Part 1
The principal condition for receiving Torah was the Jewish Nation's adopting the rule of, "All that Hashem has said we shall do and we shall hear" (Shemos 24:7). Only following their embracing of this axiom did HaKodosh Boruch Hu seal a covenant with Klal Yisroel to receive the Torah: "Moshe took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said, `Behold the blood of the covenant which Hashem has made with you concerning all these matters'" (Ibid., v. 8). (Although part of Parshas Mishpotim, according to many commentaries this chapter shifts back to Matan Torah at Mt. Sinai.)
However, even according to the opinion of the Ibn Ezra and of the Ramban (Shemos 24:1), that these pesukim (1-11) were said after Matan Torah, "We shall do and we shall hear" was a prerequisite for our nation to make a covenant with Hashem, and constituted the "finishing touches" preparing for the revelation at Mt. Sinai (see the explanations of the Ibn Ezra and Ramban at length on these pesukim).
"We shall do and we shall hear" teaches us that not only when we are hearing Torah we are obligated to overcome our yetzer and desires. Sometimes a person will succeed in conquering his yetzer and sometimes, choliloh, the opposite will happen. Observing Torah is a twenty-four-hour-a-day undertaking without any time for rest. Not only when a Jew is engaged in spiritual matters is he a servant of Hashem. He is no less a servant of Hashem when he consecrates material life and transforms it into something higher, more spiritual.
The Gemora (Brochos 63a) teaches us, "On what small parsha are all the principles of Torah dependent? It is `In all your ways know Him' (Mishlei 3:6)." The whole Torah is summarized in these few words of Mishlei. They inform us of the essence of Torah and what serving Hashem entails. [When a person awakens in himself a true desire to fulfill "In all your ways know Him," he gains a Divine, unlimited abundance of "He will smooth your paths" (ibid.). Through escalating one's "In all your ways know Him" the "He will smooth your paths" spirals limitlessly.]
In order to receive the Torah we must be on a level of "We shall do and we shall hear," being prepared to do everything even before hearing what actually to do. Our hearing is only necessary to ascertain what we must later do. A person reaches this level when even his body, in which his physical desires are encased, feels that sin is poison and that a mitzvah is man's greatest bliss (actually for both his Olam Habo and Olam Hazeh). Such a person, when he later hears what the Torah demands from him, will surely fulfill its mitzvos.
We can compare this to someone sitting before a mouth-watering cake. After a person is warned that there is poison inside it, he has no difficulty in controlling his craving to eat it. Even a person's body understands that poison is harmful. Similarly, when a person feels that by doing something he will obtain the greatest bliss there is no need to prompt him to do it.
This is the reason for the body being attached to the neshomoh. People are accustomed of thinking the body and neshomoh are bonded together so that they can wage an endless battle, a soul-body dichotomy, until the neshomoh finally prevails over the body. Although the neshomoh must surely fight against the body at the beginning of one's avodas Hashem, a person subsequently reaches the level where even his body's desires are converted to exclusively spiritual values.
Dovid Hamelech defines his own spiritual level as, "My soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You, in a dry and thirsty land with no water" (Tehillim 63:2). Not only is the nefesh thirsty for Hashem, the flesh longs for Him too. He feels as if he is in "a dry and thirsty land with no water," as if he is staggering in an arid desert with his strength fading, and he will soon die of thirst.
Suddenly that person sees a spring of fresh water just a few steps from him; but what can he do? He does not have the strength to pull himself to it. Can there be a greater craving for water? Not only Dovid Hamelech's soul longed for HaKodosh Boruch Hu, so did his body.
We see that the bond between body and soul was formed so that the body can utilize all of its power of desire for Hashem's avodoh. These physical desires are elevated, consecrated, and become spiritual.
"Elokim has made one as well as the other" (Koheles 7:14). Every sin makes the soul more materialistic, until the neshomoh of a rosho that was originally a sanctified part from Above, is transformed into something physical, Rachmono litzlan. [This is also what Rabbenu Yonah teaches us in Sha'arei Teshuvoh (2:18)].
My explanation of "We shall do and we shall hear" is evident from the Gemora (Shabbos 88a): "When Yisroel said `We shall do' before `We shall hear,' a Bas Kol descended [from Shomayim] and said to them: `Who revealed this secret, that the mal'achei hashoreis use, to My children?' `Bless Hashem all His hosts, you angels of His, you mighty ones who perform His bidding, hearkening to the voice of His word' (Tehillim 103:20). First they `perform His bidding' and afterwards `harken.'" Rashi explains that `who performs His bidding, hearkening' indicates their being ready to act before hearing what is to be done. "This is unlike other servants, who first hear their task in order to know whether they can accept it or not." Am Yisroel fully understood the boundless pleasure in observing the mitzvos. There is no need to treat them like other servants and no need to urge them.
"R' Chama b'r Chaninah said (Shabbos 88a): `What is meant by, "Like an apple tree among the forest trees, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down in his shade with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste" (Shir HaShirim 2:3)? Why is Yisroel compared to an apple tree? Because it is like an apple tree that produces its buds first, and then its leaves. So Yisroel first said "We shall do" and then "We shall hear."'"
Am Yisroel longed to sit in the shade of HaKodosh Boruch Hu, referred to as "an apple tree." This was due to the spiritual abundance He granted them, and His elevating them to a level of "We shall do and we shall hear."
"A Tzeduki once noticed that Rovo was studying with such concentration that he held his finger between his knees and rubbed it so hard that blood spurted from the finger. He said to Rovo: `Rash people, whose put your mouths before your ears! You still persist in your impetuousness. Better had you listened first, to learn whether you could or could not accept it.' Rovo thereupon answered, `We who are upright men trust Him, as is written, "the integrity of the upright shall guide them" (Mishlei 11:3). Only to those who walk in perverse ways the other half of the posuk applies: "But the perverseness of the treacherous destroys them."'"
The Tzeduki argued that it was futile for Klal Yisroel to accept upon themselves such a lofty level of doing before hearing. Rovo responded that such a level is truly above a person's natural capability, but HaKodosh Boruch Hu provides men with strength out of proportion to their inherent power.
"R' Shmuel Bar Nachmani said in the name of R' Yonoson (Shabbos 88b): `What is meant by, "You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride, you have ravished my heart with one of your eyes" (Shir HaShirim 4:9)? When you first received the Torah it was considered [that it ravished you] with one of your eyes, but when you obeyed it, it became with both of your eyes.'"
The actual performance of mitzvos after such a preparation of "We shall do and we shall hear" is remarkably exalted. "You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes" is the acceptance of "We shall do and we shall hear" by am Yisroel, which gave the Jewish Nation an exceptional love of Hashem. Their obeying the Torah "with both of your eyes" gave our nation an even greater love of Hashem.
What hinders a person's reaching this level, which is, as mentioned, a prerequisite for receiving the Torah? The apparent answer is, Olam Hazeh. Since Olam Hazeh is felt palpably by man, but Olam Habo much less than it should be, he does not realize that sin is poison and a mitzvah is man's greatest bliss.
But there is actually a basic mistake in this answer. Chazal (Zohar Terumah 161a) tell us that HaKodosh Boruch Hu looked into the Torah while He created the world. Just as every building needs blueprints to be built from, so the world itself needed a plan to be created from. A major part of Creation was creating man, who would be blissful in Olam Hazeh too.
Hashem looked into the Torah and created a person who would be blissful when he follows the Torah. Someone who obeys the Torah not only has Olam Habo but also Olam Hazeh. On the other hand, someone who does not observe the Torah loses both of them. There is no real temptation of Olam Habo in exchange for Olam Hazeh, but only a question of gaining both worlds or losing both of them. Hashem in His great lovingkindness made it easier for us to obey the Torah by not making such a confrontation of one world or the other.
This is what Chazal (Sotah 3a) teach us when they say, "A person only sins when a spirit of insanity enters him." The definition of an aveiroh is insanity. We would ourselves describe sin as wickedness, preferring Olam Hazeh to Olam Habo. Why do Chazal call sinning insanity?
According to the above we can easily understand this. Even if a person wants Olam Hazeh it is ridiculous for him to look for it outside the Torah, and his behavior is therefore called insanity. A balanced, mentally healthy, person would not sin, since sin would not help him even to attain Olam Hazeh.
The obvious question is: What is man's Divine test? We were created in Olam Hazeh so that through withstanding temptations we can prepare our neshomos to take delight in the ziv Shechinah in Olam Habo. For such a need, apparently Olam Hazeh should not be given to someone who is an oveid Hashem, and his test should be whether he will completely waive Olam Hazeh for eternal life. But according to the above, a person who obeys the Torah is not forgoing Olam Hazeh either. If so, on what point does his Divine test focus?
In addition, we must understand how the yetzer hora is nevertheless triumphant, and manages to catch people in its net.
Yirmiyahu provides us with the answer for these questions. "No man repents of his wickedness, saying, `What have I done?' Everyone turns to his own course as the horse rushes into battle" (Yirmiyahu 8:6). In ancient battles a warrior's main success was dependent upon whether he could gallop his horse fast enough to thrust his sword into his enemy's heart. If the warrior would take even a minimum of time to think of how to manage to do this, it would be too late, since the enemy would have succeeded in wounding him instead.
The only possibility of sinning is because a person acts without thinking, like the horse's headlong gallop. If only he would think before doing something! If he would only think about how good even for Olam Hazeh it is for him not to sin, he would prevail over the yetzer hora. Naturally, reflecting after sinning at least prevents him from sinning in the future. These two types of contemplation — before and after sinning — are not used by a habitual sinner.
All of the above is still insufficient to explain why people fail to overcome sin. What is the reason for the total blindness of those who are unable to see what they are heading for, who sin without gaining any benefit at all?
End of Part 1
