Teshuva – A Person Thinks… and G-d Laughs
These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochar Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Torah Tapes on the weekly Torah portion: # 22 – Reading Haftorah: Scrolls vs Book. Good Shabbos.
The Rebuke Implicit in Moshe’s Inability to Cross the Yarden
“Vayeilech Moshe (And Moses went) and spoke all these words to all of Israel” (Devorim 31:1). The Medrash Tanchuma says that the word “vayeilech” always implies the giving of tochacha/mussar (rebuke). However, the continuation of the parsha does not seem to bear out this message of mussar. Where is the mussar shmues (ethical discussion) here?
The Mikdash Mordechai (Rav Mordechai Ilan; 20th century Israeli Rosh HaYeshiva) interprets the Medrash Tanchuma:
The Yalkut says that when Moshe told the nation “I am 120 years old today, I can no longer come and go; and G-d told me you will not cross this Jordan” (31:2), the people were astonished. How is it possible that this Moshe Rabbeinu who just yesterday could climb to the Heavens, is not able to even cross this narrow river? Moshe told them the reason was because “Hashem amar ailay…” (G-d said to me) “You will not cross this Jordan.”
The mussar that Moshe is delivering here is that people are not in control. People think that they call the shots. They think that they have strength and ability to do whatever they want. There is a Yiddish expression “Ah mensch tracht, un Gut lacht” (A person thinks… and G-d laughs). The mussar is that this same Moshe Rabbeinu that yesterday was like a malach (angel) who could do anything, can’t do anything today… because Hashem overruled him.
It is written in the Haftorah of Shabbos Shuvah, “Ashur lo yoshienu” (Assyria will not save us). Homiletically, it is expounded that the word ashur comes from osher, happiness. The navi (prophet) is saying that what you think is going to make you happy is not the determining factor. The determining factor is the Ribbono Shel Olam. If Hashem wants Moshe to fly in the sky, he flies in the sky. If Hashem doesn’t want him to cross the Yarden (Jordan), then Moshe Rabbeinu can’t cross the Yarden.
We, as human beings, especially those of us who are young, tend to think we are omnipotent. We can set goals and accomplish them. However, it is not so simple. Hashem is the one who gives us the strength to do everything. If He wants it, it happens. If He doesn’t want it, it doesn’t happen. This is the mussar of “Vayeilech Moshe…”
Despair Does Not Lead to Repentance
The parsha says (31:16-18) that Hashem predicted to Moshe Rabbeinu that after his death “This nation will arise and stray after the foreign gods of the land…and they will abandon me and nullify my covenant… and I will get angry with them…and abandon them and hide my face from them…and a multitude of terrible sufferings will befall them.” Then, the prediction continues, the Jewish people will say on that day “It is because G-d is not in our midst that these terrible events befell us.”
The simple reading leads us to believe that this reaction of the Jewish people is a perfect response of teshuva — of regret and repentance. However, the pasuk then proceeds to say, “And I will hide My face on that day because of all the evil they have done, for they turned to other gods.”
What is the reason for this continued hiding of Hashem’s presence? Isn’t the reaction of the Jewish people a noble and appropriate response of contrition? The answer lies in a pasuk in Tehillim (Psalms 130:4), “With You is the power of forgiveness in order that You should be feared.”
There seems to be a logical problem with this pasuk. We would think that Hashem’s power of forgiveness reduces the need for us to fear Him. It makes more sense to fear an unforgiving god than one who forgives.
Rav Dessler, z”tl, (1891-1954 – outstanding “mussar movement” personality) says when people despair, they have no hope and no fear. Before battle, soldiers are afraid. They don’t know what will face them on the battlefield. But soldiers in the midst of battle have no fear. At that point, the situation is desperate and hopeless. There is nothing to do. Fear is only relevant when there is hope to escape and avoid a situation, not when a situation is inevitable.
If Hashem was not a forgiver; if there was no recourse to teshuva, there would be nothing to be afraid of during the Asseres Yemei Teshuva (Ten Days of Repentance). There would simply be nothing to do! “I sinned. I will be punished. There’s nothing I can do about it.” But since “the power of forgiveness is with You…” and “if I approach you correctly, I can be forgiven, that’s why You should be feared.”
The Sefas Emes (Rav Yehudah Leib Alter, the second Gerrer Rebbe) says that this is the meaning of the pesukim in our parsha. It is not teshuva when troubles befall you and you say “because G-d is not in our midst, these troubles befell us…” That is yeush (despair)! When a person says I’m rotten and worthless, that is not repentance. It is the opposite of teshuva — it is despair. The aveira (sin) that triggers a further negative response from Hashem is the aveira of declaring oneself a worthless human being, devoid of any spirituality or religious sensitivity. (Hashem is not in my midst.)
The beginning of Parshas Netzavim (29:9) contains a similar idea: “You are today standing, all of you.” Rashi says that the Jewish people just finished listening to ninety-eight curses and they “turned green,” thinking, “How will we ever be able to survive?” Moshe Rabbeinu reassures them, “Don’t worry. You’ve made Hashem angry previously. He has forgiven you… Don’t worry. You are standing here today…” You will not be destroyed. Hashem will forgive you when you commit aveiros in the future, just like he has forgiven you for the aveiros you’ve done in the past.
Moshe appears to have ruined his mussar shmues. After he successfully alarms them with the fearsome threat of ninety-eight curses, why is he now undermining the effect of the entire “mussar shmues” by telling them not to be concerned by all this?
The answer is, as mentioned before: If the point of a “mussar shmues” is to cause people to feel desperate and without hope, then whatever the shmues had accomplished is destroyed. The point of teshuva is to have fear, but to also know that there is hope. The point is to be aware that, “Although I have done wrong in the past, my situation can be corrected.” A reaction of turning green, of “there is no G-d in my midst,” is a counter-productive reaction that will not lead to the desired teshuva. There is only hope when we know “You are all standing here today before Hashem” and that is “With You is forgiveness; consequently, You we shall fear.”
Transcribed by David Twersky; Jerusalem [email protected]
Edited by Dovid Hoffman; Baltimore, MD [email protected]
This week’s write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochar Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly Torah portion. A listing of the halachic portions for Parshas Nitzavim/Vayeilech is provided below:
- # 022 – Reading Haftorah: Scrolls vs. Book
- # 112 – Shoteh: Mental Incompetence in Halacha
- # 158 – Schar Shabbos: How Do We Pay Rabbonim and Chazzanim?
- # 205 – Kiddush Before T’kiyas Shofar
- # 252 – Buying Seforim
- # 295 – Burying the Dead on Yom Tov Sheni
- # 341 – The Brachos on the T’kios
- # 342 – Is Building a Succah a Mitzvah?
- # 385 – Fasting on Rosh Hashana
- # 386 – Succah Gezulah
- # 429 – Treatment of an Invalid Sefer Torah
- # 473 – Seudas Siyum Mesechta
- # 517 – What Exactly Is Mitzva of Shofar
- # 561 – Lo Bashomayin He
- # 605 – Selling A Sefer Torah
- # 649 – Minhagim of the Yomim Noraim
- # 693 – My Father’s Chumros
- # 737 – Borrowing and Lending Seforim
- # 781 – I’m the Baal Tokeah and Not You!
- # 825 – The Shuls of Gaza – A Halachic Perspective
- # 826 – Yom Kippur: Women and the Shehecheyanu; Women and Kor’im
- # 869 – The Mitzvah of Chinuch-Whose Responsibility? Mother or Father?
- # 870 – Yom Kippur – The Yom Kippur That They Did Not Fast
- # 913 – The Tefilah of Oleinu
- # 957 – Coming Late for Tekias Shofar and Other Rosh Hashana Issues
- # 1000 – Ta’amei Hamikra – The Tropp – How Important Is It?
- # 1044 – Must You Stand for Chazoras HaShatz on Rosh Hashana?
- # 1088 – Learning During T’kias Shofer?
- # 1131 – Asking For Personal Needs On Rosh Hashana?
- # 1173 – Oops! I Forgot Ya’Aleh Ve’Yavo in Bentching on Rosh Hashana
- # 1217 – Fascinating Halachos Pertaining to a Choleh on Yom Kippur
- # 1261 – Did I Say Hamelech Hakadosh? / Nuts on Rosh Hashana
- # 1305 – The Case of the Esrog That Was Not As Advertised
- # 1349 – The Baal Tokeah Who Was Doubtful If He Could Blow
- # 1393 – The Baal Tokeah Who Could Only Blow From His Left Side and Other Shofar Issues
- # 1437 – Dip the Apple in the Honey Make A Bracha: Which Bracha?
- # 1481 – Selichos: Can It Be Said Without a Minyan? Sitting Down?
- # 1567 – Returning A Lost Object to an Aino Yehudi
- # 1607 – Lo BaShamayim Hee – Can You Use The Heavens to Pasken Shailos?
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