Parshas
Nitzavim-Vayeilech
and
Rosh
Hashanah
Ignorance
is Not Bliss
By:
Daniel Listhaus
וְהָיָה
בְּשָׁמְעוֹ אֶת דִּבְרֵי הָאָלָה הַזֹּאת
וְהִתְבָּרֵךְ בִּלְבָבוֹ לֵאמֹר שָׁלוֹם
יִהְיֶה לִּי כִּי בִּשְׁרִרוּת לִבִּי
אֵלֵךְ לְמַעַן סְפוֹת הָרָוָה אֶת
הַצְּמֵאָה
“And
it will be that when he hears the words of this oath, he will bless
himself in his heart, saying, 'I will have peace, though I go as my
heart sees fit' – thereby adding the drunk with the thirsty.”
-Nitzavim
29:18
The
Torah tells us that despite us being at Har
Sinai
to accept the Torah, and despite us accepting upon ourselves the
covenant with Hashem along with the berachos
(blessings)
and
k'lalos
(curses)
on Har
Grizim and
Har
Eivel,
still there perhaps will be someone who thinks to himself that it is
all one big bluff. The S'forno1
elaborates that while receiving the Torah and accepting the berachos
and
k'lalos,
this person was being a bobble head, just nodding in agreement with a
smile to everything that was being said, while in his heart he was
thinking, “There is nothing to worry about. These things cannot
really happen to ME.”
In
economics, there is a simple relationship between quantity and price.
The greater the supply of something, the cheaper it becomes. The same
negative correlation often exists between kamus (quantity)
and eichus (quality).
The more accessible something is, the less unique it becomes, and
consequently, it loses the attention it would have received had it
not been so accessible. Without a doubt this balance is one which
many are presented with on a daily basis. Halachik challenges
which we, as a nation, have struggled with for centuries have
suddenly become extremely easy in our times to the point that they
rarely test our steadfastness to the Torah. For example, carrying on
Shabbos is something that hardly crosses anyone's mind because
so many cities have an eiruv.
As a matter of fact, keeping Shabbos
in general is not as hard of a challenge anymore being that many
offices are anyway closed on Saturdays. Additionally, with crock
pots, warming trays, air conditioners, lights, and timers, Shabbos
is no longer misconstrued as our weekly Amish day. Keeping kosher
is also something which has
become so easy because not only is there a vast variety of kosher
foods accessible across the
world in supermarkets, there are even imitations of non-kosher
foods which we have available.
However,
as great as this is and the tremendous ease that it allows us to
achieve mitzvos, it is
also easier for someone to live in this system absentmindedly and
ultimately hurt oneself. A person could be so used to just going with
the flow and keeping to the general routine that he becomes ignorant
to the rules and concepts themselves. Then, when a question comes up,
this person will not even know to ask but instead make decisions by
himself based on rationalizations and false logic.
During
this time of year, as the month of Elul comes to an end and Rosh
Hashanah is literally around the
corner, it is definitely a season which, despite not fazing us in any
means that it should or that it used to, so many Jews, from those
spending the day in shul
to those who are most distant from keeping the mitzvos,
stop to think. On a most basic level, we think about the fact that
Rosh Hashanah
is more than just a “New Year's party”, but rather a judgment day
for all of mankind. At the same time, although we may mouth those
words, discuss the concept with a friend, or merely think about it
for a second, it is often followed by a very dangerous thought:
“Granted, today is Rosh Hashanah
and that Hashem is king of the world, but I have nothing to worry
about. As soon as Yom Tov
is over I will continue living my normal life and go back and catch
up on work.” Similar to the person the Torah speaks of in this
week's parsha, such a
person lives his life going with the flow, pretending to respect the
things that he thinks others view as important. However, as the
S'forno comments, this
person is a bobble head. He is saying and doing one thing, but in his
head he is thinking to himself that there is nothing to worry about
and that there is no reason to change what he has been doing his
whole life.
Our
task, though, is to set our minds on a very different track. The
Gemara2
relates that Rebbe
Eliezer used to say that one should do teshuva (repent)
one day before he dies. His talmidim (students)
asked him, “How is that possible, a person does not know when he is
going to die?” Rebbe
Eliezer responded, “Precisely, therefore one should do teshuva
every single day!” Similarly
we find in Pirkei Avos3:
“They used to teach three things. Rebbe
Eliezer says...repent one day before your death.”
When
it comes to the Nobel Peace Prize, there is always a group of people
or countries who raise an eyebrow at the yearly recipient. However,
the weirdest fact about the Nobel Peace Prize is how it started.
Alfred Nobel was a know genius chemist. He owned factories with very
dangerous chemicals and explosives. Therefore, it was never a
surprise to read in the headline's of the Stockholm, Sweden newspaper
in the 1860's that another one of Nobel's factories containing
nitroglycerin or explosives of some sort, exploded killing the
employees inside. Despite this, Nobel continued to build more
factories inventing modern dynamite as well as many other dangerous
tools.
In
1888, Alfred's brother, Ludvig, died. When he died, a French
newspaper, thinking that it was Alfred who had died, published an
obituary stating, “Le merchand de la mort est mort”
- which means “The merchant of death is dead”. The newspaper
supposedly continued to read, “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by
finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died
yesterday.” One could only imagine the look on Alfred Nobel's face
when he read his own obituary, which portrayed him in such a negative
light. This unexpected shock caused him to rethink his goals in life
and to contemplate how he would go down in history. So, he decided to
start the Nobel Peace Prize so that his name be forever associated
with recognizing those who strive to bring peace to the world, as
opposed to being remembered as the merchant of death.
It
is not often that someone is given the opportunity to read his own
obituary to know what people really think about him and what he could
do to change the way he is perceived. Furthermore, being that our
birth certificates do not come with expiration dates, there is no way
of knowing when Hashem will decide that our time here is up and that
a snapshot of our life must be taken for final judgment. However, we
do have the opportunity to learn what is expected of us and
contemplate the fact that it is real and that there will be a real
judgment, which will take all of our actions into consideration.
The
Orchos Tzadikkim4
writes that there are seven things that a person must understand
before beginning to do teshuvah.
The first step he writes is the following. The type of people who we
refer to as “ba'alei
teshuva” is often
limited to those who have come from transgressing on the most serious
aveiros (sins) but
have now chosen the correct path. However, the truth is that the
definition is a lot broader than that. Even transgressing on the
smallest aveirah, or
at least what we consider a “light” aveirah,
is still a slap in the face of the King who declared the rule. It is
therefore our job to take note on the many things we have done wrong
and respond by becoming a “ba'al teshuvah”.
The Orchos Tzadikkim continues
to write that there is so much we do wrong we may not even be aware
of. After all, it makes sense that someone who does not take the time
to understand the mitzvos
is bound to make mistakes. Therefore, it is each person's duty to
study the halachos and
ask questions so that he should not be ignorant, correct his
mistakes, and know what he did wrong in order to do a proper teshuva.
Rosh
Hashanah and the Eseres
Y'mei Teshuva is a time with a
triple purpose. First, it serves as an opportune time to reflect on
what we have done over the past year and regret the actions we did
improperly. Second, it is a time for accepting upon ourselves a
better future in the right direction. The combination of these two
elements brings forth the ikkur (main)
theme of Rosh Hashanah
– which is to declare on the day that Adom was
created, that Hashem is the only King of the universe. After all,
this is what we were created for, to come to this realization and
understand our place as servants of Hashem. However, all of this
could only be achieved if we take the first step and show that we
want to be more sensitive to the mitzvos,
thereby better realizing the mistakes that we have made and be able
to use that as a springboard to improve in the future.
May
this Rosh Hashanah be
one of only K'siva V'chasima Tovas for
all of B'nei Yisroel
and may we be zoche to
use the opportunity to declare Hashem as the Melech
and set the stage for Mashiach when
– “V'haya Hashem l'melech al kol ha'aretz, bayom ha'hu
y'hiyeh Hashem echad u'shemo echad”
(“Then will Hashem be King over the entire world - on that day
shall Hashem be One and His Name be One”).5
1Devarim
29:18
2Shabbos
153a
3Avos
2:15
4Orchos
Tzadikkim: Sha'ar Ha'Teshuvah
No comments:
Post a Comment