The articles in this column are transcriptions and adaptations of shiurim by Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, zt”l. The Rav’s unique perspective on Chumash permeated many of the shiurim and lectures he presented at various venues over a 40-plus-year period. His words add an important perspective that makes the Chumash in particular, and our tradition in general, vibrant and relevant to our generation.
Please dedicate In memory of the first yahrzeit of Dr. Eva Stahl, who exemplified strength through modesty and love for her family, the Jewish people and Israel.
The Gemara (Berachos 32a) interprets the phrase “Vayechal MosheI”to mean that Moshe prayed with such fervor on behalf of Bnei Yisrael, it was as if he made Hashem ill. Moshe persisted in prayer until Hashem answered positively. Moshe demonstrated extreme self-sacrifice in how he kept knocking on the door of the King until he received a reply. When Moshe prayed for himself or for his sister Miriam, he was very brief. However, when he prayed on behalf of the people he was willing to continue as long as necessary to attain forgiveness on their behalf.
Another interpretation of Vayechal is that Moshe was mattir neder, rescinded the vow, for Hashem. The Rav noted that this is the source for the Tikunei Zohar that each year, when we recite Kol Nidre prior to the onset of Yom Kippur, we are mattir neder, absolve the oath, for Hashem so that He can forgive the people. Beis din can rescind an oath for one who comes before them and expresses remorse over taking the oath. But beis din will not absolve an oath for a person who expresses satisfaction with the oath until this point, but now wishes to rescind the oath and pursue a different path. Hataras nedarim requires the person to express remorse for the entirety of the neder in order to remove it. A viable oath requires the person to be of a single mind when he took the oath. The person tells beis din that in retrospect, he suffered from a split personality when he took this oath. He acted inexplicably and indefensibly in accepting the oath. Beis din must determine that indeed the oath was taken in error in order to rescind it.
The same requirement applies to teshuvah. A person who wishes to distance himself from previous actions because they are no longer applicable, and not because he regrets those actions, is not a baal teshuvah. Repentance, like rescinding an oath, requires the Jew to realize that the entire action was wrong and embarrassing and to regret it in its entirety. Repentance is built on the notion that the person who is now asking for forgiveness is not the same individual who committed the act. In his teshuvah process, man states that something extraneous coerced him to act negatively, as if a second personality, a dybbuk, possessed him and caused him to sin. He looks back on the entirety of his actions and does not comprehend how he possibly could have acted that way. Man sins because he becomes intoxicated with the situation. When the stupor wears off he wonders how could he have possibly succumbed and acted improperly. The only answer for his actions is that he had a double, inconsistent personality. With repentance, the personality that sinned has been driven out.
The Torah teaches us to be consistent at home and in public. Rabbis must be careful to avoid acting one way in private and more piously in public. The mark of gedolei Yisrael, like Reb Chaim Brisker, zt”l, was to maintain a consistent personality. The story is told of the wagon driver who, while transporting Reb Yisrael Salanter, saw an unattended pile of hay and took some. When Reb Yisrael admonished him that people were watching, the driver immediately dropped the hay and moved on. Later, when he inquired who was watching, Reb Yisrael retorted why was he concerned that a human was observing him? What about the fact that Hashem is constantly watching? Man must recognize this and behave consistently in public and private, regardless of who is observing him.
People who returned to religion later in life would remark that they can’t understand how they acted the way they did. For example, King Saul was possessed by a ruach ra’ah, evil spirit, that forced him to attempt to kill David. Saul, the chosen one of Hashem, who Chazal say was pure from sin, did not act that way on his own. A person questions “where was I when this happened,” even though he himself signed the document. Beis din determines that indeed, the person was not really there when this act occurred. This principle of an alternate personality underlies modern psycho-therapy, but it is a Judaic principle.
Moshe asked Hashem to gaze upon Bnei Yisrael the same way that beis din views the noder. He argued that the inner personality of the people who worshiped the golden calf was still pure. They were searching for a way to worship Hashem and this led them down the wrong path. For every Jew that worshipped the golden calf there was another Jew who was still pure from sin. The nature of the Jew is good. He entreated Hashem, please be mattir neder and forgive them and spare them.
We, especially those engaged in outreach and education, must try to reach this hidden personality within the non-observant Jewish community at large. There are two kinds of rebuke. The direct approach, scolding the Jew as wicked and a habitual transgressor, will not succeed in attracting any baalei teshuvah. Today we must use Moshe’s approach, one that shows the people that they are not quite as bad as they think they are. Sometimes these Jews feel that they are so entrenched in sin that there is no way back. The true leader must be able to show them that they can indeed return. The great leader is capable of showing the people that they are never as unredeemable as they may believe themselves to be. The original approach of chassidism in general, and Chabad in particular, was that the Jew is always salvageable. We can never lose sight of this; we can never be mafkir the tzibbur.
When Hashem told Moshe of the option to destroy the people and make him and his descendants into a great nation, Hashem was telling Moshe that it is up to him. If he will demonstrate self-sacrifice, mesiras nefesh, for the people, he will be able to find in the people the true spark of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. As the Gemara says, Moshe was the friend of the King who was given the opportunity to save the prince. Moshe disregarded his own personal risk and loss and grabbed the opportunity to intercede with Hashem on their behalf. He said that, You, Hashem, swore to destroy the Jewish nation because of their sin. (An utterance by Hashem has the weight of an oath.) However as Vayechal suggests, I have a pesach, an opening, You can use to rescind that oath. Take note that each of them has two personalities. The personality that worshipped the golden calf should be destroyed, but the good side of the Jew must be preserved. The friend pointed out to the King that the son has a good side as well that must be protected and preserved. Moshe said that he would work with them to expose the pure Jew obscured by the sin.