{"id":41969,"date":"2016-09-21T17:09:07","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T17:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=41969"},"modified":"2020-09-08T15:49:43","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T15:49:43","slug":"help-harm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/","title":{"rendered":"You Can\u2019t Help Me; You Can\u2019t Harm Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHe became King over Yeshurun when the numbers of the nation gathered, the tribes of Israel in unity<\/em>.\u201d \u2014 Devarim 33:5<\/p>\n

In his final address to the Jewish people, Moshe Rabbeinu gives each shevet<\/em> a bracha<\/em> and charges them with their national responsibilities. Immediately prior, he spoke to the entire people saying, \u201cWhen the Jews are gathered in unity, then HASHEM is their King.\u201d The Daas Zekeinim<\/em> explains this means that: \u201cWhen the Jews are joined together in friendship and brotherhood only then is HASHEM our king; however, when there is fighting amongst us, we are acting as if HASHEM doesn\u2019t rule over us \u2014 He isn\u2019t our King.\u201d<\/p>\n

This statement of the Daas\u00a0<\/em>Zekeinim<\/i>\u00a0is difficult to understand. If he were telling us that HASHEM loves peace and that when we are in a state of disagreement, He doesn\u2019t want to be our king, it would make sense. But that is not what he is saying. He says that, \u201cWhen we are in a state of conflict it is as if we are rejecting HASHEM as our king.\u201d Why is this so? Perhaps I accept that HASHEM is my king \u2014 but I hate you<\/strong>. HASHEM I love; you I have a problem with.<\/p>\n

The answer to this can best be understood with a mashal<\/em>:<\/p>\n

What good is a decree of life, back on Rosh Hashanah?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Imagine it is a cold February night. You are walking down a dark street in a part of town that you don\u2019t normally frequent. As you tighten your coat against the wind, you notice how quiet it is \u2014 not a soul to be seen or heard. Suddenly, there\u2019s a screech, a car stops, and out jump three tough looking thugs who surround you. One of them reaches into his coat pocket, pulls out a gun, and points it at your head.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve never stared down the barrel of a gun before \u2014 at least not a real one \u2014 and not in real life. Suddenly, you realize that your very life is in the hands of this punk. And in that that life-and-death moment, you are struck by a major philosophical problem: what good is HASHEM\u2019s decree on the previous Rosh Hashanah when your life is in the hands of this drug-crazed kid? In fact, what good is any decree when so much is in man\u2019s power to control?<\/p>\n

You can help me; you can\u2019t harm me<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Then answer to this dilemma, and one of the bedrock basics of our entire emunah<\/em> system, is that since HASHEM decrees \u201cwho will live and who will die,\u201d then perforce HASHEM is on the scene 24\/7\/365 to carry out those decrees. If I accept that HASHEM decides the fate of mankind, then I also accept the fact that HASHEM is around throughout man\u2019s existence to carry out those decrees \u2013 otherwise, the entire system is absurd.<\/p>\n

The power given to man<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The Chovos\u00a0<\/em>HaLevavos<\/i>\u00a0(Sha\u2019ar<\/em>\u00a0HaBitachon<\/i>) explains that one of the principles of emunah<\/em> is that you can\u2019t<\/strong> harm me<\/strong> and you can\u2019t help me<\/strong>. The amount of money I make, my health and well-being, which woman I am to marry, which home I am to own, has been predetermined by HASHEM \u2014 and HASHEM carries out each of those decisions. You have no control over my destiny.<\/p>\n

You could hate me. You could lay elaborate and detailed schemes to kill me. But if it isn\u2019t in the will of HASHEM for me to die, there is nothing that you can do to me. You can scheme and you can dream, but every effort will be met with failure \u2014 because HASHEM is there protecting me. I walk around protected. It is as if I walk the streets surrounded by a Lucite bubble, shielding me from all harm\u2014HASHEM is right there.<\/p>\n

So too the opposite. If you were the most generous, loving person in the world, and you were completely devoted to help me, if my time on this planet is up, there is nothing that you can do to change that\u2014any human is powerless to change my destiny.<\/p>\n

But this concept isn\u2019t limited to areas of life and death. Across the full spectrum of the human experience, HASHEM is directly and intimately involved in the running of our lives.<\/p>\n

How to take an insult<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

This seems to be the answer to the question on the Daas\u00a0<\/em>Zekeinim<\/i>. Any infighting in the Klal Yisroel<\/em> indicates one point: we don\u2019t really understand who runs the world. Why am I angry with you? Because you <\/em>hurt me, you <\/em>wronged me, you <\/em>took something from me. If I truly understood that HASHEM alone determines every outcome, all anger would disappear. I might feel disappointment that you have chosen poorly, but anger only comes from the sense that you <\/em>have harmed me.<\/p>\n

If the Jewish people are fighting, then by definition it means that HASHEM isn\u2019t our King. Fighting is an act of insubordination because it means that we deny HASHEM\u2019s control, and so it is an act of rejecting HASHEM\u2019s sovereignty. We only proclaim HASHEM as our king when we truly understand that it is He alone who controls every action that befalls us, and so he is only our King when we live in peace and harmony with each other.<\/p>\n

\n

Courtesy of TheShmuz.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHe became King over Yeshurun when the numbers of the nation gathered, the tribes of Israel in unity.\u201d \u2014 Devarim 33:5 In his final address to the Jewish people, Moshe Rabbeinu gives each shevet a bracha and charges them with their national responsibilities. Immediately prior, he spoke to the entire people saying, \u201cWhen the Jews […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133214,"featured_media":41970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[343],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-simchat-torah"],"yoast_head":"\nYou Can\u2019t Help Me; You Can\u2019t Harm Me - Jewish Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Daas Zekeinim says that: \u201cWhen the Jews are joined together in friendship and brotherhood only then is HASHEM our king". What does this mean?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"You Can\u2019t Help Me; You Can\u2019t Harm Me - Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Daas Zekeinim says that: \u201cWhen the Jews are joined together in friendship and brotherhood only then is HASHEM our king". What does this mean?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrthodoxUnion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-21T17:09:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-08T15:49:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_27536850_SMALL.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"849\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"564\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/\",\"name\":\"You Can\u2019t Help Me; You Can\u2019t Harm Me - Jewish Holidays\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_27536850_SMALL.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-21T17:09:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-08T15:49:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/e52aa5b37d7bc1d19bfa37c12e313b8f\"},\"description\":\"The Daas Zekeinim says that: \u201cWhen the Jews are joined together in friendship and brotherhood only then is HASHEM our king\\\". What does this mean?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_27536850_SMALL.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_27536850_SMALL.jpg\",\"width\":849,\"height\":564,\"caption\":\"Hammer and yellow bandage on white background.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"You Can\u2019t Help Me; You Can\u2019t Harm Me\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/\",\"name\":\"Jewish Holidays\",\"description\":\"Learn about Jewish holidays\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/e52aa5b37d7bc1d19bfa37c12e313b8f\",\"name\":\"Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/assets\/Rabbi-Ben-Tzion-Shafier_avatar_1474826471-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/assets\/Rabbi-Ben-Tzion-Shafier_avatar_1474826471-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier\"},\"description\":\"A veteran mechanech and noted relationships expert, Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier served as a high school rebbe for 15 years before creating the Shmuz. TheShmuz.com, a popular website that dispenses weekly Torah inspiration to 10,000 people across the globe, reflects the down-to-earth, practical voice of Rabbi Shafier. Offering refreshing parashah thoughts, life-changing hashkafa workshops, and captivating marriage seminars (like \u201c10 Really Dumb Mistakes that Very Smart Couples Make\u201d), Rabbi Shafier is direct, daring, and downright funny, providing audiences with essential Torah principles packaged in an enticing, enjoyable way. A father of six and grandfather of four, Rabbi Shafier lives in Monsey, New York. He can be contacted through TheShmuz.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/author\/ben-tzion-shafier-2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"You Can\u2019t Help Me; You Can\u2019t Harm Me - Jewish Holidays","description":"The Daas Zekeinim says that: \u201cWhen the Jews are joined together in friendship and brotherhood only then is HASHEM our king\". What does this mean?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"You Can\u2019t Help Me; You Can\u2019t Harm Me - Jewish Holidays","og_description":"The Daas Zekeinim says that: \u201cWhen the Jews are joined together in friendship and brotherhood only then is HASHEM our king\". What does this mean?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/","og_site_name":"Jewish Holidays","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrthodoxUnion","article_published_time":"2016-09-21T17:09:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-08T15:49:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":849,"height":564,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_27536850_SMALL.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/","name":"You Can\u2019t Help Me; You Can\u2019t Harm Me - Jewish Holidays","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_27536850_SMALL.jpg","datePublished":"2016-09-21T17:09:07+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-08T15:49:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/e52aa5b37d7bc1d19bfa37c12e313b8f"},"description":"The Daas Zekeinim says that: \u201cWhen the Jews are joined together in friendship and brotherhood only then is HASHEM our king\". What does this mean?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_27536850_SMALL.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_27536850_SMALL.jpg","width":849,"height":564,"caption":"Hammer and yellow bandage on white background."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/help-harm\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"You Can\u2019t Help Me; You Can\u2019t Harm Me"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/","name":"Jewish Holidays","description":"Learn about Jewish holidays","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/e52aa5b37d7bc1d19bfa37c12e313b8f","name":"Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/assets\/Rabbi-Ben-Tzion-Shafier_avatar_1474826471-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/assets\/Rabbi-Ben-Tzion-Shafier_avatar_1474826471-96x96.jpg","caption":"Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier"},"description":"A veteran mechanech and noted relationships expert, Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier served as a high school rebbe for 15 years before creating the Shmuz. TheShmuz.com, a popular website that dispenses weekly Torah inspiration to 10,000 people across the globe, reflects the down-to-earth, practical voice of Rabbi Shafier. Offering refreshing parashah thoughts, life-changing hashkafa workshops, and captivating marriage seminars (like \u201c10 Really Dumb Mistakes that Very Smart Couples Make\u201d), Rabbi Shafier is direct, daring, and downright funny, providing audiences with essential Torah principles packaged in an enticing, enjoyable way. A father of six and grandfather of four, Rabbi Shafier lives in Monsey, New York. He can be contacted through TheShmuz.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/author\/ben-tzion-shafier-2\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41969"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49824,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41969\/revisions\/49824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}