Jewish Ethics and Virtues:  Common Sense
Sermon, July 7, 2006
Rabbi Bruce Kadden

According to a Yiddish proverb, “seichel krigt men nisht oif di berzeh – seichel cannot be purchased in the market.”  The word seichel, which is sometimes translated as wisdom or knowledge, really means common sense.  Indeed, there are many Jewish folktales about people who were very smart, but who lacked seichel.  Some of you may have even met someone like that.  Who knows, we may even have one or two in our midst.

The Yiddish word seichel actually comes from a Hebrew root sin-kaf-lamed which means to look at or ponder or to be prudent.  As a noun, it can mean insight or understanding and is sometimes used in the phrase seichel tov, good sense, as opposed to bad sense.

This evening, as I continue the series of summer sermons about Jewish values based on Rabbi Joseph Telushkin’s book A Code of Jewish Ethics, I turn to common sense.  Rabbi Telushkin may be the first scholar to identify common sense as a Jewish ethical virtue; I was not able to find it in other similar books, both classical and contemporary. 

Perhaps it is the fact that common sense does not seem to be something one can learn; it is almost a natural instinct to know what is right to do in a certain situation and to do it.  The Talmud, as Rabbi Telushkin points out, gives the example of a man who sees a woman drowning in the river and thinks, “it is improper for me to look upon so immodestly dressed a woman” and therefore does not rescue her.  The Mishnah calls such a person a chasid shoteh, a pious fool and adds that such a person brings destruction on the world.

Indeed, most stories that deal with common sense involve making value judgments that would be obvious for most people, but are not for everyone. 

The importance of common sense was emphasized by Rabbi Chaim Solovetchik, a scholar of the last century.  When examining a student for rabbinic ordination, he once asked the candidate to name the five sections of the Shulchan Aruch, the classic code of Jewish law.  Surprised, the student answered that there were only four sections.  The rabbi responded:  “There is a fifth, unwritten volume.  It is called seichel/common sense, and unless you know this value, your knowledge of the other four volumes will not help you at all.

Rabbi Telushkin lists a number of principles of common sense.  The first is based on one of the Talmudic answers to the question:  Who is wise?  “One who foresees the consequences of one’s actions.”  (Tamid 32a).  Anticipating what might happen and acting accordingly is important.  Almost all parents, at one time or another, ask their children rhetorically, “Did you think about what might happen?” knowing that if they had they would not have done it.

Common sense also teaches us to refrain from speaking in certain circumstances.  In Pirkei Avot we learn, “Do not try to pacify your friend in the hour of his anger nor comfort him while his dead lies before him, nor question him in the hour of his vow” (4:18).  As we were taught in Ecclesiastes, “There is a time for silence and a time for speech” (3:7).  We are obligated to comfort the mourner, but not immediately after a person has died when the mourner must prepare for the burial.  Saying the right thing at the wrong time can be as bad as saying the wrong thing.  We need to think about not only what to say, but when to say it. 

A further lesson of common sense is that we not tempt ourselves, to test to see whether we have self restraint.  We shouldn’t put ourselves in a situation where we might be led to commit a transgression.  When we are fasting on Yom Kippur, for example, it is better to stay away from food than to be around it.  And, Pirkei Avot teaches, we should “keep far away from an evil neighbor and do not associate with the wicked” (1:7).  That is a teaching that every young person should take to heart as he or she considers which friends to hang out with.

Furthermore, the rabbis insisted that we not rely on miracles.  The rabbis, of course, believed that God did work miracles, but not on a regular basis, and to think that we deserved one was the height of presumptuousness.

Common sense was also important when deciding restrictions that might be imposed on a community.  Just as Prohibition failed because a minority tried to impose its will on the majority, the rabbis opposed imposing a law on the community which would be too burdensome for the majority.  That is why, by the way, halachah, Jewish law, has not prohibited smoking even though it is clearly a health hazard.

Finally, Rabbi Telushkin suggests that common sense means that we should not always trust others.  He tells the story of a Jewish free loan fund that always required a guarantor for a loan.  Once a rabbi asked the fund for a loan and listed God as his guarantor.  The head of the fund replied, “In that case, God will have to be your lender as well.”  I member of my former congregation used to say, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”  If we don’t learn from our experiences, we only have ourselves to blame when someone takes advantage of us.

You have probably heard someone jokingly say, “Don’t confuse me with the facts.”  It is amazing how often we fail to pay attention to the facts that are obvious to everyone else and should be obvious to us and allow ourselves to be lead astray. 

Of course, what is obvious to someone is not at all obvious to someone else, as this story illustrates:

One day a woman sent her husband to the market with a ruble and told him to buy a hen.  He went to the market, but when he returned, he proudly presented his wife with a pitcher of water.

“What is this?”  she asked. 

“Don’t be upset.  Let me explain.  I went to the market and was about to buy a hen when the woman said, “this is no mere hen; it’s heavenly chicken-fat!”  Wow, I thought, chicken-fat must be better than a hen, so I went in search of chicken-fat.  When I asked the butcher for chicken-fat he said to me, “This is no mere chicken-fat—it is as clear as oil!”  So, I went in search of oil.  I was about to buy it when the merchant said, “This is no mere oil.  You can see it is as pure as water.”  Well, I thought, why waste my money on oil when water is better.  So I took a pitcher and filled it with water.

Common sense is not something that can be purchased in a market or learned from school or reading a book.  It is not something that depends on riches or knowledge or status.  Some of us may be more inclined toward it than others.  But all of us can endeavor to use common sense in our lives.

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