Background
Today is the fast day of Sheva Asar B’Tammuz, the 17th of Tammuz. On this day there were a number of tragedies that befell our people, the Jewish nation. The Gemara, and subsequently many different seforim and Jewish books, mention a number of the different things that happened on this day. The main tragedy that we mention on this day is that when the Beis Hamikdash, and the independant Jewish state which was in Eretz Yisroel (Land of Israel), was under attack, and would eventually be destroyed, on this day, the 17th of Tammuz, the walls of the city of Jerusalem were breached by the Roman forces. This was, therefore, the first concrete and significant step towards the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash itself.
The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch explains (as do many other sources) that a fast day is a time that we are supposed to remember the tragedies that happened and to be a source of inspiration for us to have introspection in our lives and to focus on our actions. The reason why tragedies happened to the Jewish nation (really to all people) is because of sins that they have committed- either individually, as a family or communally.
Hashem, the creator and the G-d of the world, has a code of conduct that He has instructed or commanded us in. Hashem communicated this to us with the giving of the Torah. The Torah was then taught to us by Moshe Rabbeinu and we are to follow that Torah and those teachings as they are handed down and taught by the Talmidei Chachamim (outstanding Torah scholars) of each generation who bear the tradition of how the Torah is to be interpreted and understood to each subsequent generation. When a person does not follow this Torah and the tradition of the Rabbis, that is why tragedy comes to our nation.
The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch explains that ‘by having introspection into our behavior and by focusing on where we are falling short in our service of Hashem, we will come to do that which is good and correct, as the passuk says ‘and they confessed their sins and the sins of their fathers’’.
Question
How does this follow? Why would confessing one’s sins lead to a person now changing their behavior and doing that which is good and correct?
Many people apologize, recognize that they did something wrong but yet they continue to do it anyway! Why then does the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch say that the point of a fast day is to lead a person to confess their sins which will then lead them to do that which is good and correct? If the goal is to do that which is good and correct then a behavior modification program would be what is needed, what would confessing help?
Answer
The Rambam in the Mishnah Torah (Hilchos Teshuva, Perek 5) explains that most people are of the belief that they do not really have ‘Free Choice’ or ‘Free Will’. Most people, the Rambam explains, on a fundamental and very deep level, believe that their behavior is not their fault, that their behavior is just the reaction and response to the life that Hashem put them in.
The Rambam continues and says that this could not be further from the truth. Each and every person has the ability to choose for themselves the course of behavior that they want to embark on. While it is true that most people opt for the easier and more comforting path of convincing themselves that they do not have ‘Free Choice’ and that they are compelled by their life circumstances, this does not at all mean that they are unable to choose differently. The fact that Man has been given ‘Free Choice’ and therefore commanded to act in the proper way, is explicitly laid out in the Torah in many places (Bereishis 3:22 & Devarim 30:19 to name a couple).
Therefore, the most crucial first step to a person doing teshuva, returning to Hashem and acting in the proper and correct way, is to confess one’s sins. To turn to Hashem in their own heart, in a real way, and to admit that they sinned. What this does is to establish for the person that they are responsible for their actions, they did choose their path in life- even if it was by inaction and lack of initiative to resist the temptations and ‘societal pressures’ to do that which is wrong.
Without this crucial first step towards doing that which is correct, there is no way for a person to actually do good. With this crucial step- the person is now empowered and emboldened to stand up and choose that which they know to be right.
Lesson
How important it is for a person to constantly strengthen themselves that they do have the ability to choose good. We each have a mission from G-d, the creator of the world, and the ability to fulfill this mission- to uphold the Torah and lead moral, ethical, and good lives, despite the lures and temptations around us. We are not compelled by those around us to do that which we know to be wrong. We do have the power to choose that which is good and right.
The yetzer hara, the evil inclination, works overtime to lull a person into this philosophy of ‘compelled behavior’, that people are basically on autopilot from the cradle to the grave. And this philosophy is ‘proven’ by countless studies, and merely the fact that there are studies- which bear out that people act in a certain way which is proscribed by the life that G-d gave them. And while it is true that most people do not break out of this mindset to actually lead free and independent lives of ‘Free Choice’, this in no way means that Man is unable to.
If one does find themselves in a circumstance which is too difficult for them to break out of and to behave properly, so long as that person is alive, they have the ability to begin taking steps towards being able to be able to freely choose good over evil. The person can begin to make themselves stronger and better equipped, or perhaps better situated, to be successful in this mission. Hashem does not expect us to have an inspiring fast day and to change our lives in a wholesale way. But Hashem does expect- and it is reasonable- for a person to recognize the responsibility they have for their behavior and to gain the conviction to improve.
So while a person may apologize and confess their sins to Hashem and not really be able to fully change themselves right away, they are recognizing that their behavior is their responsibility and therefore the first step in the journey towards becoming the shining light and upstanding person for whom the entire world was created.
Have an easy and meaningful fast,
Rabbi Eli Meir Kramer
