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Dvar Torah - Parshat Nitzavim Vayelech - R’ Amiad
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At the end of the first aliyah of Parashat Nitzavim-Vayalech the passuk says “The
hidden things belong to Hashem our God; but the things that are revealed belong
to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this Torah.”
The simple meaning of this that we have a mutual responsibility for the revealed
actions of our brethren, meaning to say that if somebody sins and we don’t do the
maximum to stop them from doing so, we too then have a part in that sin.
When we look at the passuk in the Torah itself, we will see that on the words "לנו
ולבנינו עד" (to us and to our children for…) there are eleven dots on the letters.
Why? What does this teach us? Rav Yehuda and Rav Nechemya argued about this in Massechet
Sanhedrin (p.43b). Rav Yehuda says that it teaches us that we were not punished
for hidden transgressions until we crossed the Jordan, in Eretz Yisrael, while R.
Nechemyah holds that we are never punished for hidden things, and only punished
for the revealed things after we had crossed the Jordan.
Both agree that only after crossing the Jordan river did Am Yisrael become mutually
responsible for one another, it is true that already from yitziat mitzrayim and
Har Sinai we were one nation but total and complete mutual responsibility only started
after entering the land.
Eretz Yisrael has the power and ability to connect in a complete manner Am Yisrael
to one Neshama mad up of many parts, and so when one sins it hurts all as we see
in the famous story of Achan who looted the city of Jericho going against the orders
of Yehoshua, and due to his sin Am Yisrael loses the first battle at Ha’ai. It also
works the other way around. When one does a mitzva, all of am Yisrael benefit.
When we look at Am Yisrael in this light it is easier to understand the opinion
of Rav Yehuda that we are punished for “the hidden.” One would think that it is
not fair, we didn’t have any possibility to stop them from sinning, we didn’t know
that they were sinning. And so Rav Yehuda says that this is true, but nonetheless
once we have crossed into Eretz Yisrael we are all one body where the foot cannot
say “I’m not to blame for the actions of the hand.” True, it is not your fault,
but we are one body and there are consequences for good and for bad.
Yehi Ratzon that we merit to understand and to feel how each Jew is really our brother,
and may we merit to unite all of Am Yisrael together to rebuild the Beit HaMikdash
and receive the Shechina.
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