Achim Newsletter
Ki Savo
Thursday August 26, 2010
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Greetings!
With the new school year beginning I want to express my sincerest good luck wishes to all students and to all teachers and to all parents as they embark on the coming 2010 - 2011 school year.
Candle
lighting time for Baltimore
between 6:22 - 7:27 pm
Shabbos concludes
8:33 pm
Vsego khoroshego,
Paysach Diskind
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to print this as a web page click here
Feeling or Being
I wish to present a practical approach to Rosh Hashanah for
any Jew who feels strongly about his Judaism.
This week we will read the Parsha of Ki Savo, which
describes a most vivid picture of the horror that will befall our people during
the course of our history. It is certainly worthy to address the message of our
Parsha. However, with less than two weeks before the Day of Judgment, Rosh
Hashanah, I feel it is proper for us to discuss the nature of the judgment, or
more specifically, the rules governing that judgment. This will hopefully allow
us to be better prepared as we enter that courtroom.
Our Sages learn the rules of the Rosh Hashanah judgment from
the story of Yishmael and his mother Hagar. The story goes as follows. Yishmael
was born to our father Avrohom from Hagar who was an Egyptian princess. Mother
and son naturally lived together with Avrohom until Yishmael brought idol
worship into the home along with other nasty behavior. Due to this behavior
HaShem instructed Avrohom to send Hagar and Ishmael away from his home. Under
strict orders Avrohom sent off Hagar and Yishmael into the desert with only one
jug of water. After some time on the road, the jug was emptied and Yishmael
fell ill. In this desperate state Yishmael cried out to HaShem to save him.
"HaShem heard the cry of the youth and an angel of HaShem called to Hagar from
heaven and said to her, 'What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for HaShem has
heard the cry of the youth in his current state. Arise, lift up the youth and
grasp your hand upon him'..."
Let us take note of the Torah's statement of "for HaShem has heard the cry of the youth in
his current state" What does the Torah wish to imply with the words in his current state?
The Midrash tells us that when HaShem was considering saving
Yishmael the angels argued that Yishmael does not deserve to be saved because
in the future his children (if he will be saved) will kill the Jewish people.
HaShem responded that My judgment does not consider future deeds, I only judge a
person based on the current status of the subject being judged. The Talmud
takes this one step further by quoting the angels as arguing that Yishmael does
not deserve to be saved on account of the crimes he perpetrated in the past.
And to this HaShem responds that He does not consider past deeds He only judges
a person in his current state. And if in his current state he is good then the
judgment will be good irrespective of past deeds.
Behold! According to the Talmud HaShem's judgment does not
reckon with past deeds or with future deeds only with the current state of the
person! How do we make sense out this? What kind of judgment is it if you do
not consider past deeds? Is that not what judgment is all about; being held
responsible for all our actions?
Before attempting to answer this it is critical that we
understand the impact of our deeds. No matter what a deed might be, either good
or bad, it affects us. Every action we take will manifest a change in us. Good
deeds change us in good way and bad deeds change us in a bad way. The way I perform
a deed will affect the degree of change in me. So for example, if I perform a
mitzvah with excitement and joy this mitzvah will create a better and more
profound change in me than if I did the same mitzvah with total lackluster.
Let us return to our question on the manner of HaShem's
judgment. The answer is that of course HaShem considers all the past deeds;
that's what judgment is all about. However, HaShem considers all past deeds only inasmuch as they affected a change
in the subject.
You will now ask; "if every deed affects a change in the
person performing it then what difference is there whether HaShem considers the
actual deed that was done or if He considers the affect of the deed on the
subject, either way the deed is being considered?" This question clearly
indicates a thinking person.
The answer; if HaShem considers the actual deed there is no
way to undo that deed leaving us no recourse to undo our evil deeds. If,
however, HaShem only considers the affect of the deed on the subject then there
is recourse. Every person can undo the affect of a bad deed. Although he is
affected by his evil deeds nevertheless, by means of teshuvah a person can
return himself to his previous state.
It is a kindness that HaShem extended us that He gives us a
chance to focus on who we are now and to work on ourselves by undoing any evil
impact our deeds may have had on us.
Let us get practical.
Just as our actions impact who we are, the converse is also
true. Who we are, will be manifest in the actions we take. In other words, the
state of one's Jewishness is measured by one's actions. So often I encounter people
who sincerely believe themselves to be very Jewish and proud of being Jewish
yet their children get no Jewish education, there are no Shabbat candles Friday
evening, there are no dietary restrictions being practiced and so on.
With Rosh Hashanah approaching and HaShem will review our current state on Rosh Hashanah just as
He did Ishmael, let us take stock of our Jewish deeds so that we can ascertain
exactly who we are and how Jewish we are.
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
Paysach Diskind
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Noteworthy links
Parsha Summary by Rabbi Osher Baddiel in English and Russian
Penetrating Russian insight to the Parsha by Shvut Ami
Programs from which you and others can learn and grow
Etz Chaim Center offering Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur programs
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Хасидская притча
Люди жалуются на тяготы. Но, по правде говоря, человек не может пройти жизнь
без забот:
Корабль, на котором нет груза, не стоек на волнах и легко
переворачивается
р. Ицхак-Айзик из Кумарно
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