Parshas Haazinu
Sensitivity Training
By Rabbi Shlomo Jarcaig
Just hours before his death, Moshe teaches the Jewish Nation a song with
his
final words of motivation and praises of G-d. It begins, "The Rock, perfect
is His work, for all His ways are justice; a G-d of faith, without
iniquity,
righteous and fair is He." (Devarim/Deuteronomy 32:4) Rashi explains the
term "of faith", which connotes being trusted to fulfill a promise, refers
to G-d's trustworthiness to pay the righteous for their righteousness in
the
World to Come. The seemingly superfluous statement of "without iniquity"
refers to the reality that even the wicked are given reward for their
righteousness, but their payment is in this world.
This does not appear balanced. If rewards in this world are indeed
comparable to rewards in the next, should not the righteous be allotted
some
physical rewards for their good deeds as are the wicked? If the rewards
are
not comparable, why should the wicked people be denied full payment for the
few good deeds they did?
Our Sages teach us (Pirkei Avos/Ethics of the Fathers 4:22) that one hour
of
spiritual bliss in the World to Come is better than an entire life of
pleasure in this world. The righteous are not rewarded for fulfilling
mitzvos (G-d's commands) in this world is because any reward in this world
would be substandard. Why then do such rewards suffice for the
non-righteous?
Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler (1) explains that when a person dies, his soul,
imbued with all the values and character with which it lived, returns to
G-d's realm - a "world" where all experiences, including all rewards, are
exclusively spiritual. A person whose focus in life was physical and
temporal pleasures would find this situation the greatest torture. He
would find himself in a realm in which he cannot have the things he truly
wants, and he never developed the tools to appreciate the spiritual
treasures he does have. He does not value this cache for the reward it
truly is, so how can G-d reward him for the mitzvos he did do? He gives
this person the physical currencies he DOES value - wealth, honor,
luxuries - the remuneration of this temporal world. While such
compensation is comparatively insignificant, it is the reward he has
chosen for himself. But the person who focused on striving to connect to
the Divine, developing his character and G-d consciousness with Torah
study and mitzvah fulfillment,
the physical necessities of this world are a hindrance. With the demise of
the physical body, those limitations are removed and the soul can connect
with G-d, fully able to experience and enjoy the ultimate pleasure.
The development of that relationship, the genesis of that G-d
consciousness,
is the product of the sensitivity training we choose to utilize during our
physical lives in this world. Throughout the just completed Yom Kippur we
often proclaimed, "For we are Your people and You are our G-d, we are Your
Children and You are our Father.we are Your people and You are our King, we
are your designated and You are our Designated." Now, we need to live it!
Have a Good Shabbos!
(1) 1891-1954; in Michtav Me'Eliyahu, his collected writings and
discourses;
from England and, later, B'nai Brak, he was one of the outstanding
personalities and thinkers of the Mussar movement
Text Copyright © 2005 by Rabbi Shlomo Jarcaig
and Torah.org.
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