Shabbat-B'Shabbato – Yom Kippur

No 1544: 10 Tishrei 5775 (4 October 2014)

AS SHABBAT APPROACHES

Who is the Intermediate? - by Rabbi Mordechai Greenberg, Rosh Yeshiva, Kerem B'Yavne

The Talmud teaches us that two books are opened on Rosh Hashanah. Righteous people are immediately inscribed for continued life and evil people are inscribed for death. People who are intermediate remain unsettled between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. If they have merit they are then inscribed for life, and if they do not have merit they are written down for death. (Rosh Hashanah 16b.)

The Rambam quotes this passage but he changed the ending. "If the person repents he is inscribed for life, but if not he is inscribed for death" [Hilchot Teshuva 3:3].

Reb Itzele, the disciple of Rabbi Yisrael from Salant, asks in his book "Kochavei Or" why the Rambam changed the text from the way it was written in the Talmud. After all, a righteous person is one who has done a majority of mitzvot and an evil person has done a majority of sins. Thus, intermediate one has done half mitzvot and half sins. Then, during the Ten Days of Awe, let the intermediate person perform one mitzva and turn the balance in his favor. Why must he or she perform an act of repentance in order to merit life?

Reb Itzele's answer to this question is that the obligation to repent at this time of the year is very great because at this time it is very easy to do so. The sages teach us that the verse "Call out to Him when He is nearby" [Yeshayahu 55:6] is referring to the Ten Days of Awe. Chassidism describes this as a time when "the King" is in the fields and readily available to everybody, when no special preparations are needed to meet Him. Thus, to refrain from repenting at that time is a great sin, and therefore good deeds will not suffice since the obligation to repent takes precedence over all else. The Rambam made it clear that the heavenly decision is not based on a simple count but on the importance of each mitzva and sin in the balance – that one merit can have greater weight than many sins and one sin can outweigh many good deeds. Thus, if a person does not repent he will not benefit by doing good deeds.

However, Rabbi Hutner is not happy with this explanation (Pachad Yitzchak, Rosh Hashanah 19), since it implies that a person's status is unstable and can change from one moment to the next – if he happens to encounter a number of serious failures he might lose the status of having "a majority of merits" and vice versa. He feels that this is not reasonable.

Rabbi Hutner therefore suggests a novel interpretation – that "a majority of merits" does not depend on good deeds that the person performs but is rather a characteristic of the soul, an inherent trait of a person. Somebody whose soul tends towards good has a majority of merits. Even if he has failed and sinned this does not change his character. For example, a person who has developed a trait of patience will not lose this characteristic if in a specific case he becomes angry. There is a great difference between a patient person who shows anger once and a person who is habitually angry.

Thus, the intermediate person is not one whose sins and merits are equal but one whose soul has not yet developed an affinity for good or evil. Such a person's status will not change if he performs a few more mitzvot or sins. Therefore the way for him to change his status and to be inscribed for life is for him to change his character and become a better person. And that is why the Rambam wrote that he should repent – he should improve his character and not try to perform a number of mitzvot. Only repentance can bring him to a status of "a majority of merits," and then he can immediately be inscribed for a good life.

POINT OF VIEW

What did the iPhone Teach me about Faith? - by Rabbi Yisrael Rozen, Dean of the Zomet Institute

"Know what is above you: An eye that sees and an ear that hears, and all your actions are recorded in a book" [Avot 2:1].

"I Learned Three Things"

Masters of ethics (mussar) and Chassidut were able to draw deep insights from everything in the world around them. An example is what is written, "If the Torah had not been given we would have learned about modesty from the cat, robbery from the ant, and incest from the dove" [Eiruvin 100b]. Another example is the following statement by Reb Moshe-Leib from Sassov (others attribute this to Rebbi Zusha from Napoli): I learned three things from a baby – (1) He is never idle, not for an instant, he is always busy. (2) When he misses something he immediately starts to cry, without feeling any shame. (3) When his demand is satisfied he is happy and no longer sad and bitter. The discerning eye of the Masters of Chassidut did not even avoid using a thief as an object for lessons. The Maggid of Mezerich learned proper behavior from the traits of a thief: (1) He does not rest at night, and what he did not accomplish one night he puts off to the next one. (2) He is faithful to his colleagues and will not break their trust. (3) He is willing to put himself in danger in order to accomplish his goal, even if it does not have any great significance.

I remember hearing a similar statement about lessons to be learned from getting into a car. (1) It is necessary to bend down, it cannot be done with the head held high. (2) One must remove his high hat, as a symbol of submissiveness and capitulation. (3) Anybody who wants to make himself very comfortable will always take away something from the others. There are also lessons to be learned from a train: (1) Man is confined within time and is not beyond the time. (2) Whoever doesn't pay will be forced to leave the train. (3) It is okay to be early for a train, but one is not allowed to be late...

The source for this format of listing three elements in a lesson can be seen in the Talmud, "At that point I learned three things from him. I learned that one should not enter a ruin, I learned that one can pray while on a journey, and I learned that on a journey one should pray a short prayer." [Berachot 3a]. In Eiruvin (see above, learning modesty from a cat, etc), this approach was derived from the verse, "Who gives us more knowledge than the beasts or is wiser than the birds in the sky?" [Iyov 35:11].

In this vein, and in the spirit of Yom Kippur, when mankind stands before the Creator, let us look at three things that I have learned from the realm of electronic communications media – the iPhone, the internet, and the computer, with everything surrounding them. As is quoted above, "An eye that sees and an ear that hears, and all your deeds are recorded in a book."

An Eye that Sees

The question of the Holy One, Blessed be He, "Where are you?" [Bereishit 3:9], a reference to physical position, seems at first glance to have been solved in our modern era. No person is free to hide from the "Big Brother" or from the intelligence gathering services of the 8200 Unit in the IDF, and certainly not from the Holy One, Blessed be He. A person can be found far beyond the dark mountains and in the intricate wilds of the jungle. He leaves behind a digital trace, and using the chip beating away in his pocket he gives out the news: "Here I am!" (In the next generation it will probably also be possible to receive position signals from a living heart.) "If a man hides, can I not see him, G-d asks" [Yirmiyahu 23:24]. "There is no hiding from its heat" [Tehillim 19:7].

And I would like to suggest an idea for a startup that will help limit surfing in sites that would be included in the prohibition, "Do not follow your eyes" [Bamidbar 15:39]. A program (which will be installed voluntarily) which will allow human oversight of the computer screens from a distance, with the ability to break in with a "STOP" sign (perhaps accompanied by a siren). There is no need for legions of secret watchers who will broadcast the warnings continuously. It will be enough that a random possibility for such interruptions exists...

An Ear that Hears

The heading above this paragraph represents the positive side of the media. Even a person who lives in solitude or is confined to a sick bed can communicate with the outside world – family, friends, radio broadcasters, or assorted advisors. The "listening ear" is also characteristic of an interactive address that is available on internet media, one that is open for two-way interaction. By taking advantage of the communications keys and a keyboard any person – in a city, in the desert, in prison, in an old age home, in a military foxhole, on top of or underneath a table – can express his views. "Will my voice be heard??" You bet it will!

Actions Recorded in a Book

From my earliest memories I was always amazed and impressed by wondering how the Holy One, Blessed be He, can know at one and the same time every "action of a man and all his wants" and "remember everything that has been forgotten" [from the High Holy Day prayers]. "'He tells a person what he has said' [Amos 4:13] – at the time of death, even extraneous conversations between a man and his wife are repeated to him" [Chagiga 5b]. Is there no limit to the capacity of knowledge? To the capacity of recording? Of memory? And then, what about interpretation? And what about retrieval? But now the internet "cloud" has come to the rescue. And if man-made computer servers can have an infinite capacity (as it were), together with a fantastic ability to retrieve and interpret – then certainly the Holy One, Blessed be He, who gave mankind the ability of understanding, has no limits to His powers.

* * * * * *

The Mishna quoted above about eyes and ears begins with the statement, "Know what is above you." That is, pay attention, think about the higher level reality that is above you. Rabbi Mendel of Kotzk, the brilliant Rebbe, hears in this statement another emphasis: "Know what is above!" If you want to know what is happening in the upper worlds, know that the answer lies "with you!" Man in his behavior and his abilities establishes what happens there, high above... It all stems "from you!"

A WOMAN'S ANGLE

What will Unite Us this Year? - by Terza Frankael, a teacher in "Tehilla" – Evilena de Rothschild, Jerusalem

In civics class last week I reminded my students about the former "Prisoner of Zion," the current head of the Jewish Agency, Natan Sharansky. I was shocked to discover that not one of the girls in the class knew who he was or anything about his great courage. Instead of a civics lesson about "the right to fair treatment" (which Sharansky did not get), I gave a lesson about Zionism and Jewish heroism. Among other things, I described the great nationwide excitement that we all felt when Sharansky arrived here in 1986. I emphasized that we in the land were united in our support of the stubborn struggle by Avital Sharansky to have her husband released.

I have a feeling that our children serve as a mirror for us. If my students had never heard of the courageous actions of Natan Sharansky, perhaps it is because we never told them about him. It might be that somehow or other this story never made it into our national heritage, as part of the assets which unify us and make us all partners in sum total of the events of all our generations.

Try the following exercise for a brief moment: What are the most significant foundational events that took place in the State of Israel, as far as you are concerned? Now, ask some people who are 20 years younger than you (or who are older than you) to make their own list. I assume that you will see very quickly what I discovered – the list of foundational experiences is different from one generation to the next, not only in the dates but in content. Memories of partnerships and unity for the purpose of mutual and universally justified goals are appreciated by the older generation. Younger people will not see such events as important. They will remember the Second Lebanon War, Operation Cast Lead, the expulsion from Gush Katif, the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin, and other events. While the older generation grew up with a mythos consisting of the War of Independence, the Six Day War, the Entebbe rescue, the Aliyah of the Prisoners of Zion, and rebuilding and renewal in general, the younger generation has lived in a country full of controversy, divisiveness, tension, and internal strife.

However, this past summer the trend was reversed. The kidnapping of the three boys, Operation "Bring the Boys Home," and then Operation Protective Edge, brought our national unity back. We once again had a feeling of unity, of brothers sharing our troubles, of a nation which was alone in the world, unified in order to protect our home. We had missed this heady feeling so much, the calm that comes from a lack of controversy, the feeling that we were all united again. But that is what we felt this year, perhaps because of the painful circumstances, but also perhaps because we have had our fill of large measures of internal strife and self-hatred.

What now? I must admit that I was very much afraid that the day after the war an unlimited campaign of internal dissent would begin. But to my great happiness, this has not happened. Perhaps we all really do want a change of heart. But now we must think ahead. Not only do we not want to unite only around the threats of the sword, we must recognize that this is our reality. Aside from our war to continue our existence, there is another life out there for us to live. We have beautiful cities and unique towns, fantastic universities and excellent research facilities, a prosperous and amazing start-up industry, art and artists who have international reputations, a full religious Jewish life such as it cannot be accomplished in any other place in the world, creative and advanced agriculture among the best in the world. We have a land flowing with milk and honey which we created here, with G-d's help, almost out of nothing in desert conditions - after experiencing an unprecedented Holocaust, within the short time span of sixty-six years. Based on all of this, the time has come for us to find a way to live in unity and harmony.