לא תנאף

Lo tinaf [or Lo Sinaf] is an odd commandment. It made it into the 'Big Ten' but why should we have to be commanded about it at all?? I personally find the entire notion of having a forbidden relationship with a married woman completely repulsive. She is someone else's wife! One should have a natural distaste for such a disgusting act. Isn't the Torah talking down to us? In the world of show-business, professional sports etc. etc., where there is zero amount of sexual restraint, you need such a commandment. But Frumme Yidden? Bnei Toiiiraahhh? Never. We are above that!

Here the Torah brings us down to stark reality. WE ARE NOT ABOVE THAT!!!! An otherwise frum Yid can kill, kidnap, sleep with his friend's wife and lie in court. The reason the aforementioned sins appear in the aseres hadibros is precisely become the Author of the Torah is the one who programmed us and He understands of what we are capable.

We are also capable of loving Hashem with all our hearts, of being burned alive when necessary to sactify his name, of doing every single action purely li-shem shomayim, of never unnecessarily hurting a fellow creature on earth, man or animal. That is why we are commanded to do so.

Man is a complex organism. He can be an Arab terrorist who has no problem slicing someone's throat with a six inch knife or blowing up a bus filled with innocent passengers for no justifiable reason. He can also be, li-havdil, Rav Aryeh Levine who habitually visited a leper colony [people with leprosy whose limbs just fall off and they must for health purposes be secluded from the rest of society] and Jewish freedom fighters jailed by the cruel Brits for the sin of wanting to live freely in their ancestral land and completely devoted his life to helping to minimize the suffering of others.

As we just read in the Torah - we have the choice to choose a life of blessing or curse.

When a scandal breaks out about a well known personality in the Jewish world, even one with a long beard and black hat, I am not surprised. There are two basic over-powering yetzer's that people encounter - money and arayos. The Torah and Chazal never tire of warning us about these two flaws because they are so much part of the makeup of the human psyche.

There are two ways of approaching the issue, the before and the after. Before, one must be constantly engaged in limmud ha-mussar and/or chasidus. This way he will be be constantly aware of the potential downfalls that surround him לפתח חטאת רובץ - sin crouches at the door.

The after is that we can always do tshuva. No matter what act was done, no matter how severe, the gates of tshuva are always open.

Chazal say that every day one is נכשל in sinful thoughts. This was said 1,500 years ago before the age of Tv/Movies/Internet and the daily pornography of the New York Post. Today, one cannot go anywhere with being bombarded with immodest images. One can't even walk to the Holy Kotel with encountering women who neglected to get properly dressed that morning. Airports? Terrible. A walk in Central Park on a Sunday afternoon? Filled with pritzus. Everywhere you go. Working in midtown Manhattan or going to Vegas on business? Hashem yerachem! Today we need constant gedarim and serious vigilance in order to remain clean. And as for the sins of the past - the Rambam in his ten prakim of hilchos tshuva tells us the procedure.

It is also important to have a Rebbi who can serve as a living example of virtue and a guide to making your way through the maze of life.   

A freilichin Elul!!!!!!