The human gift for rationalization is a common topic for divrei Torah during the month of Tishrei, during the weeks when the Children of Israel even today spend time in self reflection and teshuva (repentance). Rationalizing is one of the great tools of the yetzer hara (the evil inclination) in that it is the most natural path for convincing oneself that what is right is wrong and what is wrong is right, or even that something is not quite such a bad thing to do. It is a tool that goes hand in hand with shedding accountability, with an inclination to blame.
On a national level, these behaviors have been at the heart of our people’s greatest downfalls, and we were well and truly warned that this would be so. In Parshas Vayeilech, Hashem calls Moshe to the Tent of Meeting to begin the process of Moshe’s end. Hashem tells Moshe quite clearly that when he is gone, the people will go astray. Not only will they look to foreign gods, but Hashem forecasts that “they will forsake Me and break My covenant that I made with them. Then My anger will flare up against them, and I will abandon them and hide My countenance from them. They shall be easy prey, and many evils and troubles shall befall them. And they shall say on that day, ‘Surely it is because our God is not in our midst that these evils have befallen us’” (Devarim 31:16-17).
Reading this verse, one might be astounded at the chutzpah, at the very idea that they who turned aside from Hashem’s ways could then blame their woes on the absence of Hashem’s presence among them. But this is the yetzer hara. This is human nature’s self-defense mechanism protecting the psyche. No one likes to admit when they have caused their own misfortune.
It is interesting to note how wordy verse 17 is. There are 15 words before the people’s reaction (And they shall say…), which is longer than most single pasukim in the Torah. Here too is an allusion to this being more than a happenstance reaction. Hashem is showing the mechanism of the yetzer harah’s tools. Between “they will forsake Me and break My covenant that I made with them” and the people’s complaint of abandonment, there is a lengthy description of God’s reaction – lengthy in particular since the promise of His anger has been described before. Herein is the explanation of how we so easily externalize fault because if there is any delay in the cause and effect, then we often choose to be blind to the connection.
The end of verse 17 should really state “Surely it is
because our God hid himself from us when we did not follow His ways that these
evils have befallen us.” The lesson here is perfect for this time of year, for
the Aseres Ymai Teshuva (the Ten Days of Repentance). How did our choices bring
us to the point where we could or did do those transgressions for which we need
to repent this year? There is no time like the present, when we are striving to
recognize, confess, and repair our actions that have been cutting us off from
our connection to the Divine, for us to really stop and determine our own role
in the challenges that we face.
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