Jewish Temperament

Over the past century, as the fields of the behavioral sciences exploded in breadth and reach, there has been a relatively quiet revolution growing parallel. The underlying premise behind this revolution is that there are a specific number of personality types, and every person is born to be a single type. Once we understand which type a given person is, most, if not all, of his behaviors, attitudes, and even thinking methods, can be explained by his temperament, and at times even anticipated.

This is the study of human temperament.

Loosely speaking, this revolution was widely popularized by Isabel Briggs-Myers’ Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Once it was published, people the world over were clamoring to find out “who they were”. More recently, Myers’ work was brought to a completely new level, in structure and application, by a preeminent psychologist, David Keirsey. In his book, Please Understand Me II, Keirsey not only polished the theory and made it more understandable and accessible, he also made it more scientific. While Myers had 16 types, Keirsey divided them into 4 basic types. While Myers based her Indicator on the theoretical work of Carl Jung, Keirsey based his work on 60+ years of observing people. While Myers tried to deduce thought and emotion, Keirsey established observable phenomena. And, most importantly, while Myers’ types fluctuate in their applicability, Keirsey’s remain consistent throughout the spectrum.

After studying the work of Dr. Keirsey, it becomes eminently apparent that the ideas he lays forth are to be found within the depth of Chassidic wisdom. Here, we will attempt to uncover many of the relationships between sage Chassidic teachings and modern-day personology.

It starts with the four temperaments: Artisan, Guardian, Idealist, and Rational. Each of these types are extremely different in every aspect of personality, from intellect to language; from interests to orientation; from self-image to values. We will explore the four types in depth, but for now, let’s suffice with a short list of descriptive words for each.
The Artisan is described by Keirsey as being tactical, optimistic, artistic, audacious, excited, impulsive, and generous.
The Guardian is considered logistical, dependable, beneficent, respectable, concerned, authoritative, and grateful.
The Idealist is diplomatic, mystical, empathic, benevolent, authentic, enthusiastic, intuitive, and romantic.
Finally, the Rational is strategic, pragmatic, relativistic, ingenious, autonomous, purposeful, resolute, calm, and abstract.

Chassidic doctrine is punctuated by Kabbalah’s famous 10 Sefirot, from Chochmah to Malchus. However, if we were to compact the sefirot into what are called kavim, or paths, we would discover that there are but four general categories:
The right path, expansion, represented by Chochmah, Chessed, and Netzach.
The left path, contraction, represented by Binah, Gevurah, and Hod.
The center path, unification, represented by the Da’as, Tiferes, and Yesod.
Malchus, abstraction, also in the center, without its own distinct qualities to speak of.

When viewing the Sefirot in this light, the correlations become obvious (compare the following terms with those describing the temperaments above):
The Artisan expands, like the right path of the spectrum, which include Chochmah (expansive intellect), Chessed (expansive personal disposition), and Netzach (expansive relational disposition). Some terms to describe these sefirot would be: creative, generous, optimistic, competitive, and audacious.
The Guardian contracts, representing the left path of the Sefirot, which include Binah (contractive intellect), Gevurah (contractive personal disposition), and Hod (contractive relational disposition). Words that describe these sefirot might include: logistical, respectable, concerned, beneficent, and grateful.
The Idealist, representing the center path, unifies with Da’as (unifying intellect), Tiferes (unifying personal disposition), Yesod (unifying relational disposition). These sefirot may be described with words like: intuitive, mystical, kind, empathic, and romantic.
The Rational represents Malchus, which is not as much a path as it is a single abstract point. Malchus also represents expression, primarily through speech, and can be described with words such as: abstract, purposeful, and relativistic.

It can be seen, then, that with Chassidus, we have a wealth of relevant information on personology that we may not have seen before. Everything described here is yet brief. And as we explore these themes even more in depth, we find more and more correlations between Chassidic teachings and the modern understanding of temperament. Not only that, but Chassidus also adds a level of purpose and meaning to an otherwise dry, if accurate, study of personality. With Chassidus we understand the purpose of knowing ourselves, and the consequent self-improvement journey we should embark on once we find out.