Why does a scoffer refuse to go to the wise?

Rabbi Landau explains that the scoffer King Solomon describes, “Lo ye’ehav letz hochei’ach lo, el chachamim lo yelech,” does not avoid wise people because he is confident. “He avoids them because he already knows what he might hear, and he knows he can’t handle it.”

In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau notes the exact wording. Solomon does not say the scoffer looks down on the wise man. He says the scoffer “will not go to him.” Those are words of avoiding and running away, not of arrogance. The arrogance is only on the outside; inside there is fear.

The same thing happens today, he says, when people listen until something challenges them and then disappear. Not because the challenge was wrong, but because their worldview could not survive a single question. The scoffer is not too strong to listen. As the book puts it, he is too weak.

Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level

Surface claim

The scoffer avoids correction out of fear, not confidence.

Fear, vulnerability, or tension

Deep down he knows his spiritual world is shaky, and one wise question could bring it down.

Deepest human truth

Strength is measured by how much challenge a belief can survive, not by how loudly it is held.

More questions from this teaching

• Why do people avoid ideas that challenge their beliefs?