Parshat Shoftim 5784
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha that when Bnei Yisrael go out to war, there are those who return and don’t go out to war. Someone who just built a house, but hasn’t yet lived in it, someone who was Mekadesh a woman, and didn’t yet have Chuppah, and someone who planted a vineyard but has yet to redeem the fruits of the fourth year. All these are exempt from battle.
The Torah includes a fourth category of those who don’t go out to war. The pasuk says (Chapter 20, Pasuk 8), מי האיש הירא ורך הלבב ילך וישב לביתו; any who are afraid and faint of heart shall return home. Rashi brings the well-known disagreement between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yossi on this pasuk. Rabbi Akiva learns the pasuk according to its simple meaning; whoever is too afraid to go to war must return home in order not to ruin the morale of the others. But Rabbi Yossi teaches that the fear in the pasuk is from his sins; הירא מעבירות שבידו. Anyone who is afraid that his sins make him more susceptible to falling in battle should return home.
The Sfas Emes asks, why does the person who is afraid of his sins return? Surely, it is a positive sign if one is afraid of his sins! The pasuk in Koheles says (Chapter 7, Pasuk 20), כי אדם אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא. Everyone sins, and therefore, it would seem a positive attribute and a sign of a Gd fearing person if one is afraid of his sins.
The Chidushei Harim explains that when one is no longer afraid of his sins and has full faith in Hashem, it is an indication that he has been forgiven for his sin. This is because the further he is from sin, the closer he is to Hashem. But as long as the thoughts of the sin still linger before him, it is a sign that he hasn’t yet been fully forgiven, and this is why he returns.
The Sfas Emes elaborates on this and brings an example from Sarah Imeinu. When she is confronted with having laughed when told she would have a child in her old age, she denied it. The pasuk says (Bereishis, Chapter 18, Pasuk 15), ותכחש שרה לאמר לא צחקתי כי יראה. Sarah denied that she laughed because she was afraid. How could she not tell the truth to Hashem, just because she was afraid? (See the Ramban who learns that she was speaking to Avraham when she denied laughing).
The Sfas Emes answers that when the pasuk says כי יראה, it is referring to her Yiras Shamayim. Sarah Imeinu had such a high level of fear of Hashem, that she couldn’t even imagine that she had sinned. What me; I did that? I laughed at the news of a child? That can’t be! This is an extension of the principle of the Chidushei Harim. When a person does complete Teshuva and is forgiven for his sin, he doesn’t think about it all. He can’t even imagine that he could have done such a thing. And it was the result of Sarah’s Teshuvah and high level of Yiras Shamayim that she denied laughing at the news. It was something she couldn’t even fathom that she had done.
The Rambam states in Hilchos Teshuva (Chapter 2, Halacha 4), that there are certain actions that, though they are not essential to the Teshuva process, help and facilitate the process. He refers to them as מדרכי התשובה and he lists as one of them changing one’s name. The Rambam states, ומשנה שמו, כלומר שאני אחר ואיני אותו האיש שעשה אותן המעשים. I am someone else and not the same person who previously sinned. Similar to the Sfas Emes, the Rambam teaches that an important part of Teshuvah is to disassociate one’s self with his previous actions. Just like Sarah, who couldn’t even imagine that she had sinned. And this is why the one who is ירא מעבירות שבידו returns from war, is חוזר מעורכי המלחמה. The principle is, the more one is aware and cognizant of his sins, the greater the indication that his Teshuva process is not complete.
Good Shabbos
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