WHY DO SOME TZADDIKIM ACT COLD? [#18825]

Something is very bothersome to me. There are many people who don’t even observe Torah yet they are nice, warm, friendly people who are enjoyable to be around, and they act with derech eretz and they treat everyone respectfully. But we can find even tzaddikim who act harsh towards others, who do not act warm at all towards others, and sometimes they even push people away from them. How can such a thing be, that tzaddikim whom we look to as a symbol of radiating light to the world, of showing achdus and warmth and derech eretz for others – how can it be that those tzaddikim act cold and distant to others? I want a logical answer for this that will satisfy me, not some lofty spiritual reason that they are trying to rectify others’ neshamos, because it’s clear to me that this is not always the case.

There are several reasons for it, and here are a few of them. (1) It had to do with their shoresh neshamah (soul root). Some tzaddikim were very stern and strict with others, and a clear example of this was the sage Shammai, who pushed away the gentile who was trying to convert. (2) Due to the great holiness of the tzaddik, the tzaddik was not always able to handle the low spiritual level of the world around him. (3) The tzaddik might not have reached his own shoresh neshamah yet, and therefore he is not serene, and as a result he has imbalances in his interpersonal behavior with others. (4) It can also be that he hasn’t yet perfected the lower level of the soul, the nefesh habehaimis. (5) It can also be that he is trying to do hamtakas hadinim, he is trying to mitigate the stern judgments that are hanging upon others. This was the way of the holy tzaddikim of the recent generation before us.
Editor’s Note: As it was known, the Steipler zt’l would often scream at others. Other Gedolim as well could be very stern with others, and it was for the purpose of erasing the harsh judgments that were hanging upon others.