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Thoughts on the Parsha ~
Parshas Eikev
The Bottom Line of Bribery
By: Daniel Listhaus
כִּי ה' אֱלֹהֵיכֶם הוּא אֱלֹקי הָאֱלֹקים וַאֲדֹנֵי הָאֲדֹנִים הָקל הַגָּדֹל הַגִּבֹּר וְהַנּוֹרָא אֲשֶׁר
לֹא יִשָּׂא פָנִים וְלֹא יִקַּח שֹׁחַד
“For Hashem, your God – He is the God of the powers
and the Lord of the lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, Who does not
show favor and does not take a bribe....”
-Eikev 10:17
In the middle of Moshe’s ultimate
speech to the B’nei Yisroel before his death, Moshe reminds them
that there is no “cheating the system” because Hashem does not take bribes. Rashi[1]
comments that this means that Hashem cannot be appeased with money.
However, this Rashi is very hard to understand. Why would the idea even
enter one’s mind to try to appease Hashem with money? The whole idea is
ridiculous. How could man attempt to bribe Hashem with money?
The S’forno[2] has a different approach and writes that Moshe was relating the following idea. Imagine a person who is a sinner. He knows that ultimately he will be punished for his sins but he finds it too hard to control himself so does it anyway. However, still uncomfortable with the thought of spending time in gehenom, he reasons that he could just do more mitzvos and as a result diminish the punishment of his aveiros (sins). In order to counter such a thought, Moshe rabbeinu taught that Hashem does not take bribes. As the S’forno continues to write based on the gemara[3], “a mitzva does not extinguish an aveirah.” Therefore one should not think that if one sins he could dampen his punishment by performing mitzvos, for those are calculated on a separate scale. Rather, the only way to lessen the punishment of aveiros is by doing teshuvah.
The Maharal, in Gur Aryeh,[4]
explains for Rashi that of course there would be no hava amina (thought)
to think that it would be possible to offer money to Hashem to appease him
because there is nothing that we would be doing. Even declaring that Hashem
already has all the money in the world would be a gross understatement. Wealth
is a physical concept; Hashem is fundamentally above any gashmiyus ideas.
Rather, what Rashi must mean is that one might think that one can play
within the guidelines that Hashem set forth for us of connecting to him through
offering karbanos (sacrifices) and donating to the Beis Ha’Mikdash
and that by doing so could appease Hashem to dampen one’s load of aveiros.
In order to rebut such a thought, Moshe reminded B’nei Yisroel that each
individual is responsible for his or her actions and that an appeasement of
being a “goody-goody” to be more generous in offering better karbanos and
more sponsorship opportunities might get one some bonus mitzvos, but
does not do anything to lighten the load of one’s averios.
Using the Maharal’s explanation,
Rashi and the S’forno seem to be saying the same thing. One is
responsible for his actions and just because one decides to do more mitzvos does
not negate the fact that he or she did past aveiros.
Interestingly, though, the gemara that the S’forno
is referring to actually uses a slightly different terminology. The gemara
does not say that performing mitzvos has no effect on one’s aveiros.
All that the gemara mentions is that aveiros have the power to
dampen the potency of one’s mitzvos. How does the S’forno see
from this gemara that mitzvos do not have the power to dampen aveiros?
Perhaps they dampen each other? Perhaps the gemara means that each
individual has a virtual basket where all his mitzvos and aveiros get
stored and calculated and that the system is such that for some mitzvos he
gets rewarded and for some aveiros he gets punished, while some just
cancel each other out and the s’char v’onesh (reward and punishment)
consequence will fully depend if the sum is positive or negative? Why should it
be that aveiros dampen mitzvos but mitzvos cannot dampen aveiros?
It does not make sense and seems quite unfair! Additionally, why would this be
referred to as bribery? Shouldn’t this precisely be how the system works?
Hashem should look down and tally up our mitzvos and aveiros and
allow them to balance each other out similar to how the system works on Rosh
Hashanah as part of the calculation in determining who should live on to
the upcoming year. So why is this called bribery and even we could explain why
it deserves such a title, how could we understand the one-way relationship of aveiros
having the power to dampen mitzvos but not the other way around?
Earlier in the parsha[5],
Rashi[6] explains
that Moshe warned the B’nei Yisroel to be just as meticulous regarding
safeguarding the “light mitzvos” as the “heavy ones” and not tread on
them, so to speak, as so many people do. However, it is hard to understand why
this is such a serious matter. After all, imagine someone who is extremely careful
when it comes to keeping Shabbos properly, but happens not to care too
much about performing the mitzva of shiluach ha’kein (sending
away the mother bird before taking its egg)[7]
correctly. What’s the big deal? He is keeping Shabbos perfectly and
is meticulous when it comes to all the “major league” mitzvos he just is
not so careful with some of the lighter mitzvos. If he is scoring well
with the big mitzvos isn’t that what is more important?
The S’forno[8]
comments that Hashem commanded us to keep all the mitzvos and in
return he keeps with us bris v’chesed – his treaty and kindness. However
just doing the mitzvos is not enough. We are obligated to perform the mitzvos
with the proper intentions doing them out of love for Hashem as opposed to
for personal ulterior motives or even for the purpose of receiving reward in
the world to come. This is an idea we find in the mishnayos as well. The
mishna[9] cites
Antignus who teaches that our approach to performing mitzvos should not
be like servants who work in order to receive reward, but rather be like
servants who work even without receiving reward. In other words, when we
perform mitzvos the reason we do so should, on a highest level, be
solely out of love for Hashem. Not because of the eternal reward we will
receive, not for the physical consequences we benefit from, and not even solely
for the reasons that are described in the Torah. Rather, ultimately our mindset
should be that every mishpat at its core is a chok and the reason
we follow the Torah and keep the mitzvos is because that is what Hashem
commanded.
The game of adding and subtracting points based on mitzvos
and aveiros is a physical game – one which plays a role in
determining if an individual will live longer, and whether the world in general
may continue. However, on a deeper level, in the world of s’char v’onesh,
it does not work like that at all. An aveirah is more than a red minus one
mark; it is a glaring symbol of rebellion against the King and raises a red
flag to reevaluate the authenticity of the mitzvos performed. Doing more
mitzvos does not negate the fact that an aveirah was done. The
opposite of an aveirah is not a mitzvah per se, it is teshuva.
An aveirah means rebellion and teshuva could remedy that;
doing mitzvos will allow one to get s’char, but does not make
light of the fact that one rebelled against the King.
With this in mind we could better understand the first passuk
as well as the mishna in avos[10].
Every single mitzvah deserves the same amount of seriousness because
every mitzvah is a direct commandment from Hashem. Therefore
transgressing even on what we may perceive as the slightest of mitzvos
is really at its core a demonstration of utter rebellion.
The s’char that one receives from doing mitzvos is
beyond comprehension. As the gemara[11]
relates in the name of Rebbe Yaakov, it is not possible to receive the
reward from a mitzvah in this world. The Michtav Mei’Eliyahu[12]
writes that this is true even of the “smallest” mitzvos. Mitzvos performed
in this world are fulfillments of Hashem’s ruchniyus commandments, the
rewards that are reaped from their fulfillment are so great that all of the
money and pleasures on this world from the day it was created until now cannot
compensate. It is this understanding itself of the greatness of even the
smallest of mitzvos which answers why aveiros diminish mitzvos
and not the other way around. Even the transgression of the smallest aveirah
translates directly into an audacious act of treason. One who does an aveirah
sheds light on where he is at in terms of his loyalty, so to speak, to
Hashem. The way to prove loyalty is not to point to the good deeds one has done
or will promise to do, for those themselves could be called into question as
being done for ulterior motives. Rather, the only way to counter the
seriousness of even the smallest aveirah and to diminish its
consequences is by doing teshuva.
Bribery is a demonstration of not caring about one’s improper
actions or the legal processes that they demand, and instead is an attempt to
beat the system by diverting the judge’s attention to other good deeds or
future promises. Hashem does not accept even the best of bribes. Pointing to
past mitzvos, giving one’s best animals as karbanos, or
doubling one’s contributions to the Beis Ha’Mikdash with the hope of
being able to shirk his accountability through appeasement is not the proper
response. Only the gift of teshuva is strong enough to undo the damage
of disobedience by sincerely apologizing for the aveirah done and
accepting upon oneself to make the extra effort that it does not happen again.
With the month of Ellul approaching may we take the
time to look back at our actions and not just make the effort to increase our mitzvos
so that we merit a good din, but to also work on teshuva to
undo the damage we have done with our aveiros.
[1]
Rashi Devarim 10:17
[2]
Ibid.
[3]
Sotah 21a
[4]
Devarim 10:17
[5]
Devarim 7:12
[6]
Ibid.
[7]
This is what the Da’as Zekainim M’ba’alei Tosfos (Devarim 7:12)
as well as the Maharal (Avos 2:1) offer as an example of a “light
mitzvah” based on a memra (statement) from Rebbe Shimon ben
Yochai.
[8]
Ibid.
[9]
Avos 3:1
[10]
Avos 2:1
[11]
Kiddushin 39b
[12]
Michtav Mei’Eliyahu 1:1
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