Make
for
Yourself
a
Rav
and
Buy
Yourself
a
Friend
-
2
Article
No.
8,
1985
Considering
what
we
discussed
in
article
no.
1
(1985),
we
should
elaborate
a
little:
We
should
discern
between
a)
man
and
the
Creator,
b)
a
man
and
his
friend,
and
c)
a
man
and
the
rest
of
the
people,
who
are
not
his
friends,
although
there
is
a
saying,
“All
of
Israel
are
friends.”
At
one
time,
we
find
that
the
words,
“make
for
yourself
a
rav
[teacher/important
person]
and
buy
yourself
a
friend,”
are
the
path
of
correction,
and
another
time,
it
is
in
the
words,
“And
judge
every
person
favorably”
(Avot,
Chapter
1).
We
should
understand
the
difference
between
“make”
and
“buy,”
and
the
meaning
of
judging
favorably.
We
should
interpret
“make”
as
coming
to
exclude
from
reason.
This
is
because
when
reason
cannot
understand
if
something
is
worth
doing
or
not,
how
can
it
determine
what
is
good
for
me?
Or
vice
versa,
if
reason
considers
them
as
equal,
who
will
determine
for
a
person
what
he
should
do?
Thus,
the
act
can
decide.
We
should
know
that
there
are
two
ways
before
us:
to
work
in
order
to
bestow
or
to
work
in
order
to
receive.
There
are
parts
in
man’s
body
that
tell
him,
“You
will
succeed
in
life
if
you
work
in
order
to
bestow,
and
this
is
the
way
you
will
enjoy
life.”
This
is
the
argument
of
the
good
inclination,
as
our
sages
said,
“If
you
do
so,
you
will
be
happy
for
this
world
and
happy
for
the
next
world.”
And
the
argument
of
the
evil
inclination
is
the
opposite:
It
is
better
to
work
in
order
to
receive.
In
that
state,
only
the
force
called
“action
that
is
above
reason”
determines,
not
the
intellect
or
emotion.
This
is
why
doing
is
called
“above
reason”
and
“above
reasoning,”
and
this
is
the
force
called
“faith
that
is
against
the
intellect.”
“Buy”
is
within
reason.
Normally,
people
want
to
see
what
they
want
to
buy,
so
the
merchant
shows
them
the
goods
and
they
negotiate
whether
or
not
it
is
worth
the
price
that
the
merchant
is
asking.
If
they
do
not
think
it
is
worth
it,
they
don’t
buy.
Thus,
“buy”
is
within
reason.
Now
we
will
explain
the
matter
of
“rav”
and
the
matter
of
“friend.”
A
friend
is
sometimes
called
“society,”
when
people
come
together
and
wish
to
bond.
This
can
happen
through
equivalence
of
form,
by
everyone
caring
in
love
of
others.
By
that,
they
unite
and
become
one.
Therefore,
when
a
society
is
established
to
become
a
single
group,
we
see
that
people
who
consider
creating
such
a
society
usually
seek
people
who
are
alike
in
views
and
attributes,
whom
they
can
see
as
more
or
less
equal.
Otherwise,
they
will
not
accept
them
into
the
group
that
they
want
to
establish.
And
after
that
begins
the
work
of
love
of
friends.
But
if
they
had
no
equivalence
with
the
goals
of
the
society
from
the
beginning,
before
they
even
entered
the
society,
it
cannot
be
expected
that
anything
will
come
out
of
that
bonding.
Only
if
there
was
apparent
equality
among
them
before
they
entered
the
society
can
it
be
said
that
they
can
begin
to
exert
in
the
work
of
love
of
others.
Between
Man
and
the
Creator
Between
man
and
the
Creator,
the
order
begins
with
“Make
for
yourself
a
rav,”
and
afterwards,
“Buy
yourself
a
friend.”
In
other
words,
first
one
must
believe
above
reason
that
the
Creator
is
great,
as
written
in
The
Zohar
(p
185,
Item
191
in
the
Sulam
Commentary),
“Fear,
which
is
the
rudiment,
means
that
man
should
fear
his
Master
because
He
is
great
and
ruling.”
To
the
extent
that
one
believes
in
the
greatness
of
the
Creator,
who
is
called
“Great,”
he
has
the
strength
to
give
to
the
“buy,”
meaning
to
buy
through
conceding
self-love
in
order
to
achieve
equivalence
of
form,
called
Dvekut
[adhesion]
with
the
Creator.
And
this
is
called
a
Haver
[friend]:
one
who
is
in
Hibur
[bonding/connection]
with
the
Creator.
When
buying
corporeal
things,
we
must
relinquish
money,
honor,
or
simply
make
an
effort
to
obtain
it.
Similarly,
when
a
person
wishes
to
buy
bonding
with
the
Creator,
he
must
relinquish
self-love,
because
otherwise
he
cannot
achieve
equivalence
of
form.
When
one
sees
that
he
is
unfit
to
make
concessions
to
buy
the
equivalence
of
form,
it
is
not
because
he
was
born
with
a
weak
character
and
hence
cannot
overcome
his
self-love.
Rather,
the
fault
is
in
“Make
for
yourself
a
rav,”
meaning
that
he
is
not
working
on
the
faith,
since
he
will
be
able
to
make
concessions
according
to
the
importance
of
his
faith
in
the
greatness
of
the
Creator.
Moreover,
one
should
know
that
if
he
wishes
to
measure
his
degree
of
faith,
he
can
see
it
in
the
degree
of
concessions
he
can
make
in
self-love.
Then,
he’ll
know
his
degree
in
the
work
of
faith
above
reason.
This
applies
between
man
and
the
Creator.
Between
a
Man
and
His
Friend
Between
a
man
and
his
friend,
we
should
begin
with
“Buy
yourself
a
friend,”
and
then
“Make
for
yourself
a
rav.”
This
is
so
because
when
a
person
looks
for
a
friend,
he
should
first
examine
him
to
see
if
he
is
really
worth
bonding
with.
After
all,
we
see
that
a
special
prayer
has
been
set
up
concerning
a
friend,
which
we
say
after
the
blessings
in
the
prayer,
“May
it
please
...
Keep
us
away
from
an
evil
person
and
from
a
bad
friend.”
This
means
that
before
one
takes
a
friend
for
himself,
he
must
examine
him
in
every
possible
way.
At
that
time,
he
must
use
his
reason.
This
is
why
it
was
not
said,
“Make
yourself
a
friend,”
since
“making”
implies
above
reason.
Therefore,
concerning
a
man
and
his
friend,
he
should
go
with
his
reason
and
examine
as
much
as
he
can
if
his
friend
is
okay,
as
we
pray
each
day,
“Keep
us
away
from
an
evil
person
and
from
a
bad
friend.”
And
when
he
sees
that
it
is
worthwhile
for
him
to
bond
with
him,
he
must
pay
in
order
to
bond
with
him,
meaning
make
concessions
in
self-love,
and
in
return
receive
the
power
of
love
of
others.
And
then
he
can
expect
to
be
rewarded
with
love
for
the
Creator,
too.
After
he
has
bonded
with
a
group
of
people
who
wish
to
achieve
the
degree
of
love
of
the
Creator,
and
he
wishes
to
take
from
them
the
strength
to
work
in
order
to
bestow
and
be
moved
by
their
words
about
the
necessity
for
obtaining
the
love
of
the
Creator,
he
must
regard
each
friend
in
the
group
as
greater
than
himself.
It
was
written
in
the
book,
Matan
Torah
(The
Giving
of
the
Torah,
p
143),
that
one
is
not
impressed
by
the
society
or
takes
their
appreciation
of
something
unless
he
regards
the
society
as
greater
than
himself.
This
is
the
reason
why
each
one
must
feel
that
he
is
the
smallest
of
them
all,
since
one
who
is
great
cannot
receive
from
one
who
is
smaller
than
himself,
much
less
be
impressed
by
his
words.
Rather,
it
is
only
the
smaller
one
who
is
impressed
through
appreciating
the
greater
one.
It
follows
that
in
the
second
stage,
when
everyone
must
learn
from
the
others,
there
is
the
matter
of
“make
for
yourself
a
rav.”
This
is
because
to
be
able
to
say
that
his
friend
is
greater
than
himself,
he
must
use
“making,”
which
is
doing
without
reason,
since
only
above
reason
can
he
say
that
his
friend
is
at
a
higher
degree
than
himself.
Therefore,
between
a
man
and
his
friend,
the
order
is
to
begin
with
keeping,
“Buy
yourself
a
friend,”
and
then,
“Make
for
yourself
a
rav.”
Between
a
Man
and
Every
Person
The
Mishnah
tells
us,
“Make
for
yourself
a
rav,
buy
for
yourself
a
friend,
and
judge
every
person
favorably”
(Avot,
Chapter
1).
We
have
explained
that
between
a
man
and
his
friend
the
order
is
that
first
you
go
and
buy
yourself
a
friend—and
we
explained
that
buying
is
within
reason—and
then
you
must
engage
in
“Make
for
yourself
a
rav.”
And
between
man
and
the
Creator,
the
order
is
to
first
“Make
for
yourself
a
rav,”
and
then
“Buy
yourself
a
friend.”
We
should
understand
the
meaning
of
saying
that
concerning
every
person,
“Judge
favorably.”
Is
this
buying
or
making?
According
to
the
above,
we
should
interpret
the
meaning
of
“And
judge
every
person
favorably”
as
“making,”
not
“buying.”
For
example,
assume
there
are
many
people
in
the
congregation,
and
a
small
group
among
them
decides
that
they
want
to
unite
in
a
society
that
engages
in
love
of
friends.
And
let
us
say,
for
instance,
that
there
are
100
men
in
the
congregation,
and
ten
of
them
decide
to
unite.
We
should
examine
why
those
ten
specific
individuals
decided
to
unite,
and
exclude
others
in
the
congregation.
Is
it
because
they
find
that
those
people
are
more
virtuous
than
the
rest
of
the
people
in
the
congregation,
or
because
they
are
worse
than
the
others
and
that
they
must
take
some
action
to
ascend
on
the
ladder
of
Torah
and
fear?
According
to
the
above-mentioned,
we
can
interpret
that
the
reason
those
people
agreed
to
unite
into
a
single
group
that
engages
in
love
of
friends
is
that
each
of
them
feels
that
they
have
one
desire
that
can
unite
all
their
views,
so
as
to
receive
the
strength
of
love
of
others.
There
is
a
famous
maxim
by
our
sages,
“As
their
faces
differ,
their
views
differ.”
Thus,
those
who
agreed
among
them
to
unite
into
a
group
understood
that
there
isn’t
such
a
great
distance
between
them
in
the
sense
that
they
recognize
the
necessity
to
work
in
love
of
others.
Therefore,
each
of
them
will
be
able
to
make
concessions
in
favor
of
the
others,
and
they
can
unite
around
that.
But
the
rest
of
the
people
have
no
understanding
of
the
necessity
of
work
on
love
of
others;
hence,
they
cannot
bond
with
them.
It
therefore
follows
that
when
engaging
in
unity
of
love
of
friends,
everyone
examines
the
other,
his
reason
and
his
attributes,
to
see
if
he
qualifies
or
is
worthy
of
joining
the
society
that
those
people
decided
to
allow
inside.
It
is
as
we
pray,
“Keep
us
away
from
an
evil
person
and
from
a
bad
friend,”
within
reason.
It
turns
out
that
he
prides
himself
over
the
rest
of
the
people
in
the
congregation.
How
is
this
permitted?
After
all,
it
is
against
an
explicit
rule
that
says,
“Rabbi
Levitas,
man
of
Yavne,
would
say,
‘Be
very,
very
humble’”
(Avot,
Chapter
4).
Rabbi
Yehoshua
Ben
Perachia
says
about
that,
“‘Judge
every
person
favorably’
(Avot,
Chapter
1)
means
that
with
regards
to
the
rest
of
the
people,
he
should
go
above
reason,
which
is
called
“making,”
that
is,
acting
and
not
reasoning.
This
is
so
because
his
reason
shows
him
that
they
are
not
as
suitable
as
the
people
to
whom
he
associated
himself,
and
this
is
what
everyone
says
to
himself.
Thus,
everyone
prides
himself
over
the
others.
The
advice
for
that
is
what
he
says,
“And
judge
every
person
favorably.”
This
means
that
with
regard
to
the
rest
of
the
people
at
the
congregation,
he
should
judge
them
favorably
and
say
that
they
truly
are
more
important
people
than
himself,
and
that
it
is
his
own
fault
that
he
cannot
appreciate
the
greatness
and
importance
of
the
public,
called
by
our
sages,
“Every
person.”
Hence,
within
reason,
he
doesn’t
see
their
greatness,
and
we
said
that
between
a
man
and
his
friend
there
should
be
“buying.”
However,
he
must
use
the
“making,”
which
is
above
reason.
And
this
is
called,
“Judge
every
person
favorably.”