Contact With Wicked People

Question

I saw you wrote in an earlier answer that it is best to distance yourself from wicked people. But isn’t it a good idea to approach wicked people in order to try to convince them to mend their ways?

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Answers

  1. The Just Ask! - AskTheRabbi.org Team

    Thank you for asking! I think that the answer to your question is “possibly.” As I wrote, we ask Hashem to keep us away from wicked people and those who will harm us somehow, and I think that this is the best approach in general. If a person feels that they can have some kind of an influence over a wicked person, then, perhaps they would be obliged to try to do something. But this would only be so if the wicked person does not end up having a negative impact on the one who is trying to influence them.

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team

  2. colorknit
    February 1, 2023 at 2:53 pm

    In the Book of Yonah, he actually is instructed by G-d to approach a group of wicked people to get them to mend their ways. Shouldn’t this be a reference as to how others should act when it comes to the wicked?

  3. The Just Ask! - AskTheRabbi.org Team
    February 1, 2023 at 6:24 pm

    Again, it is a wonderful question! I am not sure that a regular person can draw any practical conclusions from Yonah. Yonah was a prophet and he was commanded by Hashem to go to Ninveh and exhort them to do Teshuvah. That does not mean, however, that a regular person should go out of their way to find wicked people to try and get them to do begin the Teshuvah process. But, please do not misunderstand me, I am not saying that it is always the wrong thing to do. I am simply saying that each person needs to weigh up what is the best course of action for them to take.

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team