Never Inflict Pain on Another

Never Inflict Pain on Another is the moral rule Michel Sommo urges Boaz Brandstetter to follow: a person should accept suffering rather than inflict it on someone else. In Michel’s letter, the principle joins religious duty to self-restraint, and becomes a standard by which he measures both his own conduct and Boaz’s treatment of others.

Principle and Religious Grounding

Michel presents the rule as more than a preference for peace or a strategy for avoiding conflict. He connects it to the obligation to love one’s neighbor and to the discipline of accepting suffering without passing it on. The crucial distinction is between being hurt and becoming the cause of another person’s hurt: in his account, the first may have to be endured, while the second must be refused.

That formulation makes restraint an active moral choice. Michel describes it as mastery over baser impulses and treats the ability to refrain from retaliation as a measure of honor. His argument therefore recasts honor: it lies not in answering humiliation with force, but in preventing humiliation from becoming a reason to harm someone else.

Michel’s Example and Boaz’s Conduct

To make the principle credible to his son, Michel invokes his own experience. He says he has endured mistreatment throughout his life without retaliating, and presents that restraint as consistent with his religious commitments. He also acknowledges that he has failings, but insists that causing suffering is not among them. These are Michel’s claims about his own conduct, offered as a personal example rather than as an abstract rule alone.

He then sets that example against Boaz’s behavior. Michel accuses his son of following a path of arrogance, cruelty, and violence, and argues that Boaz has caused his mother suffering over several years, to the point that she is ill. The contrast gives the rule an immediate family context: the question is not only whether Boaz can control his impulses in a confrontation, but whether he recognizes the ongoing harm his actions cause those close to him.

Ethical and Narrative Function

The rule is presented within a reprimand, so its delivery is not detached or gentle. Michel sharply condemns Boaz even as he tries to teach him; the letter’s appeal rests on Michel’s distinction between condemning harmful conduct and answering it with further harm. His stated aim is that Boaz learn from his example rather than repeat the behavior Michel attributes to his father.

Never Inflict Pain on Another thus serves as both a standard and an accusation. It asks Boaz to judge conduct by its effects on other people, especially his mother, while placing self-command above the defense of pride. Michel’s personal testimony gives the principle weight, but the letter also leaves its practical test with Boaz: whether he can acknowledge the suffering he has caused and choose not to inflict more.