Five Types of Erev Rav
The Erev Rav today could have the best pedigree, the most thorough Torah education, the longest beard; so how can we even begin to recognize and avoid them?
Part 3 of “The Erev Rav“
The Five Types of Erev Rav
The Zohar explains that there are five categories of Erev Rav:
1) The Amalekites – who makes themselves leaders by force, and are scourges to Israel
2) The Nefilim (or ‘fallen ones’) – who fall into fornication with fair women
3) The Gibborim (‘mighty ones’) – these men build synagogues and yeshivot and place in them Torah Scrolls with rich ornaments, but they do it not for the sake of G-d, but only to make themselves a name
4) The Refaim (‘weak ones’) – who, if they see Israel in trouble, abandon them, even though they are in a position to help them, and they also neglect the Torah and its students in order to ingratiate themselves with non-Jews.
And lastly;
5) The Anakim (‘giants’) – who tend to bring the world back to the state of ‘tohu vabohu‘ and they caused the destruction of the temple.
Practically speaking, this is where Rebbe Nachman’s approach of acknowledging and eradicating Erev Rav character traits really starts to come into its own, because none of us are perfect, and at least occasionally, we’ll all be guilty of behaving in a way that’s typical of the Erev Rav. Continue reading The Golden Calf Jews (Erev Rav)


























