The Middle Path
Recognition of a Lifetime
Probably the greatest teaching that I’ve learned over the years has been the "secret" of the middle path. The reason I call it a secret, is because it was never presented to me with the full importance that it really commands. Sure, I had known for years about the Rambam zy"a in Hilchos Deyos1 regarding how to heal an extreme character trait – by going to the other extreme in order to come to the middle. But that had seemed like just another valuable idea among thousands of other mussar selections regarding how to improve one’s character traits, rather than being a foundational understanding of the entire Torah.
The point in my life when I came to realize the magnanimity of this rule, was about twelve years ago during a discussion with an older, very proficient and highly respected Talmid Chacham in Yerushalayim tv"s. The discussion was about "truth", and the question was: "What really is the definition of truth?"
My understanding until then had been that truth is an absolute; that we believe as frum Jews that there is an objective non-changing truth in the world, and that – by definition – ultimately obligates everyone to subscribe to it. Therefore I also thought, that each situation in life has ultimately one solution. I thought that there is an absolute truth that is uniform and non-changing for all situations, and that it is just each person’s free choice to decide whether he wants to see it and follow it or not.
- Perek 1, Halachos 3-4. ↩
Bs"d by Rabbi Nachum Chaimowitz Another statement that one should just never say: 3. Never compare yourselves to any other couple. The person that Hashem has introduced and ultimately united you with, is someone who is exactly what you need in order for you to reach your highest level of completeness. Realize that [...]