Thursday, July 17, 2014
Parshas Matos: Uprooting Bad Thoughts
10:35 PM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
"But if her father disallow her in the day that he hears; not any of her vows or of her bonds with which she has bound herself , shall stand, and the L-rd shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her." (Numbers 30:6)
Rashi explains that the case here is when a woman made a vow to be a Nazerite and her husband heard it and he nullified it but she did not know and drank wine or became impure by coming in contact with a dead body so she needs forgiveness for what she has done.
The Talmud in Kidushin 80a tells us that when Rabbi Akiva got to this verse he cried and he said someone who had intention to eat pig and ended up eating kosher meat the Torah says he needs atonement and one that wanted to eat pig meat and ended up eating pig meat all the more so! Rav Moshe Sternbuch Sh'lita in Ta'am V'Da'as asks what the novelty in Rabbi Akiva's statement when he came to this verse that the person who had intention to eat pig meat and actually ate it needs atonement? Isn't that obvious?
Rav Sternbuch explains that every transgression a person does is not just forbidden and makes a blemish on our soul but the essence of our thoughts to want to transgress is what we need to uproot and receive atonement for! Here if the person had intention to eat something not kosher and the meat they ate is kosher requires us to get atonement for the bad thoughts we had and to uproot them.
Rabbi Akiva here learned that when a person transgresses on purpose, one needs atonement for the thoughts as well that caused this action. Therefore it is not enough for one to not want to do the transgression in the future but one must do whatever they can to break that desire.
This is easier said than done. Feeling bad about the transgression is a step in the right direction. How do we uproot the desire and temptation? This comes with hard work. The more books we learn on proper ethics we should be trying to uphold and the more Torah we learn should help but the evil inclination does not rest for one second, not even when one sleeps!
We need to think of ways to overcome our temptations and continue on the path to spiritually perfect ourselves. We need mentors and guides to help us so we can continue on that path and we need to pray that G-d will help us in all our endeavors.
The Talmud tells us that really we have no hope against the evil inclination but the reality is that G-d does help us in so many ways that we cannot even begin to fathom. In the three weeks which we find ourselves now we are living in difficult times as we mourn the Temple's destruction.
May we strengthen ourselves to live our lives as G-d wants us to.
Shabbat Shalom
Rashi explains that the case here is when a woman made a vow to be a Nazerite and her husband heard it and he nullified it but she did not know and drank wine or became impure by coming in contact with a dead body so she needs forgiveness for what she has done.
The Talmud in Kidushin 80a tells us that when Rabbi Akiva got to this verse he cried and he said someone who had intention to eat pig and ended up eating kosher meat the Torah says he needs atonement and one that wanted to eat pig meat and ended up eating pig meat all the more so! Rav Moshe Sternbuch Sh'lita in Ta'am V'Da'as asks what the novelty in Rabbi Akiva's statement when he came to this verse that the person who had intention to eat pig meat and actually ate it needs atonement? Isn't that obvious?
Rav Sternbuch explains that every transgression a person does is not just forbidden and makes a blemish on our soul but the essence of our thoughts to want to transgress is what we need to uproot and receive atonement for! Here if the person had intention to eat something not kosher and the meat they ate is kosher requires us to get atonement for the bad thoughts we had and to uproot them.
Rabbi Akiva here learned that when a person transgresses on purpose, one needs atonement for the thoughts as well that caused this action. Therefore it is not enough for one to not want to do the transgression in the future but one must do whatever they can to break that desire.
This is easier said than done. Feeling bad about the transgression is a step in the right direction. How do we uproot the desire and temptation? This comes with hard work. The more books we learn on proper ethics we should be trying to uphold and the more Torah we learn should help but the evil inclination does not rest for one second, not even when one sleeps!
We need to think of ways to overcome our temptations and continue on the path to spiritually perfect ourselves. We need mentors and guides to help us so we can continue on that path and we need to pray that G-d will help us in all our endeavors.
The Talmud tells us that really we have no hope against the evil inclination but the reality is that G-d does help us in so many ways that we cannot even begin to fathom. In the three weeks which we find ourselves now we are living in difficult times as we mourn the Temple's destruction.
May we strengthen ourselves to live our lives as G-d wants us to.
Shabbat Shalom
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