Public Sins

Background

I have taken this passage from the book Touching Heaven Touching Earth; Hassidic Humor and Wit published by Sadan Publishing House Ltd. in 1976. This amazing book is a compilation of chassidish stories compiled by Rabbi Shmuel Avidor HaCohen.

One of the short stories is called "Public Sins" and says the following:

"R. Mendel of Kotzk used to say: 'I have not succeeded in teaching my disciples never to sin, and only to perform good deeds. However, I have managed to make them different from other people. Most perform their good deeds in public and their transgressions in private, but my Hassidim perform their transgressions in public and their good deeds in private.'" [My emphasis added.]

Synposis

R. Mendel of Kotzk (also known by the appellation The Kotzker Rebbe, or The Kotzker) starts by admitting what he acknowledges to be a fault: "I have not succeeded in teaching my disciples never to sin..." The Kotzker, who was a righteous man, would have ideally liked if his Hassidim never sinned.

However, he quickly turns to an aspect of their imperfection, which, in a strange and unintentional way, demonstrates their elevated avoda:

• Most [people] perform their goods deeds in public - most people seek to outwardly demonstrate their righteousness. The purpose of this is to tell themselves and others that they are worthy of admiration.
• ...and their transgressions in private - yet behind closed doors they behave according to their true desires, an expression of their true self.
• ...but my Hassidim perform their transgressions in public - true, they are not free of transgressions.
• ... and their good deeds in private - yet behind closed doors they too behave according to their true desires, an expression of their true self. Because they receive no social recognition for their hidden behavior it is an expression of their innermost desires and is beloved by God.

Isaiah 29:15 says, "Woe to those who think deeply to hide counsel from the Lord, and their deeds are in the dark. And they said, 'Who sees us and who knows us?'"

During Shachris we say the following:

.לְעולָם יְהֵא אָדָם יְרֵא שָׁמַיִם בְּסֵּתֶר וּמודֶה עַל הָאֱמֶת וְדובֵר אֱמֶת בִּלְבָבו

May Man always fear Heaven in private and public and speak the truth in his heart.