Nitzavim 5632 First Ma'amar (second half)

Note: Even though this ma'amar appears in Nitzavim in the Sfas Emes, I've chosen to send out the second half of it this week since it explains pesukim from VaYeilech. 

In this week's parsha, parshas VaYeilech, God tells Moshe Rabbeinu that in the future, as a result of our sins God's anger will flare, "... והסתרתי פני מהם ... ומצאוהו רעות רבות וצרות/… and I will hide My countenance from them … and many evils and calamities will befall them …" (Devarim 31:17) In the very next pasuk God repeats, "ואנוכי הסתר אסתיר פני .../Ad I will certainly hide my countenance …" (Devarim 31:18)  Why the repetition?

Why does the Torah bother to tell us that God will hide His countenance from us?  Why doesn't the pasuk simply say that God's anger will flare and many evils and calamities will befall us?  The Torah is teaching us a fundamental idea about God's relationship with us especially during times of calamity.

The Torah is teaching us that God is always with us even in the darkest times.  During those times we do not perceive His presence.  He is hidden from us.  The idea that God is always with us no matter what is happening is very encouraging and the Torah encourages us to strengthen this belief.

 

However, it is not easy to believe that God is with us even as we are living through bad times.  The first pasuk above continues, "... ואמר ביום ההוא הלא על כי אין א-להי בקרבי מצאוני הרעות האלה/… (The nation) will say on that day, 'Isn't it because my God is not in my midst that these evils have befallen me." (Devarim 31:17)  The Chiddushei HaRim[1] quoting the Rav of Parshischa says that this is considered a sin.  In answer to this faulty reasoning and lack of faith God answers and repeats, " that it is not because He is not with us that these evils have befallen us.  He is always with us but has hidden Himself.

This is the reason we find in the first pasuk of last week's parsha, "אתם נצבים כולכם לפני ה' א-להיכם .../You are standing, all of you, before God, your Lord …" (Devarim 29:9)  After the curses and rebukes of the previous parsha, parshas Ki Savo, Moshe Rabbeinu encourages the nation by telling them that they are still standing before God.  He has not abandoned us and He will not abandon us.  The curses are no more than God hiding His countenance from us.  Our challenge is to cultivate the belief that God is with us even when we do not perceive Him.  May we merit it!        

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[1] Chiddushei HaRim VaYeilech, on this pasuk

VaYeilech 5634 First Ma'amar

In this week's parsha we find the mitzvah of Hakhel.  On the Succos following a shmitta year, the entire nation, men, women, children and alien residents gather in the Beis HaMikdash to hear the king read from the Torah.  The men come to learn.  The women come to listen.  Why are we required to bring the children?  The children are not required to perform mitzvos.  What purpose is served by bringing them?  Chazal teach us that we bring the children so that we may be rewarded.  A strange answer to be sure!  The Sfas Emes asks that if there is no point to their coming, then why are the parents rewarded for bringing them?

Before we can understand the answer we really need to understand the question better.  After all, every Jew even a child has a soul and can receive enlightenment through exposure to Torah.  This is why at the beginning of this week's first parsha Nitzavim we find, "אַתֶּם נִצָּבִים הַיּוֹם כֻּלְּכֶם לִפְנֵי ה' אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶם ... כָּל אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ טַפְּכֶם נְשֵׁיכֶם וְגֵרְךָ .../Today all of you are standing before God your Lord … every man of Israel.  Your children, your women, and the alien resident …"  Here, Chazal do not ask why the children are there.  The children obviously benefit from experiencing the covenant which God made with the nation.  Why, then, do Chazal question the requirement to bring our children to participate in the mitzvah of Hakheil?

To answer this question, there are two things we need to understand about serving God and  receiving enlightenment.  First, all our accomplishments are possible only because God helps us.  There is nothing about serving God and experiencing Him that is not from Him.  As David HaMelech said, "כִּי־מִמְּךָ הַכֹּל וּמִיָּדְךָ נָתַנּו לָךְ/… for everything is from You and from Your hand we gave to You." (Divrei HaYamim 1 29:14) 

If everything that we do and accomplish is really from God, what is our role?  This leads us to the second thing we need to understand about serving God.  Our job, the Sfas Emes teaches, is to cultivate and strengthen our will and desire to come close to God, to experience Him and to do His will.  We awaken the desire to experience God and be enlightened by Him through Torah and prayer.  This is the meaning of God's promise, "כִּי לֹא תִשָּׁכַח מִפִּי זַרְעוֹ/It will not be forgotten from the mouth of his descendents"  The word "mouth" is an allusion to the power of our Torah and prayer and our ability to find enlightenment through them.

So, we need to have the desire to serve God and then God helps us to do it.  This is the meaning of, "שְׂכַר מִצְוָה מִצְוָה/The reward for a mitzvah is a mitzvah."  The reward for wanting to perform mitzvos is the opportunity, the wherewithal and the ability to do so.

Accordingly, Chazal ask, why bring the children to Hakheil.  Children may have a desire to serve God.  It's certainly not easy for children to come to Hakheil, stand and listen while the king reads from the Torah.  But what is the result of this effort?  The reward for coming to Hakheil – the ability to perform mitzvos – does not apply to children. 

The answer, Chazal teach us, is that the focus of bringing our children is us, not the children.  It is our mitzvah to bring our children to hear the king read from the Torah.  It is our desire that they grow into learned and God fearing Jews.  Our reward is seeing this happen.  Our children benefit through our efforts and positive desires for them.

This concept applies to everyone, not only to children.  Anyone who does not have a strong desire to devote himself to God, can submit to Tzadikim who do.  The strong desire of the tzadikim that each and every member of the nation serve God properly affects all those who submit to them just as the parents' desire to bring their children to Hakhel affects the children.

From the perspective of the tzadik, anyone who has a strong desire for anything related to serving God, is best off involving others instead of doing it alone.  If, for example, someone wants to improve and fulfill the mitzvah of not speaking lashon hara properly, the best thing to do is to work at influencing others as well.  As a reward for his efforts and desire, people who submit to him will be affected positively and will be inspired to fulfill this mitzvah properly according to the principle of, "שְׂכַר מִצְוָה מִצְוָה/the reward for a mitzvah is a mitzvah," as the Sfas Emes explained earlier.

When we see our positive desires having a positive influence on others, we are strongly motivated and our own desire for serving God becomes even stronger, much stronger than it would have been had we focused only on ourselves.  God accepts our desire to serve Him not as a private individuals, but rather as part of the nation.  This is certainly much more effective.