Totally Committing to Chesed
Shmuel Herzfeld
Shabbat Shuva, 5773
Introduction
I recently heard a speech and the speaker said, “Don’t mistake routine for commitment.” The speaker was not a rabbi, but rather an athlete who was trying to explain how hard one must work in order to achieve athletic success.
The same is true—and then some—as it relates to religious success, i.e. a personal and meaningful relationship with the Divine. We often go through the routines of religion and are exacting about our religious requirements and consequently it is very easy for us to assume that we have performed our religious duties properly.
But we will sometimes make the mistake of confusing routine with commitment or in other words of just going through the motions. When we do that we have fallen into this trap of mistaking routine for commitment. As a result of simply following our routine we will sadly discover that even though we are still performing all of our mitzvot and rituals, nevertheless our spirituality has slipped. Our actual ritualistic deeds might be the same, but the result is totally different.
The High Holidays have a very simple and clear message. They are a reminder to us that when it comes to our relationship with Hashem we must make the ultimate commitment. This year as Yom Kippur approaches let us resolve never to mistake routine for commitment to Hashem.
How can we improve our commitment to Hashem and thereby come even closer to
Him?
I. The Central Texts of the Yamim Noraim are about Commitment
The central texts of the Yamim Noraim are all about the requirement for a great and total commitment to Hashem. Without this commitment, our many religious rituals will not be able to help us in our spiritual quest. Just the opposite, without a real commitment to Hashem, our rote performance of rituals run the risk of taking us more distant from God.
This theme of total commitment to Hashem is found in many texts of the High
Holidays, but probably the most famous three are three of the central texts of the
High Holidays: the Akeidah, Asarah Harugei Malchut and Unetaneh Tokef.
The story of the Akeidah is the story of how Abraham dutifully obeys God’s commandment to sacrifice his son Isaac. Although, God stops the sacrifice before it can happen, Abraham’s willingness to obey God’s will is the lesson. Of course, there are many ways to read this story, and of course there are many lessons to derive
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from this story. But at its most simple level, it means that the required commitment to serve Hashem is total. Avraham had a million and one reasons for why not to bring Isaac to the top of Mount Moriah and obey the commandment to sacrifice him to Hashem. But all that is irrelevant in the face of God’s command. If we are committed, we are committed; and if we are not, then we are not.
Two anecdotes about this:
I will never forget the time even before I was a rabbi when I went with Rabbi Weiss to protest that fact that Iran had imprisoned Jews innocently. These Jews were being held in prison on the charge that they were spies. Since it was August in NY it was hot. I remember saying to Rabbi Weiss, “it is too hot to stand here.” He right away told me, “It is a lot hotter in their prison cells.” The message was clear: if you believe in something, stop the excuses and commit with every ounce of your body.
And another anecdote:
Recently a friend of mine was supposed to fly home on a Friday to be with his family for Shabbat. His flight was delayed and it looked like it would not make it in time for
Shabbat. So he called his rabbi and asked what he should do. The rabbi told him he had to get off the plane. He said, but my wife is expecting me and we have so many guests coming for Shabbat. And so the rabbi said to my friend, “Look you are either
Shomer Shabbat or you are not Shomer Shabbat.”
Our commitment cannot waver.
These are extraordinarily small examples of commitment in comparison to
Abraham’s level of commitment. But Abraham’s example is meant to inspire us to push ourselves to commit to Hashem, especially when the task seems to cause us discomfort.
Another classic example of commitment in the liturgy of the High Holidays is the story of the Ten Martyrs or in Hebrew, the Asarah Harugei Malchut that the chazzan recites in the Mussaf service. The prayer itself is chilling. The prayer tells the story of great rabbis who were martyred because the continues to teach and study Torah even after the Roman rulers issued a decree against studying Torah. In the face of death, these rabbis remained totally committed to Torah study. Here is a small excerpt from the prayer:
Rabbi Shimon begged exceedingly saying, “Kill me first and let me not see the death of
Rabbi Yishmael…He hastened to shed Rabban Shimon’s blood as if he were an ox and when his head was severed, Rabbi Yishmael took it and wailed over him…They took out
Rabbi Akiva, who expounded upon the crowns of the letters and lacerated his flesh with sharp-toothed combs. The ruler ordered that R. Chananya ben Teradyon be brought from his study hall, and they burned his body with bundles of branches. They placed sponges on his chest to delay his death….
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The message of this prayer is that we are supposed to be inspired by these great figures and so we tell their stories on Yom Kippur to move us and cause us to repent.
What is most inspiring is the idea that they gave themselves over entirely to God.
They had total commitment to Hashem.
As a young boy this prayer moved me more than any other prayers, with the exception of the Unetane Tokef prayer. The Unetane Tokef prayer itself is powerful.
It is recited on both days of Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur. It speaks of who will live and who will die, and how we all pass before Hashem like sheep before a shepherd. But personally, I find the story behind this prayer even more powerful than the prayer itself. Every year growing up as the Chazzan would chant the prayer, I would read the story found in the commentary at the bottom of the machzor and I would be moved to tears.
Here is story behind the prayer:
The prayer entitled "U'Netaneh Tokef" is attributed to a Rabbi Amnon of Mainz,
Germany, who lived about one thousand years ago. The story behind this piyut, a prayer-poem, is sad and poignant, and may shed light on the prayer itself.
The Bishop of Mainz summoned Rabbi Amnon, a great Torah scholar, to his court and offered him a ministerial post on the condition that Rabbi Amnon would convert to
Christianity. Rabbi Amnon refused. The Bishop insisted and continued to press Rabbi
Amnon to accept his offer. Of course, Rabbi Amnon continued to refuse. One day, however, Rabbi Amnon asked the Bishop for three days to consider his offer.
As soon as Rabbi Amnon returned home, he was distraught at the terrible mistake he had made of even appearing to consider the Bishop's offer and the betrayal of G-d. For three days he could not eat or sleep and he prayed to G-d for forgiveness. When the deadline for decision arrived, the Bishop sent messenger after messenger to bring Rabbi Amnon, but he refused to go. Finally, the Bishop had him forcibly brought to him and demanded a response. The Rabbi responded, "I should have my tongue cut out for not having refused immediately." The Bishop angrily had Rabbi Amnon's hands and feet cut off and then sent him home.
A few days later was Rosh HaShanah, and Rabbi Amnon, dying from his wounds, asked to be carried to shul. He wished to say the Kedushah to sanctify G-d's Name and publicly declare his faith in G-d's Kingship.With his dying breath, he uttered the words that we now know of as the U'Netaneh Tokef. http://www.ou.org/chagim/roshhashannah/unetaneh.html
What I find most powerful about the story is that even though R. Amnon did not turn his back on his faith, he felt that he did something wrong by merely giving the appearance of wavering in his commitment. The point of this story is that our commitment even in the face of extraordinary challenges must never waver.
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These three texts –the Akediah, Eleh Ezkerah, and Unetaneh Tokef—are three of the most central and impactful texts of the holidays. Underlying these texts is the notion that we must entirely commit ourselves to God, even to the point of giving up our life.
But how is this relevant to us today? Most of us are no longer facing issues of martyrdom on a daily basis. How do we translate the theme of these teachings into a message that will allow us to incorporate the spiritual message of these teachings into our daily lives in a relevant and practical manner?
II.
Judaism values the sanctity of life above almost everything. Rambam even codifies the safeguards we must employ in order to preserve life.
It is a positive mitzvah to remove any obstacle that could pose a danger to life, and to be very careful regarding these matters, as Deuteronomy 4:9 states: "Beware for yourself; and guard your soul." If a person leaves a dangerous obstacle and does not remove it, he negates the observance of a positive commandment, and violates the negative commandment: "Do not cause blood to be spilled."
Our Sages forbade many matters because they involve a threat to life. Whenever a person transgresses these guidelines, saying: "I will risk my life, what does this matter to others," or "I am not careful about these things," he should be punished by stripes for rebelliousness.
They include: A person should not place his mouth over a conduit through which water flows and drink. Nor should he drink at night from rivers and lakes, lest he swallow a leech without seeing.
Similarly, a person should not drink water that was left uncovered, lest a snake or other poisonous crawling animal might have drunk from them, and as a result, the person would die.
( Hilkhot Rotzeach Ushemirat Hanefesh , 11:4)
Yet, as important as it is to preserve life—it is a great mitzvah—still there are some areas where we are obligated to give up our life in service of God.
The concept of literally giving up one’s life for Hashem is based upon the principle of
yehareg ve-al yaavor, allow oneself to be killed and do not violate the commandments of God.
This principle of yehareg ve-al yaavor is about the recognition that there are certain values, which we must hold true to in our life and if we are not able to keep those values then there is no value at all to our life. Or to put it another way, our holiness
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as a person comes from the values we hold and keep, and without those values our holiness is gone. As Rabbi Chaim Dovid Halevi writes: “Life has a great purpose, and it is through that purpose that life has holiness. And when that purpose is not being realized—and is in fact being disgraced—then life loses its holiness.” (In [Hebrew]
Sanctity of Life and Martyrdom, ed. By Gafni and Ravitzky, 15.)
The great medieval work, Sefer Hachinuch (296) explains the idea of giving up one’s life in a slightly differently manner. He contends that we are like servants serving our Master: just like a servant must sometimes give up their life for their master so too, must we sometimes give up our own lives.
The principle of yehareg ve-al yaavor is first introduced in the Talmud (Sanhedrin
74a):
R. Johanan said in the name of R. Simeon b. Jehozadak: By a majority vote, it was resolved in the upper chambers of the house of Nithza in Lydda that in every [other] law of the Torah, if a man is commanded: 'Transgress and suffer not death' he may transgress and not suffer death, excepting idolatry, incest, [which includes adultery] and murder.
Now may not idolatry be practiced [in these circumstances]? Has it not been taught: R.
Ishmael said: whence do we know that if a man was bidden, 'Engage in idolatry and save your life', that he should do so, and not be slain? From the verse, [Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments,' which if a man do] he shall live in them : but not die by them. I might think that it may even be openly practiced. But Scripture teaches, Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed?' — They ruled as R. Eliezer. For it has been taught, R. Eliezer said: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Since 'with all thy soul' is stated, why is 'with all thy might' stated? Or if 'with all thy might' be written, why also write 'with all thy soul'? For the man to whom life is more precious than wealth, 'with all thy soul' is written; while he to whom wealth is more precious than life is bidden, 'with all thy might'
[i.e., substance].
Incest and murder [may not be practised to save one's life], — even as Rabbi's dictum.
For it has been taught: Rabbi said, For as when a man rises against his neighbor, and slays him, even so is this matter. But what do we learn from this analogy of a murderer?
Thus, this comes to throw light and is itself illumined. The murderer is compared to a betrothed maiden: just as a betrothed maiden must be saved [from dishonor] at the cost of his [the ravisher's] life, so in the case of a murderer, he [the victim] must be saved at the cost of his [the attacker's] life. Conversely, a betrothed maiden is compared to a murderer: just as one must rather be slain than commit murder, so also must the betrothed maiden rather be slain than allow her violation. And how do we know this of murder itself? — It is common sense. Even as one who came before Raba and said to him, 'The governor of my town has ordered me, "Go and kill so and so; if not, I will slay thee"'. He answered him, 'Let him rather slay you than that you should commit murder; who knows that your blood is redder? Perhaps his blood is redder.
When R. Dimi came, he said: This was taught only if there is no royal decree, but if there is a royal decree, one must incur martyrdom rather than transgress even a minor precept.
When Rabin came, he said in R. Johanan's name: Even without a royal decree, it was
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only permitted in private; but in public one must be martyred even for a minor precept rather than violate it. What is meant by a 'minor precept'? — Raba son of R. Isaac said in
Rab's name: Even to change one's shoe strap. And how many make it public? — R. Jacob said in R. Johanan's name: The minimum for publicity is ten.
From here we see the following principles:
1) There are three commandments for which one must give up their life rather than violate them. They are: idolatry, sins of a sexual nature, and murder.
2) In a time of persecution one must give up their life rather than violate even a minor sin.
3) If one is being urged to violate a sin in public then one should not even agree to change the strap of one’s shoe in order to appease the persecutor.
What about if one is being asked to give up their life and noe of these factors apply?
Rambam argues that it is a great sin to martyr oneself in a situation where it is not required; i.e. one may not give up one’s life in service of Hashem if it is not one of these three situations.
If anyone about whom it is said: "Transgress and do not sacrifice your life," sacrifices his life and does not transgress, he is held accountable for his life.
( Yesodei Hatorah 5:4)
Yet, Rabbi Yosef Karo (author of the Shulkhan Arukh) argues with Rambam and writes in his Kesef Mishnah that it is a great deed to give up one’s life in service of
Hashem even if it is not explicitly required:
Many great and complete sages are of the opinion that if one is martyred rather than violate the law it is considered a righteous act. And it appears that they interpret the phrase, “ transgress and not suffer death” to be optional, that one has the right to be transgress and not be killed, but not that they must transgress. And Nimukei Yosef adds that even according to Rambam if he is a great and pious man and he sees that the generation is sinning then he is permitted to martyr himself even on a minor sin so hat the people will see this and will learn how to fear Hashem and love Him with all their heart. (Yesodei Hatorah 5:4)
So too, the author of the great Terumat Hadeshen, R. Israel Isserlein (responsum
199) also suggests that one is not obligated to follow Rambam’s ruling in this case:
Regarding the sins for which we say to violate rather than be killed, aside from idolatry, sexual immorality and murder: Were one to desire to be killed rather than transgress, and were he to ask us, how would we direct him? It appears that this is subject to rabbinic debate: The Rambam wrote that if he would give himself to be killed, he would
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be liable for his life... The Sefer Mitzvot Katan wrote that it would be pious to be killed rather than transgress... It appears that since this is a rabbinic debate we should rule leniently regarding a threat to life, as is ruled in the Talmud... However, one could say that regarding sanctifying God’s Name the Torah is not concerned for the loss of life from Israel; the Torah says: Give yourself to sanctify God’s Name. Therefore, we do not deduce from other cases of doubt regarding law, in which sanctification of God’s Name is not involved. It appears that we should rule for him based on the specific case, and based on what we discern of his intent. (Translation by R. Mordechai Torczyner)
R. Isserlein’s argument is that since this mitzvah at its core is about sanctifying
Hashem’s name therefore it is on a different level than all other commandments.
And for this reason one is permitted (but not obligated, depending upon the circumstance) to martyr oneself even in a circumstance where it is not required.
The opposite of sanctifying Hashem’s name (kiddush Hashem) is desecrating the name of Hashem (hilul Hashem). Rambam teaches us that Yom Kippur brings forgiveness for all sins except for the great sin of hillul Hashem.
However, a person who desecrated God's name, even though he repented, Yom Kippur arrived while he continued his repentance, and he experienced suffering, will not be granted complete atonement until he dies. The three: repentance, Yom Kippur, and suffering have a tentative effect and death atones as [Isaiah 22:14] states: "It was revealed in my ears [by] the Lord of Hosts, surely this iniquity will not be atoned for until you die." (Hilkhot Teshuvah, 1:4)
From this we see that once again the core value of martyrdom stands at the center of our Days of Awe. The concept of martyrdom plays a central role in our liturgy.
Martyrdom is called kiddush Hashem, sanctifying God’s name. On the other hand, the opposite of martyrdom is called hillul Hashem or desecrating God’s name. If one commits a hillul Hashem then it is the one sin that Yom Kippur does not atone for. Furthermore, so great is the mitzvah of Kiddush Hashem that according to most authorities this is the one example of a situation where we can give up our life even though it is not required. Normally we must preserve life, but in the case of dedicating oneself to Hashem we are permitted to give up our life.
This shows that the values represented by martyrdom are central values to our faith. It also shows that in order to fully appreciate and benefit from the High
Holidays we must internalize the values and live these values.
Here is an example of a story about a woman who now lives in Silver Spring who survived the Holocaust and who during that time (like so many others) rose to the highest level of internalizing these values. Her grandson tells the story about how she was running from the Nazis and was literally forced to eat anything to survive.
Here is how he recounts her telling him the following story:
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Someone taught me to tie the ends of my pants so I could fill the legs with any potatoes
I was able to steal. I walked miles and miles like that because you never knew when you would be lucky again…. The worst it got was near the end…and I didn’t know if I could make it another day. A farmer…saw my condition, and he went into his house and came out with a piece of meat for me.
“He saved your life.”
“I didn’t eat it.”
“You didn’t eat it?”
“It was pork. I wouldn’t eat pork.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why?’
“What, because it wasn’t kosher?”
“Of course.”
“But not even to save your life?”
“If nothing matters, there’s nothing to save.”
(Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals, 16-17.)
III.
In medieval times, especially in Northern Europe, Jews were living with the threat of martyrdom as a constant presence in their lives. It is therefore not surprising that they drew practical inspiration for martyrdom from these very texts that we chant on the High Holidays.
The work Sefer Hasidim is a compilation of teachings of the Germanic group of Jews known as Hasidei Ashkenaz. The work is attributed to R. Yehudah Hachasid (d.
1217). He teaches his students that there is a contemporary message from the story of the Akeidah. He views the Akeidah as an incident in which Abraham prayed that his own ancestors should rise to Isaac’s level of commitment in service of Hashem.
If you are tested and you keep from sinning, do not take credit for yourself, saying…I withstood the test. ‟Perhaps your ancestors were tested, and when they did not sin they asked of God that when their descendants would be tested, they would also keep from sinning. It is written, “God will see the lamb for the offering, my son... And Abraham called that place, ‘God will see,’” meaning that his descendants should be slaughtered to sanctify God’s Name, and burned like Isaac. And you should give thanks to God that He gave you the ability to withstand your evil inclination. (Sefer Hasidim, Bologna ed. 160)
The story of the Akeidah was very real and practical for the initial readers of Sefer
Hasidim. But that is partially because the audience of Sefer Hasidim was living with the daily threat of martyrdom. For them the Akeidah was not a distant story, but part and parcel of their own lives. During the first crusades in the year 1096 some
Jews sought comfort and literally cited the actions of Abraham as they martyred themselves and their family rather than forcibly convert to Christianity. Some Jews even believed the midrash that Abraham actually slaughtered Yitzchak at the
Akeidah and that afterwards, Yitzchak was then resurrected by God.
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How do these texts become relevant for us in our own lives today? Thankfully, for the overwhelming majority of people who will read these words martyrdom is a subject of Jewish History and not a daily presence and concern in our lives. Many good Jews might read these texts and think that it is not realistic to incorporate these sources into our daily spiritual lives. Some might even find these texts to be a spiritual turn-off. When I study these sources with Jews who do not have an
Orthodox Jewish education some find these texts to be creepy and off-putting.
Giving up one’s life as a martyr for some people sounds a little bit –although in my mind they are very, very different things--like the ideology of suicide bombing.
Thus, an important and necessary question for us to grapple with is: What practical meaning can we find in these texts?
IV.
In order for us to properly distill meaning from the principle of yeihareg veal yaavor we need to reduce it to its underlying value: at its root it is about deciding what our core principals are in life and reminding us that we must commit to those principles with everything we have.
So for example, if one of our core principles is Judaism, then it means that we must commit with every ounce of our body to the principle of Judaism, as it applies to
Jewish education for our children, prayer before Hashem, and doing mitzvot.
The principle of yeihareg veal yaavor is a basic commitment to God. And we should ask ourselves before Yom Kippur the following: Do our actions reflect our core beliefs? Are our rituals being performed in the best manner possible?
So the principle of yeihareg veal yaavor definitely means we have to increase our commitment to Hashem, especially during the High Holidays.
But it also means more than that.
Translated literally the phrase means that we must allow ourselves to be killed rather than violate a law. But there is also another way to interpret the phrase. An alternative approach takes the phrase and reapplies it in a proactive way to our activities. In order to do this, it is necessary to understand what is the opposite of the three major sins that require yeihareg veal yaavor.
V. The world rests on three things
There is a well-known Mishnah in Pirkei Avot that instructs us that the world rests on three things.
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Shimon the Righteous was among the last surviving members of the Great assembly. He would say: The world stands on three things: Torah, service (avodah), and deeds of kindness (gemilut chasadim). (Avot 1:2)
Why are these three things singled out as being the pillars in which the world stands upon? The great Maharal of Prague (Judah Loew ben Bezalel 1520-1609) explains that these three concepts of Torah, avodah , and gemilut chasadim are actually the positive formulation of the three sins that require yeihareg veal yaavor.
Therefore it states that the world rests upon Torah, avodah, and gemilut chasadim.
For through Torah a person is no longer a creature of nothingness, but a distinguished creature. And through avodah he guards the connection that every person has with his creator. And through gemilut chasadim he has a connection to other people, for a person was not created on his own, but rather, with other people. And when a person does acts of kindness with other people then he has a connection with another person….
And with this explanation we can understand the concept of yeihareg veal yaavor….
For these three sins are the opposite of the three things that the world rests upon.
Without doubt, idolatry (avodah zarah) is the opposite of avodah, which is service to
Hashem. And murder is the opposite of gemilut chasadim. Since gemilut chasadim is about doing good things to another that one is not even required to do, and murder is destroying someone entirely. And a sin of a sexual nature is the opposite of Torah study, for the greatness of Torah study is that it represents the supremacy of the soul
over the physicality of man…. (Derekh Hachaim, Avot ,1:2)
Maharal has brilliantly showed us how we can achieve the spiritual value of martyrdom without sacrificing our lives. We can achieve the value by flipping the concept of yeihareg veal yaavor and applying it in a positive way through a total commitment of our spiritual lives in three areas: Torah study, prayer, and acts of kindness.
He even goes a step further and adds that the very existence of the world is predicated upon us fulfilling these three positive acts of Torah study, service to
Hashem, and kindness.
In order to reach our full individual and communal spiritual heights we must strive to fulfill these areas with an increased focus and commitment.
We must dedicate our lives to Torah study. What does this mean? It means we must dedicate ourselves like Hillel and Rabbi Eliezer.
Our rabbis taught: A poor person, a rich person and a evil person come before the heavenly court. They ask the poor person, “Why did you not study Torah?” If the poor person answers, “I was poor and worried about earning a living,” they will ask the poor person, “Were you poorer than Hillel?” For it was told of Hillel that every day he used to work and earn one tropaik [small amount], half of which he would give as tuition to the doorkeeper at the House of Learning; the other half he would spend on his and his
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family’s needs. One day, he was unable to earn anything and the doorkeeper would not permit him to enter the House of Learning. So he climbed up to the roof and sat upon the window to hear the words of the Living God out of the mouths of Shmaya and Avtalion.
That day was a Friday in the middle of winter, and snow fell on him from the sky. When the dawn rose, Shmaya said to Avtalion, “Brother Avtalion, every day, this house is light and today it is dark.” They looked up and saw the figure of a man in the window. They went up and found Hillel covered by four feet of snow. They brought him down, bathed and anointed him, and placed him in front of the fire...
They ask the rich person, “Why did you not study Torah?” If the rich person answers, “I was rich and preoccupied with my possessions,” they say to the rich person, “Do you mean to say you were richer than
Rabbi Eleazar?” Of Rabbi Eleazar ben Harsom, it is reported that his father left him an inheritance of one thousand cities on land and a thousand ships on sea. Yet every day he would take a sack of flour on his shoulder and go from city to city and province to province for the sole purpose of studying the Torah... (Yoma 35b.)
We must always be seeking to increase our Torah study. This means we should always be asking ourselves are we studying Torah? How can we increase our commitment to
Torah study? And we must remember and be inspired by the commitment of Hillel and
Rabbi Eliezer.
And we must increase our commitment to prayer. How should we pray? We must pray with great focus and with a clear recognition that we are standing before our
Maker when we pray.
Our Rabbis taught: It is related that once when a certain pious man was praying by the roadside, an officer came by and greeted him and he did not return his greeting. So he waited for him till he had finished his prayer. When he had finished his prayer he said to him: Fool! is it not written in your Law, Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently, and it is also written, Take ye therefore good heed unto your souls? When I greeted you why did you not return my greeting? If I had cut off your head with my sword, who would have demanded satisfaction for your blood from me? He replied to him: Be patient and I will explain to you. If, [he went on], you had been standing before an earthly king and your friend had come and given you greeting, would you have returned it? No, he replied. And if you had returned his greeting, what would they have done to you? They would have cut off my head with the sword, he replied. He then said to him: Have we not here then an a fortiori argument: If [you would have behaved] in this way when standing before an earthly king who is here today and tomorrow in the grave, how much more so I when standing before the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, who endures for all eternity? Forthwith the officer accepted his explanation, and the pious man returned to his home in peace. (Berachot, 32b)
We should accept upon ourselves before Yom Kippur to try and raise our commitment to prayer. We should go beyond simply not talking in prayer or merely mouthing the words. We should try to visualize the image of this man who ignored the king while he was praying so that he could have a proper conversation with the
King of Kings.
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And we should recommit ourselves to gemilut chasadim.
Rabbi Daniel Feldman a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University has written a beautiful book called: Divine Footsteps: Chesed and the Jewish Soul. In this book Rabbi
Feldman critically analyzes the mitzvah of chesed and discusses its many parameters. Here is how he starts the book (1-2):
The commandment to engage in acts of chesed is of undisputed importance; the
Mishnah identifies “gemilut chasadim,” performing acts of kindness, as one of three supporting pillars of the world. The Talmud underscores this significance by pointing out that incidents of God’s chesed frame the Torah, which begins with God’s provision of clothes for Ada and Eve…and concludes with His burial of Moses. This is not merely a stylistic flourish; the fact that the Torah “begins and ends with chesed” is not simply a point of sequence and structure, but is a dramatic declaration of the underpinnings of the Torah in its totality. R. Yerucham Levovitz, the distinguished mashgiach of the
Mirrer Yeshiva, noted that this language is meant to convey that chesed is not only the most important theme of the Torah, it is the theme of everything; all of Torah , and of
Creation, flows from the value of chesed.
Although the High Holidays are a time to recommit to Torah study and prayer, above all else it is a time to recommit to gemilut chasadim, acts of kindness.
VI.
The Unetane Tokef prayer declares that repentance (teshuvah), prayer (tefillah), and charity (tzedakah) annual a harsh decree from Hashem.
We have already seen in the writings of Mahral that Torah, avodah, and gemilut chasadim is a positive formulation of how we must commit to Hashem.
It is possible to interpret these two classic formulations as equal statements; i.e.
Teshuvah utefilah utzedakah equals Torah, avodah, ugemilut chasadim.
Avodah is a synonym for prayer, and tzedakah is another way of defining gemilut chasadim. Teshuvah is not exactly the same as Torah study but it is close enough to suggest that these two phrases are essentially urging the same path to reconnecting with Hashem.
But there is another way to understand these phrases. We can reduce these three concepts at their core to one concept: the mitzvah of chesed.
Teshuvah utefilah utzedakah can all be understood to be an outgrowth of the commandment to do acts of kindness in this world.
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Teshuvah means repentance. At first glance we might think that this has nothing to do with chesed as it is simply an internal concept that relates to one’s own personal relationship with Hashem.
But this is not true at all. We cannot expect to return to Hashem until we have gone beyond ourselves and connected to the other. Connecting to the other, as the
Maharal taught us, is the goal of chesed.
Rambam writes:
Teshuvah and Yom Kippur only atone for sins between man and God; for example, a person who ate a forbidden food or engaged in forbidden sexual relations, and the like.
However, sins between man and man; for example, someone who injures a colleague, curses a colleague, steals from him, or the like will never be forgiven until he gives his colleague what he owes him and appeases him. [It must be emphasized that] even if a person restores the money that he owes [the person he wronged], he must appease him and ask him to forgive him. Even if a person only upset a colleague by saying [certain] things, he must appease him and approach him [repeatedly] until he forgives him. If his colleague does not desire to forgive him, he should bring a group of three of his friends and approach him with them and request [forgiveness]. If [the wronged party] is not appeased, he should repeat the process a second and third time. If he [still] does not want [to forgive him], he may let him alone and need not pursue [the matter further]. On the contrary, the person who refuses to grant forgiveness is the one considered as the sinner. (Hilkhot Teshuvah 1:9)
So without reaching out to others one is unable to fully reconnect to Hashem.
Furthermore, the act of restoring peace to the world and returning the world to its original state of peace and harmony is the goal of chesed. As Rabbi Feldman writes
(242): “The act of making peace between two individuals aggrieved by conflict is a fundamental act of chesed.”
So teshuvah is often seen as a personal odyssey, but perhaps we should see it as a communal odyssey best achieved through the medium of chesed whose goal is reunite the entire community in peace and harmony.
Likewise, prayer is often seen as a personal conversation with God. But the ideal prayer can also be seen as a derivative of the concept of chesed.
The highest level of prayer is a prayer that is not inward and focused on our own needs, but a prayer that focuses on helping others.
Our rabbis tells us that Channah’s prayer which we read as the Haftorah on the first day of Rosh Hashanah is the paradigmatic prayer from which all other prayer is based upon. What made Channah’s prayer so special? It was that she was focused on helping others and it was for this reason that she wanted a child.
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"And Hannah spoke from her heart..."Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Yossi Bar
Zimra, "Hannah spoke of those things which engaged her heart. She said, "Sovereign of the Universe, there was nothing extraneous in anything You created for a woman. Eyes to see, ears to hear a nose to smell, a mouth to speak, hands for work, legs to walk, breasts to nurse. These breasts which You placed upon my heart, should I not nurse with them?
Give me a son and I will nurse with them... (Berakhot, 31b)
Praying for others is considered to be a great act of chesed. The Talmud even states that one who does not pray for a friend in need is committing a sin.
Raba b. Hinena the elder said further in the name of Rab: If one is in a position to pray on behalf of his fellow and does not do so, he is called a sinner, as it says, Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.
6 Raba said: If [his fellow] is a scholar, he must pray for him even to the point of making himself ill. (Berackhot, 12b).
Presumably there are two reasons for this: 1) ideally, the prayer will work and alleviate the pain of the individual; 2) minimally, it will allow for greater identification with the person in need. (See Feldman, 244.)
The third word of the famous phrase teshuvah utefillah utzedakah is tzedakah.
Tzedakah in this context does not only mean giving money to poor people, but rather should be understood as a general act of kindness to help others. Tzedakah in this context is really another word for chesed; i.e. reaching out to another person and helping them through physical or spiritual nourishment.
VII Doing Chesed as a way to imitate God and walk in His ways
So the flip side of giving up our life in service of Hashem and martyring ourselves is dedicating our life to Hashem through acts of chesed. When we do acts of kindness we are serving Hashem in the ultimate manner; we are fulfilling the essence of
teshuvah utefillah utzedakah, and we are literally keeping the world standing.
The Talmud in Sotah (14a) tells us that the way to cleave to God and to follow in his path is by performing acts of kindness:
R. Hama son of R. Hanina further said: What means the text: Ye shall walk after the Lord your God? Is it, then, possible for a human being to walk after the Shechinah; for has it not been said: For the Lord thy God is a devouring fire? But [the meaning is] to walk after the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He. As He clothes the naked, for it is written: And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skin, and clothed them, so do thou also clothe the naked. The Holy One, blessed be He, visited the sick, for it is written: And the Lord appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre, so do thou also visit the sick. The Holy One, blessed be He, comforted mourners, for it is written: And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son, so do thou also comfort mourners. The Holy one, blessed be He, buried the dead, for it is written: And He buried him in the valley, so do thou also bury the dead.
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Rambam teaches us that these acts of kindness which we take for granted are actual commandments that are required behavior for a Jew:
It is a positive commandment of Rabbinic origin to visit the sick, comfort mourners, to prepare for a funeral, prepare a bride, accompany guests, attend to all the needs of a burial, carry a corpse on one shoulders, walk before the bier, mourn, dig a grave, and bury the dead, and also to bring joy to a bride and groom and help them in all their needs. These are deeds of kindness that one carries out with his person that have no limit.
Although all these mitzvot are of Rabbinic origin, they are included in the Scriptural commandment Leviticus 19:18: "Love your neighbor as yourself." That charge implies that whatever you would like other people to do for you, you should do for your comrade in the Torah and mitzvot.
The reward one receives for accompanying guests is greater than all of the others. This is a statute which Abraham our Patriarch instituted and the path of kindness which he would follow. He would feed wayfarers, provide them with drink, and accompany them.
Showing hospitality for guests surpasses receiving the Divine Presence as Genesis 18:3 states: "And he saw and behold there were three people."
Accompanying them is greater than showing them hospitality. Our Sages said: "Whoever does not accompany them is considered as if he shed blood."
We compel people to accompany wayfarers in the same manner as we compel them to give charity. (Rambam, Laws of Mourning 1-3)
When we perform acts of kindness we are fulfilling the essential teaching of the High
Holidays; we are coming closer to God; and we are serving Hashem in the ultimate manner.
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The theme of martyrdom is so central to the High Holidays that we forget that there is another text that we read on Yom Kippur that seems to negate the concept of martyrdom.
The Torah reading for Yom Kippur morning domes from Leviticus 16 :1-34 and is about the service of the Kohein Gadol (High Priest) on Yom Kippur. The reason we read this on Yom Kippur morning is obvious as it discusses the ritual requirements of the day.
However, the Torah reading for the afternoon of Yom Kippur (Leviticus 18:1-30) is puzzling. The selection of this text is puzzling as it seemingly does not directly relate to Yom Kippur and instead focuses on forbidden sexual relationships.
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So I once heard an answer (and I now forget the source) that the reason we read this reading on Yom Kippur afternoon is because it contains the words, “va-chai bahem”:
“
You shall observe My statutes and My ordinances, which a man shall do and live by them (va-chai bahem). I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 18:5)
The liturgy focuses so much on martyrdom and the need to give up our lives in service of Hashem that the text chosen for Yom Kippur reminds us that that is not at all the purpose of Judaism. The purpose is va-chai bahem, to live by the laws of the
Torah and to serve God through life, rather than death.
We can serve God through a total commitment in life by dedicating our life to acts of
chesed. In this manner we will truly be fulfilling the core teaching of the Yamim
Noraim liturgy.
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The concept of yeihareg veal yaavor is about deciding what our core principals are in life and then committing to them with everything we have. It is both a negative formulation and a positive formulation. When formulated negatively it means don’t violate a major sin. When formulated positively it means serve God through acts of kindness.
The Yamim Noraim is a time to demonstrate our total commitment to Hashem. One way we should do that this year is by internalizing the value of chesed and seeing how it permeates our liturgy. Additionally we must use the inspiration of the High
Holidays to better our own behavior as it relates to performing acts of kindness in order to help others and in order to reconnect with Hashem. We have to be ready to give our lives in service of Hashem. It is a kindness of Hashem that He tells us that we can demonstrate our commitment to Him simply by performing acts of chesed.
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