Intentions Matter

Thoughts on parashat Vayeshev 5785

Menachem Mirski

[maxbutton id=”6″ url=”https://polishjewsreviving.org/intencje-maja-znaczenie/” ] Our religious tradition emphasizes the importance of not only performing good deeds, but also having a positive inner motivation and mindset behind those actions. One’s thoughts, desires, and attitudes towards others are just as crucial as the outward behavior itself when considering morality, with the Torah and rabbinical teachings emphasizing the need to avoid negative feelings like hatred, covetousness, and envy alongside actively cultivating positive ones like love and compassion.

Talking about envy, jealousy and all other negative feelings like hatred or resentment: there are plenty of them in the story of our parashah for this week. Out of those feelings, particularly jealousy and resentment, that evolved into hatred, the sons of Jacob decide first to kill and then to sell to slavery their brother Joseph. The only brother who didn’t endorse this hatred and the nefarious plans motivated by it was Jacob’s firstborn, Reuben:

Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we can say, ‘A savage beast devoured him.’ We shall see what comes of his dreams!” But when Reuben heard it, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let us not take his life.” And Reuben went on, “Shed no blood! Cast him into that pit out in the wilderness, but do not touch him yourselves”—intending to save him from them and restore him to his father.
(Genesis 37:20-22)

Reuben wanted to save Joseph and intended to do so, but in fact he failed. The moment passed, and by the time he acted, it was already too late. Returning to the cistern, he found Joseph already gone, sold as a slave. But even though Reuben did not fulfill his intentions, his act and his intentions mattered: Joseph was saved from a certain death. This story can be seen as proof that sometimes even half-hearted actions can make a difference if well motivated. In fact, although Judaism is traditionally considered as a religion of action rather than pure belief, the intentions whether correlated with actions or not, matter too. There are numerous instances, biblical and Talmudic, in which the intentions are crucial. Let’s go over them quickly to have a more clear picture of how important they are.

Let me start with the most, so to say, extreme example: killing another person. If it was intentional, and done without any justification (like self-defense or a court order of a death penalty) it was, according to the laws of Torah, considered murder and punished by death. If it wasn’t intentional then it was considered a manslaughter. While morally still reprehensible, the penalty for this act was much smaller – people who got involved in a unintentional killing were supposed to flee to one of the six Cities of Refuge (Ir Miklat), where they were at the same time protected from the revenge of a hired blood avenger (goel ha’dam). Contemporary American law makes a similar distinction, mandating a different degree of severity to correspond to the different levels of responsibility due to intention and circumstance.

Another example of how important are intentions is in the last commandment of the Decalogue. The prohibition against coveting (Exodus 20:17) demonstrates how even thoughts without outward action can be considered morally problematic. They, indeed, can spark many moral transgressions, leading to the violation of the fundamental moral laws of the Torah, including prohibition of theft, adultery and murder. In the eyes of the rabbis the 10th commandment had a special place because, as they argued, that’s where many of the sinful actions start. Therefore our rabbis throughout history have further elaborated on the concept of moral intentions, emphasizing the responsibility to actively cultivate good thoughts and combat negative ones. One of the pinnacles of this concept can be found in the Mussar movement, started by Rabbi Israel Salanter in the 19th century, which is, very broadly speaking, a Jewish practice that focuses on self-improvement and becoming more aware of one’s responsibilities.

But Judaism has always gone beyond mere actions and considered the internal state of mind, making intentions a significant part of ethical conduct. The commandment to “To love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) highlights the importance of not just avoiding doing harm to others but actively caring for others with positive intentions. And here let me get to the last example which is kavanah: this term signifies the importance of focused intention and mindfulness when performing religious acts, ensuring one’s actions are done with a sincere and conscious purpose. By religious acts I mean both actions concerning the observance of halakha and ritual, as well as moral actions. They all gain a deeper meaning if they are accompanied by a specific, positive intention.

We, human beings, represent something very precious–the only permissible representation of God in the world. And what is most godly about us in our knowledge of good and evil. That awareness, and our ability to act on our own moral impulse, rather than on our biological or atavistic ones, represents both an opportunity and a challenge. The challenge and at the same time one of the noblest goals of human life is to grow to reflect the Divine Image in ourselves to the fullest extent we can.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Menachem Mirski