Divrei Nitzavim
Guarantors
“You are standing today, all of you, before Hashem your G-d: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers – all the men of Israel; your small children, your women, and your proselyte who is the midst of your camp, from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water.” (Devarim 29:9-10) Comments the Midrash Tanchumah: “’You are standing today’ – All of you are responsible for one another. Even if there is but one tzaddik among you, all of you are depending upon his merit. [And this concept applies] not only to you people alone, but in fact the entire universe exists because of that one tzaddik, as it says, ‘A tzaddik is the foundation of the world.’ (Mishlei 10:25) When one of you sins, the entire generation is punished, as you find by Achan, who stole and misused booty from Yericho and thereby caused thirty-six deaths in the first battle of Ai. The measure of punishment is small, yet the entire generation was punished because of Achan. The measure of reward, however, is much greater.”
Of all the concepts in Yiddishkeit, few are as foreign to the societies in which we now live as that of arvus, of being utterly interconnected and interresponsible for one another. In a world which prizes independence as a virtue, from the child who can tie his own shoelaces (or now, velcro his own sneakers), to the 100-yer old California woman who volunteers at a nursing home, visiting and caring for her younger contemporaries who could not continue on their own, it is considered a sign of weakness to admit that one needs anyone else in any way. Visitors to New Jersey find it uncomfortable to sit in the car while the attendant pumps the gas; outside the Garden State, full-serve fill-ups are only for those who cannot do it themselves.
The Torah tells us otherwise. Says the Gemara (Kiddushin 40b): “A person should always see himself as if he is half guilty and half innocent. Should he accomplish one mitzvoh, happy is he, for he has tipped himself to the side of merit. Should he commit one sin, woe is he, for he has tipped himself to the side of guilt . . . . Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Shimon says, Because both the world is judged by the majority and the individual is judged by the majority, should a person accomplish one mitzvoh, happy is he, for he has tipped himself and the world to the side of merit. Should he commit one sin, woe is he, for he has tipped both himself and the world to the side of guilt, as it says, (Koheles 9:18) ‘One sinner can ruin a great deal of good.’”
We are already familiar with the first idea, namely, that we should see ourselves and the world as half-merited and half guilty, and therefore we should do that mitzvoh which is in front of us, for it may tip the balance. Points out HaRav Aharon Kotler zt”l: implied in this statement is an incredible corollary: This concept is universal; no matter which generation we live in -- be it the glory days of Dovid and Shlomo, when every Jew knew and practiced all the Torah with the greatest effort, or today, when the vast majority of our nation have no idea that the Torah was given to us at Har Sinai – we must continue to look at the world as half-innocent and half-guilty, and that one mitzvoh in front us can and will tip the scale either way. (He adds that even if the situation is not half-and-half, since mitzvos are eternal, our performing that mitzvoh will one day cause the scale to tip one mitzvoh sooner than otherwise.) Even if reality – either way -- appears to be far from balanced, the potential merit of that mitzvoh is boundless.
To illustrate his point, Rav Kotler brings the Sefer Chassidim, which analyzes the famous statement by Rabbi Dosa, who noted that the entire world was fed on the merit of his son Chanina, who therefore did tzedaka with the entire world. Notes Rav Kotler: if someone can feed the entire world on his own merit, imagine the gigantic merit due to the person whose ma’asim tip the entire world to the side of merit. Certainly, if such a mtizvoh lies in front of us, we would be foolish to pass up upon that opportunity – and we have that choice on a constant basis. Says Rav Kotler: in fact, we should keep this concept in mind, in order to increase our output of mitzvos.
When we gave upon the inner dynamics of arvus, an entirely new dimension of reality unfolds before us. We are used to understanding arvus in the sense of tochacha; namely, that every Jew has an obligation, beyond that of the mitzvoh of correcting another Jew (Vayikra 19:17), which makes him responsible for every other Jew’s spiritual well-being. In his Tomer Devorah, the Ramak goes much further. He cites “kadmonim” -- ancient sources -- who say that all the neshamos of Israel are in reality one great soul, that every one of us possesses a part of it, and therefore we are intimately connected to one another at our essences. Therefore, says the Gemara (Yerushalmi Nedarim 9:4), the commandment to “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” is not simply a guiding principle to grease the axles of a smooth-running society, but is in fact a statement of ultimate reality: a part of ourselves lies in every other Jew, and a part of them lies in us. Therefore, when one Jew sins, all of Klal Yisroel suffers; but when one Jew does a mitzvoh, every Jew benefits, for we are all one. In this sense, every moment – even when we are alone – is an opportunity to fulfill the mitzvoh of ahavas Yisroel, for every Jew is constantly given yet another opportunity to fulfill a mitzvoh, and thereby bring goodness to all Israel.
This concept also sheds light upon the more well known aspect of arvus, that of reproof. Now that obligation goes far beyond its simple meaning, which can be summarized by the following scenario: when Reuven sees Shimon doing something wrong, Reuven should set him upon the right track, but “Reuven” and “Shimon” are two entirely separate individuals. Instead, keeping the concept of the Tomer Devorah in mind, when Reuven sees Shimon doing something wrong, Shimon’s sin is directly affecting Reuven, even more than Shimon had taken a sledgehammer to Reuven’s house, for then, he is only damaging his property, not his essence. On the other hand, when Shimon tells Reuven that he has just finished a masechta of Shas, Reuven’s obligatory “yeshar koachcha” (commonly heard as “Shekoyach!”) is not because someone else finished that masechta, but that through Shimon’s efforts, a part of Reuven also made that siyum!
This concept of arvus also helps to explain the end of the Midrash – “The measure of reward, however, is much greater.” Using the conventional definition of arvus as an obligation to reprove does not lead to any assumption that the positive aspect of arvus should be any stronger than the negative, for it emphasizes the negative. However, keeping in mind the Tomer Devorah’s concept, that every Jew’s neshamah is intertwined with that of every other Jew, be it for merit or for the opposite, we can then apply to arvus the well—known concept, namely, that the measure for good is always greater, as Hashem Himself expressed to Moshe at Har Sinai (see Shemos 34:7). Therefore, the merit of one tzaddik can be powerful enough to uphold his or her entire generation.
Furthermore, says Rav Kotler, we can now gain a deeper understanding of the Gemara (Sanhedrin 11a) which declares that “Hillel deserved to have the Shechinah rest upon him, but his generation was not worthy.” One might think that Hillel’s generation exerted such a negative influence upon Hillel that he himself was affected and so lost out. In reality, however, Hillel himself was worthy, and because every Jew carried a spark of his tremendous neshamah in themselves, every member of his generation was uplifted by him, as the Midrash says. On the other hand, because the generation itself was not worthy, and because part of their neshamos was inside that of Hillel’s, that part of his neshamah was not worthy to have the Shechinah rest upon him, even if otherwise he was fit for it, and therefore that “blemish” caused by his generation caused the Shechinah not to rest upon him.
In addition, Chazal make a seemingly incredible statement in the Gemara (Yuma 46b): “Because of one person who did teshuva, Hashem forgives the entire universe.” The Gilyon HaShas brings in the name of the Ramah MiPano that the key force that can bring about such a blanket amnesty is arvus. Again, based upon the simplistic definition of arvus as tochacha, there seems to be no connection. However, when we utilize the Tomer Devorah, and realize that every Jew is interconnected with every other Jew, we can now understand how it is possible for one Jew to do teshuva to such an extent that he or she uplifts every fellow Jew and -- because the universe was created b’reishis, for the sake of Israel, who are called reishis goyim – the universe as well. This concept should not give anyone an excuse not to do teshuva, by thinking, “All right, someone else will do such a teshuva that I’ll be shlepped along.” Quite the opposite – we should all strive to become that Jew who pulls the universe to the side of good, for we cannot imagine such a tremendous merit.
However, says Rav Kotler, before we can hope to enjoy a share of every other Jew’s mitzvos, there is one condition. Only if we can motivate ourselves to actively desire that a fellow Jew succeeds, can we then enjoy that part of his mitzvos. On the other hand, if we feel no need to stop a fellow Jew from sinning, then understandably, we have no share in his merits. Now we can understand when Chazal tell us that any Jew who not only does not care for others, but actually rejoices at witnessing their failures, has no share in the World to Come. Not only are his own merits corrupted by such an evil attitude, but he in turn corrupts others through his part of their neshamos, and the evil that he therefore unleashes keeps him from eternity.
Likewise, on a national level, if we care about the spiritual state of Klal Yisroel and strive to improve it, then we can merit a part of every Jew’s mitzvos, even if we do not directly influence them to perform them. (Of course, if we can manage to go out and actively cause another Jew to do Hashem’s Will, our reward is proportionately much greater. As Chazal tell us: ”Gadol Ha’M’aseh yoser min haOseh – the one who causes others to accomplish, is himself accomplishing more than them. For example, the reward for the gabbai tzedakah, the collector for a worthy cause, is greater than that of the donor himself. On the other hand, someone who feels nothing for his people and does not concern himself with their well-being is in a sorry state indeed. Not only does he lose out on any merit originating from others, but his coldness actually affects that part of him which is in others, cooling them down as well.
We now understand the Rambam (Hilchos Teshuva 3:11) who states: “[The definition of he] who separates from the ways of the public: Even if he has not sinned, but has become divided from the congregation of Israel, not performing any mitzvos among them, not taking part in their pain, and not fasting during their fast days. Rather, he goes on his own way, like a member of the nations of the world, as if he is not a member of Klal Yisroel – he has no share in the World to Come.”
Where do we find our inspiration for the proper attitude towards our fellow Jews? As Chazal tell us, the Torah begins with chesed and ends with chesed, and of course it teaches chesed all the way through. The most famous example comes at the beginning of Sefer Shemos (4:14), when Hashem tells Moshe at the Burning Bush: “Is there not Aharon your brother, the Levite? I know that he will surely speak; moreover, behold, he is going out to meet you and when he sees you he will rejoice in his heart.” Rashi there cites the Gemara (Shabbos 139a) and the Midrash Tanchumah: Moshe had been concerned that if he were to be appointed leader of the nation, his older brother might feel resentment. Hashem therefore reassured Moshe that Aharon would in fact be delighted to hear of his younger brother’s success. As a reward for having no hard feelings in his heart, Aharon was privileged to wear the Choshen Mishpat over his heart.
Even in those areas which do not at first glance seem to involve a caring heart, it can be found. For example, when Hashem desired to demonstrate that He had chosen Aharon and his family as kohanim, He ordered Moshe to place the walking staffs of the leaders of the shevatim in the Mishkan overnight, which Moshe did. The next day, Aharon’s staff had blossomed, and those of the others had not. Then, “Moshe brought out all the staffs from before Hashem to al the Children of Israel; they saw, and each man took his staff.” (BaMidbar 17:24) Asks HaRav Yaakov Moglenitzer zt”l (as recorded in A Treasury of Chassidic Tales 425-426): “Why does the Torah tell us that they each took their staffs? Aharon, of course, had to take his staff, in order that the rebellious Levites should see what Hashem had made clear. But to whom does it matter whether the other head of the Shevatim took their staffs or not? He answers: “The Torah is teaching us how great was their humility – that they each hastened to show those around them that their staffs had not blossomed, as if to say: ‘Look! Hashem chose not me, but Aharon.’” No doubt, they were as happy and enthusiastic about Aharon’s success as they would have been should they have been chosen.