How does one define a rasha?

Home Forums Decaffeinated Coffee How does one define a rasha?

Viewing 43 posts - 1 through 43 (of 43 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #604797
    tzaddiq
    Member

    is he bad because he does bad things? what if he doesn’t know any better? what if he thought what is bad is ok? is he still a rasha?

    #978497
    iced
    Member

    Tinok Shenishba.

    #978498
    BaalHabooze
    Participant

    one who goes against the torah, sins, and indulges in forbidden pleasures of life. All this of course if he does so knowingly, and with full knowledge that it is wrong.

    For goyim, those immoral people who continue to violate and transgress the 7 mitzvos m’bnei Noach.

    #978499
    SayIDidIt™
    Participant

    See HERE

    —Just Joking!!—

    SiDi™

    #978500
    kapusta
    Participant

    Mods, pleeeaaassseee?

    ?

    *kapusta*

    #978501
    SaysMe
    Member

    sidi-it wasnt funny, and it wasnt nice

    #978502
    kapusta
    Participant

    Some of the earlier posts… Thanks in advance.

    *kapusta*

    #978503
    Shopping613 🌠
    Participant

    Kapusta: please what?

    Is this related to the drop a friend post where as someone said my friends friend is a rasha and my friend didn’t mean it that way at all…?

    ?ns ?o suo?????do ?o p??? pu? ‘??p???? ‘??puno? ???

    (319bu?ddo?s) 319[$]

    [$]613 (Shopping613)

    The Founder, Awarder, and Head of Operations of SUC

    #978504
    SayIDidIt™
    Participant

    I think she disliked my joke…

    SiDi™

    #978505
    Shopping613 🌠
    Participant

    That was a JOKE? Seriously please don’t post jokes on serious threads unless you are Zeeskite or PBA, cuz no one ever beleives them anyways…..speaking of Zeeskite.. where is SHE?

    ?ns ?o suo?????do ?o p??? pu? ‘??p???? ‘??puno? ???

    (319bu?ddo?s) 319[$]

    [$]613 (Shopping613)

    The Founder, Awarder, and Head of Operations of SUC

    #978506
    kapusta
    Participant

    I was referring to another post as well…

    *kapusta*

    #978507

    If you willfully try to nullify one of the 613 commandments, e.g. continuously pray to a false god about rebuilding a city defiled by idolatry within the last yovel period, then you might be a rasha.

    #978508
    tzaddiq
    Member

    if we all have potential, and an innate animalistic nature to be murderers, theives, etc. just the opportunity doesn’t present itself, yet if it WOULD you would transgress, does that mean you are a rasha? i mean this seriously. if someone would ask you “would you ever steal?” of course you answer “chal v’sholom”. But if nobody is around and you are alone starving and a food is in front of you with no apparent owner, and you make the decision to eat it with 1 million excuses, are you a rasha?

    #978509
    interjection
    Participant

    Actions do not determine rishus. Rishus is determined by a mindset.

    #978510
    shein
    Member

    Actions do not determine rishus. Rishus is determined by a mindset.

    Actions DO determine rishus.

    #978511
    BaalHabooze
    Participant

    bump

    Why should a ‘potential rasha’ be called a rasha? What is your hava mina? A rasha is one who DOES avairos. period. Please explain yourself.

    #978512
    rebdoniel
    Member

    I’d suggest listening to the shiurim of R’ Boruch Simon on YUTorah from the past 2 weeks or so- he addresses issues of who is a rasha b’zman hazeh and more recently looks into who is really pasul l’edus b’zman hazeh.

    More broadly, he is giving shiur on inyanim in ein adam meisim atzmo rasha.

    #978513
    sharp
    Member

    A Rasha is an individual who does evil for the sake of doing evil.

    And goyim that violate their little set of Noahides.

    #978514
    sharp
    Member

    A person that ‘stole’ instead of starving to death is not necessarily a bad person. Just someone who had a challenge. He didn’t steal for the sake of stealing, he stole for the sake of surviving. There is a difference. (And no, I never had that challenge)

    #978515

    Lapid.

    #978516
    realtalk
    Member

    Let G-d decide.

    #978517

    sharp, someone who stole to survive did nothing wrong.

    #978518
    SpiderJerusalem
    Participant

    Anyone who disagrees with me or my rabbi is a rasha

    #978519
    sharp
    Member

    TKND:

    Exactly. That’s why he’s not a Rasha. His survival instincts kicked in. Who said otherwise?

    #978520

    No, he’s not a rasha because li’halacha you are allowed to steal to save a life.

    #978521
    sharp
    Member

    I agree. And it’s not considered stealing, that’s why I used quotation marks. I quoted a previous poster.

    #978522

    Avi Weiss.

    #978523

    A rasha is that guy who leans his entire body against the pole in a subway car when it’s crowded to capacity.

    A rasha tries to win an argument by being louder than you.

    A rasha does not make breaks between paragraphs.

    A rasha puts pepper in the salt shaker and then loosens the top.

    A rasha takes your armrest during a long flight and then falls asleep on you.

    A rasha occupies two parking spots.

    A rasha eats all the red jellybeans in the bag.

    A rasha takes all the cheese off his pizza.

    A rasha has loud cell phone conversations in the bathroom.

    A rasha sings a lot of slow tunes when he is chazan for mussaf.

    Hope this helps.

    #978524
    tzaddiq
    Member

    ok i will try to explain my question better. if someone can be swayed to do an avaira easily (if put in the wrong place at the wrong time), how can he be considered anything but a rasha? He is not a strong person spiritually AT ALL and he will readily bend to do avairos whenever the chance presents itself. just since he is living among frum jewish neighbours and friends and he will be looked down upon if he attempts to do it, and is only holding himself back because he would be embarassed by them. but be’etzem he would do the avaira if noone is around.

    bekitzur, is a person a rasha if he definitely WOULD do terrible avairos (like eating non-kosher, being mechalel shabbos, or the like), if the only thing that’s holding himself back is his seviva, or the watchful eyes of his family etc.?

    #978525
    PBT
    Member

    A Rosha is someone who purposely violates Torah him or herself, and so hates Torah that he or she will do everything the can think of to prevent others from living a Torah-centered life as well. When such people do act as if they have respect for Torah observance, it’s merely a ploy to get the Torah observer to let down their guard to the Torah hater can more easily succeed in his or her newest offensive against Torah.

    #978526
    BaalHabooze
    Participant

    tzaddiq

    Three points:

    1) Hashem only puts a person in a trying situation if he can handle it. If he will not be able to overcome the nisayon, then Hashem wouldn’t present that nisayon for him.

    2) In these difficult times, it is incumbant on every person to LEARN A MUSSAR SEFER during the week. To be mechazek, to build our character, and to steer us on to the correct path of life.

    3) If he didn’t DO it, he’s not accounted for. Bad intentions don’t count if he didn’t DO it. So, no, he would not be in the catagory of a rasha.

    #978527
    🐵 ⌨ Gamanit
    Participant

    It says machshava tova c’maayseh. The same is not true about the opposite. In fact, if it is harder for him to resist, he’ll be punished for doing it less than for someone who could have easily resisted.

    #978528
    tzaddiq
    Member

    david bar-magen

    +10

    those were hilarious!

    #978529
    tzaddiq
    Member

    bump…

    i understand that Hashem does’nt test someone with a test he can’t handle. but what about a bad habit (which is sinful)that one can’t stop himself from, or someone with an addiction which violates torah law – is he a rasha? he nebach can’t stop himself from transgressing! but is he innocent? he has no bechira to a certain extent. no?

    #978530
    HaLeiVi
    Participant

    He is born with a challenge and it is his job to overcome it and learn how to deal with it, channel it, hamper it, cry about it, do Teshuva for it and look for options. Hashem knows the heart and has patients. We have to try to help. The person is a Rasha when, instead of dealing with it, he becomes proud of it and makes it his Shita.

    #978531
    midwesterner
    Participant

    A Rasha is one who says ?? ?????? ???? ???

    #978532
    streekgeek
    Participant

    @tzaddiq: R’ Tatz expounds on this extensively (I read it in The Thinking Jewish Teenager’s Guide to Life), but I will try to put it in a few sentences.

    If someone is, say, a kleptomaniac. He can’t control his impulses to steal. Does he have free will in this area of his life? Is he found liable in her country’s legal system? Probably not. He can’t control his inborn trait to steal. In Judaism however, the “system” works completely different. The urge may very well be outside his area of free will/freedom but the action of stealing is within his free choice. The point of free will is whether he yields to his nature or not.

    Bottom line is: You can’t control your background, inborn nature, character traits, and many events that will ultimately affect what type of ordeals you have to overcome. You can blame whatever or whoever you want for the fact that you came across this ordeal, but how you handle the ordeal is your doing entirely, your free will.

    #978533
    Lost1970
    Member

    Technically, a Conservodox is as much a Rasha as a Conservative and Reformist. But keeping all laws is difficult.

    #978534
    rebdoniel
    Member

    a wicked person; the opposite of the “Tzaddik,” the righteous person. This individual rejects the Kingship of HaShem, rejects the Mitzvot, the Commandments, and rejects the Morality of the Torah, thinking he can define it on his own. Generally, the “Rasha” is concerned only about his own interests, rather than about the “zulat,” the other. He or she remove themselves from the larger community, be it the Jewish community or the general community.

    #978535
    Sam2
    Participant

    Lost: Of course not. The more Mitzvos and fewer Aveiros that one does, the less of a Rasha they are. They might still be a Rasha, but they are certainly less of one (I feel like the Gemara in either Yevamos or Sanhedrin 32b says like this).

    #978536
    Lost1970
    Member

    Thank you. I hope to reach at least Conservadox level of observance — I do not know when I can do more.

    #978537
    achosid
    Participant

    Someone who uses a cattle prod, is a rasha.

    #978538
    nishtdayngesheft
    Participant

    Achosid,

    I guess you are referring to someone like Temple Grandin who recommends its use periodically on recalcitrant animals who need a good zap to get moving.

Viewing 43 posts - 1 through 43 (of 43 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.