The Curses: Unnecessary?

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

In this parsha, Moshe Rabbeinu addresses the Jewish people after they had heard the curses mentioned in Parashas Ki Savo. Frightened at the prospect of such curses befalling them, the nation was distraught. Moshe Rabbeinu tells them (Devarim 29:9), “You are standing here today!” Rashi explains (verse 12) that this was meant to comfort the nation. “Look, you’re standing here today! You have angered Hashem so many times until now, and He didn’t destroy you!”

This is puzzling. Did Moshe mean that there was nothing to worry about? Was he saying that even if they sinned, Hashem would not bring about the retribution He promised?

Rav Eliyahu Lopian (Lev Eliyahu, Nitzavim) explains that in truth, all threats and even suffering are meant to bring us back to Hashem. Hardships cause a person to reach a deeper understanding of his role in the world. The Jew’s true purpose is to completely subjugate himself to Hashem. Suffering helps to achieve this lofty goal.

However, one who reaches true humility without experiencing such troubles renders them unnecessary. It is possible to actualize the purpose of one’s existence without suffering. After hearing the curses, the Jewish people resolved to keep the Torah, and they took the danger inherent in abandoning it to heart. Because they wholeheartedly committed themselves to the dictates of the Torah, they negated the need for curses or suffering to be inflicted upon them. This was the comfort that Moshe Rabbeinu offered them. He was saying that they had grown from the curses and pledged total allegiance to the Torah, and the curses were now unnecessary.

Moshe Rabbeinu’s message is relevant to us as well. Once we understand the purpose of suffering, it will motivate us to the same firm resolve to keep the Torah. This can free us from much potential suffering that would have been inflicted on us in order to get us to fulfill our purpose.

Unfortunately, Jewish history shows that we often fail to learn the lesson of the curses. Many of us are unable to integrate their lesson and feel true humility before Hashem. There are many reasons for this:

The Seforno says that many people rationalize, “I’m only an individual, and my actions don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Surely there are enough righteous people to keep the boat afloat without me.” They do not realize that punishment can be delivered on a small scale just as easily as it can be delivered on a national one.

The Ramban states that people don’t appreciate the severity of the curses because they are too steeped in their desires. Were they to truly envision how painful the suffering will be, they would surely exert themselves to avoid tragedy before it becomes too late for them.

According to Targum Yonasan (29:18), people give up hope, assuming they have no chance of doing teshuvah and returning to a state of purity from their current state. They must know that Hashem never removes free choice from anyone, and a person is always capable of repenting.

Rav Dessler says that young people in particular are vulnerable to procrastination. They think that they’ll be able to break out of their sinful habits later on. In fact, the opposite is the case. The more they persists in their habits, the more difficult it becomes to change. Rather, they must be inspired to humble themselves before Hashem as quickly as possible.

In particular, Elul is a time to work on humbling ourselves before Hashem. The Gemara (Rosh HaShanah 16b) says that whenever the Jewish people make themselves “poor” (humble) at the beginning of the year (on Rosh HaShanah), they will benefit greatly from their efforts at the end of the year. The Gemara (ibid. 26b) also says that a bent ram’s horn (shofar) is used on Rosh HaShanah to symbolize this humility.

The Rambam says (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4) that the shofar blowing is really a call for us to examine our ways and repent. Rav Aryeh Finkel, the mashgiach of Mir Yeshivah, says that a person should try hard to think about subjugation before Hashem when hearing the shofar. Even though his subjugation is in thought alone at this stage, he is nevertheless making a powerful argument that he deserves Hashem’s mercy and should merit another year of life. Such a Jew is actively proclaiming that he has accepted the purpose of his existence.

Once, a bachur in the Sanz Yeshivah in Netanya was caught misbehaving. He had already been reprimanded for his mischief many times, and the mashgiach decided that it was necessary to expel him. Distraught, the boy went to the Sanzer Rebbe. With tears in his eyes, the boy poured his heart out to the Rebbe and asked for another chance. He admitted that he had done wrong and sincerely promised to change. The Rebbe immediately called in the mashgiach and instructed him to give the boy another chance.

The mashgiach explained that the boy had disobeyed the yeshivah’s rules so many times that any promise would surely be broken.

The Rebbe, now shedding tears of his own, cried out, “Perhaps Hashem shouldn’t have given me another chance as well, G-d forbid! How many times did I promise Hashem that I would be better, and that I’d never sin again? Yet I went back to my old ways!” The Rebbe told the mashgiach that one never knows. Sometimes, if a person makes a sincere promise to change, he becomes a new person. “Maybe this time,” said the Rebbe, “the boy truly means it.”

May we be zocheh to subjugate ourselves before Hashem!

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