Taryag Mitzvos - Part 4: The Final Word…of G-d

Note to email recipients - I have noticed that sometimes the Hebrew text gets scrambled in the email version, mostly on moblie phones. This is due to inconsistencies in HTML rendering. If this occurs, you can see the proper text at the main blog site HERE.

Welcome to the final installment of the Taryag Mitzvos series. If you have not seen the earlier installments, they can be found HERE, HERE and HERE.

Thus far, we have studied the passage in masechet Makkos with the pirush of the Maharsha to understand that the foundation of all of the mitzvos is a single commandment, Emunah (or Yichud Hashem), which is itself comprised of two complementary components, Anochi and Lo Yihiyeh Lecha. Thereupon we noted that this theme is reflected in certain specific mitzvos and, likewise, in the structure of human society (male and female).

We also said that it is represented in the term Hashem (YKVK) Elokenu-Hashem Echad, then contracted to Hashem (YKVK)-Echad, then we briefly mentioned it is represented in YK-VK and finally in the Yud and Heh of Y-H.

Firstly, I want to elaborate a little more on the idea I rushed through in the previous post – the four-letter shem YKVK where I said that the Y-H represents Anochi (the positive) and V-H represents Lo Yihiyeh Lecha (the negative).  To be a bit more precise, the name Y-H is associated with Bracha and the name V-H is associated with Kellala. How so?

The concept that the name Y-H is a reference to Bracha is fairly obvious based on how often Dovid Hamelech uses this name in praise to Hashem such as:

י-הברכי נפשי את השם, הללו-

And, as the concluding words of sefer Tehillim:

כל הנשמה תהלל י-ה, הללו-י-ה!

The name Y-H is worthy of praise.

Although the name V-H is also worthy of praise, it represents the midas haDin and the “dark side”. This comes from a Midrash in Vayikra Rabba 35:1:

ר' חייא בשם רבי יוחנן אמר חשבתי ברכות וחשבתי קללות. חשבתי ברכות מאלף עד תי"ו. וחשבתי קללות מן וא"ו ועד ה"א ולא עוד אלא שהן הפוכות

Rabi Chiya said in the name of Rabi Yochanan: "I calculated blessings and I calculated curses. I calculated blessings from Aleph to Tav. And I calculated curses from Vav to Heh. And not only this, but they are reversed (Vav before the Heh)."

The meaning of this Midrash is that the blessing part of Parshat Bechukosai begins with ם בחוקתי תלכוא– starts with an Aleph. It ends ואולך אתכם קוממיות  – ends with a Tav. This tells us that the Bracha is complete and all-encompassing from Aleph to Tav.

However, the Kelala part starts as follows: ואם לא תשמעו לי – starts with a Vav. It ends הבהר סיני ביד מש – it ends with the letter Heh. So the Kelala begins with Vav and ends with Heh (V-H). If we leave it this way, it goes around the entire aleph-bet. But, if we want to, we can reverse it so it only has space between Heh and Vav to take effect. Not much space at all – so not much Kelala.

This is also represented by the pasukim in Parshat Re’eh:

ראה אנכי נתן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה. את הברכה אשר תשמעו... והקללה, אם לא תשמעו...

Bracha from Aleph to Tav (A-Z) and Kelala from Vav to Heh.

So the Y-H part of the name represents the Bracha that we get if we keep our faith in Hashem and fulfill the Mitzvos Aseh – Anochi Hashem.

The V-H part represents the Kelala that we may, chas v’shalom, get if we lose faith in Hashem and fall to idolatry and transgress all of the Mitzvos Lo Taaseh – Lo Yihiyeh Lecha.

Let us review the newly expanded list of Anochi/LoYihiyeh impersonators:

Emunah – Yichud Hashem
Anochi Hashem	Lo Yihiyeh Lecha
Positive mitzvos	Negative mitzvos
Aseh Tov	Sur MeRah
Hashem E-loheinu	Hashem Echad
Hashem	Echad
T’chelet	White
Zachor	Shamor
Weekday	Shabbat
Yud-Heh	Vav-heh
Bracha (Har Gerizim)	Kelala (Har Eval)
Yud	Heh
Man (ish)	Woman (isha)
(Acquiring) Olam Haba	(Preserving) Olam HaZeh

What is the chareidi Jews supposed to make of all this?

Want my opinion? (Don’t answer!) I think the lesson is that it applies to everything. I mean absolutely everything!

In the eyes – and heart – of a chareidi, every single activity or conscious inactivity can be characterized as a fulfillment of Anochi or a transgression of Lo Yihiyeh. This is not restricted to what is listed among the 248 positive mitzvos and the 365 negative mitzvos, it applies to anything that a Jew does or refrains from doing. If the activity serves to display loyalty to HKBH and to bring the individual closer to fulfilling his ultimate purpose, he is fulfilling Anochi. As we saw in Part I, any complete unmitigated fulfillment of Anochi is an Admit One ticket to Hashem’s world. If the activity is not one of loyalty, it is ipso facto one of disloyalty that serves to distance the individual from Hashem, thus, a transgression of Lo Yihiyeh Lecha. It is an invitation to be shunned by HKBH and left to the forces of keri (chance).

Thus, HKBH says to us: Im b’chukotai teileichu – If you are to walk within my statutes, if you fulfill Anochi, then…And I will walk in your midst, and I will be for you for [a] G-d.

This is one of G‑d’s utterances for us all to hear. But He is not finished, He has a second utterance: V’im b’chukotai timaasu – And if in my statutes you will display loathing; and if your souls will repulse my judgments; to desist from performing all of my mitzvos for you to nullify my covenant.

What commandment did we learn is G-d’s version of all of my mitzvos?

That’s right, it’s Lo Yihiyeh Lecha. Only, to be a bit scarier, according to the Maharsha, any individual mitzvah, or even action, can be a transgression of Lo Yihiyeh Lecha. Hence, to Hashem, that single transgression or undesirable activity can be deemed as not performing all of my mitzvos. Then what?

...I will likewise walk with you in happenstance (keri) and I will also smite you sevenfold in accordance to your sins.

Well, what do you know? We have come full circle to the credo of the chareidim, One Above and Seven Below.

The sincere chareidi takes all this very much to heart. Everything he does is either a fulfillment of Anochi or a transgression of Lo Yihiyeh Lecha.  This means that when a Jew eats, he is either fulfilling Anochi or transgressing Lo Yihiyeh Lecha. The distinction is based, not only on what he eats, but on where, when, how, and why he is eating it. Any of these prepositions can account for the distinction between fulfilling Anochi or transgressing Lo Yihiyeh Lecha; but he is doing one or the other, never is he doing neither.

The same applies to what comes out of the mouth. It is not only what he says but where, when, how, and why he says it. Both work and play must be either a fulfillment of Anochi or a transgression of Lo Yihiyeh Lecha. There is no middle ground. Here again the factors are what he is doing together with where, when, how, and why. Every time he sleeps, every time he cohabitates, again, either Anochi or Lo Yihiyeh - one or the other.  And, yet again, every time a coin or bill comes out of his pocket – or goes into it.

This idea is liable to make someone a wee bit anxious (חרד לדבר השם), don’t you think?

That is why chareidim are chareidi.

Are we done, yet? Just about. I have one final correlation (heard from HRHG Rav Asher Weiss, Shlita).

Every chareidi Jew is taught from his youth that his actions throughout his life must engender one trait: ונקדשתי בתוך בני ישראל (And I will be sanctified among the Children of Israel – Vayikra 22:32). This is the great mitzvah of Kiddush Hashem. In general, it means that every Jew is a representative of the Creator of the universe and his commitment to embodying this role must be so resolute that he must guard the honor of Hashem’s great Name with his very life. This mitzvah also comes with a complementary counterpart: ולא תחללו את שם קדשי (You shall not desecrate My Holy Name). This is commonly referred to as Chillul Hashem. Any action that might besmirch the honor of G‑d’s name must be avoided at all costs, even under total duress. No price is too high.

In the initial description, this obligation is only enforced in specific extreme circumstances. One need only forfeit his life to refrain from transgressing the three cardinal sins of murder, idolatry (the literal Lo Yihiyeh Lecha), and immorality. At a second level, we are taught that during a time of heretical decrees one must forfeit his life to refrain from transgressing any law or even an established custom such as to alter the Jewish mode of dress. All of the particulars of these obligations are enumerated by Rambam in Hilchot Yesodei Torah 5:1-9. After composing nine articles of law that describe what, where, when, and how of the Jew’s obligation to offer the ultimate sacrifice (as well as when it is forbidden), Rambam adds a catch-all article (5:10):

Any person who willfully and without duress transgresses on any one of all the mitzvos that are stated in the Torah with a haughty disposition to provoke [G‑d], this is a desecration of His Name (mechalel et Hashem)… And, similarly, anyone who abstains from a transgression or who performs a [single] mitzvah not for any [personal] reason at all, not for fear, or for awe, or for the quest for [personal] honor, but rather, only for the honor of the Creator, Blessed is He, … this is one who is sanctifying the Name [of G‑d].

This assertion of Rambam seems to parallel the assertion he made in Pirush Mishnayos in Makkos. Any one mitzvah, when executed impeccably, is a complete manifestation of Yichud Hashem and carries the status of a Kiddush Hashem and ensures the individual of his share of Olam Habah. It is as if he performed all of the mitzvos of the Torah. Conversely, any single transgression is a strain of Lo Yihiyeh Lecha. When it occurs due to carelessness or craving, it is viewed as a lost opportunity that can be rectified with teshuva. However, if it is performed wantonly and without duress, with the knowledge of its severity, it is a full-fledged commission of Lo Yihiyeh Lecha and a desecration of Hashem’s Name, a chillul Hashem. It is as if the individual has transgressed the entire Torah. A willful chillul Hashem cannot be fully atoned for in this world.

So now, once again, let us review the final cut of the parallel concepts to Anochi and Lo Yihiyeh Lecha:

Emunah – Yichud Hashem
Anochi Hashem	Lo Yihiyeh Lecha
Positive mitzvos	Negative mitzvos
Aseh Tov	Sur MeRah
Hashem E-loheinu	Hashem Echad
Hashem	Echad
T’chelet	White
Zachor	Shamor
Weekday	Shabbat
Yud-Heh	Vav-heh
Bracha (Har Gerizim)	Kelala (Har Eval)
Yud	Heh
Man (ish)	Woman (isha)
(Acquiring) Olam Haba	(Preserving) Olam HaZeh
Im B’Chukotai Teleichu	V’Im B’Chukotai Timaasu
V’ Nikdashti (Kiddush Hashem)	V’Lo TiChalilu (Chillul Hashem)

What a list!

In the Introductory chapter of One Above and Seven Below, I opened with the following question:

Hear the word of G-d, those who are anxious (chareidim) toward his word…(Yeshaya 66:5).

We asked: What should the chareidim hear? What is the word of G-d?

We now have a possible answer to this question. In true Jewish style, let us answer the question with a question:

How often has G-d ever spoken to all of us?

Just once.

And what did He say?

He said Anochi and Lo Yihiyeh Lecha.

וארשתיך לי באמונה - וידעת את השם