RASHI MENTIONS SOMETHING that needs to be understood. The Torah is talking about the special viduy (confessional) a person is supposed to say upon bringing their first fruits up the Temple, and it mentions that an Arami, Lavan, destroyed our father, Ya’akov Avinu, which begs the question, how are we there to even make such a confession? No father, no son.
Thus, Rashi explains that Lavan didn’t actually carry out his plan, but that was only because G–D had stopped him. And, unfortunately for Lavan, that was enough for G–D to “join his thought to the act,” meaning that, for all intents and purposes, it was if he had wiped out Ya’akov and his family since he had already planned it.
The Gemora )Kiddushin 40a) says that this does not apply to a Jew. A Jew can plan to do evil, but if he is prevented from carrying out his plan then it is not assumed that he would have, and become culpable. Being Jewish, it is assumed that he would have come to his senses even if only at the last minute, either as a result of conscience or inner sense of mercy.
Ostensibly, this is not talking about just any Jew no matter the level of Torah observance. The Gemora elsewhere says:
The ways of these [the Jews] are like fire. Were it not for [the fact that] the Torah was given to the Jewish people, [whose study and observance restrains them], no nation or tongue could withstand them. And this is what Rebi Shimon ben Lakish said: "There are three insolent ones: The Jewish people among the nations (Beitzah 25b)
What’s the difference? Everyone is born with a yetzer tov, a good inclination, but without the proper education it can be overlooked, forgotten about, and denied much of a voice in a person’s decision making. Humans can rise above instinct but often do not, or not high enough, and are very often led by it and often at the cost of noble causes. The world, for the most part, belongs to the yetzer hara and the people who are fighting it back are those with enough moral education to know to do so.
Just ask any ba’al teshuva. They will tell you how much more challenging their life became once they began to learn Torah. It woke up their yetzer tov and put restraints on their yetzer hara which never goes down without a good fight. Things they wouldn’t have thought twice about doing before becoming religious have become the source of great internal debate. They will tell you about times when they were on their way to do the wrong thing and, overcome by a newfound sense of Divine right and wrong, stopped themselves from following through.
The scary thing is what happens to a person who doesn’t have that. They don’t believe in G–D, they don’t accept the idea of Divine judgment or of the World to Come and Gihenom. As far as they are concerned, right and wrong is what they believe it is, and that is what guides their decisions and actions. The yetzer hara is not some ancient foreigner to battle against and keep at bay, but an accepted and integral part of who this group is, and they’re going to have a say in the direction of society.
They already do, big time. Both the GR”A and Ramchal identify four categories of Jews when it comes to be part of the final redemption.
The first group are the talmidei chachamim.
The second group are those Jews who may not be scholars, but they do their best to live by Torah and mitzvos.
The third group are those who, for one reason or another, do not necessarily keep Torah as they should, but they definitely identify with the Jewish People. They may not be learned Jews, but they are proud Jews.
The fourth group are the Erev Rav, those who divest themselves of anything traditionally Jewish and would love to impose their way on the rest of the nation.
Even within this last group, they say, some of the less intensely anti-Jewish elements might be reachable and will do teshuvah in time. Most will not, and that is part of the role of the War of Gog and Magog, to deal with those elements of the nation once and for all.
And history is doing a great job of surfacing them through the issues of the day. They might seem random, like whether or not yeshivah students should be forced into the Israeli army, but they are the result of a special Divine Providence to push people to have and voice their opinions.
We can’t forget, though we do, that history is about birrur, the separation of good from bad, holy sparks from the impure Klipos. It happens either through us when we learn Torah and perform mitzvos, or because of us when we suffer because we didn’t. All of the ninety-eight curses mentioned in this parsha are not random punishments for misbehavior. They are the alternative means of birrur when we don’t do the job ourselves, or at least well enough.
Changing the world, or even just most of the Jewish People to think like this and get in line is too tall an order for anyone short of Moshiach, and even he’ll require a War of Gog and Magog to help him out. But changing ourselves is not and even expected of us. Having an opinion about anything these days is crucial, and even more crucial to have the right one.
Pinchas Winston
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