Friday, October 4, 2019

Something's Missing




By Rabbi Joshua (laconically known as The Hoffer) Hoffman 

 In this week's parsha, God tells Moshe that after he dies, the nation will stray after the gods worshipped by the people in the land that they will enter, and forsake Him and annul the covenant He made with them. God then says that His anger will flare against them when that happens, and "I will forsake them, and I will conceal My face from them and they will become prey, and many evils and distresses will encounter it. It will say on that day, 'Is it not because My God is not in my midst that these evils have encountered me? And I will surely conceal my face on that day because of all the evil that it did, for it had turned to the gods of others." (Devorim 31: 17-18). Many commentators find difficulty with these verses, because they seem to say that God will punish the people even after they have acknowledged their sin, which would seem to constitute some degree of repentance. Why, then, does God continue to conceal His presence form them after this acknowledgment? Ramban, in his Torah commentary, explains that although the people admitted that they had sinned when they said the reason all these evils befell them was because God was not in their midst, it was not a complete act of repentance. God's further concealment of His presence among them, he says, was actually part of a process of redemption carried out in a concealed manner. This measured response was designed to lead the nation to complete repentance through which they would merit a revealed redemption, and thereby more clearly experience God's presence in their lives. This explanation of the Ramban has often been invoked as a means of encouragement to the Jewish people in the face of suffering, to try to discern God's presence behind His concealment. However, other commentators have pointed out that the simple reading of these verses does not seem to indicate a reduction of the suffering coming as a result of the admission of the people. Rather, it seems to imply a continuation of divine concealment coming either despite of, or even as a result of this admission. Why should this be so? 

 Rabbi Reuven Katz, in his Degel Reuven, explains these verses on the basis of the Rambam's remarks in Hilchos Teshuvah (Laws of Repentance), chapter six, that it is possible to commit a sin that is so great, that part of the punishment for it is that teshuvah will be rejected. This is what the Torah means when it says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Here too, says Rabbi Katz, in the verses we are examining, God is saying that the sin of the people in rejecting Him and straying after the gods of the people in their land was so great that He will not accept their repentance. Based on this understanding, continues Rabbi Katz, we can understand the Torah's assurance to us, in parshas Nitzovim, that the nation ultimately will do teshuvah. After all, he asks, doesn't man have free will? How can there be an assurance that the people will eventually repent, if their repentance depends on their own decision to correct their ways? The answer, says Rabbi Katz, is that God will, at some point in the future, remove the hindrance to teshuvah described in our verse as His refusal to accept the people's teshuvah. At that time, the redemption, which is dependent on that teshuvah, will come. Following this explanation, God's further concealment of His presence from the people, described in verse 18, comes despite their efforts to do teshuvah. However, the flow of the verses seems to suggest that this concealment comes as a result of their attempt at teshuvah. How can this be explained? 

 Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, in his commentary Meshech Chochmoh, explains that the statement of the people that God is not in their midst was in itself a sin. Even when God hides His presence from us, He is still among us. The rabbis tell us that this was the message God was conveying to Moshe when He appeared to him from within a burning bush. God was thereby saying, " I am with you in your distress." In truth, Rav Meir Simcha writes, the distress suffered by the nation is brought about by God in order to arouse them from their spiritual slumber and bring them back to Him. Because the people denied this fundamental principle, then, God further concealed Himself, as a punishment for this denial. However, I believe that the verse immediately following this description of divine concealment contains an assurance that even within this further concealment of His presence, God is still among us. In this verse, God says, "And now write this poem for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel, place it in their mouth, so that this song will be for me a witness against the children of Israel" (Devorim 31:19). Which poem is being referred to here? Some commentators explain it to refer to parshas Ha'azinu, which is written in the form of a poem, but the Rambam, based on the Talmud (Sanhedrin 21b), says it is a reference to the entire Torah, and says it is the source of the obligation of every Jew to write a sefer Torah. Rabbi Shlomo Kluger, in his responsa Tuv Ta'am VeDa'as (volume one, no. 263, as cited in volume eight of Torah LaDa'as, pages 236-237), albeit in a different context, notes that a Torah scroll only attains its status as a holy object when a Jew writes God's name in it with proper intent. The fact that every Jew is obligated to write a sefer Torah thus tells us that every Jew has a spark of divine holiness within him which he is able to transfer on to the Torah scroll. This commandment, therefore, serves as a refutation of the people's conclusion, from their suffering, that God is not in their midst, and a call to them to reactivate the divine spark within them, achieve complete teshuvah, and thereby merit redemption.