Innocence With G-d

Shoftim

Parshat Shoftim always coincides with the beginning of the month of Elul. The Rokeach (Shir HaShirim 6:3) says "Elul" (the letters aleph lamed vav lamed) are an abbreviation for "Ani le'Dodi ve'Dodi Li" (I am for my Beloved and my Beloved is for me).

The relationship between HaKadosh Baruch Hu and Am Yisrael is likened to the relationship between a husband and a wife, HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the "husband" kivyachol and Am Yisrael is the "wife." The reason that that Shlomo HaMelech chose to use the word Dodi for husband instead of "ishi" or "ba'ali." is that it is possible for a husband to "divorce" his wife, to sever the family tie, but that is not possible for an uncle. Your uncle will always remain your uncle, regardless.

While the above pasuk is undoubtedly the epitome of the mutual devotion between us and HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the style of the wording "I am for You and You are for me" raises a pertinent question.

The Mishna (Avot 5, 1) lists four character-traits:

Mine is mine and yours is yours – is the character trait of Sodom

Mine is yours and yours is mine – is the character trait of an ignoramus

Mine is yours and yours is yours – is the character trait of a chassid

Mine is mine and yours is mine – is the character trait of an evil person

The 2^nd character trait, "what is mine is yours and what is yours is mine," can be summarized in one word – Communism. No person is entitled to have anything different to their fellow man, it is all one collective, equality. The Mishna says that this is the philosophy of an "Am Ha'aretz," an ignoramus.

What does it mean to be an Am Ha'aretz? It is a debate in the Gemara (Berachot 37b). Many opinions are brought, the common denominator between all of them is that a person who is called an Am Ha'aretz is someone who is not well versed in halacha, what we would call today – an "ignoramus."

If this is the case, then someone who says Ani le'Dodi ve'Dodi Li, I am Yours and You are mine – is in fact saying "Mine is yours and yours is mine" and is in fact – an Am Ha'aretz? How can this be?

To begin to understand this, we need to go back, way back … to Gan Eden and the sin of Adam and Chava.

Instead of simply doing as they were told, Adam and Chava tried to "second guess" HaKadosh Baruch Hu. What does it mean to "second guess" HaKadosh Baruch Hu? It means that the party involved believes that only they know what is best for them, and that nobody else (including HaKadosh Baruch Hu), knows better. It is a kind of an "arrogance" that their intellect/knowledge is superior to everyone else's. This was the essence of the sin with the Tree of Knowledge.

This is the inherent danger with knowledge, when we acquire it, the more we acquire - we tend to develop a sense of “propriety” over it and this often results in arrogance. This is the inherent danger with any type of knowledge, Torah knowledge, scientific knowledge, etc.

The first person in history to not “second guess” HaKadosh Baruch Hu was Avraham Avinu. Avraham was something of a child prodigy. At age three (Nedarim 32b), Avraham, using the powers of his own intellect, understood that there was a higher power in the world. Despite his high IQ, Avraham never questioned G-d’s wisdom.

It was not that Avraham Avinu had no tough questions, he was subjected to ten trials and certainly had questions. Throughout his life though, he only asked HaKadosh Baruch Hu two questions. Not because Avraham thought that he knew better, but in an attempt to invoke HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s attribute of mercy. When he tried to defend the inhabitants of Sodom and when he asked HaKadosh Baruch Hu how his descendants, Am Yisrael, would continue to merit the land even though they would sin.

Even Moshe Rabbeinu, the receiver of the Torah never reached this level. After Moshe first visited Pharaoh and this worsened the conditions for Am Yisrael, Moshe questioned HaKadosh Baruch Hu, who replied “How I miss the Forefathers, they never questioned me” (Shemot Rabba 6, 4).

The absence of questions was not because Avraham lacked knowledge and understanding. Chazal say that the Avot observed the entire Torah (Mishna, Kiddushin 4:14). Avraham was an unfathomable genius and certainly had freedom of thought and opinions of his own, but he never questioned – even when HaKadosh Baruch Hu told him to sacrifice his son, contrary to everything he stood for.

What causes us to ask questions? To question the wisdom or the justice of HaKadosh Baruch Hu? There are many reasons – crisis, our yetzer hara, trauma, etc.

The essence of sin is thinking we are "smarter" than HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that our logic and knowledge take precedence over what HaKadosh Baruch Hu tells us. This is what gives rise to scientists instigating technological/ecological disasters, medical and pharmaceutical professions instigating medical disasters, economists instigating financial disasters, five-star generals instigating military disasters. Hell is filled with predominantly "smart" people, there are very few ignoramuses in hell.

HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants us to be smart; He wants us to study Torah – as much as possible and acquire as much Torah knowledge as possible. However, as great as we may be, whether we are a Moshe Rabbeinu, or even an Adam HaRishon (the greatest human ever created), when we set the sum total of all our knowledge and intelligence against the sum total of HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s infinite knowledge and wisdom, we are infinitesimally insignificant ignoramuses in comparison, like an Am Ha'aretz.

This is the essence of the month of Elul. It is us admitting that, compared to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, we are an Am Ha'aretz, that we have no right to question or "second guess" HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

That is what our parsha means when it says "Be innocent with the L-rd you G-d" (Devarim 18:13).

Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: What is a Yid'oni (Devarim 18:11)?

Answer to Last Shiur’s Trivia Question: How do we know if someone is a false prophet? If a "prophet" gives you a "sign" or performs a "miracle" and uses that to incite you against serving G-d, he is a false prophet (Devarim 13:2-3).