Parshat Netzavim-Vayeilech
September 19th-20th, 2003
23 Elul, 5763

The following sheet is an extensively revised version of a past edition of Insights.

Sometime during my youth (many, many moons--and even more pounds--ago), a certain slogan became all the rage. It was on bumper stickers and buttons, T-shirts, ashtrays and keychains; it was on the lips of television actors and comedians, Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Newman…and everybody else you happened to converse with. It was The Cool Thing to Say. (I’m struggling to find a present-day equivalent: send me any ideas you may have.)

The slogan I’m talking about was: "The Devil made me do it!"

Were you caught doing something rude, indecent, crass or anti-social? Just grin wickedly (or innocently), and explain, "The Devil made me do it." End of discussion.

How would the Torah view this particular slogan? Believe it or not, "The Devil" is not the problematic part. Though many people may not realize it, his roots are firmly planted in the Jewish tradition. The word, "Satan," comes from a Hebrew root that means to hinder or denounce; there are many references to him in the Talmud and Midrash--not to mention the Book of Job, where he makes perhaps his most famous appearance.

The Satan is real: he's an angel (malach), that is to say, a spiritual force created by Hashem to play the role of Accuser, and Tempter, of the Jewish people...and of each individual. A manifestation of the Satan exists inside of every human being, in fact. It is the powerful force that our Sages called the "yetzer ha'ra," or "evil inclination." As one great contemporary Torah scholar defines it, the yetzer ha'ra is "the collective name for the drives and attitudes which interfere with [i.e. hinder] man's search for spirituality and closeness to G-d." (Rabbi Aharon Feldman, The Juggler and the King, p. 21) We can spot the footprints of the yetzer ha'ra in our almost insatiable desire for pleasures, honor, wealth, attention. If not kept in check, this desire can swamp that opposite yearning we have inside of us for spiritual growth and holiness, the manifestation of the yetzer ha'tov, or "good inclination."

So there is a Devil inside us, if you will, a force whose very purpose is to challenge us. But he was put there by G-d, the King of All, and reports to HIM (He’s not an independent actor). And the reason G-d put the yetzer ha’ra inside of us is so that we will rise above it—i.e., gain spiritual reward (and fortitude) by following the promptings of the yetzer ha’tov instead. We develop our spiritual muscles by refusing to follow the yetzer ha’ra--however strong the temptation--and by heeding the guidelines of the Torah…and of our own higher selves.

Far from being a tragedy, then, the existence of the Satan/yetzer ha’ra is for our own benefit. It exists in order to help us become better people, and more loyal servants of the Holy One, Blessed be He. (In a sense, we can characterize the struggle against the yetzer ha’ra as the very purpose of our existence on earth!)

So, the problem with the slogan, "The Devil made me do it," ain’t the Devil part. It’s the "made me do it" business. The Devil doesn't make us do anything. Free will is an absolutely central concept in the Torah. With exceedingly rare exceptions, a human being can always either choose to do good, or choose to do evil. (This fact makes human beings greater than the angels, who lack the element of free will.) In fact, the moral realm is really the only area in which man has such freedom. As the Talmud states, "Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except the fear of Heaven." (Berachos 33b) Ultimately, everything is in G-d’s hand…except our decision to either fear (and serve) Him, or not. [Note: The exception alluded to above is discussed by Rambam. He explains that in the case of extremely wicked individuals, like Pharaoh, the ultimate punishment from G-d may be the removal of their ability to repent after a certain point.]

We human beings are always looking for someone, or something, to pin the blame on for our transgressions. If it's not the Devil, then it's our genes or our dysfunctional families or our anger from childhood abuse that made us do it. Something else is always making us do it (hit, hate, curse, turn aside from the stirrings of our conscience, etc.) The Torah, however, teaches that nothing makes you do it...not even your yetzer ha'ra, the most likely culprit of all. Each of us decides whether or not we do it, each of us uses the free choice given by G-d to go in one direction or the other. Certainly, there are parameters that limit our moral choices (both circumstance, and the cumulative effect of our previous choices). But nothing determines them…or compels us to go a certain way.

Though we do have free will, then, it is (admittedly) not always so easy to oppose the yetzer ha'ra. The Talmud tells truly frightening stories about individuals who thought they had whipped theirs, only to find themselves attacked later with an overwhelming force of temptation. The Satan is a formidable opponent. As Rabbi Moshe Chayim Luzzatto puts it in his classic ethical work, Mesilas Yesharim (Path of the Just):

"...[the yetzer ha'ra] is a man of war, and well versed in craftiness. It is impossible to escape from him except with great wisdom and a broad outlook...And it is obvious that even if one watches closely over himself, it is not within his power to save himself without the help of the Holy One, Blessed be He. For the evil inclination is exceedingly tenacious, as Scripture states, 'The wicked one looks to the righteous and seeks to kill him...' (translation taken partly from edition by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein; Feldheim, pp. 31, 33)

Elsewhere in the book, Luzzatto explains that the only way to defeat the yetzer ha'ra is through Torah study (combined with dedicated moral self-reflection resulting from that study), for the Talmud explains that G-d expressly created the Torah as its sole antidote! (Tractate Kiddushin, 30b) By our own efforts alone, we may well NOT be strong enough to choose wisely all the time. We need the spiritual fortification of Torah.

So while it is not true that the Devil made me do it, he certainly does make me offers that are sometimes quite hard to refuse!

Along comes our parsha, and lifts our spirits with the promise of a brighter future when things won’t be quite so difficult. Moshe Rabbeinu speaks to the Jewish people about the Messianic era (as Ramban interprets), when, after all the sufferings of exile, our nation will do teshuvah ("repent") and return to G-d:

"It will be that when all these things come upon you--the blessing and the curse that I have presented before you--then you will take it to your heart among all the nations where Hashem, your G-d, has dispersed you; and you will return unto Hashem, your G-d, and listen to His voice, according to everything that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and all your soul. Then Hashem, your G-d, will bring back your captivity and have mercy upon you, and He will gather you in from all the peoples to which Hashem, your G-d, has scattered you...Hashem, your G-d, will bring you to the Land that your forefathers possessed and you shall possess it; He will do good to you...[He] will circumcise your heart and the heart of your
offspring, to love Hashem, your G-d, with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live." (30, 1-6; Artscroll Chumash, p. 1091)

We can readily understand the idea that Hashem will bring Moshiach, and gather in His dispersed people to the land of Israel in response to our teshuvah, to our act of turning back to Him. But what does the Torah mean by the curious phrase, "circumcise your heart?"

In a remarkable passage, Ramban explains that in the days of Moshiach, the yetzer ha'ra will be greatly weakened, and man will naturally follow his good inclination:

"Since the time of Creation, man has had the power to do as he pleased, to be righteous or wicked...[to] gain merit upon choosing the good and punishment for preferring evil. But in the days of Moshiach, the choice of their [genuine] good will be natural: the heart will not desire the improper and it will have no craving whatever for it. This is the "circumcision" mentioned here, for lust and desire are the "foreskin" of the heart, and circumcision of the heart means that it will not covet or desire evil. Man will return at that time to what he was before the sin of Adam, when by his nature he did what should properly be done, and there were no conflicting desires in his will..." (Ramban, Commentary on The Torah, translated by Rabbi Dr. Charles B. Chavel; Volume 5, p. 341)

Not that free will be totally abolished at that time, with human beings becoming robots automatically performing good deeds. If that were to be so, we'd have no opportunity for reward or punishment, since that depends on freely choosing good, or its opposite. We'd be operating, then, under the slogan, "The Angel [or The Holy One Himself] made me do it!" No, our Sages explain that human free will is always going to operate, even in the Messianic age.

Rather, as Rabbi Chavel points out in his notes on this verse, the motivation for good will be so strong at that time that it will appear as if the yetzer ha'ra has been completely eradicated…though there still will be the potential to do evil should one choose. It would be analogous to the likelihood of a normal person jumping into a fire. His clear understanding of the danger makes it, for all practical purposes, impossible that he would choose to do so...though he or she can still choose freely whether or not to take the plunge. In future days, when (as the Prophets tell us) the knowledge of G-d will fill the earth, there will be a fundamental change in the moral nature of man, a return to his Edenic state of "naturally" wanting to do good. Jumping to do a sin will be as unlikely as jumping into a fire. (See also Rabbi Chavel's notes in the Hebrew edition, volume 1, pp. 36-37, where he cites this explanation in the name of the great teacher, Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz.)

There will be a "return" (teshuva) to the state of Adam and Eve before the sin, to the original purity and spiritual greatness of mankind. (But free will remains operative.)

Sounds nice to me. Although it's true that we have a terrific opportunity in the present era to earn reward, and to prove our loyalty unto G-d, by subduing our yetzer ha'ra, we also are bested by him pretty often. How can we not eagerly await the day so beautifully described by our Prophets (as quoted in the comments of the Ramban)?

"Behold, the days come, saith the Eternal, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah...
I will put my Law in their inward parts, and in their hearts will I write it...
for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them."
(Jeremiah 31, 30-33)
"A new heart will I also give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will cause you to walk in my statutes." (Ezekiel 36, 26-7)

Come to think of it, this sounds a lot like what we say in the Shemoneh Esrei on Rosh Hashanah: "Iniquity will close its mouth, and all wickedness will evaporate like smoke, when you will remove evil's domination from the earth." (Artscroll Rosh Hashanah Machzor, p. 67) For on Rosh Hashanah, we look forward to the day when G-d will remove evil from our hearts, and all mankind will unite to serve G-d and pursue good. "And so, too, Hashem, our G-d, instill Your awe upon all Your works…Let them all become a single society to do Your will wholeheartedly." (p. 65)

We are not there yet. But Rosh Hashanah gives us a taste of that state. The blast of the shofar, we are taught, has the mystical effect of startling (and silencing) the Satan. The blast of the shofar has the power to drive the evil out of our heart temporarily…and to wake our souls up sufficiently so that we can choose the path of good, of teshuva, that culminates in the atonement of Yom Kippur! On Rosh Hashanah, we "crown" Hashem King over us, and declare that our allegiance is to HIM alone…and not to the "man of war" (the yetzer ha’ra) that works for Him. The shofar blast breaks the chains that the yetzer ha’ra has managed (through our choice!) to fasten on us.

May we all take the time in the next few days to think about teshuva…about turning our allegiance back to G-d, and starting a new year with renewed dedication to Torah and mitzvos. Nobody’s making us do it…but G-d has told us in this parsha that it is the right choice. "I have placed life and death before you, blessing and curse; and you shall choose life…to love Hashem, your G-d, to listen to His voice and to cleave to Him… Let’s close the year by choosing to listen to His good advice.

GOOD SHABBOS!

My e-mail address is yosefe@comcast.net

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Rabbi Yosef Edelstein, Savannah Kollel. Phone: 912-351-0469; fax: 354-9923