Today’s Erev Rav

Part 7 of “The Erev Rav“ 
  
 

What percentage of today’s Jews may actually have Erev Rav character traits? 
  
There is no clear answer to this question. As we saw earlier, the Arizal in Shaarei HaPesukim, Shemot 1:8 explains that when Pharaoh complains that “The people, the Children of Israel are more numerous and greater than us,” he wasn’t just talking about Bnei Yisrael; he was also talking about the millions of Egyptians converts that Yosef and Yaacov converted. 
  
According to the Arizal, these converts were the Erev Rav, who left together with the Jewish people in the Exodus – and they were more than double the number of Jewish people.  
  
According to the Arizal, the number of people who have Erev Rav characteristics may be a sizeable majority of today’s Jews. That’s the high-end opinion. 
  
In the Zohar, Beshallach 45b-46a, it’s written: “…And the Children of Israel went up armed (chamushim). This signifies that the Erev Rav numbered one in every five (chamishah). According to R. Jose, for every five pure Israelites there was one who belonged to the Erev Rav. R. Judah said one in fifty (chamishim).“ 
  
That’s the low-end opinion. But remember, the impact of Erev Rav character traits can’t really be quantified like this, because (at least in theory), every single one of us might occasionally act like an ‘Erev Rav’. 
  
“Let us make a name for ourselves” 

Another factor muddying the water is that modern society itself glorifies and promotes so many of the typical ‘Erev Rav’ character traits that we’ve identified over the last few posts. 
  
For example, ‘making a name for themselves’ is identified as one of the main preoccupations of the Erev Rav, as set out both by Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in the Zohar, and by the Vilna Gaon. 

Today, the number of people who aren’t interested in ‘making a name for themselves’ via social media, or in their local communities are typically very few and far between. And of course, a lot of these negative traits have also seeped through to more traditional ‘Jewish leadership’ roles. 

 
Rabbi Chaim Vital, the main student of the Arizal, warns us in the introduction to his book Etz Chaim that a key Erev Rav trait is to pursue ‘honorable‘ positions in the Jewish religious world, and making a point of doing mitzvot that will get them kudos from others. He writes: 

  
“All those that do kindness and toil in the Torah, all they do for themselves. And in particular through our many sins, in our times the Torah has been made into a hammer with which to do their own ends for many baalei Torah, who occupy themselves in the Torah in order to receive their reward and other benefits and luxuries, and in order to be in the group of heads of yeshivot, and judges in their courts, so that their names and fame spread throughout the land.” 

  
Rabbi Vital also tells us how we can spot Jewish leaders who are the real deal: 

  
“In Pirkei Avot (Ethics of our Fathers) 6:41, Rabbi Meir said: He who studies the Torah for its own sake (without ulterior motives) deserves many things, and not only that, but the whole world is indebted to him. And he is called beloved friend, loved by G-d and men, he pleases the Creator and humanity. The Torah covers him with modesty and fear, makes him virtuous, merciful, devoted, just and faithful, moves him away from sin, guiding him by the path of virtue, etc. 
  
The secrets of the Torah are revealed to him and he is turned into an endless fountain of wisdom, and he becomes modest, patient, forgiving offenses, etc.” 

 
  
Rebbe Nachman and false leaders 
  
In the book Rebbe Nachman’s Wisdom, paragraph 126, the Rebbe says the following about false leaders in the time preceding the coming of Mashiach: 

  
“The Talmud teaches us that the angels will chant ‘holy, holy, holy’ before the Tzaddikim, just like they do before G-d…the tzadikim who remain faithful before the Mashiach’s coming will deserve this, and much more. So difficult will it be to remain firm in faith and not to be misled by everyone’s mistaken beliefs in the pre-Messianic era. 

  
At that time, many who call themselves religious leaders will preach falsehood… There will remain some truly religious individuals, but they will be very widely scattered.” 
 

 
‘Charm is deceit’ 
 
Let’s conclude this section with an excerpt from the  Peshiska  Rav’s  book,  Or  haNer  (Light of the Candle): 

  
“…all the people are at a very low level and they are contaminated, G-d save us, by their sins and transgressions, and therefore their eyes are blocked and they can’t see the truth. Therefore, they incline more to falsehood than to the truth.  
  
Our Master, the Holy Baal Shem Tov, said: ‘Charm is deceit and beauty is vain’ (Proverbs 31:30), that in the times before the coming of Mashiach, falsehood will be charming to people and vanity will be considered beauty, that all the people will call it beauty because everyone is pulled by falsehood. 
  
Therefore, you should fall to the floor with prayers before Hashem Yitbarach from the depths of the heart, that He should light up your eyes, so that you will be able to come to the truth.” 
 

 
To Summarize 

The negative character traits of the Erev Rav are described by our holy Sages. All of us need to work on acknowledging and uprooting the following Erev Rav character traits within ourselves: 

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Check out Rivka Levy’s new book The Happy Workshop based on the teachings of Rabbi Shalom Arush.