JUST HANG ON
In this week’s Parsha, Shoftim, Moshe continues his final testament to his people just days before his passing. He tells them that when they go to war against their enemy and they see how large and insurmountable the enemy’s forces are, they should not fear. They should remember how HaShem lifted them up from Egypt and know that He
will be with them again. The expression of HaShem taking us out of Egypt is used numerous times throughout the Torah. However, only in very few places does it refer to HaShem Who lifted us up from Egypt. The Talmud teaches us that this unique expression refers to HaShem’s elevating His people from the depth of Egypt’s depravity. It is not referring to the slavery or material subjection under the yoke of their oppression.
Egypt was the source of universal depravity and immorality. For 200 years we lived in that environment and were greatly influenced by that culture. Before giving us His Holy Torah HaShem lifted us up from that cesspool of impurity.
This makes Moshe’s words of encouragement perplexing. Why, when going to battle against an enemy who is far superior than us, must we remember how HaShem elevated us from the depravity of Egyptian culture?
Perhaps Moshe is not referring to any physical enemy from whom we fear for our material lives. Regarding such enemies Moshe already addressed that fear in the previous Parshios. Moshe is now addressing our greatest mortal enemy who comes not to attack our physical existence but who comes to attack the very root of our existence. Moshe is addressing the ultimate battle against the yetzer hara.
So often we encounter challenges that seem larger than us. We can feel overwhelmed by our sense of smallness and shrink in fear. If, however, we once encountered a challenge equal or greater than this one and successfully overcame it, that gives us the necessary encouragement to overcome the current challenge. In other words, past experiences of success help us through current challenges. This mechanism only works if we know that today we can count on the same source that helped us then. If that source of support is no longer with us then we have no basis of support.
When we encounter the challenge of overcoming the yetzer hara it seems insurmountable. He has armies and fighters everywhere. They can be found on every desktop, on every website and even in our very own hands! There is no way to avoid him. From where will we gain the strength and courage to overcome him? To this Moshe reminds us of the insurmountable challenges that we encountered in Egypt. Moshe does not refer to HaShem as the One Who took us out of Egypt, rather the One Who elevated us up from Egypt. Moshe is not discussing our physical conflict with Egypt, he is referring to our moral conflict with Egypt. We were living in Egypt for 200 years and absorbed much of Egypt’s decadent culture. Upon our exodus from Egypt we not only achieved freedom from servitude, we received freedom from the influence of those decadent ways. We were elevated in the moral sense from Egypt’s decadence.
So Moshe is reminding us of that incredible success that we already experienced when we were lifted up from Egypt and is telling us that we can overcome any challenge the yetzer hara will put in our path.
When elevating a friend who fell into a deep pit, there is nothing that you can do to get him out if he does not grab your rope. The days of Elul are a gift to us as HaShem reaches out to lift us up in our battle against the forces of the yetzer hara. His rope is lowered, the shofar is sounded, He is trying to get our attention; all we need to do is to grab on. He will do the heavy lifting.
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
Paysach Diskind