Parshas Vayeilech
"G-d Is Not In Our Midst" Is An Inappropriate Response
This dvar Torah was adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher
Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion. Good Shabbos!
In Parshas VaYelech, on the last day of his life, Moshe Rabbeinu is given
the following prophetic news: "Behold, you will lie with your forefathers,
but this people will rise up and stray after the gods of that which is
foreign to the land, in whose midst it is coming, and it will forsake Me and
annul My covenant that I have sealed with it. My anger will flare against it
on that day and I will forsake them; and I will conceal My face from them
and they will become prey, and many evils and distresses will encounter it.
It will say on that day 'Is it not because my G-d is not in my midst that
these evils have come upon me?'" [Devorim 31:16-17]
It would seem that these words 'Is it not because my G-d is not in my midst
that these evils have come upon me?' would represent a positive action on
the part of the people. So much of the Tochacha (Chastisement) in Parshas
Bechukosai contains the refrain "And you have conducted yourself with me
b'keri [as if they were just matters of chance or bad luck]." It seems like
this attitude on our part is itself the cause of the Almighty's anger with
us. We are not supposed to attribute personal tragedy to "statistics" or to
the fact that "our number is up".
It would seem that the reaction foretold in Parshas Vayelech ('Is it not
because my G-d is not in my midst that these evils have come upon me?') is a
very positive one! If that is the case, the subsequent pasuk is very
surprising. The very next pasuk, portraying the Almighty's reaction to what
immediately preceded, is: "But I will surely conceal My face on that day
because of all the evil that it did, for it had turned to gods of others."
[Devorim 31:18]
Why would that be? If people are doing what they are supposed to be doing
and asking all the right questions of self-introspection, why would the
Almighty hide His face from us? We see from here that apparently "Is it not
because my G-d is not in my midst?" is NOT the reaction that Klal Yisrael
should have.
The Rebbe Reb Bunim of Pshische explains why this is NOT the proper
reaction. No matter how bad troubles may seem, a Jew should never say and
should never feel that the Almighty has abandoned him. It is heretical to
say: "G-d died in the Holocaust." This in no way minimizes the tremendous
fortitude it took for someone who went through the Holocaust to remain a
full believer and "no one should judge his fellow until he has been in his
place," however theologically, it is an unacceptable response to say "G-d is
no longer in our midst; He is dead!"
The correct response is that G-d remains in our midst, but for some reason
(perhaps not-understandable to us) this is His will. For this reason,
according to the Rebbe Reb Bunim, the reaction of the Almighty to such a
statement was "I will surely hide My face on that day."
The Gemara [Yoma 54b] states that the Keruvim atop the Aron in the Kodesh
HaKedoshim were male and female forms. When the Jews would fulfill the Will
of the Almighty, the Keruvim would embrace one another. When the Jews would
not fulfill His Will, they were separated.
The Talmud says that when the enemy came into the Kodesh HaKedoshim during
their destruction of the Bais HaMikdash, they saw the male and female
figures intertwined in an embrace and they mocked the Jews over the fact
that they maintained in their Bais HaMikdash male and female figures in
obscene poses.
The commentaries question why the Keruvim would be embracing during the time
of the Bais HaMikdash's destruction. Superficially, we would think that
there was no greater moment when "Israel did not fulfill the Will of the
Almighty" than the time when He saw fit to have the Bais HaMikdash
destroyed. At such a time, we would have expected to find the Keruvim
separated from one another.
The answer is because at the moment the Bais HaMikdash was destroyed, the
punishment had already been delivered. Immediately afterwards, the love of
the Almighty towards us was restored. It is like when a father spanks his
child. Right after administering the spanking, he embraces the child. The
child may have deserved the spanking for doing something wrong, but once
that debt was paid the love of father to son is immediately made evident again.
"Behold the L-rd is not in my midst" is never our situation. The message is
always "I am still with you, Klal Yisrael."
This week's write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher
Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Torah Tapes on the weekly Torah portion. The
halachic topics dealt with in the portion of Nitzavim-Vayelech in the
Commuter Chavrusah Series are the following:
Tape # 022 - Reading Haftorah: Scrolls vs. Book
Tape # 112 - Shoteh: Mental Incompetence in Halacha
Tape # 158 - Schar Shabbos: How Do We Pay Rabbonim and Chazzanim?
Tape # 205 - Kiddush Before T'kiyas Shofar
Tape # 252 - Buying Seforim
Tape # 295 Burying the Dead on Yom Tov Sheni
Tape # 341 - The Brachos on the T'kios
Tape # 342 - Is Building a Succah a Mitzvah?
Tape # 385 - Fasting on Rosh Hashana
Tape # 386 - Succah Gezulah
Tape # 429 - Treatment of an Invalid Sefer Torah
Tape # 473 - Seudas Siyum Mesechta
Tape # 517 - What Exactly Is Mitzva of Shofar
Tape # 561 Lo Bashomayin He
Tape # 605 Selling A Sefer Torah
Tape # 649 Minhagim of the Yomim Noraim
Tape # 693 My Father's Chumros
Tape # 737 Borrowing and Lending Seforim
Tape # 781 I'm the Baal Tokeah and Not You!
Tape # 825 The Shuls of Gaza A Halachic Perspective
Tape # 826 Yom Kippur: Women and the Shehecheyanu; Women and Kor'im
Tape # 869 - The Mitzvah of Chinuch-Whose Responsibility? Mother or Father?
Tape # 870 - Yom Kippur - The Yom Kippur That They Did Not Fast
Tape # 913 - The Tefilah of Oleinu
Tape # 957 - Coming Late for Tekias Shofar and Other Rosh Hashana Issues
Tape # 1000 - Ta'amei Hamikra - The Tropp - How Important Is It?
Tape # 1044 - Must You Stand for Chazoras HaShatz on Rosh Hashana?
Tape # 1088 - Learning During Tkias Shofer?
Tapes or a complete catalogue can be ordered from the
Yad Yechiel Institute, PO Box 511, Owings Mills MD 21117-0511.
Call (410) 358-0416 or e-mail tapes@yadyechiel.org or visit
http://www.yadyechiel.org/ for further information.
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