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Ha’azinu- Become Good by Doing Good
For this year’s Parsha Lesson I will be applying the lesson that can be derived from the Dvar Torah to the world as we know it today.
Background
In this week’s Parsha, Moshe delivers to the Jewish nation the ‘Song’ of Ha’azinu. In this song, Moshe delivers a warning and a rebuke of the Jewish people. Moshe warns them of not becoming too corpulent and decadent and to remain devoted to Hashem. Specifically, Moshe encourages the Jewish people to study history, in order to be wise and not foolish and learn from the mistakes of the past so that they are not repeated.
To do so, to study what has transpired in order to be a wise and sharp nation, would prevent Klal Yisroel (the Jewish nation) from becoming an ‘am naval’ a degenerate and low people, a people that is not ‘wise’. When we the Jewish people appreciate the noble lineage from where we come and the investment that Hashem, the Creator of the World, has put into us, this will raise us up to perform and behave in a proper fashion.
Question
The Chofetz Chaim asks, why would Moshe first rebuke the Jewish people for being a low and degenerate people, and then also for not being a wise people?
To not be wise is problematic, but to be low and degenerate is far worse! If someone’s child is behaving in a low and degenerate manner, would the parent rebuke them for not being wise or would they be rebuked for being low and degenerate!? Obviously to be wise, noble and uplifted is a wonderful thing, but for someone who is low and degenerate- they have far greater problems than not being wise and noble! They need to first get out of their lowliness before there can even be a discussion of lofty behavior and statures!
Why then is Moshe rebuking the Jewish people for being low and degenerate, and on top of that- they are also not being wise? Not being wise would seem to be a lesser problem for them!
Answer
Someone can do some things wrongly and improperly and at the same time, also do other things right and correct. To be low and degenerate is someone who is doing things wrong and improperly. To not be wise means that someone is not doing good things, positively.
Which one is worse?
Moshe is sharing with us an amazing insight- to not do good things is worse! People do inappropriate and ‘bad’ things because of lust, desire, lack of character strength to resist temptation, etc. But they can still do good things! They can still learn Torah, study wisdom of Mussar in order to grow and develop into better people. They can still do kindness with those around them, speak encouragingly and nicely with those around them and become giving people, concerned and thinking about others.
There is no contradiction! In fact, their not doing good is the more meaningful critique of them! Why? Because proactively doing good is easier than resisting the temptation to do bad. Doing bad, is in a sense, more understandable and more excusable. But to not do good, what is the reason for that?
Additionally, by doing good, by developing one’s self with all of the tools available to them about what they CAN do, would enable the person to grow and become a better, stronger person who is therefore more able to tackle the more difficult challenges of the low behavior that they are stuck in.
Being stuck and fixated on what is wrong with your behavior, and your life, is not the way forward. The way forward is by developing goodness and, thereby, becoming a better person- someone who will eventually be able to pull themselves out of the ‘pit’ they are stuck in.
Lesson for our world
There is much that is perverse and twisted about the society that we find ourselves in, in the world today. There has been much ink spent on analyzing and criticizing and tearing apart all of the various character and social ills which are wrought by ‘progressive’ and ‘woke’ thinking, as well as much critique and ‘gotcha’ politics aimed at the right and more conservative figures and ideologies. There is however a certain angle which all parties are guilty of, to a degree, and that which is most destructive to society as a whole.
And that is, the incessant drive from all corners of society to pull people down into the mud. There is a crack brigade of journalists, social bloggers, and commentators to comb through everyone’s history and find something which makes them ‘bad.’ And once they are ‘bad’, they are to be mocked, ridiculed and looked down upon in every which way. There is nothing they can do or say which can redeem them. They are labeled ‘bad’ and that is all.
The idea that this exhibits is that ‘if there is something bad about someone then they are bad. Period’. Nothing could be more paralyzing and stilting than such thinking. If someone has ever done something ‘bad’, should they therefore be broadly smeared from every possible direction and looked down on as being ‘low’!? The people who engage in such thinking and in such attacks, in truth, are hurting themselves the most.
Everyone has slipped while walking- up the stairs, down a ramp or other. Everyone has done ‘bad’ things. But that is not the measure of a person. A more important measure of the person is how much good they have done. Sincere, true good. Good which will develop them in an honest fashion to become a better person who will eventually be able to be wholesome and good in all areas. But just because someone is not yet there does not mean that they are bad. In fact, as Moshe is telling us here- to label one as ‘bad’, and therefore incapable of doing good is far worse than doing bad things! For someone to say- I cannot do good, because I am bad; there is no point in being a ‘chacham’ because I am degenerate, that is a far worse problem and means the person being stuck in the ‘mud’ without much hope for improvement.
Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos,
Rabbi Eli Meir Kramer
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