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Thought for the Day: The Difference Between Sinning and Holding on to Sin Is the Difference Between Righteous and Evil

They say that the Maskilim (self-named "enlightened Jews"; but basically the same Reform Jewish philosophy that traces its illustrious roots back to Nimrod and Korach) put on a skit in Brisk based on the Torah's description of going to war when Klal Yisrael is living up to it's potential and as documented at the end of parshas Shoftim. (Yes; that is a run-on sentence. Deal with it.)

The skit started with a stage packed with people, and the kohein came out to announce: "Anyone who built a new house should go home." Many left the stage. "Anyone who planted a new vineyard should go home." Many more left. "Anyone who just got married should go home." More left. "Anyone who has sinned at all -- even said a single word after putting t'fillin on his arm before putting the t'fillin on on his head -- should leave." Everyone left, except two old men with long white beards and barely able to stand with the support of their canes (quite obviously meant to be the Vilna Gaon and the Sha'agas Aryeh). The curtain came down among gales of laughter as the two old men shakily motioned to each other and said to each other in quavering voices, "You go first." "No, you go first."

The yeshiva students in Brisk were incensed! How dare the maskilim make fun of such a holy and deeply inspiring depiction of a Jewish army! They marched to the Brisker Rav, told him what had transpired, and asked what their response should be. The Brisker Rav told them, "Nothing. That skit is entirely accurate." The students were, to say the least, stunned. The Brisker Rav concluded, "They just didn't finish the skit: They win the war!"

I am certain that is all true. However, there are many facets to the Torah and I heard another beautiful p'shat in the Torah's description of a Jewish army from R' Tzvi Mordechai Feldheim, Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivta Kesser Torah. (It was in a short broadcast I get daily from Guard Your Eyes via GYE Boost. Yes, that was an unsolicited advertisement for that amazing site.)

Here's the problem: immediately after the Torah's description of a Jewish army comes the parsha of אשת יפת תואר -- the case of a soldier who brings home a war bride simply because of her (in his mind, at least) extraordinary physical beauty. It stretches the imagination to think that old men like the Vilna Gaon and the Sha'agas Aryeh would fall into this trap of the evil inclination. Possible, to be sure, and that is certainly one lesson -- that one can never trust himself. None the less, argues R' Feldheim, that doesn't seem like the simple explanation.

Instead, argues R' Feldheim, one should look at the details of how Chazal explain the admonition from the kohein. According to R' Yose HaGalili, the kohein doesn't send home any one who is afraid because he has sinned, rather הירא מעבירות שבידו/he is afraid because of the sins in his hand.

Everyone has sinned. That's not a problem, that's just reality. However, there are those who figure, "Eh? Fine, I'm a sinner. Everyone is a sinner, so I'm no different than anyone else." Those have to go home; they have no place in a Jewish army, as they most certainly have no merits to protect them. There are others, though, who are constantly, constantly, resolving again, and again, not to repeat the same stupid sin. Why constantly again and again? Because he keeps falling. By a simple tally, he may have as many -- or even more -- moments of sinful behavior as the first guy. But there is a world of difference. The first fellow has sins in his hands. His hands are never empty. The second... his hands are empty of sin almost all the time; and he is never holding on to sin.

I felt particularly uplifted by that vort. We can't always avoid sinning. Sometimes we work for days, years, even decades... and see so little improvement. One thing we can do, though; shake the sin from your hand like a hot potato. Tashlich is just around the corner; I think I'll start practicing today.

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