King Solomon in his wisdom gives instruction how to handle criminal tendencies especially among one's children. He is specifically dealing with robbery and murder. To many this situation may seem academic and extreme, but it is not greatly so. If it happens one in a thousand times, it means a rosh yeshiva or school principal will be regularly required to deal with it. If it happens with one out of a hundred, an ordinary school teacher will need to deal with it every few years. If it happens with one in a million, a rebbe, big rosh yeshiva, or superintendent of schools will have to deal with it once in a lifetime. In fact football coaches for teenagers deal with it all the time.
The Chumash is less than sanguine about this situation. Our patriarch, Jacob, on his deathbed scolds two of his sons saying weapons are their merchandise. It refers to the contemplated murder of Yosef and the rash attack on the city of Shchem. The involvement of Levi greatly complicates the situation because from him will come Moshe rabbeinu, the sacred tribe of Levy, and the hereditary priests. The commentaries imply, that of the sons, he was the one that was the most overtly religious.
It comes out that a man with six sons should expect one of them to have criminal tendencies and it may be the most religious one in the family. It becomes more extreme when Ishmael and Esau are factored in. At one time this was a common theme in American film. A popular priest would befriend the local hoods, who idolized mobsters, and try to convince them to change their ways. At some point it would arouse the ire of his congregants, who would ask, why are you paying so much attention to these punks? To this he would reply, because I was like that and a priest befriended me and got me to change my ways. The genre was called the cross or the switchblade. The Catholics still do it.
The Jews do it too, but often are subtle about it. For example a rabbi will specifically invite misfits to his Passover Seder, a meal in his succa, a Hanuka party, or for Shabbos. Satmar will rope some weirdo into a seudat mitzvah saying they need him for a minyan. They will even have free coffee and cookies in shul to attract them. Hasidim will have a free kitchen for the poor. Habad sends shlichim into prisons. Mekubalim write kameahs for all sorts of strange people.
Shlomo hamelech opens by saying you should listen to your father's encouragement and your mother's instructions. The commentaries say the hint is that one should follow the laws of the Torah and the customs of the community. It adds that this will give a person grace and beauty. He continues saying that sinners will mislead you by saying that they can ambush the naive and get away with it. In addition everybody in the gang will be best friends. The truth is that they are making themselves into shlamazels and it's obvious to anybody who looks at it.
לע"נ האמא מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנ"ח
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