mitoch shelo lishma ba lishma

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Definitions

  • sent. One who begins doing something with unpure motives can eventually see the value in it and begin to do it with pure motives.

Example Sentences

  • "Fine, so they get to see a video for every good book they read—Mitoch shelo lishma, ba lishma." (Glinert)

  • "As the Talmud says, 'mitoch shelo lishma ba lishma' — doing a mitzvah with imperfect intentions can habituate us into doing it with appropriate intentions." (source)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew

Etymology

  • מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה

      • Who Uses This

      • Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education

      Regions

      • North America

      Dictionaries

      • The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).

      Alternative Spellings

      mitokh shelo lishma ba lishma, metoch shelo lishma ba lishma, metokh shelo lishma ba lishma

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