Accountability and Accessibility
Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Parshat Nitzavim contains a few verses that appear to be extremely reassuring while still providing tremendous room for interpretation and understanding. The passage reads:
For this commandment that I have commanded you today – it is not hidden from you and it is not distant. It is not in heaven [for you] to say, “Who can ascend to the heaven for us and take it for us, so that we can listen to it and perform it?” Nor is it across the sea [for you] to say, “Who can cross the sea for us and take it for us, so that we can listen to it and perform it?” Rather the matter is very near to you – in your mouth and in your heart to perform it.
Two questions arise. First, does this passage refer to the entire Torah or to the process of teshuvah? Perhaps even more frustrating, whichever it is referring to, if teshuvah or the entire Torah is really so close to us, why does it seem so far away from us?
Rabbi Asher Weiss deals with both these questions, referring both to Ramban and to Chassidic texts. Ramban first explains these verses as referring to the process of teshuvah comprised of three components. First, your mouth must confess it, then your heart must regret it, and finally, we must be faithful not to repeat the sin. Rabbenu Bechaya, based on the Ramban then continues to explain how these verses can apply to the entire Torah. The suggestion is that we have here an allusion to the three pillars upon which the world exists, Torah, avodah – service, andgemilat chassadim – acts of kindness. In your mouth refers to Torah whose words should always be on your mouth, in your heart refers to prayer, the service of the heart, while to perform it refers to acts of kindness.
The Chassidic texts extend these verses to apply to the performance of every mitzvah. Each mitzvah has a brachah, speech, associated with it, kavonoh, intent within the heart, and the performance of the act itself.
Now Rabbi Weiss turns his attention to the beginning of the passage. He posits that the main obstacles to mitzvah performance are lack of understanding of the mitzvah and the desire for instant gratification. To this the Torah responds that you have the ability to understand, for it is not hidden from you, and with the proper mindset, rather than rote performance, we can bring the mitzvah close to us and find pleasure in the Torah and its mitzvoth.
Rabbi Belsky in Einei Yisroel focuses on the intervening verses. While there were great men who crossed the seas for Torah, and Moshe Rabbenu even ascended to heaven, we each have the ability to acquire Torah and teshuvah ourselves. What the Torah is emphasizing is that we must take personal responsibility for achieving Torah on our own and do not require the presence of an intermediary, as do some other religions. Just as we cannot get our spirituality by proxy, so are we not judged by proxy but as individuals. We must work on achieving our own shleimus, our personal spiritual perfection and wholeness. Hashem is telling us it is achievable and close, so make no more excuses.
How can one begin the work of getting close to Hashem, as the Torah promises? TheMizkeinim Esbonan cites Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz in telling us that the first step is awareness and recognition of the Creator in the deepest recesses of our hearts and minds, for the yetzer horo uses constant distraction to deflect us from our goal. We tend to live our lives on automatic pilot, seldom aware of the moment and of our responsibility for our actions. We tend to practice our religion as a five year old, writes Rabbi Pincus in Moadei Hashanah. We have gotten into the rut of recitingbrachot without thought, of praying without meaning, because we learned the formulas as a five year old in cheder. Every person is required to access holiness on his own level, and that remains his personal responsibility. Start with the awareness and responsibility. The period from Elul through Yom Kippur is a time designated for renewal. Return to the wonder of the five year old when you recite shehakol nihiyeh bidvaroh, that indeed everything, including the water I’m drinking, was created through His word.
Rabbi Frieman in Shaarei Derech starts with a Medrash where Eliyahu the Prophet meets a fisherman and asks the fisherman why he doesn’t learn Torah. The fisherman replies that Hashem didn’t give him brains for Torah study. Eliyahu then asks him how he became a fisherman. He replies that Hashem gave him brains to learn to weave nets and to catch fish. The point is simple: If you have the brains for one, you have the brains for the other even if the level of expertise may be limited.
Rabbi Frieman continues with an analogy. There is a loaf of bread suspended in the air. The fool sees the loaf but automatically dismisses it as beyond his reach. The wise one sees the loaf and contemplates. Someone was able to get up there to put it there, so it is attainable. He brings a ladder and can now reach the loaf. Similarly, Torah and teshuvah are attainable, but they must be acquired step by step. Don’t give up before you even begin. At least get a ladder and try. Learn just a few minutes. When you start feeling the joy, you’ll want to learn more. It becomes closer to you. As Rav Egbi says in Chochmat Hamatzpun, when you take the first step, the rest evolves and takes shape. From learning just two halachot a day, for example, you’ll have a large library of information after a relatively short time. If you have trouble greeting people, start by smiling at only one person a day. He will generally smile back, and you’ll be encouraged to smile at more people you pass.
Once you’ve taken that first step, writes Rabbi Doniel Ochiun in Ohr Doniel, you’ll find you have Hashem’s help to continue. But it is important to take the correct first step. Don’t look to the guru on the mountaintop. Looking in the wrong places will lead to faulty conclusions and disappointment. Rather look within yourself, for you carry within yourself, within your precious neshama, the spirit of God, writes Rav Chaim Hacohen the Talilei Chaim. Listen to your heart and access that godliness. Yes, others can help you and be mentors, but the first step begins with you.
Rabbi Wolbe gives us a beautiful perspective on how close the Torah and mitzvoth are to us. He reminds us that all this knowledge was implanted within us prior to our birth. Every time you do a mitzvah, you access that flame that connects you once again to your spiritual essence, and you fan it. Each mitzvah fans the flame further until you approach your shleimus, your wholeness. Don’t worship the foreign god of the yetzer horo who constantly tries to estrange us from our spiritual essence until it seems impossible to bridge the gap.
Despair is another tool of the yetzer horo, for it is an obstacle to teshuvah. Rabbi Frand notes that there are two forms of achieving purification through water. Sometimes it was enough for the cohen to sprinkle a few drops of water on and individual and he would be purified. Other times, an individual needed to immerse completely in water to be purified. What Rabbi Frand tells us is that teshuvah may be difficult to achieve completely, but start with a drop or two. It may be less complete, but over the years it builds up to a complete teshuvah. This was the lesson Cain taught his father Adam. He told Adam that he did teshuvah for killing his brother, and he and God arrived at a compromise. Certainly he couldn’t do full teshuvah, those circumstances could never be repeated nor could he rectify the situation and bring Able back to life, but sincere regret was the step that Hashem accepted as a compromise, the single drop of purifying water.
Put away the excuses. Both Torah and teshuvah are accessible to each of us, but first we must make ourselves aware of Hashem all around us and especially within ourselves. Embrace the world through one mitzvah, revel in its performance, and the released endorphins will spur you on to further spiritual growth. After all, holiness is accessible to each of us, for it is buried within our hearts and souls.