"Pull unto yourself sheep and take -- and slaughter the
Pesach sacrifice." Says the Midrash -- pull your hands
to you and separate yourselves from idol worship.
All that is necessary for a Jew wallowing in the forty-nine
gates of defilement is for him to pull out one hand, to
remove it. Sanctity is within hand's reach. All one need do
is stretch out one's hand [away from the impurity and towards
the purity].
"Israel has a unique quality," writes the Maharal in
Gevuros Hashem, Chapter Eight. "They are completely
divorced from pettiness and baseness. Their sins are
incidental, not integral."
Their isolated sins do not filter down into the marrow of
their bones; they remain on the surface, superficial. At the
first sign of awareness and desire to change, they are able
to take the initial step and affect the transformation.
In Hamussar Vehadaas, Maran HaGaon R' Dovid Povarsky
zt"l expresses his wonder at the words of Rabbenu
Yonah in his letter Yesod Hateshuva. There Rabbenu
Yonah suggests a policy for man to embrace, after "he has
sinned but wishes to return to the fold of the Shechina's
wings through repentance." This sinner is invited to
listen to wise counsel: "I will make you wise and inform you
which path to follow." He is surely referring to guidance and
long-term exercise that will remove a sinner from the morass
in which he is stuck so that he can begin his self
improvement.
But Rabbenu Yonah offers an altogether simple formula: "On
that day [of his decision], he should cast aside all of his
sins and pretend that he is newly born, with a clean slate of
neither debits nor credits. That is the first day of his new
reckoning of deeds. On that day he shall take a new direction
that will not lead him astray from the righteous path. He
will pretend that he has discarded the heavy burden of sins
and the weight of his transgressions . . . It is proper and
good for him to cast off his sins and create a new heart
within him."
What is the significance of this advice? How can a person get
up and decide, one fine day, that he is starting afresh by
simply flinging away his sins and creating for himself a new
heart? Rabbenu Yonah says this is possible. With a well
designed, serious motion, he can effect a complete about-
face.
Maran R' Dovid points to the words of Chazal on the verse,
"Shake yourself off from the dust." Like a hen. When a hen
pecks in the dirt, she does so furiously, energetically, so
that the dust flies every which way and gets into every fold
and feather. She becomes so laden with dirt and dust that it
seems impossible to clean her. The only method that works is
if she, herself, gives a thorough shake that sends every
feather quivering -- and loosens all the dirt. Only the hen
is capable of freeing herself of the debris she has
accumulated.
Shake yourself from the dust. Pull [your hand away] and
take.
"Those who clung to Baal Peor," say Chazal (Sanhedrin
64) were fastened like a bracelet on a woman's arm, whereas,
"You who cleave unto Hashem your G- d" cleave and adhere
truly. Rashi comments, "It is their praise, their advantage.
Adherence is even stronger than clinging, since bracelets do
not adhere to the skin. They `embrace' and jangle loosely on
the arm, to and fro. Those who adhere are actually and truly
stuck. Firm and fast."
*
That is the whole secret. A Jew is never fully adhered to
sin. At worst, he clings, embraces [foreign ideologies], but
still jangles to and fro, loosely, with ups and downs.
Sinners are often beset by regrets. Everything floats on the
surface, while their root continues to be their security, to
anchor them down. "But their soul," says Nefesh
HaChaim, "still remains intact, and will always endure,
whole. The deeds of a person can never actually alter or ruin
it."
This is why a complete transformation is always attainable,
close at hand. "This can be likened to a hairy person and a
bald one who were both standing near a barn. Along came a
wind and showered a rain of chaff upon them. The one with a
shock of hair had a difficult time ridding himself of the
chaff, whereas the bald one merely passed his hand over his
head and shook it right off."
Jews do not have a thick mane of hair in which sins can
become entangled. Their heads are smooth, so to speak,
exposed. If a sin `lands' on a Jew's head, it remains on the
surface and all he need do is pass his hand across his head
to remove the chaff.
This thought should be very encouraging. Not much is needed
for the entire Jewish people to shake themselves up from the
dust. To pick themselves up from the ground and give a quick,
thorough, cleansing shudder. Sufficient a flash of arousal,
and "Upon you will shine Hashem and His glory will appear
upon you." The rest will follow naturally. When Israel falls,
it plummets to the ground. But they can pick themselves up
from the ground and shake the dust off in a twinkling, just
like the hen. It has happened; it is happening and the
process will continue to take place.
Each one and his moment. Time bides. The great moment will
yet come for all of us collectively.
