Vayeitzei: Torah for Truth! At the end of book of Hoshea, the Haftorah for Parshas Vayetze, which discusses the requirement to know and understand HaShem, it concludes that this can be achieved by doing teshuva (repentance), and wholehearted devotion to HaShem; by following the path of His guide book to the world of Torah and Mitzvos. Our means of fulfilling this is granted to us by G-d in the form of our great Rabbis, the Torah leaders of the generation. In the last verse it says:
'Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is prudent let him know them, for the ways of HaShem are right, and the righteous do walk in them; but the transgressors shall stumble in them!'
What does it mean ‘and the righteous do walk in them; but the transgressors shall stumble in them'?
Apparently, it appears that both the righteous and transgressors can be operating ‘in them’ that is, the ‘ways of HaShem’, and yet the truly righteous will ‘walk’, and the transgressors will ‘stumble’! Can it possibly be that even those using the Torah can become crooked and bent, to the extent that they can be called ‘transgressors’?!
Let us deal with another question, in order to answer the first. Why is it that sometimes we believe that we are going in the right path, and that we are making the right halachic decisions in the torah life that we lead? We often seem convinced that we are adhering to all the laws of kashrus, and living as the perfect and ideal Jew!
The book ‘Chovos HaLevavos’ in Shaar Yichud HaMaaseh, chapter five, helps us understand this, as the author explains in length why we can sometimes end up arguing with our Rabbis, be it regarding Hashkafa (general Torah outlook), Halacha or any other area. The Chovos HaLevavos teaches: ‘You should know that the greatest enemy you have in this world is your own intellect, your conscience; the voice in your mind that talks to you when discussing halachic matters, or regarding which path to take in leading a Torah life, and making life decisions and following HaShem’s ways.’
By allowing our own limited, human intellect, an entity which, by definition, is contained and constrained to the five physical senses, and not in any way designed to fully comprehend the absolute truth of our sacred G-d-given guide to life, called the Torah, one can come to twisted conclusions, supported by excuses such as: ‘Times have changed!’ or ‘That couldn’t possibly make sense!’, simply because he may not fully understand them.
On some level, we all have this voice inside, constantly trying to turn us away from the true path. The intellect which guides most of us is, to some degree, infected by a false, secular mindset, which by nature will try and bring logical proof to challenge and ultimately deny G-d’s very existence.
So to whom does the pasuk actually refer, regarding the phrase: ‘and the righteous do walk in them’? The righteous here are those who have trained their minds to think along the same lines and with the same logic as the Torah; those who have moulded their intellects to delve into the patterns and depths of the holiness of G-d’s greatest gift to mankind. By using the Torah in the correct manner to serve HaShem, we can be sure that we always achieve the right decisions in our journey through a life of meaning and truth. |
