Thursday, November 12, 2009

"What if someone pretends to be a saint?"


"In a discourse on charity, the sages turn to the case of those who do not need alms, yet pretend that they do.

They say that if a person pretends to be lame, and asks for charity as a lame person, he will not die until he becomes lame.

If a person pretends to have a certain disease, he will not die until he gets it.

The lie will become true.

The mask will become reality.

Even against one's will, the mask exercises a huge power over the person.

In a later period, somebody asked, 'That is what happens when one pretends to be lame; what if someone pretends to be a saint?'

The answer is the same: he will not die until he becomes a saint; that will be his punishment.

It is a pun­ishment, because the life of a saint is so much harder than that of the hypocrite.

Yet it is also a reward—for having assumed this particular mask."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz


From
Simple Words by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz