By Rabbi Dovid Sapirman, Dean, Ani Maamin Foundation
In Parshas Bechukosai, we read the blessings that will be showered upon am Yisrael when they keep the Torah, and the curses that will befall them if they do not. Rashi interprets the verses of the tochacha as follows: There are seven steps in which a person falls completely away from his Creator. It starts when a person does not learn Torah. This will lead to not doing the mitzvos, and then to despise those who do keep the Torah. The fourth step is to hate the chachamim, then to stop others from doing mitzvos. The person will come to deny that mitzvos come from Hashem. In the final step, he will deny the existence of a Creator. “The first pulls along the second,” says Rashi, “and so until the seventh.”
These words are astonishing. A person may stay frum for their entire life but never open a sefer. There are many non-frum Jews who are respectful of their observant brothers. People who hate rabbis will not necessarily prevent others from doing mitzvos. At every stage of deterioration one can find an exception who does not proceed to the next step. How, then, are we to understand Rashi?
It seems that Rashi does not see this progression of stages as occurring within a single individual. Rather, it is a process that takes place over many generations. Learning Torah injects the neshama with a passion for mitzvos. In a home where there is no Torah, the children’s enthusiasm will diminish. The mitzvos will be done perfunctorily, perhaps according to halacha, but the heart will not be in it. The grandchildren may be lax or not observant of mitzvos at all, even if they are respectful of those who do. If not stopped and brought close, this family can fall further and further.
The Alter of Slabodka once said that if you see a Jewish person stealing apples from a cart, you must realize that his behavior has a history. Perhaps his grandfather used falsehood to hide his good deeds, but the father learned dishonesty and passed off someone else’s Torah thoughts as his own. The grandson, in turn, steals apples from a cart.
A snowball rolling down a hill will pick up more and more snow unless someone interferes. A downward slide in Hashem’s service will continue on and on until something or someone pushes in the opposite direction. May Hashem keep all of us moving upward, becoming better and better people—and may we help others to do the same.
