical laws--is not often used in the
therapy cases that Dr Singer himself sees..I (and other readers) would
be very interested to what extent (as Carl puts it) this Torah
explanation >>may provide a sociological explanation>> that is useful.

Finally, I plead guilty to not solving the WHOLE problem. As Dr Singer
points out: I haven't explained why people from rich families cheat. I
however do think I have made a modest contribution to ONE PART of the
subject and I invite people more experienced in counseling(like Dr
Singer himself) to enrich this forum with the insights they have gained
over the years about why people sin.

Russell Jay Hendel, Ph.d, ASA, rhendel @ mcs drexel edu