A Thought on Parshas Nitzavim

"...v'hiv'dilo HaShem l'raah..." "...and HaShem will set him aside for the bad ..." (29:20) The Torah introduces the apostate to us. He erupts in the Jewish community and expresses his defiance and discontent. He pursues the practices of pagan cults and adopts their lifestyle. He turns his back on Judaism and on his people, and throws it all away. It is about this person, male or female, that the Torah declares that there is no forgiveness, and that he will be "set aside" for bad things. The verse is sobering and disturbing. Especially at this time of year when we want to seek positive change and solicit forgiveness, the concept of HaShem singling out a person for "evil tidings" arouses confusion and uneasiness in the Jewish soul. The Gan addresses this, and offers a simplification of this theological challenge. He writes that the Torah is talking about a person who willfully and systematically rejects all of our teachings and all of our rules. In essence, he rejects the Way of HaShem. There is a consequence, not a retribution or punitive retaliation. Rather, the fact that one rejects the Way of HaShem means that he cannot feel entitled to the Ways of HaShem. By separating out of the Jewish people, he no longer has the protective shelter of being one of the Banim la'HaShem. By resigning from the fold, he resigns himself to the same risks, the same fate, the same sense of meaningless randomness that any other heretic, apostate or faithless renegade learns to expect from existenece. He might be a nice person at heart, but he is not associated with the Torah nation. He cannot expect any of the Divine favor, kindness or compassion which are the ways or attributes of HaShem. So, he has set himself apart from Good, and becomes set apart for its opposite. Wishing you a Good Shabbos, a Year of Sweetness and Healthy Abundance, and may HaShem reveal His Ways of Rachamim as we work at abiding by His Way of Torah. D Fox