ואמר אלהם שמע ישראל אתם קרבים היום למלחמה על איביכם אל ירך לבבכם אל תיראו ואל תחפזו ואל תערצו מפניהם. Rashi שמע ישראל" - אפי' אין בכם זכות אלא קריאת שמע בלבד כדאי אתם שיושיע אתכם. But the Torah describes afterward האיש הירא ורך הלבב ילך וישב לביתו and Rashi brings רבי יוסי הגלילי או' הירא מעבירות שבידו. If all that is needed in the merit of krias shema what is the person afraid of? Furthermore, the Gemorah in Sotah (44b) says הירא ורך הלבב refers to one that said said krias shema and done many mitzvot but merely talked in between pitting on the hand and head tefillin, but he is promised salvation because of the merit of krias shma? The Kotzker (Siach Sarfey Kodesh) says:
If one believes Hashem will save him because of the merit of krias shema will be saved, but if one is afraid he will not be saved. Why should one be confident if they have averot?
The Rsihonim ask Jews leaved in Egypt is the Torah commands ׂ(17:16) רַק֮ לֹא־יַרְבֶּה־לּ֣וֹ סוּסִים֒ וְלֹֽא־יָשִׁ֤יב אֶת־הָעָם֙ מִצְרַ֔יְמָה לְמַ֖עַן הַרְבּ֣וֹת ס֑וּס וַֽי״י֙ אָמַ֣ר לָכֶ֔ם לֹ֣א תֹסִפ֗וּן לָשׁ֛וּב בַּדֶּ֥רֶךְ הַזֶּ֖ה עֽוֹד׃? One approach the Ritva Yoma (38b) brings from the Yereyim that the possuk adds seemingly superfluous words, לָשׁ֛וּב בַּדֶּ֥רֶךְ הַזֶּ֖ה עֽוֹד, just say we can't go back to Egypt, what's the דרך הזה? The Yereyim says the issur is only to return back the journey that Klal Yisroel took to leave Egypt. Rav Shaul Nathanson (Divrey Shaul Massey) says that's why the Torah records all the travels of Klal Yisroel because the issur is only to return the exact journey that Klal Yisroel took. (See the footnotes on the Riva that the Rishonim did not necessarily mean the exact journey just the general path but that is how the Divrey Shaul interprets.) This seems a very strange geder to the issur. However, I heard a few years ago a bochur say in the name of Rabbi Reznik (of Mir) that there is a mussar hascha to take out from here. The Torah is teaching us never to go backward in life, we must always move forward. We must not go back over roads already passed through but must look for new advancements, new paths to get to the goal.
Maybe that is the idea of the Kotzker as well. The Gemorah doesn't say it is because of the averah that one might fall in battle, it is one who is afraid of their averot. It is the inability to move on from previous failures that holds the person back. One who is a שוב מצרים nick, one who can't move on from their previous trauma and failures indeed will not be able to move forward. It is one that knows despite previous mishaps, they are willing to move forward, such a person Hashem will help. תמים תהיה, one who has faith that no matter what happened in the past they can be better, אם ה' אלקיך, Hashem is with such a person (see Kedushat Levi.)
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