Parshat Vayeilech begins with the verse, "
Vayeilech Moshe vayedaber et hadevarim haeleh el kol Yisrael vayomer aleihem
." (Moshe went and spoke these words to all of Israel and he said to them....) Why does the Torah begin with this introductory sentence that seems redundant? The Midrash Tanchuma explains that the term
vayeilech
signifies rebuke. Why was rebuke given at this time and why was it expressed using a term normally used for walking?
The Shem Mishmuel quotes another Midrash in the beginning of Devarim which quotes a verse in the Prophets, "
Ochichacha ... l'einecha
," I will rebuke, I will teach, and I will lay it out in front of your eyes. This verse can be interpreted in two ways,
l'orer or l'sader
- to arouse or to arrange. The Shem Mismuel quotes another Midrash in Bereishit Rabbah which compares the
yetzer hara
to a conniving dog. The dog would come into a bakery and pretend to go to sleep. The baker, thinking he was harmless, also went to sleep. Then the dog would quickly get up, grab some bread and run off. The
yetzer hara
uses this same strategy. He makes himself appear harmless. He has a way of lulling us into a false sense of security while he pulls us towards situations that may endanger us spiritually.
After Adam and Chava ate from the
eitz hadaat
, their eyes opened. While they were living in
Gan Eden
they didn't appreciate what they had. They allowed the
yetzer hara
to dupe them into violating Hashem's command. After they sinned, Hashem opened their eyes to what they had done. All future generations would now suffer because of their sin. We don't realize how seemingly innocuous events and behaviors can have disastrous outcomes. People delude themselves and rationalize away their actions. They act insensitively and refuse to face the consequences of their deeds. They deceive themselves that it is harmless. We have to stand on guard and be very careful. The
yetzer hara
is like a sleeping dog that lulls us into oblivion and then grabs our precious souls.
The Shem Mishmuel explains that the
yetzer hara
uses another common trap. Man is a mixture of good and evil. We know we're not perfect. But the
yetzer hara
deludes us into creating our own scale of good and bad. We think that our
mitzvot
will erase our sins. The Rambam writes that these calculations can only be done by Hashem. When a person mistakenly thinks that his
mitzvot ben adam l'makom
will erase his failings of
ben adam l'chavero,
then
he has fallen into the
yetzer hara's
trap. Hashem says, there will come a day that I will open your eyes and make
seder
(order). You will see that the balance sheet was not the way you thought it was.
The Shem Mishmuel writes that people usually fall into sin through either one of these ruses. The sin happens unwittingly before the person knows he's trapped, or the person is led into thinking his
mitzvot
will outweigh his sins. Both of these attitudes have to be eradicated. Hashem promises that in the time of Mashiach we will repent. There will be a
hitorerut
, an arousal, and a
sidur,
a clear understanding of what is right and wrong.
The Shem Mishmuel further writes that man is a combination of
moach
and
lev,
intellect and emotion. The sins that happen when we allow our sensitivities to be lulled into a state of unawareness are related to emotions. The sins having to do with incorrect rationalization are related to the mind. The Gemara comments on the verse, "
L'David Hashem ori v'yishi
," that
ori
refers to Rosh Hashana while
yishi
refers to Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashana focuses on the head, it's a day of thinking, of getting one's priorities in order. Yom Kippur is about emotion, inspiring the heart. It's a day that lifts us out of this world into a different realm of connecting to Hashem.
In Parshat Vayeilech, Moshe went and spoke to the Jewish people. There were Jews who had fallen into the
yetzer hara's
trap of the mind and those who had become ensnared through the heart. They needed to be woken up. This new generation weren't modeling themselves after Moshe. Therefore, the Torah says, "
Vayeilech
." Moshe went down, he lowered himself spiritually so that the people could relate to him and this aroused them. Moshe represented the
moac
h - intellect. The
pasuk
says both, "
Va'yomer,"
he spoke to their intellect and "
Va'yedaber
," he spoke to their heart. He caused them to have an emotional feeling of inadequacy so that they would wake up to their situation.
Yom Kippur is a day of truth. In the ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we beg Hashem to awaken us so that we may be sensitive to situations that endanger our soul. We ask for wisdom to understand what is right and wrong and to avoid the traps that the
yetzer hara
sets for us. We ask Him to give us the inspiration and the wisdom to steer clear of erroneous rationalization. Together with the proper
hitorerut
and the right
sidur,
we can truly repent and rededicate ourselves to Torah and
mitzvot
.
Gemar chatima tova
!
