Do not accept a false report.
One of the ways in which these words are taken by Chazal * is as an injunction against a judge hearing the arguments of a litigant without the presence of his disputant. ** What message does this mitzvah have for us in our personal spiritual lives?
Let us begin with the difficult verse in which Moshe warns Pharoah about the impending Plague of the Firstborn: ויאמר משה כה אמר ה כחצות הלילה אני יוצא בתוך מצרים ומת כל בכור בארץ מצרים, Moshe said, “Thus said Hashem: At about midnight, I will be going out into Egypt, and every firstborn in the Land of Egypt will die.” *** As the famous question goes, why was the uncertain “at about” used, when Hashem had designated precisely midnight as the time for the plague? Clearly, He has no lack of certainty as to the exact time! (As far as the Talmud’s **** answer is concerned – to prevent the Egyptians, who are unable to precisely measure time, from claiming that Moshe was off the mark – it does not explain why this altered statement was attributed to Hashem and not to Moshe. ***** ) It seems to me that Moshe used this language to allude to a lesson in our service of Hashem.
The Alshich, in his commentary to Mishlei, ****** already raised the difficulty of knowing whether or not one is going about his Avodas Hashem in the correct manner. Many people sincerely set out to accomplish in this area, yet stumble and fail. By means of an exposition of the verse עיניך לנוכח יביטו ועפעפיך יישירו נגדיך, Your eyes should look directly ahead and your eyelids should be set straight before you, which he analogizes to a traveler attempting to reach a distant castle who is advised to always keep its spire within his line of vision, the Alshich directs us to maintain our focus on our goal – Hashem. This will prevent us from straying to ulterior motivations in our actions, which will derail us from the straight path.
This guidance, though, still leaves room for doubt. Even if one is focused on Hashem, what form does that focus take? When faced with the multitudinous approaches to serving Hashem, one can be left bewildered as to which path is the appropriate one for him to adopt. To complicate matters, the yetzer ha-ra often masquerades as the yetzer ha-tov, mislabeling a dark and dangerous country road that takes the eved Hashem far afield as a smooth highway that leads straight to Hashem’s front door. (For example, sometimes one will be convinced, unjustifiably, to be dishonest for the purpose of maintaining the peace, or to slander others on the grounds that they are rabblerousers.) In this maze of twisting lanes, how is one supposed to recognize the correct one?
I will share with you one important rule which I heard from a certain great person, and which experience has demonstrated to be beneficial in managing matters both spiritual and mundane. When considering how to go about something, it is natural for a person to arrive at a conclusion, convinced that it is the correct approach. Instead of immediately implementing it, however, it would be wise for him to challenge his thinking and assume that the opposite is correct. In this manner, he will be forced to give the entire matter a thorough review from a fresh perspective, which can be very conducive to recognizing which approach is indeed the correct one.
Based on this idea, I would suggest a new explanation of a mishnah in Rosh HaShanah. ******* The Chachamim state that all kosher animals’ horns are fit to be used for the mitzvah of blowing the Shofar, with the exception of that of a cow, as it is described as a keren and not a Shofar. To R’ Yose’s challenge that all horns are described as a keren, the Chachamim (as recorded in a beraisa cited in the Gemara ********) respond that they are also described as shofars, unlike those of a cow which are solely referred to as karnos. What is the meaning of these details? While unravelling this passage, we will also address another teaching about the Shofar, that it must be long enough to protrude from both ends of one’s grasp. *********
Sefer Yetzirah ********** describes Hashem’s manifestation within our world as divisible into three categories of activity, plotted along a spectrum as right, left, and center. Generally speaking, these prongs of Providence are representative, respectively, of: the positive forces at play, the negative ones, and those balanced between the two. Now, it is an axiom of Kabbalah that the mechanics of the spiritual world are bilateral: on one end, Hashem uses them to run His world; on the other, Man’s actions, for better or for worse, manipulate them. How can our Avodas Hashem be divided into three corresponding categories?
There are two types of tzaddikim. One has his yetzer ha-ra in his pocket. He cruises through life, effortlessly avoiding the obstacles that come his way. Another also serves Hashem with great devotion, but only after struggling with his baser side each step of the way. For him, life is like a bumpy path through the woods – whose end he eventually reaches. I once illustrated this second experience through the verse חשבתי דרכי ואשיבה רגלי אל עדותיך, I planned my route, yet I returned my feet to Your testimonies, *********** which the Sages ************ famously explain as Dovid’s habit of setting off to attend to his mundane needs, yet unconsciously rerouting himself to the study hall. I took this to refer to a person who falls prey to his yetzer ha-ra and sets out to engage in some act of physical pleasure – or, worse yet, a sinful one – yet, in a burst of fear of Heaven, he wrests control of himself, forcing himself back on the right track.
Putting these two models into the above kabbalistic framework, we would say that the tranquil tzaddik operates with the right prong, that of pure positive energy. His conflicted counterpart, however, accomplishes a far more impressive feat: he commandeers the left, negative prong – the one that allows for sin – by means of the middle one – that of struggle – converting it into the positive energy of the right. As the Zohar ************* puts it, by providing a role for the entire spectrum of Providence in improving the world, one has accomplished the greatest good that can be achieved. **************
To bring this back to our topic, uncertainty in service of Hashem: if a person does a mitzvah without equivocation, that is certainly a good thing, but it falls short of the goal of unifying the vectors. In order to accomplish that, he would need to question whether the act before him is indeed a mitzvah or a hidden sin. If one engages in this soul-searching earnestly, he can be assured that he will reach a correct conclusion. If it indeed checks out and he performs the deed, he will have successfully brought both the left and the right into the process, having accomplished a unification.
We are now ready to explain the mysterious mitzvah of Shofar. As the Midrash *************** clues us in, the word alludes to the imperative of שפרו מעשיכם, improve your deeds! How does one do that in the optimal manner? As the Zohar **************** teaches, the Shofar encompasses all three parts of the spiritual spectrum. Through its blast, one unifies the three. The takeaway for our personal improvement is to put everything we do through the same process. When something comes to mind, don’t be strongheaded, immediately acting upon it. Doubt it, twisting it to the right and to the left. Only then can you trust your conclusion.
This lesson is alluded to in the teaching that all horns are fit for the mitzvah except for that of the cow, which is only called a keren. This word is used, at times, to indicate the strength of an animal, ***************** and thus connotes stubbornness. Thus, only a horn that is called both a shofar and a keren is fit for the mitzvah, to teach us that only after being openminded about a potential action, examining it from every perspective, can one be stubborn about his conclusion. Unquestioned certainty, like the keren of the cow, is unacceptable in Avodas Hashem.
This is also alluded to by the rule that the Shofar must be visible from both ends of one’s grasp, that is, that one needs to be aware of both aspects of whatever “is at hand,” its positive and negative qualities.
We can now return to Moshe’s proclamation of the Plague of the Firstborn, having strangely used the doubt-laden “at about midnight.” “Day” and “Night” mean more than just periods of time. They are often used symbolically, such as to indicate, respectively, periods of clarity and uncertainty. When one is unsure of how to proceed, he may have the sense of being lost in the thick of a darkening night.
The solution to this predicament is spelled out in this verse. As Rashi explains, כחצות הלילה means “when the night is divided in half.” The confounded are to deal with the nightlike doubt of the issue by splitting it into two perspectives, for and against. With two ends of the spectrum apparent, the resolution emerges organically from the balanced center. As the verse continues, אני יוצא בתוך מצרים, I – i.e., the Name of הוי”ה at the opening of the verse – will be going out into the midst of Egypt. This particular Name is used as it refers to the central, balanced prong of Providence described above. ****************** It emerges from the balance of the two extremities, piercing the midst of Egypt, that is מצרים, the distress (מצר) engendered by the doubtful darkness of the night. The result is ומת כל בכור בארץ מצרים, and every firstborn in the Land of Egypt shall die. The subject here is the yetzer ha-ra, his “firstbornship” the dominion that he held over Man while in the throes of confusion. The firstborn’s “death” is his toppling from power, ******************* allowing the individual to emerge from the shadows and bask in the guiding light of Hashem. ********************
Let us now apply these ideas to the verse in Mishlei upon which the Alshich based his advice for dealing with doubt. It consists of two parallel phrases: עיניך לנוכח יביטו and ועפעפיך יישירו נגדיך. The difference between עינים and עפעפים is that the former refers to the Name of הוי”ה, which connotes a clear vision of the Divine, while the latter is אדנו"ת, an unclear vision. Consistent with this, the term נוכח indicates being directly across, straightforwardness, ease; while נגד implies tension, conflict, strain.
עיניך לנוכח יביטו means that when one is presented with a straightforward spiritual engagement, such as prayer or Torah study, he enjoys a moment of religious clarity, vision with a clear עין, and there is no need to be hesitant about plunging straight in. In contrast, ועפעפיך יישירו נגדיך refers to times of spiritual doubt, when one’s עפעפים are clouding his perception of Hashem’s Will. One must then utilize the נגד approach, examining the various, conflicting angles of the matter until its resolution presents itself.
Finally, let us return to the prohibition for a litigant to present his case absent hi disputant. As the Zohar ********************* explicitly interprets, this alludes to the yetzer ha-ra, who has a major head start over his disputant, the yetzer ha-tov, in swaying the opinion of their target, Man – some thirteen years, in fact, from Man’s birth until his maturity. What is incumbent on Man is to not be hasty in acting upon whatever enters his mind. He must be wary that it may be his darker side taking advantage of him, and, as such, slow and sober consideration is called for. If he follows this admonition, he can be hopeful that clarity will follow.
_____________________________
* Sanhedrin 7a, cited in Rashi.
** This is to make it more difficult to foist a false account upon the judge.
*** Shemos 11:5.
**** Berachos 4a.
***** As argued by the Zohar, Bo, 37a.
****** 4:25.
******* 3:2.
******** 26a.
********* Ibid., 27b.
********** 2:1.
*********** Tehillim 119:59.
************ Vayikra Rabbah 35:1.
************* Tetzaveh, 184a.
************** This is the significance of Yisro, whose idolatrous background gave him a unique appreciation of the truth of the Torah, thus subjugating the left to the right. See Zohar, Yisro, 67b.
*************** Vayikra Rabbah 29:6.
**************** Emor, 99b.
***************** Rabbeinu Nissim (Rosh HaShanah 6a, quoted in Tosafos Yom Tov) suggests that the horn of the goat envisioned by Daniel (Daniel 8:4) is described as a keren in reflection of its presentation as a mighty animal.
****************** The right and left flanks are symbolized by the Names א-ל and אלקים, as per Zohar, Acharei 65b, based on Tehillim 50:1.
******************* The Zohar (Shemos, 19a) interprets Pharoah’s death (Shemos 2:23) in this fashion.
******************** It is not coincidental that this pronouncement came from Moshe, who is also associated with the central, balanced prong (Zohar, Pekudei 221b).
********************* Vayeishev, 179b.