Thirsty For Sin: Parashat Nitzavim

Why is looking and enjoying the creation of the creator? Why is it so bad? We're going to go to the commentary of not to be confused with nearly a thousand years ago. Bak is just a few hundred years ago. On this week's para in chapter 29 there is a scary statement by kadesh where Hashem says I will not forgive him. There's a person Hashem says I won't forgive him. Who is this person? A person that says shalom, peace will be upon me as I walk, as my heart sees fit. where he says to himself that in spite of the fact that he doesn't accept any part of the Torah which doesn't appeal to him, he won't be punished seeing that he's only an individual. His actions are not relevant to the vast majority of his fellow Jews who are observant. Meaning he's saying, "Listen, I understand that you're saying to keep Shabbat. You're saying to protect your breath, you're saying all these things. I get it. Jewish people, religious, you're supposed to do it. Listen, for me, I don't want to do it. But Hashem is not going to punish me. He understands me. He understands that it's tough for me. He understands that I'm young. He understands that I don't feel like it. Whatever it is, and Hashem's not going to punish me." Hashem says I'm that person that says I'll do what I want and Hashem is not going to punish me. Hashem says him I will never forgive. I won't forgive him. If he dies that way I won't forgive him. He goes to get and doesn't come out. Not just for the sins he made, for that alone, for that I that heretical thought that he lived with, not just thought one time that he lived that way that I'm going to do what I want and Hashem's not going TO PUNISH ME. THAT Hashem says I will never forgive him. And Raenu says, "The wicked person prides himself with his evil deeds and determines to continue in his evil ways, thereby adding more thirst to his whole system, which previously was adequately supplied with moisture. He had hoped to become satiated by indulging his cravings for sin. His punishment consists of the fact that instead of deriving satisfaction from his sins, he constantly feels the irre irrepressible urge to commit more and more sins instead of slaking his thirst for whatever. Instead of slaking his thirst for whatever it is he wishes to achieve, he will find that he gets even thirstier. He says that part of the punishment for this person that says I'll do whatever I want is he'll actually see that he will crave more sins even after thinking that he satiated himself. Meaning part of the punishment is Hashem is going to allow him to make even more sins because he's now going to thirst more sins. And then says further more applicable to what we were thinking about before about the thoughts of sin being worse than the sin. Says the sage is saying that the thoughts of sin are worse than the sin. When when they what they had in mind when they said that contemplating of the contemplation of the sin is more serious offense than the actual carrying out of the sin. is that the sinful thoughts when they're carried out they leave their mark on the body for a person of a person whereas spontaneously committed sins do not leave such a mark on on a body. Contamination of the soul by entertaining these sinful thoughts is therefore a more serious offense than the actual spontaneous commission of sin which had not previously had such an impact on the soul. So the first thing that it says is what we already know which is that when a person thinks of a sin that makes a certain damage on the soul because it doesn't just go away. Whereas a person makes a physical sin once he finished the physical sin it's finished. But there's further. If there was a person that entertained the thought of breaking into somebody's house, if he's contemplating this sin, instead of spontaneously stealing, he most likely weighs what action he's going to take. If his plan encounters opposition, he'll think about how to deal with the opposition. If somebody comes, he goes into the house, he wants to take what's in the safe, but all of a sudden the owner comes into the house or the owner really is still there. What is he going to do? Is he going to run? Is he going to hit him? Is he going to do? He says he's going to start thinking all types of possibility, possibly even thinking that he's going to kill the guy if he if the guy's there because the guy is going to ruin his plan. And thus in his mind he already adds further sinful thoughts before even committing the original sin. And should a person ask, "Wait a minute. Hold on a second. How can the Torah decree penalties for thoughts that NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENED? HOW CAN THE Torah expect a person to be so perfect that the temptation and intention to commit a sin never occurs to him?" He says, "Let me explain. We know that a man is in charge of his choice of what he what actions he's going to carry out." And this is what the Torah said in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 30 15 and 19 15-19 where Hashem says, this is actually this week's para. See, I have today given you to you uh into your hand control over life and goodness, over death and evil. You shall choose life. Just as man can control his actions, he can also control his thoughts. True, the latter requires some preparation, some education, and we are thereby commanded to entertain constructive thoughts and to avoid thinking potentially destructive sinful thoughts. Hashem gives credit for our entertaining positive constructive thoughts whereas he punishes us for thinking sinful thoughts. And if on the occasion a person entertains unworthy thoughts which creep up on a person uninvited such as thoughts that reflect the fact that the individual in question has not trained himself sufficiently not to entertain unworthy potentially sinful thoughts. The only cure for this is to concentrate on Hashem and what he expects us to do and how he expects us to relate to his universe and our environment. One must relate to such unworthy thoughts with anger at oneself for such thoughts to have occurred at one at all. If he does that, then he may rely on the saying of our sages that a person that comes and makes a genuine effort to purify himself, he receives divine assistance. That's what the says page 38. And there are numerous verses in the Torah testifying to this principle. The Rambam added to all of this. So before we go into the Rambam, just to explain what Bak is saying is that yes, there are going to be temptations and Hashem is the one that's sending it your way. Now if a person makes a sin, superficial sin, he takes the apple that's not his, puts in his pocket, runs away, that creates a certain amount of damage. But if he starts thinking of how I'm going to rob the store, I'm going to go here. I'm going to break the lock. I'm going to come at night. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. And then he's going to start thinking of an action plan. What happen if there's opposition? If the guy is in the store, what am I going to do? I'm going to punch him. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to do this. I'm He starts thinking of other sins even though it's all in his mind. Needless to say, when it's thoughts of immorality. So even though you haven't committed this sin yet of stealing of immorality itself, you did make a sin of allowing yourself to think about these things. Why? Instead of thinking about all of these sins, you were supposed to train your mind with thoughts of Torah that does not allow you to delve into these things. Instead of thinking about hurting somebody, you're supposed to think about how much you're supposed to love your fellow. Instead of thinking about stealing from somebody, you're supposed to think about how you can give more. Instead of thinking about immorality, you should think about loyalty you're supposed to have for your spouse. Loyalty you're supposed to have to Hashem. Loyalty to to the you're supposed to have. If a person learns Torah, they're supposed to delve into those thoughts of Torah at all times. and never allow themselves to think of these filthy things. And therefore, if you are thinking of the filthy things, that means that's you. That means that's you. CLOSE YOUR EYES. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT? What do you see? If you're SEEING FILTHY THINGS, THAT'S YOU. THAT'S WHO YOU ARE. THAT'S WHAT'S IN YOUR MIND. FILTH. Whose fault is it? It's your fault. But you could fix it. How? Replace the filth with Tua. Yeah, but I've been studying for a few months and it's still NOT REPLACED. OF COURSE, it's not replaced. You've been thinking of filth for 20, 30 years. You want it to be replaced in in two months. Takes time. But the point is that is telling us this is part of your servitude in this world. Not just act right, think right. And thinking right requires mental exercise. And therefore the Rambam says which is quoting here and he explains the statement that the thoughts of sin are worse than a sin saying that the ability to entertain thoughts is one of the major factors elevating man over the beasts over the beh. Therefore, abusing such a faculty is more serious than committing the sins with the body, something we have common with the animals who are also lower forms of life. Perverting the very distinctive feature given to us by the Almighty by contemplating actions aimed against our creator is indeed an unforgivable abuse of the powers granted to us. By turning the dominating element of his personality into a tool to commit sins, the subservient part of man, his body, will automatically tend to become corrupted. And when someone commits a sin using his instrument, a foolish slave, using his foolish slave, this is not nearly as serious as when one uses a free man to carry out one's nefarious schemes. This is what my manades wrote to the beginning of this actually in the third segment, third segment of chapter 8. So what the Rambam is saying is that what it separates you from an animal. You eat, it eats. You procreate, it procreatates. You go to the bathroom, it goes to the bathroom. You go to sleep, it goes to sleep. You work, the animal works, too. What's the difference? The difference is your mind. Your mind, that's the difference. But if you have only physicality, materialism, the acts of the beast in your mind, then not only are you acting like an animal, and are not distinguishing yourself from the animal, but you're actually desecrating the one tool that gave you to distinguish you from the animal. You're taking the gift that creator gave you and you're throwing in the filth saying should have been should have created me a dog should have created me as a cow as a bull as a horse because there's no difference between us. And what makes that so bad when it's a thought rather than the sin itself, the Rambam really puts things into perspective. He says if a person makes a sin, he steals, he acts immorally physically. Horrible thing. But here he's sinning in front of another servant. He's sinning in front of another servant. EVERYONE SEES HIM. OKAY. YEAH, he did this. He's a loser. He's ugly. He's this. He's the ugly person and so on. But everyone sees it. He doesn't care. He's a servant. He's sitting in in front of other servants. But when he sins in his mind, when he's thinking about filthy thoughts, who sees those thoughts? The other servants? No. The people he's thinking about? No. Who sees it? The King of Kings. The King of Kings. is the only one that sins it that sees it and therefore says the Rambam sinning in front of the other slaves and the in front of the other servants in front of the other animals. Okay, THAT'S ONE THING. IT'S NOT GOOD, but it's not a special attack against the king. But sinning in front of the king and the king only, there's nothing more disrespectful than that. >> [music]