Shabbos Parashas Nitzavim - 5775

Shabbos Parashas Nitzavim - 5775

Rabbi Hal Miller

And it will be that when he hears the words of this imprecation, he will bless himself

in his heart, saying, 'Peace will be with me when I follow the craving of my heart',

thereby adding the watered upon the thirsty. [Devarim 29:18]

Rosh Hashanah is upon us. The time is propitious for the review of every part of our lives,

to ensure that we keep the commandments. But when we say that we keep the

commandments, do we really know what we're saying?

Our verse states that there are some people who will refuse to follow the Torah, yet will

commend themselves for doing 'right' because they have come to their own conclusion

about what is correct. Applying the previous verse, Ramban says that there are two

types of people here: one who is doing wrong this moment, and one who does wrong in the

future because they have become (through their teachers) separated from Torah already.

For our purposes, we will treat the second class as 'innocent victims', and concentrate

instead on the first class. But we must still bear in mind that there are far-reaching

consequences should we fall into that first class, not just to ourselves.

Who is it that our verse speaks of? It's easy to say, "a heretic", but there is more.

Rashi says that it is one who "will think in his heart, these curses will not reach me, rather,

I will have peace. I go as my heart sees fit." Rashi does not imply someone who is doing

sin intentionally, or tossing Torah out knowing that he is doing so. This is someone who

has, for whatever reason, come to believe that he knows better than the Torah-observant

people around him, and chooses his own path because he feels he is right.

There are two possibilities here. The first is that this individual has determined that he is

somehow a better judge of the word of God than were all those who came before. He

thinks, "they didn't know what new technology would be developed", or "in this modern

day and age, ..." The Torah explicitly ruled against this view in numerous ways, such

as requiring "a court greater in number and scholarship" to overrule a previous court in

a halachic pronouncement; or such as declaring that the Torah was given to man, not

left in Heaven, such that it is for mankind as a whole to guard. We are often told that each

generation further away from the revelation at Sinai brings us further away from our

ability to understand as thoroughly as did our predecessors.

The second possibility is that this individual was just taught wrong in the first place.

If someone teaches that the Torah says that adultery is allowable, we know that this

is wrong. But if instead he teaches something more subtly wrong, it may not be quite as

obvious to the student. If the student then criticizes others for not performing in the wrong

subtleties, they are furthering the problem, either by teaching others directly, or demanding

that others follow their "rules" as well. This is, simply, self-centeredness, thinking that,

"I know better than everybody else."

Both of these possibilities are matters of "studying Torah", but not really "learning it"

or applying it. During the days prior to Rosh Hashanah, our verse is telling us to make

a careful review of our lives, to make sure we are applying the Torah of G-d, not the

torah of our own making.

Judaism is not a fluid religion. It does not flow with the tide, nor change with the latest

technology or fad. Yes, we can determine how our rules apply to technology or other

knowledge, but we have no right to change the rules. If we wish to be more strict with

our own lives, that's our individual business, so long as we stay within Jewish law.

If we lead or insist that others also conform to our additional standards, we are doing

something wrong. We have no right to separate Jews into camps of "G-d's Law" and

"My Version of G-d's Law".

May these be days of coming back to G-d's Torah, and leaving our own behind.

May this bring about our Redemption.