In this week’s shiur, I would like to explore a concept called “Vayishman Yeshurun Va’yiv’at” (Devarim 32:15), literally translated as “Yeshurun will get fat and kick.”
Yeshurun is one of the names of Am Yisrael. What is the origin of the name Yeshurun? We know that Moshe calls Am Yisrael “Yeshurun” (see parshat Ha’azinu, Devarim 32:15), but how do we know G-d also calls Am Yisrael “Yeshurun?” It is from another pasuk “Do not fear my servant Yaakov and Yeshurun” (Yishayahu 44:2).
Seemingly this concept is telling us is that Am Yisrael will get “fat” and “kick,” i.e. they will get complacent (too comfortable) and rebel against G-d.
Why does the pasuk use the word “Va’yiv’at” to tell us that Am Yisrael will rebel against G-d, why “kick?”
The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 3a) says that the goyim came to complain to G-d. “The reason Am Yisrael are your chosen nation is because you gave them 613 mitzvot to observe. If you would have given us all these mitzvot, we too would have been your chosen children!” G-d responded to this claim “You think you would have observed the mitzvot like Am Yisrael? Let’s see. I have one small mitzvah, an easy mitzvah that doesn’t cost much, called Sukkah (back then building a sukkah didn’t cost much, today it is not that cheap). Let’s see you observe this mitzvah.”
The goyim indeed did go ahead and build sukkot on their roofs. G-d then brings the sun out in full force to beat down upon them. A short time later, the goyim can’t take the heat anymore and rush out of the sukkah, kicking it as they leave. G-d then laughs at them.
The Gemara goes on to ask, “But the halacha is that if someone is seriously suffering in the sukkah (from rain/heat, etc.), you are allowed to exit!” The Gemara answers, “Yes you are allowed to leave the sukkah according to halacha, but when a Jew leaves under such circumstances, he is very distressed to leave, he certainly does not kick the sukkah.” The reason the goyim kick the sukkah is not to exhibit remorse or distress, but rather anger and disdain. G-d gave them a simple test that they failed. Instead of responding with humility and admittance “Yes, Am Yisrael truly are the chosen people, they are more spiritually elevated than us,” they are angered by their own failing and as result, belittle and reject the Torah “Who needs the Torah anyway!”
When Moshe wants to say that Am Yisrael will “rebel” against G-d, he uses the word “Va’yiv’at,” “kick,” indicating that same disdain as the goyim kicking the sukkah as they leave – “Who needs G-d anyway?”
When Moshe uses this phrase to rebuke Am Yisrael in parshat Ha’azinu, he states this as a fact, not as a conditional statement. It is not a theoretical concept that might happen, Moshe is saying – it is for sure going to happen!
In the parshiyot Ki Tavo and Bechukotai, the curses are prefaced by blessings. When we read them, it sounds like paradise on earth! However, Moshe is telling us that when G-d gives us all these blessings, the inescapable outcome is that we are going to “kick.” It may not be immediate, but it will eventually happen.
When Am Yisrael first received the mann, they were in wonder of it, but a few decades later it already became to them “Lechem Ha’Klokel,” the “cursed bread.” Similarly, when Am Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael and discovered the wonders of the Holy Land – the infrastructure that the goyim built for us, the riches they discovered hidden in the walls of the houses, the miraculous natural bounty and beauty of the land. How long did this last? A few short generations. Read sefer Shoftim, it is a repetitious saga of rebelling against G-d and returning to Him.
How does this destructive dynamic come about?
The first cause is complacency. The first time you see something, it is amazing, wondrous, but the second time you see the same “magic,” it is not so impressive. After the 10,000th time, it becomes – the norm. For Am Yisrael who left Egypt, the mann was miraculous, but their children who were born in the Midbar, were born into the reality of the mann, to them it was how the world normally operated. Similarly with the first generation who entered Eretz Yisrael under Yehoshua, it was wondrous and amazing, but their grandchildren, who were born in Eretz Yisrael – to them it was the norm.
The second cause is propriety. When G-d created man, He blessed us “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and ‘Kivshuha’” (Bereishit 1:28). What does “Kivshuha” mean? Most of the Mefarshim (Abarbanel, Sforno, Malbim, etc.) say that by multiplying and inhabiting the earth with human beings, we distance the wild animals and thereby “tame the jungle.” However, the Targum Yonatan and Onkelos, translate it differently – “you will control it.”
In other words, “Kivshuha” means that we will dominate our world. We will discover how it works and will manipulate things in the world for our own benefit. We will discover the principles of aeronautics and build airplanes to allow us to travel quickly from place to place. We will discover the secrets of electricity, light, waves, biology, botany, astronomy etc. and we will invent things like light bulbs, telephones, internet, antibiotics, cherry tomatoes, space shuttles.
The danger is that we will mistakenly assume “propriety” over these discoveries and inventions and we will think that it was our intelligence that enabled us to discover and invent them, our strength and perseverance that enabled us to build skyscrapers that reach up to the clouds, tame the wasteland with millions of acres of fields, growing genetically engineered crops that are juicier, bigger, more pest and climate resistant, creating global villages and global economies proving sustenance and employment for billions and billions of people.
We will assume propriety over all these advancements and forget that it was G-d that gave us the intelligence, the strength and the perseverance to accomplish all these things. And we will think “Who needs G-d? G-d didn’t create airplanes, the Wright Brothers did.
The dynamic of “Vayishman Yeshurun Va’yiv’at” begins with prosperity, it emerges from prosperity. And it causes us to forget Hashem.
The Torah is rife with myriad reminders of G-d, in everything we do, and they all have one common denominator. Gratitude, says the Alsheich (Devarim 26:1) is the cornerstone of the entire Torah. Simply saying “Thank you” to G-d, is the foundation for every single one of the 613 mitzvot in the Torah. By thanking G-d, you are acknowledging that G-d is the source of everything, even the accomplishments we attribute to ourselves.
This is how we should approach Rosh Hashana this year, a completely different year than most of us expected last Rosh Hashana. We should review everything in this tumultuous year, focusing primarily on the good and approach Rosh Hashana with a deep sense of gratitude. By first thanking G-d for everything, we have the legitimacy to ask Him for life, blessing, peace, parnassah … and all the other, numerous requests we have.
Ketiva ve’Chatima Tova le’Altar le’Chayim Tovim u’le’Shalom.
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Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: Where is the hint to Sukkot in parshat Ha’azinu?
Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question: Where was the Sefer Torah that Moshe wrote before he died placed? It is a debate (Bava Batra 14a). Some say in the Aron HaBrit, some say on a shelf alongside the Aron.
