A powerful Gemara states (Shabbat 89b):
In the future that will surely come, Hakadosh Baruch Hu will say to Avraham: Your children have sinned against Me. Avraham will say before Him: Master of the Universe, let them be eradicated to sanctify Your name. G-d said: I will say it to Yaacov. Since he experienced the pain of raising children, perhaps he will ask for mercy on their behalf. He said to Yaacov: Your children have sinned. Yaacov said:
Master of the Universe, if so, let them be eradicated to sanctify Your name. Hakadosh Baruch Hu then said: There is no reason in elders and no wisdom in youth. Neither Avraham nor Yaacov knew how to respond properly. He said to Yitzchak: Your children have sinned against Me. Yitzchak said: Master of the Universe, are they my children and not Your children? At Sinai, when they gave precedence to “We will do” over “We will listen” before You, didn’t You call them, “My son, My firstborn son Israel”? Now that they have sinned, are they my children and not Your children?
R' Azaria Figo asks, does it seem feasible Avraham would respond in such a way? That his children should be wiped out? After how he stood up and pleaded on behalf of the wicked people of Sedom? There’s no way! He provides an alternative explanation for this Gemara, one that will cause us to faint upon hearing it. Avraham Avinu said: “What sins did my children commit? They ate pig, they desecrated Shabbat, and whatever else You want to add to the list. But Ribbono Shel Olam remember, if the day comes where they stand up to the test of a non-Jew giving them an ultimatum of bowing to an idol or being killed, what will they do? They won’t bow. They’ll give their life. The same body that eats treif, when the day comes and they’re told to bow to an idol, they’ll give their life. Just as I did in Ur Kasdim when I was thrown into the fiery furnace.” The ten tests Avraham passed are deep in the veins of his children, and because he passed those tests, we have the strength to withstand them too. Yitzchak Avinu said the same: “Ribbono Shel Olam, remember that when it comes time for י ִ מּ ָ ח ו ּ ע ַ ל קְ ד ו ּ שׁ ּ ַ ת שׁ ְ מ ֶ ך – to give their lives for Your name, they will do exactly that!”
I read a story that during the Shoah, there was a Jew who married a non-Jew and forgot everything from his Jewish heritage and past, Elokim Yatzileinu. In his household there was a Maria, and a Theresa, and a Christopher, and everything else associated with his fall. The man was mayor of his town until one day the Nazis, yimach shemam, arrived and his gentile brothers-in-law ratted on him. “The mayor, our brother-in-law, is a Jew,” they told the officers, yimach shemam. They caught up with the mayor and asked if he was a Jew, to which we emphatically replied, “No!” They decided to test him. They took him to the town’s shul where all the Jews were gathered and proceeded to take out a Sefer Torah from the Aron, rolling it out across the floor like a rug, Rachmana litzlan. They instructed him to walk back and forth upon it, but he lifted his finger, wagged it in the air, and said, “I will not do that.” Upon being told he’d die if he didn’t heed their command, he opened up his jacket and said, “Go ahead and shoot me.” Baruch Mekadesh Shemo Barabim! The man had no connection left to his Yiddishkeit, and a house filled with non-Jews, some of whom even turned him in, yet his Neshama was still pure and clean. It may have been covered in thick dirt, but when the moment of י ִ מּ ָ ח ו ּ ע ַ ל קְ ד ו ּ שׁ ּ ַ ת שׁ ְ מ ֶ ך arrived, the diamond came out and revealed its shine.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
David HaMelech says (Tehillim 69:29): “Hakadosh Baruch Hu, You know there are people willing to die for the sake of Your name. They are ready to be blotted out of the book of the living, and you won’t include these people in your list of the righteous?” Such a person is a victim of their impulses and slave to their desires, but not a heretic. When it comes time to face the test, they won’t bow to the idol, nor will they trample on the Torah. That is the internal diamond of the Jew.
Shemen Rosh says, with this understanding there is a new meaning to our Shacharit each and every morning:
רצו יְהוּדָה וְיִשְׂרָאֵל, יִשְׂרָאֵל קֽוּמָה בְּעֶזְרַת יִשְׂרָאֵל וּפְדֵה כִנְאֻמֶֽך גֹאֲלֵֽנוּ יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת שְׁמוֹ קְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל:
Rock of Israel, arise to the aid of Israel, and liberate Judah and Israel as You promised. Our Redeemer – Hashem of hosts is His Name.
Open up the Sefer HaChinuch and look at Mitzvah רצ"ו (296 or צור): וְנִקְדַּשְׁתִּי בְּתוֹך בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל – The commandment of sanctification of the Name - and I will be sanctified in the midst of the Children of Israel. Ribbono Shel Olam, צור יִשְׂרָאֵל, remember Your children who are willing to die in sanctification of Your name! In this merit, they deserve קֽוּמָה בְּעֶזְרַת יִשְׂרָאֵל. They deserve Your aid and protection, and they deserve to have the shelter of Your peace spread over them. That merit is deserved even by the Jew who is distant and disconnected, by nature of the diamond that shines bright within them – their holy Neshama.
With this, Rabbotai, we have a new explanation as to why the chapter of Arakhin (values) is situated at the end of our Parsha, immediately after the frightening tochecha. What people are being referenced in all the verses of the tochecha? Who are all these terrifying curses of the tochecha directed at? Rashi tells us exactly who they target:
To make void my covenant – denying the great principle of the existence of G-d. Thus, you have here seven sins, the first of which brings the second in its train and so on to the seventh. And these are: he has not studied and therefore has not practiced the commandments; consequently, he scorns others who do practice them, hates the Sages, prevents others from practicing, denies the Divine origin of the commandments, and finally denies the existence of G-d.
The curses are ultimately directed to one who denies the existence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. אַף־אֲנִי אֶעֱשֶׂה־זֹּאת לָכֶם – the harsh descriptions that follow will be done to them. Seeing the transgressions this is referring to, can someone possibly proclaim, “I’m done; I’m finished; I have no chance?” Can they point to where they began, how far they’ve fallen, and claim they’ve entirely lost the ability to return through Teshuva? Can they cry out, “Who will accept me back?” Immediately after describing the depths of possible punishment, the Torah bounces right back and tells us: “עֵרֶך פְּלוֹנִי עֲלֵי – The appraisal of one is upon me. The value of that individual who married a non-Jew and is living a life void of Yiddishkeit, how much is that worth?” And the answer is, fifty shekels. Just like the value of the rebbe, and of the businessman who learns Daf Yoni and supports the entire yeshiva. Deep inside, the poor man’s diamond has the same clarity as the others; it just needs to be wiped off so that its shine is restored. Never say, “I fell and give up.” כִּי שֶׁבַע יִפּוֹל צַדִּיק וָקָם – A just man falls seven times, and yet rises up again. The entire tochecha is filled with the number seven: שֶׁבַע עַל־חַטֹּאתֵיכֶם – sevenfold, as your sins. If you fall down, you stand back up! And if you fall again, you stand right back up again! Never give up! Never forget the value of what shines deep inside of you. The chapter of Arakhin appears at this juncture in our Parsha to provide hope. To provide hope to those who fell. To provide hope to the parents of children who are still falling. Do not cry! Do not give up! The diamond just needs to be wiped off and it will shine once more! We read about values after the tochecha to show us what true value is and to give us hope that all falls and failures can be overcome. We need to know that in the eyes of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we never lose our shine, or our value and worth, as long as our holy Neshama resides within.
With that, we can also make sense of the topic that follows – the prohibition of swapping animals, even when the intent is noble, and having both animals deemed kodesh if done. What is the problem with such an act? The problem is simple. Someone will dare to think that Hakadosh Baruch Hu might one day swap or exchange us too. Just as He chose us from all the nations, He’ll dispose us in favor of another nation when we hit rock bottom and burn through all the chances given to us for redemption. Never. The Torah tells us this will never happen. The Gemara (Pesachim 87a) recounts the story of the prophet Hosea, who upon being told the children of Israel sinned, responded: הַעֲבִירֵם בְּאוּמָּה אַחֶרֶת – Exchange them for another nation. Dump them somewhere in Germany and pick another people, he suggested. Hakadosh Baruch Hu responded by instructing him to take a prostitute, Gomer bat Diblaim, and have children with her. He did so and had three children, following which he was instructed to send her away. “If he is able to send her away,” Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, “I will also send away the Jewish people.” Hosea was unable to do so, however, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu rebuked him: “Just as you, whose wife is a prostitute and whose children you do not even know if they are yours, are still attached to them and will not forsake them, so too, I am still attached to the Jewish people, who are My sons, and the sons of My faithful who withstood ordeals. And you say I should replace them with another nation?”
Hakadosh Baruch Hu is telling us that even with everything that appears just prior in the tochecha, we should not dare to think He would exchange us for another nation. If He will not exchange even an animal, al achat kama v’kama – all the moreso that He will not exchange us, as we are called אָדָם. He will give us every opportunity to rise back up, again and again, as our value never diminishes.
On this Shabbat Mevarchim for the month of Sivan, may it be a month where we rise from our fall, shine in the eyes of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and hear the shofar of Mashiach Tzidkeinu, amen v’amen. ◊
