Be strong and of good courage

The Haftarah Simchat Torah morning is the first section in the Bible following the Torah. That makes sense since we just ended the Torah's annual cycle and began again. Moses had just died and God is trying to buck up Joshua to take over. Four times in those 18 verses the text says "Hazak viematz" Be strong and of good courage."

In the Weekly Standard Politics Prof. Harvey Mansfiel of Harvard
wrote the
The Forgotten Virtue
How Plato perceived the importance of courage.
by Harvey Mansfield
01/29/2007, Volume 012, Issue 19 reviewing

Plato and the
Virtue of Courage
by Linda R. Rabieh
Johns Hopkins, 224 pp., $45

Here is the whole article. http://www.weeklystandard.com/content/public/articles/000/000/013/182sjdmj.asp


He reviews the book and makes the following points.

Courage is a very common virtue, its presence observed by all, even by children, and its absence sometimes severely blamed, more often excused with disdain. Your reputation will suffer a good deal if you are seen to be a coward. Nor can you take refuge in the relativism of values that, in other matters, is such a feature in the thinking of our times. You will probably not be able to defend yourself from an accusation by claiming that one person's courage is another's cowardice. We do not believe there is great difficulty in defining it. Though some societies are peaceable, others warlike, all seem to prize courage and despise cowardice.

...In the Republic, a more positive doctrine emerges because courage is considered in company with, or as a consequence of, justice, a virtue we demand as well as admire. We need courage, and a definition of courage, in order to defend justice. But then it turns out that there is a higher form of courage, philosophical courage, which overshadows the ordinary courage--steadfastness in the face of risk--that we all can recognize. For the philosopher needs courage when he takes the life-long risk of questioning opinions, both society's and his own...

First, it is very clear that one can admire the courage of one who fights in a bad cause, for example a courageous Nazi soldier. This implies that courage is separable from its end, is an end in itself. But does it make sense to admire the courage that acts on behalf of an injustice that one must abhor? Virtue may be divided into virtues, but it also seems to have a unity so that the virtues work together, especially courage and justice. Even the liberal theorists, when they speak of a single "self," presuppose such a unity however much they wish to stress the plurality of human inclinations.A second problem is that courage does not seem
to be in one's interest...
Today in Iraq, American soldiers are risking their lives to save our lives at home. But our way of life puts peace, security, and survival ahead of conflict and danger. .....
This is but a sample of Rabieh's reasoning. Her book is not a line-by-line commentary on Plato's texts, but it does follow all the ins and outs of his arguments. If you want to learn about courage, or if you merely want to be impressed with what it takes to learn about courage, or to read Plato, this is the place to go. The toughness of courage is treated: The toughness to reject false hopes and to accept that certain evils are unavoidable. And also the magnificence of courage: the beauty of self-fulfillment that is greater than the nobility of self-denial or self-sacrifice. For self-sacrifice is in your interest if it makes you better. The paradox of sacrifice--for its own sake yet somehow for your own sake--is the theme of this excellent study...In her view, Plato is still relevant today--indeed needed--and all the more because we are so chary of courage...
Like us, Plato was opposed to the societies of his time, including Sparta, who put too much trust in courage and welcomed war. But unlike us, he confronted courage as a problem because, despite its dangers, he admired the toughness of soul on which it rests.
Harvey Mansfield is professor of government at Harvard University and the author, most recently, of Manliness.



My point_The words in the Simchat torah Haftorah should be tattooed on our foreheads. Jews need courage to face down our enemies, lift up our Torah and sages' wisdonm, to live as jews and Americans, combining the best of both without sacrificing our heritage. Hazak Viematz