Bold as a Tiger

Translated by Rabbi Lazer Brody

The classic ethics book “Gates of Repentance” by Rabbenu Yona describes five types of people who mock others:

1. Vain are those who find fault in others and gossip about them. Humble people don't find faults in others and certainly don't talk about other people.

2. Those who mock others whom they feel superior to. These are the heretics that attribute their prowess and successes to themselves.

3. Those who fail to accept chastisement, as King Solomon said (Proverbs 9:8), “Don't chastise a mocker, for he will hate you.” This type of fool cannot accept chastisement, for he thinks that he's smarter than anyone else.

4. Those who spend their days in idle chatter. These are the lazy people who try to feel good about themselves by mocking others.

5. Those who laugh at everything and make jokes out of everything, with no regard for other people's feelings.

Rabbenu Yona concludes, “A person doesn't become a mocker until he throws off the yoke of Heaven. But, he is destined to suffer, for our sages warned to refrain from mockery, lest tribulations and suffering become one's portion, a turn for a turn.”
 
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto in his classic “Path of the Just” cites the damages of mockery:
 
“Mockery is the oiled shield that repels the arrows of rebuke. A small amount of mockery neutralizes a great amount of morals, ethics, and self-assessment. Mockery causes people to fall, not because they lack intelligence but because mockery destroys the sense of morality and the fear of God. Isaiah the Prophet warned against the dangers of mockery (Isaiah 28:22), “Refrain from mocking lest your affliction become more severe.” Our sages said (Tractate Avoda Zara 18b) that one who scoffs at others brings misery upon himself, for mockery invokes stern judgments. Without mockery, a person is able to make teshuva, but mockers can't be rebuked…”
 
Simply speaking, one bit of mockery neutralizes one hundred lessons in ethics. Mockery destroys any desire to return to Hashem and get close to him, Heaven forbid.
 
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Binder of blessed memory would paraphrase the Mishna (Avot 3:2), “Rabbi Chanina ben Tardion says that two people who sit together without speaking Torah comprise a house of fools.” He'd shout, “Two people sit together and don't talk Torah? It's a house of fools! How can a person not fear to sit with such terrible company, whom does not talk of Torah? Even if they're not saying anything forbidden, it's still idle talk!”
 
Mockery cools the fire of Torah, thus completely “cooling off” a person from a spiritual standpoint, causing him to lose his desire for Torah. Mockers place more emphasis on a witty bit of gossip or current-events talk than they do on the Divine wisdom of Torah. “Who needs to be so religious?” they ask. “What's the big deal about discussing the news?”
 
Even if the mocker isn't directly deriding a person, he's mocking Torah values, and his toxic words assume the power of Amalek's lethal spiritual force that extinguishes a person's desire to learn and observe the Torah, Heaven forbid.
 
Mockery has nothing to do with joy, for the laughing of mockery has no connection to holiness. True joy is completely interwoven with holiness. Mockery is the opposite of truth. As in our tale at hand, the simple one is a good and honest individual who harms no one and minds his own business. Why do others scoff at him? Has he hurt them in any way? Has he done them injustice? Even if he is different from others, there's no reason in the world to make fun of him.
 
Mockery is a poisonous and devastating source of spiritual impurity.  One must do everything to stay far away from mockery and those who scoff at others.
 
If you find yourself exposed to the scoffing of serial mockers, don't let it break you! Cling to emuna and strengthen yourself in emuna. When you believe in yourself and in what you do, nothing and no one can weaken you. Jewish law implores us to be as bold as a tiger; in other words, we should be strong and steadfast in our service of Hashem and our observance of His commandments, no matter what the mockers do or say.
 
Rebbe Avraham, son of Rebbe Nachman of Tulchin (one of Rebbe Natan's prime pupils), said that if someone scoffs at you, just look at the person as if he were a cardboard box with a voice. Ignore the mockery, even if the scoffers are many and even if they look like so-called observant people. May Hashem help us to be bold against them, and may we never be guilty of this ugly transgression, amen!