Balak 74 - Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation - Lishmah

Balak the king of Moav has a genuine fear of Israel now camped on the borders of his country. He enlists the sorcerer and seer   Bilaam to engage in some unconventional warfare and curse the children of Israel. Bilam suggests that they offer sacrifices to God. Balak is rewarded by God for this despite his not pure motives by having as his descendants   Ruth the Moabite, the great-great grandmother of King Solomon who would bring 'for the sake of heaven –lishmah'   a 1000 offerings. Bilam is punished for his purely negative and destructive intentions – le'kanter. 

The Talmud learns from Balak that if one feels bad that he is involved in learning and positive deeds for the wrong reasons, he should not stop,  for  one who develops the habit of doing a   positive act for extrinsic reasons will eventually come to do it with intrinsic motivation –' metoch shelo leshma ba leshma'. This principle is reinforced by the words of the Chinuch (Mitzvah 15) that 'achrei hapeulot nimshuchim halevavot' - a person’s heart follows his actions. A superficial understanding of the Talmud and the Chinuch, and a notion that kids aren't intrinsically motivated to know more about the Torah and their world  has been responsible for a blind faith in the power of rewards, incentives and competition to get positive behaviors with no effort made to help kids internalize the values underlying the behaviors. Alfie Kohn  in his book Punished by Rewards shares the research why gold stars, incentive plans, bonuses, grades- A's, praise and other bribes impact negatively not only on achievement but also on a commitment to values. – See my brief summary Why rewards Fail here. Dr Sorotzkin shares the attitudes of Torah sages with regard to competition and rewards. 

R' Isaac Sher questions the understanding of the powerful nature of extrinsic motivation – lo lishmah. In the real world the process from extrinsic – lo lishmah to intrinsic –lishmah motivation is far from automatic and full of dangers. There are plenty of examples of even great scholars whose learning was lo lishmah – for extrinsic reasons and not only did they not come to learn and do positive things but lost their place in the ' next world'. There are examples of many kids who were pushed or who pushed themselves to learn, pray, do good deeds and the like for many years as a means of avoiding criticism and/or gaining approval, and even did it well, yet at some point they lost steam with no evidence of internalized motivation. R' Isaac Sher says that Balak a spark of pure motivation for the sake of heaven which germinated into a flame of holiness when King Solomon  offered his sacrifices .From the words of the sages-Cha'zal and R' Isaac Sher it is clear that that a child  ,has to have some minimal degree of intrinsic motivation first – mitoch ha'lo lishma – from within the lo lishma there is a kernel of lishma =intrinsic motivation which the child can further develop if he has a strong desire for the development of intrinsic motivation = ba lishmah. The lo lishma = the extrinsic motivation has to be experienced not as a  tool of manipulation and control used by parents or teachers but be chosen and self- determined by the child to help him achieve his goal = lishmah. If he has difficulty in concentrating and focusing on his learning and prayers, he may reward himself if he succeeds in being focused and not wasting time for the whole week. . But better than the reward to deal with his Yeitzer Ha'ra = inclinations, is to come up with a plan that deals with the underlying problem. Motivators ignore the underlying problem. R' Isaac Sher talks about the importance of deepening our intellects using thinking, creativity, imagination, curiosity – wonder, and action =learning by doing. R' Isaac Sher further notes that if we want positive actions to have an effect on a person and his motives = his heart following his actions, his action needs to be done in a thoughtful way with careful attention to all the details and ' dikduk h'amitzvah' – finer points of the mitzvah. The motives doing the action maybe ' le'lo lishmah ' but has to be done a 'lishmah' way.  In this way he is no longer occupied with his' lo lishmah – extrinsic motives '. In any case learning or doing positive deeds so he will ensure a place in the next world or become a Rabbi with all the honor involved is more about purpose and long- term  goals rather than providing ' in the moment ' drive and motivation.

This understanding is rather different from what is happening in schools and in the homes. Learning and behavior is controlled and driven by the lo lishma – extrinsic motivation, so kids learn to ask , how well am I doing instead of what am I doing , what will I get or what will be done to me , instead of grappling with what type of person I want to be and internalizing their learning.

Instead of rewards, grades and competition, we can create an environment which focuses on making learning intrinsically valuable by adopting the 4 Cs of intrinsic motivation – Community- Cooperative learning, Choice- autonomy ,Content- engaging curriculum and Competence. Materialism can be used not as an incentive but as Rabbi Matitiyahu Salomon says to give learning an association with joy and fun.

Ki Te'tze 73 Finding value in what you do and not what you get

The Bible – Deuteronomy/Devarim 22:6  talks about the mitzvah of Shi'luach ha'ken – if a person happens upon a bird's nest with a mother roosting on young birds or eggs , you can't take the mother with the young , but you must first send the mother away and then you can take the young for yourself , so that you will have a good and long life.

The mitzvah expresses man's right to benefit from the creation. He has a right to eat the kosher birds and the eggs, as this elevates them when they become part of man, but at the same time he must respect the needs of the world and its species. So when the mother is busy performing her duties to creation by attending to her young, one has no right to take her. You must first send her away and then you can express your rights to God's creation by taking the young birds. The mitzvah also recognizes that the mother- the principal - is more important than kids- the income - in that she can reproduce and protect the species.

Honoring the mother bird is similar to honoring parents and both are rewarded with a good and a long life in that one takes steps to lengthen the quality of the lives of parents.

This mitzvah is associated with spiritual demise of the Torah sage – Elisha ben Avuyah, the disciple of Rabbi Akiva and the spiritual mentor to Rabbi Mei'ir . Once a Torah sage , Elisha became an apostate and left the faith. He was now referred to as A'cheir – the ' other ' and no longer by his name.

The following incident was one of the triggers that challenged Elisha's belief in divine providence according to his understanding of the Torah and caused his loss of  faith in Judaism.

He once saw a man climb to the top of a palm-tree on the Sabbath, take the mother-bird with the young, and descend in safety. At the termination of the Sabbath he saw a man climb to the top of a palm-tree and take the young but let the mother bird go free, and as he descended a snake bit him and he died. Elisha exclaimed, 'It is written, "Send away the mother bird, but the young you may take for yourself; that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days (Devarim 22, 7)." Where is the well-being of this man, and where is  the  prolonging of his days!'

Elisha's motivation for doing God's commandments and mitzvoth was extrinsic, the promise of reward for fulfilling the mitzvoth - she'lo lishmah. The mitzvoth and the study of the Torah should be done – lishmah – for the sake of the mitzvoth themselves and  for the sake of heaven to fulfill God's wish , to experience being close to God and because of the intrinsic value and intrinsic reward of the mitzvoth. The reward of the mitzvah in this world is the mitzvah itself- se'char mitzvah – mitzvah.

We are encouraged by the Sages in the Ethics of Our fathers to serve God not as a servant who wants to get a reward , but to serve him in order not to get a reward. The commitment to the Torah and mitzvoth we make in the Sh'ma prayer – to  love God with all your hearts, souls = give our lives in certain circumstances -and with all your resources  negates the idea that we can do things for the reward. The promise of reward is only in the world to come so the verse reads - 'That it may be well with you in the World [to Come] which is wholly good,' And that you may prolong your days' in the world which is unending. 

Elisha actually shares his understanding of why he went ' off the path'. Elisha during a discussion with his student Rabbi Mei'ir  says that the verse from Ecclesiates 7 –' good is an end of a thing from its beginning 'is true  only when it is good from its beginning. He then elaborates –' So it happened with my father, Avuyah, who was one of the great men of Jerusalem. On the day of my circumcision, he invited all the eminent men of Jerusalem to sit in one room, and R. Eliezer and R. Yehoshua sat separately, in one room. R. Eliezer and R. Yehoshua began to study the Bible. A fire came down from heaven and surrounded them. My father asked them – have you come to burn down my house?.  They explained that when the Bible was  given from Sinai , a fire came down on  mount Sinai as it is said, 'The mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven (Devarim 4:11). Because their  words- the learning of the Bible was as  joyful as when the Bible was  given from Sinai , a fire came down as it did on mount Sinai. My father thereupon remarked, "Since the might of the Torah is so great, should this child survive I will dedicate him to the Torah." Because his intention was not for the Name of Heaven, my study of the Torah did not endure with me.

Elisha recounts the reason and circumstances in which his father, a wealthy and influential man, decided to dedicate his newborn son to a life of Torah scholarship: It was for the power. He saw a power in Torah which had previously eluded him. Attracted by this power, he sends his son to study. Elisha=Acher feels that because of these tainted origins, his study was destined to fail.

The obvious question is the following. We are told that a person should never excuse himself from doing mitzvoth if he is doing them for the wrong reasons or intentions  – lo lishmah . He is still doing something positive and in time the impact of the sanctity and intrinsic value of  mitzvah will cause him to do mitzvoth –lishmah –for the sake of heaven and the mitzvah itself. This question is due to misconceptions surrounding – 'she mi'toch lo lishmah , ba lishma ' - from  'within'  the the' lo lishmah' – extrinsic and wrong reasons and intentions  , a person will come to the mitzvoth for the right reasons – for the sake of heaven and for the intrinsic value of the mitzvah. The process is not automatic and depends on there being a ' spark of the right reason and intention ' to start with , and that students see the extrinsic motivators –such as rewards – there to help them with their main goals of engaging in learning and doing mitzvoth with joy and a love for what they are doing .

Parents and teachers encourage kids to engage in mitzvoth and learning torah for the wrong reasons , promoting values of ' lo lishma when they use grades,  rewards, awards and competition – being number one -  as the vehicle that  drives student learning and behavior. In the short term – they work but at a cost. They undermine intrinsic motivation and a love for learning and doing mitzvoth. This is far worse than when a person out of choice does things for the extrinsic rewards. In time he may come to find pleasure in the learning itself. There is little chance that kids will come to enjoy learning for its own sake –lishmah  when the goal is to please parents and teachers and not find pleasure in what they themselves are doing and the system is  uses grades and rewards as the motivators to drive  learning and behavior .

 Instead of rewards we can give learning and doing mitzvoth an association of fun and excitement – gesmack – encourage questions and nurture their curiosity. We can assess learning , while kids are actually learning especially by their questions and how engaged they are in learning. Testing is not the only way to assess kids. Excellence can be expressed not as achievement – high grades but how the stronger kids share their learning and mentor other kids. Joe Bower says that assessment is a conversation , kids can learn to engage in self assessment and focus on how they perceive their competence , engagement and love for learning and the mitzvoth.

Va'etchanan 73 Honoring Parents and the Sabbath

The weekly Bible-Torah reading from the book of Deuteronomy- Devarim  is Va'etchanan . Here Moses continues with his last sermon to the children of Israel and begins a discussion and review of many of  God's laws. He begins with a review of the 10 commandments. 

Most of the textual differences between the 10 commandments received on Mount Sinai in the book of Exodus and the account here in Deuteronomy are  due to Moses wanting to emphasize and teach certain lessons.  The Mesach Hachmah is his commentary notes that in the second set of the 10 commandments  - the words '  as God commanded ' are added to the 4^th commandment  -  Keeping and honoring  the Sabbath  and the 5^th commandment – honoring parents. These words ' as God commanded ' do not appear in the   first set of the 10 commandments.

The Mesach Hachmah explains that there are good reasons for keeping and thereby honoring the Sabbath. People work hard all week and the Sabbath is a welcome day of rest , an opportunity to desist from physical  creativity  and focus on connecting with God and spend time studying his Torah and its laws. In the desert – people did not have to work , they received ' manna' from heaven and their lives were very spiritual connecting with God and studying Torah all the time. There was no extrinsic need for a Sabbath in the desert.

The same was true for the commandment of ' Honoring Parents. The obligation to honor parents is from our feelings of gratitude to them for attending to our needs and raising us. In the desert , parents did not need to work for a living, in a miraculous way kids clothes grew on them as they aged, and the environment was very spiritual and providing. There was really very little reason to express gratitude to parents.

Moses is teaching , that the reason for keeping and honoring the Sabbath , and also honoring parents is not because of extrinsic reasons such as social benefits or gratitude to parents but should be done out of our obligation to fulfill God's commandments.

So what does God want from us here. We learned in the Ethics of our fathers – Pirkei Avot  - who is honored ? He , who honors others. ' Who is honored does not depend on something extrinsic – the number of people who honor a person , but a person having the intrinsic  trait or characteristic of being a person who honors others. So God does not want that we should keep and honor the Sabbath because of social and spiritual reasons , but we should  become  the type of  person who gives honor to the Sabbath by keeping the Sabbath. God does not want us to honor parents because of an extrinsic reason like gratitude but become  the type of person who has the ' midah' – characteristic of ' honoring parents.'

If we are saying that we are to honor parents and keep the Sabbath because of its inherent value – the right thing to do ,  so why does the Bible- Torah attach a reward for doing this commandment – Honor your father and your mother as ' Hashem ' your God has commanded you so that your days will be lengthened and it will be good for you Upon the land that 'Hashem ' your God gives to you.

The Torah is telling us that the good deed- mitvah of honoring parents has its reward in the world to come and a person will enjoy the ' fruits of his positive actions ' in this world. This means that  God will support  him in his efforts to do more positive things and impact on peoples' lives in this world and in the world to come he will be in a position to enjoy the spirituality of the next world.

Traditional ' rewards and punishments ' encourage a child to ask ' what's in it for me and gets in the way of the child asking – 'what kind of person do I want to be' . The reward that the Bible talks about is merely , for example  -honoring parents – as a   consequence of us making efforts to lengthen their lives and improve the quality of their parents  lives ,God offers us support to continue being the persons we want to be.

' Nasso-73 'Punishment is not a deterrent - it can encourage bad behavior !

The weekly Bible reading of Nasso from the book of Numbers has the laws dealing with an unfaithful  woman –the  ' Sotah' who having being warned by her husband not to be alone with a certain man, is then reported by witnesses as seeing her alone with him in a secluded place. She is brought to court and 'miracle waters ' are used to test whether she committed adultery or not. This procedure is carried out only if her husband was free of sin and exceptional in his relations with her. If she committed adultery the waters caused her suffering and disgrace.The following section deals with the Nazarite who wants to become more holy, so he abstains from wine, abstains from cutting his hair and from coming into contact with the dead for a month. The sages ask why the section dealing with the nazarite comes after that of the Sotah= unfaithful woman.

The positioning is to teach us that if someone witnesses the unfaithful woman being disgraced, he should abstain from wine for a month and contemplate how the inappropriate use of drink can lead to illicit relationships.

The obvious question asked by the commentators is that shouldn't the punishment suffered by the unfaithful woman be enough of a deterrent against the inappropriate use of wine?

It is similar to a situation where a teenager has seen someone lose his driving license and been heavily fined, decides to stop driving for a month to reflect on safe and responsible driving.

The answer can be found in research showing that teenagers that visited prisons to impress on them that crime does not pay , became more  impressed by the audacity of the inmates, being real ' macho' men , taking on the establishment. The visits had the opposite effect. When a teenager hears of someone driving 250 kph – his mind is not on the punishment or pain, he is imagining the thrill of driving so fast and the driver becomes a hero. When someone is caught for inappropriate sexual conduct, the mind is more attracted to the pleasure of the forbidden fruits than the punishment.

The medrash commentary tells of a man who was very much into drink. He met a man suffering from a hang -over. He went over to the man and asked him from where he bought the wine. The same goes for drugs – the more potent, the greater the damage, the greater the pleasure.

The lesson learned here is that punishment is not a deterrent. Rewards and punishments are very similar in that they teach kids to ask – what will I get, what will be done to me, what's in it for me.  So even if you threaten a kid with punishment – he will ask – what's in it for me and the mind will naturally seek out the pleasure and thrill. Punishment, like that in the case of the unfaithful woman, can lead people to ask – what's in it for me – and the mind seeks the excitement of forbidden sexual relations above the pain of punishment. In any case people see punishment as a result of the mistake of being caught and not because of the crime committed as the verse in Jeremiah 2:26  כְּבֹשֶׁת גַּנָּב כִּי יִמָּצֵא.   The shame of a thief is to be caught.

So is exposure to crime reporting in the media a good thing? Do kids learn that crime does not pay or perhaps what remains with them is the thrill of driving 250 kph and the fun? Crime reporting does not focus on values and thus does not help kids reflect on how crime affects others and what type of community do they want to live in. Reward and punishment get in the way of kids asking – what kind of person do I want to be, or does this reflect on my values?