Bowzer, I agree 100% with that. The RBSH can be my eid that all the time I spend on this blog is to drive home only one msg. That shabbos is kodesh, tznius is kodesh, learning is kodesh, but ahavas yisroel and staying away from onaas devarim and loshon hora is kodesh kadashim. Even a single sharp word should be a yeihareg v’al yaavor. If I have violated my own principles here, then I ask mechila, and it is inexcusable, because I will have reinforced the opposite msg that I wish to bring.
That is why kannaus is treif in our generation. Your description of what ruchniyus is to some people is correct. It is a feeling of what a great zchus it is for me not to be like them, those reshaim. I am lucky to be so much better. (As somebody pointed out, ANA avda dekudsha brich hu.)
This is incorrect and false ruchniyus, based on gayva. The real and highest ruchniyus is to put a smile on somebody’s face. Especially a poor yid who may be suffering and has no place to go, or food to eat, or who needs medical care and can’t afford it. To say, I am fortunate to have a family when I need help, maybe this fellow doesn’t, and has nowhere else to turn except me. Ruchniyus means to give a yasher koach to the garbage man in the morning, and the bus-driver, and the soldier. (As this person pointed out, emphasis should be ana AVDA dkudsha brich hu.)
As I said a few months back, it pains me that there are actually some in the chareidi world who will not stand for Yom Hazikaron, when there may be a wife or mother of a deceased soldier who might see this lack of respect for her sacrifice. Anti-zionism is a disease not because of the political aspect, but because of its inherent roadblock towards true ahavas yisroel for all yidden, frum or frei.
Those who are zocheh to true anavah and ahavas yisroel know a ruchniyus which is incomparable to anything else. You will be zocheh to be mechadesh vortlach off the tip of your tongue. You will need to write them down, as you will come up with so many.
Just one short vort here. Chazal say kol bracha shein bah shem umalchus eina bracha. One must mention that the RBSH is the king of the world, not just his name alone. Why? Does he feel insecure without his official title, and gets angry that he is not getting his due praise. Unlikely. Rather the pshat is that if you say thank-you for the apple, it ignores the tremendous effort that went in to producing it. First there had to be soil. There had to be nutrients in the soil, there had to be water, there had to be sunlight. There had to be a sun. There had to be farmers who grew the apple. There had to be those who transported it, and those who invented trucks, and those who produce gas and those who run the gas stations. They need houses, and clothing and food. There need to be stores to sell the food, and computers to run the billing, and police to maintain order, and an electrical company to power the store. So for your simple apple, you need a whole universe to make it possible. By not mentioning melech haolam, you are simplifying the process and will not have hakaras hatov for all that went into it. You will not thank the farmer and the driver and the storekeeper, and the engineers and builders, etc. That is why it is crucial to grasp the complexity of the entire world and the work of so many whose kochos were ultimately given by the RBSH in his great chesed, who manages the entire universe and supports all of these people, which ultimately enables us to eat the apple.
As it says in Avos: Al t’hi baz lchol adam, v’al t’hi maflig lchol davar, sh’ein lecha adam sh’ein lo shaah, v’ein lcha davar sh’ein lo makom.
Ahavas habrios is kodesh kadashim.