It will say on that day, “Is it not because my G-d is not in my midst that these evils have come upon me?”[2]
That’s a good thing, isn’t it? The entire Jewish nation recognizes that it has gone down the wrong path, and that it needs to return to Hashem. So why does Hashem respond[3] to this with a promise of hester panim/hiding His countenance from them?
The simple answer is that Klal Yisrael’s response is insufficient as even a first step of teshuvah. Teshuvah must include more than a declaration of guilt. It must localize the source of the sin, i.e. what earlier action or inaction began a chain of events that culminated in more serious sin. This is the usual course of sin: a much less serious error leads to something more substantial, which in turn results in an even more weighty aveirah. For teshuvah to be effective, it must be conscious of where the road to ruination began.[4]
Chazal[5] note the mixture of various commandments in parshas Kedoshim. If a person passes up the mitzvah of v’ahavta l’rei’acha kamocha,[6] they say, he will next come to hate him.[7]After that, he will be led to take revenge against his fellow,[8] ultimately refusing to help support a Jew in dire need.[9] In the end, he will even commit murder. What connects them? The path to homicide may start with something as non-aggressive and seemingly harmless as failing to fully love another Jew. One spiritual failure begets the next – which often is more serious than the first.
Behind this all is the nature of the Jewish neshamah. Its kedushah has no room for corruption and filth. Hence, the yetzer hora cannot find anywhere to which it can attach itself – unless a chink develops in the armor. From there on, it is downhill. As Chazal observe,[10] a pasuk first calls the yetzer hora a visitor, then a guest, and finally the house owner. In other words, the yetzer hora has an increasingly easy time setting up shop in a person’s personality. In the end, it takes possession entirely.
From the slightest crack, the yetzer hora can work to enlarge it, moving a person from small indiscretions to major aveiros.
- Adapted from Be’er Moshe, by the Ozherover Rebbe zt”l ↑
- Devarim 31:17 ↑
- Devarim 31:18 ↑
- For a fascinating account of this idea applied what facilitated Adam’s first sin in the absence of a yetzer hora, see Rav Tzadok’s Machshavos Charutz, #18 ↑
- Sifrei, Devarim 19:11 ↑
- Vayikra 19:18 ↑
- Vayikra 19:17 ↑
- Vayikra 19:18 ↑
- Vayikra 25:36 ↑
- Sukkah 52b ↑