I open by admitting that I don't like the columnist David Brooks. He seems to write well [and I have a great affinity for good writing] and is very popular but I still don't like him. First of all - he converted from Judaism to Christianity. That is enough for me not to like someone. After countless Jews were tortured in order to force them to convert to this religion of "love" and Jews sacrificed everything to remain Jewish, it is a terrible thing when a Jew willingly turns his back on his people and Hashem by going to Shmad.
Another thing not to like about him is that he pontificates a lot about having good character and comes across as being this super nice, gentle, sensitive, easy going, spiritual guy. But in real life he doesn't exactly live up to his words. In a recent column he writes as follows:
"The most important story about why Americans have become sad and alienated and rude, I believe, is also the simplest: We inhabit a society in which people are no longer trained in how to treat others with kindness and consideration. Our society has become one in which people feel licensed to give their selfishness free rein. The story I’m going to tell is about morals. In a healthy society, a web of institutions—families, schools, religious groups, community organizations, and workplaces—helps form people into kind and responsible citizens, the sort of people who show up for one another. We live in a society that’s terrible at moral formation."
Selfishness?
Well, he married a non-Jewish woman who converted for him and changed her name to .... 砖专讛 [!!!]. She eventually became inspired, kashered the home and became the mikva lady [!!!]. Then, years later, he had an affair with his young-enough-to-be-his-daughter Christian research assistant Anne Snyder and dumped his wife to marry [and convert] for her 馃槻馃槻馃槻.
From Politico: "Brooks, easily one of the most admired columnists in America, with a distinguished list of bestselling books, and a vocal critic of morality and cultural habits, devotes the opening paragraph of the “Acknowledgements” section to Snyder, gushing about the “lyricism of her prose” and the “sensitivity of her observations.” Brooks says it was Snyder’s influence that led him to write a book about “morality and inner life” and that she was a close partner in the “three years of its writing.”
The big-thinking journalist even gives credit to Snyder for the ideas in The Road to Character, writing: “If there are any important points in this book, they probably come from Anne.”
Well, at the time he was married to 砖专讛. The odds that no funny stuff happened between them are less than the odds that Hunter Biden says Tikkun Chatzos every night. So the irony of writing a book called The Road To Character which was the road to an affair with a women 23 years his junior and a divorce to marry this mistress.
And he decries selfishness.... So if he would admit his faults and do Teshuva then OK. We are all human. But that hasn't happened.
Hypocritical? So it certainly seems.
Mussar Haskel: Baruch Hashem, Klal Yisrael has so many great people who not only wrote mussar but lived it as well. So we are not losing out when we stay away from, or at least very wary of, "secular baalei mussar" like Brooks, who are traitors to their people and to their families. It is not inconceivable that their deep moral failings will creep into their writing and inject people with subversive spiritual toxins.
Brooks is really a paradigm for any person without Torah. The Torah is a system whereby a person is constantly constantly working on improving himself/herself on so many different levels and in the realm of thought-speech-deed. We have countless Halachos about what we are allowed to think, not allowed to think, obligated to think. What we are allowed to look at, not allowed to look at, obligated to look at. What we are allowed to eat, not allowed to eat, obligated to eat. What we are allowed to say, not allowed to say, obligated to say. When we are allowed to engage in the sexual act, not allowed to engage in the sexual act, obligated to engage in the sexual act. What we are allowed to feel, not allowed to feel, obligated to feel. How we spend our money, where we live and go on vacation, three times a day davening, a hundred brachos a day and the list goes on and on and on. There are the strict Halachos that we must keep and the infinite road of developing moral character based on the Sifrei Mussar that only ends when we become perfect like Hashem - 讜讛诇讻转 讘讚专讻讬讜. This of course never happens so it is a second by second project of self perfection.
After allllllllllllllllll of that - we see have much we still have to improve and how much it is a daily struggle to remain a spiritual being. How that 讬爪专 讛专注 gets us at every moment in every guise.
I remember years ago. I was hospitalized with a condition that the doctors didn't know what it was. It looked serious and there was a serious concern that this could be the end. To quote the popular rock song of the '70's "hey, hey hey - another one bites the dust". That "another one" could have been me. That was the concern and fear. I was not in a jolly mood. I remember walking through the hospital corridor working hard as I always do to keep my gaze away from noshim. I remember thinking - WOW! I might be about to die and the 讘注诇 讚讘专 is still after me!! Is there EVER a moment where he lets up??
The answer is a RESOUNDING no. "诇驻转讞 讞讟讗转 专讜讘抓". Sin crouches at the opening of one's heart, waiting to attack [see Brachos 61a].
Or this one:
讚ַּ讗ֲ诪ַ专 诇ֵ讬讛ּ 讗ֵ诇ִ讬ָּ讛讜ּ 诇ְ专ַ讘 讬ְ讛讜ּ讚ָ讛 讗ֲ讞讜ּ讛ּ 讚ְּ专ַ讘 住ַ诇ָּ讗 讞ֲ住ִ讬讚ָ讗, 讗ָ诪ְ专ִ讬转讜ּ: ״讗ַ诪ַּ讗讬 诇ָ讗 讗ָ转ֵ讬 诪ָ砖ִׁ讬讞ַ״? 讜ְ讛ָ讗 讛ָ讗ִ讬讚ָּ谞ָ讗 讬讜ֹ诪ָ讗 讚ְ讻ִ讬驻ּ讜ּ专ֵ讬 讛讜ּ讗 讜ְ讗ִ讘ְּ注讜ּ诇 讻ַּ诪ָּ讛 讘ְּ转讜ּ诇ָ转ָ讗 讘ִּ谞ְ讛ַ专ְ讚ְּ注ָ讗.
As Eliyahu HaNavi said to Rav Yehuda, brother of Rav Salla Chasida: You have said and wondered: Why has the Moshiach not come? Why is that surprising? Isn’t today Yom Kippur, and relations were had with several virgins in Neharde’a, as the men and women stayed awake all night and that led to promiscuity? [Yoma 19b]
On Yom Kippur!!!! And loooong before today which is the most sexually decadent generation in history [not because people are worse but b/c the easy accessibility of arayos in its many forms]. Some g.a. [讙讬诇讜讬 注专讬讜转] statistics:
Every second 28,258 users are watching pornography on the internet
Every second $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography on the internet
Every second 372 people are typing the word "adult" into search engines
40 million American people regularly visit g.a. sites
35% of all internet downloads are related to g.a.
25% of all search engine queries are related to g.a., or about 68 million search queries a day
One third of g.a. viewers are women
Search engines get 116,000 queries every day related to child g.a.
34% of internet users have experienced unwanted exposure to pornographic content through ads, pop up ads, misdirected links or emails
2.5 billion emails sent or received every day contain g.a.
Every 39 minutes a new g.a. video is being created in the United States
About 200,000 Americans are addicted to g.a. [Question - If 40 million Americans regularly visit g.a. sites, is it logical that only 200,000 are addicted??]
So 讘专讜讱 讗-诇讛讬谞讜 砖讘专讗谞讜 诇讻讘讜讚讜 讜讛讘讚讬诇谞讜 诪谉 讛转讜注讬诐 讜谞转谉 诇谞讜 转讜专转 讗诪转 讜讞讬讬 注讜诇诐 谞讟注 讘转讜讻谞讜!!! We are truly blessed but we have to CONSTANTLY be on the "road to character"!!!馃槉馃槉馃槉馃槝馃槝
