פרשת כי תצא
This week’s Parsha opens with the laws pertaining to the Jews as they go out to war against their enemies in order to expand the land of Israel. However, the Kli Yakar points out that the Torah is also hinting at a different conflict which is always raging inside of us between our Yetzer Tov and our Yetzer Hara, and which is particularly significant during this period we find ourselves in – the month of Elul. It is clear to any thinking individual that the real battles we fight are the ones inside our hearts to be good people, and not the external manifestations of these battles. This is obvious based on a number of factors. The battle for good and evil rages constantly inside of us, whereas the external wars we fight are finite, and commonly end relatively quickly. During battle, we face an opponent who wants to kill us, so we feel very little emotional attachment to our enemies, whereas in fighting the Yetzer Hara, we must face ourselves, and do battle with our own cravings and internal makeup. This is not an easy task as anyone who has attempted it can tell you. Furthermore, when one subjugates an external enemy, he admits defeat and surrenders, whereas even if one manages to vanquish the evil inclination in one particular area, he pops up somewhere else with renewed vigor and expands his territory on our hearts while we are distracted. Having said this, it is no wonder that the Chovos Halevavos reports that he heard that there was once an army returning after heavy combat, and having emerged victorious, they were heavily laden with the spoils of war. A righteous man met them and exclaimed to them that while they had won the minor skirmish, the lions share of the battle still lay ahead. When they asked him what he meant, he explained all that we have said and they admitted that he was correct. Being that this is the month of Elul, and we are to be judged for every action we have performed during this past year in a bit over two weeks, it behooves us to look toward the Torah, which contains all the answers, for advice on how to overcome this formidable adversary.
Firstly, we see that the verse says, “When you go out to wage war against your enemies.” The Slonimer Rebbe comments that we see from this verse that if a person does not wait for the battle to come to his doorstep, but rather goes out to meet his foe in the battle field, he will enjoy a much greater level of success and Heavenly aid because of his actions. Sometimes the best defense can be a strong offense. Indeed the Gemorah in Berachos (5a) says that the first step in fighting the evil inclination is to enrage the good in us against the bad. This Gemorah is teaching us that we need to strike at the Yetzer Hara by always being in preemptive attack mode. Perhaps one way to reach this state of vigilance is to always analyze any situation that we are going to be in, and assess all possible spiritual dangers that may come up there. That way, we will do everything in our power to not be “taken by surprise” by our enemy and successfully fulfill this Gemorah’s instruction.
So long as we feel that we are in combat, this is a good sign. But if we ever reach the point where for some reason, we feel we have triumphed and we can sit back, that is a telltale sign that we have lost the war. Additionally, the Rambam in the fourth chapter of Kings, where he describes the exact nature of how a Jewish Soldier must do battle, says that a soldier must engage every ounce of his being in the war. He is forbidden during battle to think about his wife and children, and things that will make his heart faint, but rather must focus his entire energy in the battle at hand if he hopes to succeed and save Jewish lives. Similarly, if we wish to stand a chance against this powerful foe, we must focus all our energies in beating him, and not go about this clash in a half-hearted way with a cavalier attitude.
However, the Slonimer Rebbe asks, how can a person muster up the strength to fight this never-ending battle. A soldier can find within himself the strength to fight for a year or two, but how can we be expected to fight incessantly for 70 years without loosing courage from all the losses we have sustained. This difficulty is increased manifold for a person whose losses far outweigh their victories. For some of us, the Yetzer Hara is simply wiping the floor with us, smiling, and then begging us to come back for more. How can we help from becoming discouraged? He answers with a shocking, but clearly accurate revelation. He says that there is no greater pleasure that Hashem derives, then when He sees us engaged in this melee attempting to perform His will, and keep His tenets, against all hope of success and against an adversary as powerful as the one we are fighting. Perhaps we can compare this to a father, who teaches his son how to be successful in business. The (healthy) father doesn’t care how much money his son makes, but rather is more interested in how his son deals with the challenges that come up, and how he attempts to implement his father’s business plan. How he improvises and what he does to avoid all the difficult obstacles that are in the path of success. It is not success which defines us, but rather the road there to, during which man can be measured.
The Ohr Hachaim offers another powerful suggestion which we can use in our arsenal to beat the enemy. He says that if a person trusts in Hashem with a deep and passionate conviction, He will help him tremendously in his conquest against The Yetzer Hara. The verse in Psalms (33:5) says, “Hashem will not abandon us in the enemy’s hands.” The verse in L’Dovid says “להצילך ולתת אויבך לפניך” hinting that in Elul, this principle is true more then ever. We need His help in order to emerge victorious and the sooner we realize it, the sooner we will begin turning to Him for that help.
I would like to conclude with a mesmerizing incident that happened during the times of the Chofetz Chaim which clearly demonstrates the Heavenly aid a person receives if they choose to never give up in the relentless battle against the Yetzer Hara. A man approached the Chofetz Chaim in the early ‘30s asking for a blessing in his decision to move to America to try to eek out a living. The Chofetz Chaim agreed to extend his blessing on the condition that he swore to never break the Shabbos. The man thought this to be a strange request, as he had always been a religious man, but agreed nonetheless and swore, and the Chofetz Chaim in return shook the man’s hand warmly and gave him his blessing. Shortly after arriving in America, the man found work in a factory that allowed him to keep the Shabbos, and worked diligently and honestly, and was able to provide for his growing family. Suddenly, after three years of solid work, the supervisor approached the Jew and told him that if he wouldn’t agree to work on Shabbos, he may as well not come in on Sunday. The shocked and downtrodden man came home to face his family and tell them the devastating news. For six months, the man wandered around from factory to factory, surviving on a few dollars a month, and coming very close to starvation on numerous occasions, but preserving his resolve to keep the holy Shabbos. Finally, after six months, and one Shabbos during which the table was bare as usual, the man broke down and decided that immediately after Shabbos, he was going to take back his old position and agree to whatever terms they asked. He reasoned that it was not permitted for him to put his family in danger any more. Right after the man brokenheartedly made Havdallah, there was a knock at the door. It was his old supervisor. The supervisor had a big smile on his face and he said, “I believe I owe you an explanation. You see, my partner is a virulent anti-Semite, and he believes that all Jews are insincere in their service and can never be as devout as non-Jews, but I disagreed. So we made a bet. He bet me a million dollars that if I fired you unless you were willing to work on Shabbos, that you would be back within six months, begging for your old position and I insisted that you would hold your ground. Tonight, I won that bet and here is your share of the winnings.” And with that, his boss handed him a check for $500,000 plus the entire wages for those six months with interest. Needless to say, the stupefied man never questioned the importance and sanctity of Shabbos again and realized beyond the shadow of a doubt that he could rely on his Father in Heaven.
May we all merit always trusting in Hashem, and to use every means at our disposal to triumph over our enemy.