[Be-Ahavah U-Be-Emunah – Korach 5772 – translated by R. Blumberg]
Question: Must
the Mitzvot of the Torah be fulfilled at any price? Even at the cost of committing
sins along the way?
Answer: The
Master of the Universe does not desire that we perform Mitzvot if to do so we
must commit wrongful deeds. If it is impossible for us to perform a Mitzvah without
first performing a sin, G-d foregoes that Mitzvah.
Fortunate is he
who performs the Mitzvah of Lulav, but not with a stolen Lulav. “For I am
Hashem who loves justice and hates burnt offerings involving theft” (Yeshayahu
61:8). Our Sages comment, “Even for the sake of bringing G-d a burnt offering
one must not steal” (Sukkah
30). The Talmud
there adds: “A mortal king was once passing by the tax offices. He said to his
servants, ‘Give this money to the tax collectors,’ and they replied, ‘Surely
all the tax money is yours.’ The king then said, ‘From me all passersby will
learn not to evade taxes.’ G-d likewise said, ‘I am Hashem who hates burnt
offerings involving theft.’ My children will learn from Me and they will make
themselves flee from theft.”
Even for a Mitzvah
performed for the Supreme King of Kings one must not steal -- neither in order
to construct Shuls and study houses, nor to support Yeshivot and Jewish day
schools. If we maintain such standards, then everyone will learn to view as obvious
the fact that one must not steal for any other reason.
The Jerusalem
Talmud contains a still sharper parable: “A person brought a gift to the king,
yet it became clear to the king that the gift was an object that had been
stolen from the king himself. Woe to the one whose defender became his
accuser!” (Jerusalem Talmud, Sukkah, Ch. 3). Not only is a good deed that is
achieved through a sin not a good deed, but it is itself transformed into a
sin.
Rabbi Moshe
Chaim Luzzato stresses that when an employee does Mitzvot on his work time,
that is likewise considered theft and it is not acceptable before G-d: “Even if
someone performed a Mitzvah during his work time, it will not be attributed to
him as a righteous act, but as a sin, for no sin can be a Mitzvah. Scripture
states, ‘I am Hashem who hates burnt offerings involving theft.’ In the same
regard our Sages said: If someone stole a bushel of wheat, ground it up and
baked bread, and he recited a blessing over it, he is not blessing G-d but
cursing Him, as it says, ‘When the greedy wretch blesses G-d, he curses Him’ (Tehilim
10:3. Baba Kamma 94).
Of such
instances it is said, ‘Woe to this person whose defender has become his accuser.’
Moreover, we have our Sages’ ruling regarding use of a stolen Lulav. What I said about doing Mitzvot on work time
makes sense. After all, if stealing an object is considered theft, then
stealing time is as well. Just as when one steals an object and performs a Mitzvah,
his defender becomes his accuser, so too, when one steals time and uses it to
perform a Mitzvah, his defender becomes his accuser. G-d desires nothing more
than trustworthiness” (Mesilat Yesharim, Chapter 11).
Whenever we are
about to eat bread, or pray, we must wash our hands ritually. In the same way,
before any act of holiness we must make certain that our hands are clean. Maran
Ha-Rav Kook writes: “A person must always make sure that his goals are pure and
holy, and that his means of achieving those goals are pure and holy as well”
(Olat Re’eiyah 2, 257).
He further
writes: “There are good and holy entities in the world whose foundations of
support are unseemly. For example, weakness, falsehood and wickedness can
sometimes lend support to such fine principles as shyness, modesty and faith.
Yet, just as favors performed by the wicked for the righteous only harm the
righteous (Yevamot 103), so too, goodness bolstered by evil and impurity is
actually profaned greatly by them.
The light of Redemption
cannot be actualized until all the evil foundations are destroyed, even those
that support goodness and holiness.
And even
though, as a result, goodness, holiness and faith suffer, and they decline and
seem to become impoverished, this descent and impoverishment really represent
ascent and revitalization. This is because after these evil foundations decay,
light and luster and holiness will immediately begin to spring forth upon
healthy foundations of knowledge, wisdom, courage, splendor, eternity and
majesty.
It is by such
means that an everlasting kingdom illuminated by G-d’s goodness and light will
be established in the End of Days. This will be the fulfillment of G-d’s
faithful and everlasting covenant with David -- never to be annulled: ‘For He
said: Surely they are My people, children who will not lie. So He was their
deliverer. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His
presence saved them. In His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and He bore
them, and carried them all the days of old’” (Orot, Orot Ha-Techiyah, 52).
