Mockery in a House of Fools

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.

In Rebbe Nachman’s classic tale of “The Clever and the Simple”, as soon as anyone would speak to the simple one respectfully, he’d be receptive. Since he was honest and simple, he wanted nothing to do with anything that smacked of mockery.

The simple one would stipulate, “Just without mockery,” before speaking to anyone. He didn’t care whether people were laughing at him or not; he just didn’t want to hear the type of lies and foolishness that are such an inherent and integral part of mockery. If he saw that a person was still scoffing at him, he’d understand that having a normal, productive conversation with this person was impossible. In such a case, remaining silent is preferable. He pitied those whose only joy was making fun of others.

The simple one would declare: You want to scoff at me and rejoice that you’re better than me. Just think! In your eyes, I’m daft. You therefore are deriving satisfaction from feeling superior to a daft person! Is that so commendable, that you’re better than an idiot? I could understand if you were trying to prove that you’re better than some great wise man; but me? You’re trying to prove that you’re smarter than me when I’m a nothing? Indeed, it seems that you are the fool…

It seems more logical for a person to attempt to show that he’s better than a great wise man, yet that too is a lie, for there is no such thing as one person being better than anyone else. Each person has his own separate track in life, as we’ve repeatedly emphasized. One who preys on the weak and defenseless as victims of his mocking venom is the lowest and most contemptible of individuals.

The one thing that one should mock is mockery itself, for the scoffers are the true fools.

Mockery is the most contemptible form of evil. It’s dark-side, sadistic joy that stems from an evil heart. It’s the ugliest form of arrogance. Mockery is a negative spiritual force that we should all do our utmost to eradicate. Mockery lowers a person to the utter bottom of the spiritual rung. Mockery is tantamount to murder in that it destroys other people.

True joy comes from within and not from comparing yourself with anyone on earth.

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.

The power of truth clarification in our daily personal prayer is that once we’ve clarified the truth in our mind and pursue it, nothing or no one should be able to discourage us.

The simple one is a personal example for all of us, as he was tested in the most arduous way. Few people can withstand such constant humiliation and verbal abuse. Notwithstanding, he was truly happy with his lot in life. Whenever he’d sing and dance, the mockers would imitate him and make fun of him. He knew that they’d laugh in his face, yet he kept singing and dancing — no easy feat!

But don’t worry; ultimately, mockers and scoffers fall to the lowest depths. Part of their punishment is looking on from the House of Fools in purgatory as the simple and humble inherit the earth.