Ra'anana Community Kollel - Parshat Ki Tetzei 5765

                              The Art of Self Deception

                                                     Rabbi Aharon Liberman

Parshat Ki Tetzei is chock full of mitzvot. Unlike most of Sefer Devarim, several of the mitzvot in this week’s parsha have not been previously introduced by the Torah. One of these new mitzvot is shiluach hakan, sending away a mother bird from the nest before taking her chicks. This mitzvah is so special that the Torah promises “v’ha’arachta yamim”- and you will live long days- to those who observe it. In this respect, it is similar to the mitzvah of honoring one’s parents, which also promises long life.

Chazal teach us that these two mitzvot were involved in bringing about the downfall of the great Mishniac sage Elisha Ben Avuyah. The Talmud relates how Acher (meaning, “stranger to his faith”), previously known as Elisha Ben Avuyah, student of the famous Rabbi Akiva, and the teacher of Rabbi Meir, deviated from the path of Torah. One of the many factors indicated by the Talmud which led to his demise involves the mitzvot of shiluach hakan and kibud av v’em. He witnessed a father telling his son to climb up, shoo away a mother bird, and take the chicks. The son obeyed his father, thus fulfilling two mitzvot that promise long life. But lo and behold, as he was climbing down, he fell to his death. Beholding the tragedy, Acher came to the conclusion that the Torah must be false.

Without resorting to this explanation, how can we understand this incident? Hashem certainly did not renege on His promise! Perhaps Acher was unaware that the promised longevity was not referring to Olam Hazeh, where it would be fleeting, but rather to Olam Haba where it will be eternal, and thus, the greatest possible reward. Because Acher misinterpreted the scene he witnessed, he lost his faith and began to descend into heresy. Later on, Acher heard a bat kol, a Heavenly Voice which declared, “Repent, you wayward children - except for Acher (who is beyond return).” At that fateful moment, Acher concluded that since he has already been excluded from the privilege of repentance, he may as well enjoy life. He then plunged fully into a life of sin.

This Gemara is extremely puzzling. First, how could the great sage, Elisha Ben Avuya, have been ignorant of the true meaning of the verse? Second, how could his prerogative to repent be suspended? Isn’t Hashem always eager to accept our teshuva? Rav Eliyahu Dessler solves these two problems with one explanation. He writes that even before the incident of shiluach hakan occurred, Acher had already drawn his own conclusions. Deep down, his yezter hara was pushing him off the path of truth. He was so corrupted, and his intellect was so biased, that he was looking for any excuse he could conjure up to discredit the Torah and to legitimize the sinful lifestyle he coveted. His questions in emunah were not really questions. They were in fact answers: justifications for his desire to sin. If his question had been a true question, then he would have assumed that the discrepancy was a result of his own lack of awareness of Hashem’s ways, and made a serious attempt to understand and learn. Instead of doing so, Acher automatically assumed that the fault was with Hashem and the Torah, thereby showing that it wasn’t a question at all. But what about the bat kol? How can someone be prevented from doing teshuvah? Rav Dessler quotes the Ba’al Shem Tov who writes that this bat kol, like his question, was not actually real. Acher so much wanted to continue on a destructive path that he even convinced himself to “hear” a phantom bat kol telling him that he is hopeless. We see a similar concept, says the Baal Shem Tov, concerning false prophets. They don’t want to follow the teachings of the true prophets, with all the difficulties that entails, so their yetzer haras develop an alternative “prophesy” in their imaginations.

As we are in the midst of our Elul preparations for the high holidays, we must be on the lookout for these phantom bat kols in our own heads. Do we feel too set in our ways to improve ourselves? Have we concluded that we have sunken too low for Hashem to consider our teshuvah? Do we assume that it would be hypocritical to push forward in certain areas because we are lacking in other areas? Perhaps there is a voice within us saying that we will never amount to any sort of greatness, so why try. But these thoughts are false, and we must not be swayed by them. Hashem is waiting for us, as He was for Acher, with outstretched arms. No matter how far gone we think we are, we can always come back to Hashem! Additionally, we all have the potential to be great. If we will just put in a little bit of effort, Hashem will help us to attain tremendous heights!