Part I. Learning From the Close Ones
Idols Far and Near
In this week’s sedrah the section of the meisis u’meidiach (one who attempts to persuade a fellow Jew to worship idols) begins like this:
When your brother will try to persuade you, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, from the gods of the nations around you, the nearby ones or those that are far-off (Devarim 13: 7-8).
Now, because the Sages know that every phrase in the Torah is measured they were bothered by what appears to be superfluous words: Why specify ‘idols that are nearby or far-off’? (Sanhedrin 61b). What difference does it make whether the instigator wants to persuade you about an idol in the mountains of Tibet or a fortune teller in Bensonhurst? Just say ‘the false gods’ and finished.
A Dark Creation
Now, we’ll get to the answer soon; the significance of those extra words will be our subject for tonight. But first we must examine a Torah principle that will help us understand what we’re going to talk about.
One of the great secrets of creation is that this world is night time; even when it’s day, that’s just a mirage – actually it’s night. That’s what the Torah tell us: You, Hashem make darkness and it becomes night (Tehillim 104:20). And the Gemara says: You make darkness; those words are talking about this world: Hakadosh Baruch Hu made Olam Hazeh a place of darkness (Bava Metzia 83b).
Not only in Africa is it dark. It’s dark in Sweden and Switzerland too. It’s dark in America. It’s dark in the White House and the Congress and in the Department of Education. It’s dark in the libraries and TV stations. Wherever you go, it’s dark.
Nighttime Vision
It means that Hashem intentionally made this world that it should be like the night, a place of deception. He made it so, purposefully. What’s the purpose? So that we can succeed and become great by seeing through the dark. Our function in this world is that despite the darkness, we should exert ourselves to see the truth. That’s our success in Olam Hazeh; that’s how we’ll be zocheh to see the light in Olam Haba.
You know, the Gemara (Shabbos 77b) tells us that’s the reason for an interesting law of the Torah. Among Jews, we have the practice of beginning the day with the night before. We start the day as soon as the sun sets; that’s the system of the Torah. It was evening and it was morning.
Only Jews have that system. To tell a goy that on Saturdays you can’t come to work, so he says, “Alright, stay late on Fridays.” So you tell him, “No, our Saturday starts sundown Friday.” He doesn’t understand that! He thinks you’re trying to get out of doing your work! But it’s true! Our day starts with the night.
Night Comes First
The question is what’s the purpose of this? Why does the Torah follow that system? We think, “It’s a gezeiras hakosuv. That’s how it has to be; the Hebrews begin the day the night before without a reason.”
Oh no! This Torah law that the day begins with the night before has a very great symbolism. The purpose is to be a mashal, a daily reminder that this world starts with darkness; first it’s dark and then the Next World is the place of light! Only that the preparation for the Next World is this world; you can’t get to the day unless you pass through the darkness of this world.
Isn’t it a pity we don’t know that? It’s a halacha that’s supposed to impress upon us our function in this world. Every day starts with the preceding night to remind us that in this world – even at twelve o'clock in the afternoon – we’re feeling our way in the dark. And our function and success in the world is that despite the darkness, despite the false religions and the empty ideals and all the isms, despite the high schools and governments and scientists and libraries and televisions and radios and all the institutions that are spreading darkness in the world our job is to fight back against the darkness.
Get Inoculated
But to ‘fight’ doesn’t mean only to write letters, to make a protest. Sometimes that’s important too but the first thing is to be fortified; you need vitamins to be able to see in the darkness. It means that you have to know that it’s false. You yourself have to know that it’s dark outside!
That’s what the Chachomim tell us: You should know what to reply to an apikoris. And Rav Isaac Sher, the Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva, used to say that it means, “Know how to answer up the apikoris right here, inside here.” (The Rov pointed at himself).
Because inside of everybody there’s a yetzer hara that’s talking. The darkness – the false ideals and isms, the sheker of the religions and all the attitudes of the gentiles – are always whispering in your ear. And therefore you have to answer yourself first.
Don’t think it’s unimportant. The Chovos Halevavos in his Sha’ar Yichud Ha’maaseh warns the reader: “Do not ignore the promptings of the yetzer hara.” Because it’s like a snake bite – you can’t just ignore it and let the poison spread. And if you will turn away your ear from the persuasions that you feel the yetzer hara is generating within you, so it begins to gain a foothold.
No Emunah Peshutah
It happened. I’ve seen it. People came from Europe who learned in yeshivas and they learned well in the yeshivas. They came over in America years ago when on all sides atheism was like a roaring fire. In the 1910s and 1920s, the Jewish street was a street of atheism. And the yeshiva men that came over, very many of them collapsed.
It’s unbelievable but I saw it with my own eyes. A Telzer; a good yeshiva man! How could a good ben Torah like that fall so far? The answer is he knew Gemara. He knew Tosfos. He knew Ketzos HaChoshen! But he had never bothered to learn the Torah advice how to answer the apikorsim, how to fortify his faith.
Now how to be fortified, there’s more than one method. Of course, some will say that our answer to all of the apikorsim, the response to all the false attitudes of the outside world is one: “We the Am Yisroel rely on our rock-solid historic tradition.” That’s it – we don’t have any questions! “I’m loyal to the Torah and that’s it!” And that’s a very valid and very strong answer; it’s the answer that should stand always at the forefront of our minds – because it’s true.
But because one of the functions of a Torah Jew in the world, one of the successes of a Torah Jew, is to strengthen the emunah that we have the truth – that the Torah ideals and principles are the light and everything else is darkness – Hakadosh Baruch Hu provides us with other methods, other supports, as well.
They’re All the Same
And that brings us back to the question that we asked in the beginning of our talk: When the Torah tells us about the persuader, the one trying to introduce into our heads the ideas of the outside world, why does it take the trouble to enumerate that there are “false gods that are nearby and those that are far-off”?
And the Gemara there answers like this: From the nature of the nearby gods, you can learn about the nature of the far-off ones. Just as there is no substance in these, so also is there no substance in those. It means that the Torah inserts these words in order to give us direction for how to refute, in our own minds, all the persuaders of the world: Just as you know that the nearby gods are nothing, so too you can understand that the far-off ones are also worthless; they’re just the same.
So if someone tells you that someplace in a far off country, there’s a shrine that if you go in and pray there to this idol so it works. Let’s say they tell you it’ll give you fertility. Well, people don’t want that today so imagine they say it’ll make you rich.
So the Torah says, “Forget about it! There’s no need to investigate; there’s no reason to think there’s any truth to it.” Because we look at the ones nearby, the ones we’re familiar with that we know are fakerei and from the nature of the near ones we can know about the far-off ones.
Torah Policy
And that’s the policy, the eitzah of the Torah. You want to fortify yourself in this world? You want to see through the darkness? Get into the habit of saying, ‘Just like the near ones are nothing, the far-off ones are also nothing. We know all about it and we know it's baloney.’
Now, don’t say, “Could we do such a thing?! Can we make blanket judgments about whole groups of people, about ideologies that we know nothing about, just because of one thing that we do know”?
And the answer is a resounding yes! Yes and yes! Because that is the intention of Hashem! Hashem is supplying these lessons to us to encourage us, so that we should make these general judgements and dismiss the ideals of the outside world.
It’s a Torah way of rejecting all of the ideals and isms of the darkness. The falsifiers whom we do know are intended by Hashem to serve as examples of the falsifiers who are unfamiliar. The emptiness of even one ideal is intended to demonstrate the emptiness of all of them.
And so we don’t have to study the details in order to disprove it all. We could – we could sit here for hours and talk about the foolishness of their ideas; we could show endless examples – but we don’t have to. The lesson from this week’s parsha tells us to study the few things that are already known to us, and to use those as parallels to understand that everything they have to offer us is mixed with sheker.
Part II. The Close Ones of Yesterday
Tzaddikim and Saints
Just to begin the subject, so we should better understand the idea here, we’ll give an example. Let’s talk for a minute about the saints, the Christian saints. Here’s a religion that took over the world; the whole Western world was taken over by Christianity. And they claim to have tzaddikim too – they have saints; everybody knows that.
And so when you hear of a saint about whom you know nothing and you’re told that a cathedral was built in his honor, so without knowing anything about saints, you might think, “Well, maybe he was something. We have our tzaddikim and l’havdil they have their saints.” It doesn’t mean you’ll be a Christian chas veshalom but a little seed is planted in your head; they have something too.
After all, there are big cathedrals, tremendous buildings, named after these saints; something it must be. That’s already a weakening of your emunah. And so we make use of this Torah principle of drawing parallels, of looking at the one or two we do know about and saying just as he’s nothing; he’s not much of a saint; he’s a plain bum who was killed by other bums; that’s the same amount of holiness and sainthood in all of their saints and cathedrals.
Not So Saintly Saints
So let’s see the saints we know something about. In Rinn, Austria, there’s a big cathedral that was erected in honor of a certain saint, Blessed Andrew.
Now, how did this Andrew acquire sainthood? By what virtues did he distinguish himself? He hid away in a room for many years praying and studying? He did some great deeds of kindness, so much so that finally the Vatican recognized him and said he’s the model Christian for others to follow?
No, nothing like that. He earned his sainthood in a more expeditious way – when he was still a young boy he was found slain. Two shkutzim got into a fight and one of them knifed the other. Poor Andrew was stabbed to death. And when they found his body he became a saint immediately.
The Matzah Saint
So any goy who’s found dead becomes a saint? No; here was something different. Because attached to his death there was a canard, a slander on the Jewish community. The Christians began to spread the word that this boy had been killed in order to have blood for matzos for Pesach. That’s an official statement of the church (Papal Bull Beatus Andreas February 22, 1755): Andrew was killed by the Jews for their ‘Passover pastries.’
Oh, if that’s the case so the whole process of sainthood was sped up. Instead of years of fasting and praying in a monastery, he took the shortcut and was immediately elevated to sainthood. Because anybody who’s killed by Jews, he’s walking in the footsteps of the first one – you-know-who. And he was declared forthwith, to be a saint – officially! He’s an official saint in Christian theology!
That’s why they built a great cathedral in his honor in Austria. It’s still standing there. When you walk in there’s a big inscription telling you that it was built in honor of this-and-this saint who was murdered by Jews for his blood. It’s still there.
Fiction Stories, Non Fiction Lessons
Well, we know the whole story. We know that it was sheker v’chazav. Never in history did Jews do anything even slightly, even faintly resembling it. Jews won’t even touch a drop of blood in an egg. It’s as ridiculous as the most silly fairytale, and yet this fairy tale is a great lesson for us. Because you can know now how much weight to give to the church dogmas and their canonized saints.
It’s meant for us as a lesson so we should know what it’s all about. We look back and see that they were sent for a purpose. And the purpose was to let us know who the great men, who the church saints are. Because if that is the basis for big cathedrals – it’s not a small place by the way; it’s a huge cathedral, one of the most impressive buildings in Christendom – if that’s the basis for sainthood, then we have to know that it’s a parallel to all the cathedrals. More or less they’re all the same.
You’re obligated, it’s your duty to take the lesson of Blessed Andrew alav ha'shnubbel, and say, just as he’s nothing; he’s not much of a saint; he’s a plain bum who was killed by other bums; that’s the same amount of holiness and sainthood in all of their saints and cathedrals.
Now you’re going to say, “Well, it doesn’t prove anything.” No, it doesn’t prove anything, but we’re supposed to use that as a parallel. If they claim somebody’s a saint, they’ll have to prove it to us. Because we are muchzek that it’s not so; we know already how others achieved sainthood.
Two More Close Ones
I’ll tell you about two more saints. There was a fellow named Saint Simeon the Stylite. Why Stylite? A stylite means a pillar. What were his good deeds for which he was elevated to the sainthood? For thirty years he sat on top of a pillar and didn’t come down. You understand how that pillar smelled. For thirty years he sat on top of that pillar.
Now why didn’t he do it in a forest? He could sit on top of a tree? The answer is no publicity in a forest. If a saint sits on a tree in the woods does it make a saint? So he picked out a pillar in a public square in Rome where there was plenty of audience to admire him and he climbed up to the top. And naturally after a while, you attract a lot of attention. Even today people sit on flagpoles sometimes to attract attention. In those olden days it paid more than it paid today.
Burning Jews
Now don’t think he was sitting quietly wasting his time. He was doing ‘good deeds’. He was preaching that it’s a big mitzvah to burn down Jewish synagogues in Rome. And some of the pious were obeying him. So he has to his credit some synagogue burning. You understand already how he became such a holy man. Sitting on a pillar and burning shuls! A saint!
And another one; you ever heard of Saint Ambrose? So you might think he was a man who went around giving charity to the poor, picking up stray dogs and taking them home, doing other kind deeds. No, he didn’t have time for that. Saint Ambrose was giving sermons to big masses of people and telling them they should get torches and go to the nearest synagogue because all synagogues are dens of devils. “They are dens of robbers,” he said, “and it’s an especially great deed of virtue to take a torch and set a fire and burn it down.”
Now, at that time the Jews in Rome were alarmed. Two demagogues, two evil-mouthed rabble rousers, were inciting the multitudes against the Jews. All you had was the honest pagan king who was opposing them. There were still some pagans left; the good pagans were opposing them. But the Jews were very much frightened.
But now we look back and see that they were sent for a purpose. And the purpose was to let us know who the great men of the church are. And don’t think it’s an unimportant piece of information because these two are among the fathers of the church! They’re listed among the saints of the church!
A Reliable Method
And the Torah eitzah is we’re supposed to learn from them. If these are the fathers we know about then all the rest of the fathers, even those about whom we know nothing are all in one boat. That’s how we’re supposed to judge them – just as there is no substance in these, so also is there no substance in those. That’s how Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us to think as we make our way in this world of false ideals where it’s hard to see the truth. This is one of the great methods of strengthening our emunah and seeing through the darkness.
And so don’t let anybody tell you bubbeh maisahs; “But what about Saint Francis of Assisi or this one or that one?” We have our way, the Torah way of looking at the world. Anyone who wishes to tell a falsehood tells you about a far-off affair you don’t know about. If we had lived next door to Saint Francis of Assisi, we would have known a little different about him. We would have been afraid to walk out in the street.
This Sect and That Sect
And it’s not ancient history. You want to know about priests and pastors? The last Alshtuter Rav, in Alshtut in Hungary, wrote in his book Lo Tishkach about his brother-in-law, the Ziditichover Rav. The Ziditichover Rav was in the Grosswardein Ghetto under the Nazis, and he tried to escape by sneaking out of the ghetto. But the Hungarian priest, the Catholic priest, seized him by the arm and he handed him over to the Nazis for execution. That’s a Catholic priest for you.
And don’t think the Protestants were any better. I just happened to speak about these but if I speak about those, these are an example of the others. You know, when Hitler sent his Einsatzkommandos, men with machine guns who went ahead of the army as they invaded Poland and Russia and they shot down the Jewish populace, it’s interesting to note that among the members of the Einsatzkommandos were many pastors. Protestant pastors were standing there, machine-gunning down men and women and children.
Their ‘rebbe’ after all, Martin Luther, may he rest in pieces, I can’t repeat what he said about the Jews because it’s nivul peh – you can’t say it in public. So what do you expect from a pastor, his talmid?
But the purpose of these stories is not for them alone; it’s so that we shouldn’t be prejudiced and say only him and only him. They’re all the same. That’s how Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us to think as we make our way in this world of false ideals where it’s hard to see the truth. This is one of the great methods of strengthening our emunah and seeing through the darkness.
Part III. The Close Ones of Today
Saints, Shmaints
Now the truth is I have to apologize that I already took up so much of your time and I didn’t even begin yet. Because I didn’t intend to talk about their saints; saints, shmaints. We know it’s nothing.
But it’s an example of this principle that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us to use when we contend with the darkness of the world. After all, do we have time to study all of their lies, to read their books and disprove them one at a time? We’re a busy nation! We’re busy raising the next generation! We’re learning Torah! We’re doing mitzvos. We’re busy with chessed and maasim tovim! We have time to read papal bulls and to study the lives of their saints?
And so Hashem gives us this rule of ‘From the ones you know about you can learn about the ones you don’t know’. And He tells us it’s reliable. That’s why He wrote those extra words in our parshah; to encourage us to see through the darkness of this world.
