Question on yesterday's chizuk email which was from a shiur of Rabbi Avigdor Miller -

How can we reconcile "chaviv Adam shnivra bTzelem" with what Rabbi Miller said "they (all the goyim and secular Jews) are all beheimos"? I love Rabbi Miller very much but this is sticking in my craw. Thank you.

kadeshli wrote on 17 Sep 2019 14:51:

I guess it's personal.

I don't understand what you mean. 

Yashar koach Sleepy! Thank you.

Here is the quote from yesterday's chizuk email:
---Now it's a good idea to know - and this should help - that all the people, all of the goyim, and all of the secular Jews around you are t'mei'im. All the people around you are beheimos. They're lost neshamos and all of them are going to gehenom. All of them; all of them. It's a rachmanus. All of them are without any sense at all. They don't think about Hakodosh Boruch Hu once in their entire lives. Not once! So how can you compare yourself to them? They're beheimos, animals.
ורוממתנו מכל הלשונות - You elevated us from among all the nations of the world. So you should have a certain amount of regard for yourself as a Jew. You should know who you are. And therefore don't look at anybody else. What's it to you? It's just people wasting their lives. But you're living differently. You're living with Hashem in your mind. So just look at the sidewalk - you have no interest in what's doing around you.---

I understand and agree with your explanation. I forgot about that pasuk tehillim. Thank you! I guess this is what he meant even though he phrased it literally.

I have been receiving Rav Miller's daily email for many years.

sleepy wrote on 17 Sep 2019 16:00:

He knows exactly what a craw is; it's you fellows who are lost.

L'Maaseh the status of non-Jews is a Machlokes that to some extent, comes down to variant girso'os (texts) in gemoros. 

I personally don't take his comments on these type of things too seriously. He is trying to make a point. And, to be fair, many non-Jews (like many jews) are very Gashmi like animals. 

sleepy wrote on 17 Sep 2019 18:20:

Bit nervous to reply as we could be heading into somewhat controversial waters here... So basically, I mean that if one takes this seriously, one could end up with hatred of non-Jews (or, treating them as animals, think throwing them a bone from the table). That is something I'm not a fan of and try not to instill in my children. The mesorah from the rishonim, and many achronim, is not like that (from what I have seen and learnt from my rebbeim) and I feel these types of statements are more based in an attempt to bring Yidden back who may have strayed by giving them self-confidence than in any reality.

Please note that we are all anonymous here (we hope!!). I might be the godol ha'dor, I might be an utter am ho'oretz. I might be both. To debate jewish ideas is risky as we all have our mesora and to some extent, different mesoras contradict and even debase others. I myself heard from anoshim gedolim b'yoser biting comments about other people that are considered by many to be gedolim. It depends on where you are coming from.  

I mentioned about not taking this too seriously as the OP was bothered by the statement of rabbi Miller. It is worth noting, I was telling him, that there are many approaches to this topic and he needn't get too hung up on one approach, even it is from a person he generally loves. 

Chazak veamatz! Thanks for all your help! That piece from Rav Brevda was wonderful. Thanks for being open. Baruch Hashem you didn't fall! You certainly gave me a lot of chizuk!

Sleepy - thanks for all that. It is an excellent Sefer that I regularly use in my Seder night - would recommend to all (it has a few long pieces and then an ongoing Peirush which is rare in that it genuinely creates a mehalech in the haggodo). 



Not convinced that is what rabbi Miller was saying, but the idea speaks for itself.