Parshas VaYigash: Assimilation

Yosef HaTzadik sends a message to Yaakov Avinu with the brothers that וישבת בארץ גשן והיית קרוב אלי. Yaakov Avinu should come and he'll live in Goshen and you'll be close to me. The kasha is obvious that Yosef didn't reside in Eretz Goshen. If he wants Yaakov Avinu to be close, so he should invite him to move in next door. So the Ramban clearly responding without articulate responding to without articulating the question, so the Ramban writes

היה יוסף יודע באביו שלא ירצה לעמוד בארץ מצרים אשר שם הבירה למלכות על כן שלח לו מעתה כי בארץ גשן ישובן.

Yosef understood very well that Yaakov Avinu would not accept an invitation to come live in Mitzrayim, the capital city, and therefore he knew that the only possible invitation that would entice Yaakov was to come to Eretz Goshen. That's the closest he could arrange for Yaakov Avinu to live next to him. Clearly the pshat is that the city which is the capital of the malchus is where the culture and the values of the malchus are most concentrated. In Parshas Acharei Mos the Torah holds up ma'aseh eretz Mitzrayim as an exemplar of hashchasa. Mitzrayim were among other things shtufei zimma. There was no way Yaakov Avinu was going to expose himself, expose his children, his grandchildren to that culture, to become ensconced in that kind of surroundings. The concern for being influenced, the danger of assimilation, again echoes in what the Shiftei Kah tell Pharaoh lagur ba'aretz banu as we quote the drashas Chazal in the Haggadah that לא ירדו אבותינו להשתקע במצרים, not to settle in Mitzrayim, but to be strangers there. So let's perhaps spend a few minutes reflecting a little bit on the parsha of assimilation, rachmana litzlan. Ramchal writes in Mesillas Yesharim that there's a reciprocity, that on the one hand a person will act b'zrizus when there's an inner hislahavus. The hislahavus will generate actions of zrizus. But on the other hand, it's also true that if a person will push himself, will force himself to act with zrizus, that that will help generate and create and rekindle the inner hislahavus. The influence is bilateral. It's a reciprocal influence. Zrizus comes from hislahavus, but zrizus also creates hislahavus. The emes is, the yesod you find already in the Sefer HaChinuch. On the one hand you have the oft-quoted klal of the Sefer HaChinuch that אחרי הפעולות נמשכים הלבבות, which is the... Precursor to Ramchal's zrizus creating hislahavus. Meyedoch, he finds the Sefer Hachinuch writes on the shorshei hamitzva of lo tichonem of ולא תתן להם חן by ovdei avoda zara. So the Sefer Hachinuch writes

לפי שמתחלת כל מעשה בני אדם היא קביעת המחשבה והעלאת הדברים על שפת הלשון ואחר המחשבה והדיבור בא תעשה כל מלאכה.

So it begins with machshava, and then ma'asim are are are the follow in the in the wake of machshava. So that's the here the the hashpa'ah is in an opposite direction. Right, here it's not אחרי הפעולות נמשכים הלבבות, it's אחרי הלבבות נוצרים הפעולות. And this you find, you find in the Rambam as well. Meichad gisa, the Rambam tells us in the beginning of Hilchos De'os that

כיצד ירגיל אדם עצמו בדעות אלו עד שיקבעו בו יעשה וישנה וישלש במעשים שעושה על פי הדעות הממוצעות ויחזור בהם תמיד עד שיהיו מעשיהם קלים עליו ולא יהיה בהם טורח עליו ויקבעו הדעות בנפשו. אחרי הפעולות נמשכים הלבבות,

that the way a person becomes rachum v'chanun is by pushing himself, even if he doesn't feel the inner rachmanus v'chanina, to act and perform acts of rachmanus v'chanina. Me'idach gisa, the end of Hilchos De'os, commenting on lo sikom, so the Rambam writes

כל זמן שהוא נוטר את הדבר וזוכרו שמא יבוא לנקום לפיכך הקפידה תורה על הנטירה עד שימחה או ימחה העוון מליבו ולא יזכרנו כלל.

So there the the hashpa'ah is in the opposite direction. This yesod of the reciprocity, that ideas, values, attitudes, thoughts beget ma'asim, but on the other hand ma'asim beget ideas, values, and attitudes and thoughts. So זה לעומת זה עשה אלוהים, the same way it's true in the realm of tikun hamidos and tikun hama'asim, so rachmana litzlan, הן לטוב הן למוטב, it's also true in the realm of kilkul hamidos v'hama'asim. Because it's ultimately a principle of nefesh ha'adam. And accordingly the the process, rachmana litzlan, of assimilation can either follow, l'havdil, zrizus coming out of hislahavus, or, rachmana litzlan, it can unfold in the opposite direction of hislahavus coming from zrizus. So maybe let's try to understand that a little bit. Sometimes assimilation begins practically. The first generations of Jewish immigrants to these shores, so they succumbed to harsh realities and very great pressure and they went to work, rachmana litzlan, on shabbos. The assimilation began on a practical level. And that's already assimilation in its own right, but it doesn't stop there because אחרי הפעולות נמשכים הלבבות ultimately all values, belief, connection is eroded. But it's not just a matter of historical interest or record; it's very much a contemporary challenge as well. Less dramatic, but perhaps because it's less dramatic, also more deceptive and because of that very insidious. So you have someone who because of pressures of work it's hard for him to get up in the morning for minyan every morning. Or maybe at the other end of the day, it's hard for him because of pressures of work to get himself after going home for dinner and some family time to go to the Beis Medrash to be mizdarez to go to the Beis Medrash and learn. And he takeh succumbs to the yetzer hara and one morning he turns the alarm clock off and doesn't go to minyan and instead finds a place for himself in the Guinness World Book of Records at home with a fifteen-minute Shacharis and then gets to work on time. Or one night he's takeh tired, very tired, and he doesn't get to the Beis Medrash, doesn't go to the Beis Medrash, doesn't maintain the kvius itim. Again, it needs to be understood that this is already k'shehu l'atzmo in its own right, an element of assimilation. It's not only what it leads to, in its own right there's already an element of assimilation there. But it also needs to be understood that it's not self-contained because again, this type of assimilation which begins with the peulos and אחרי הפעולות נמשכים הלבבות if one morning I don't get up and go to minyan, it's not just that I didn't go to minyan that morning, it's not just that practically I gave in, but it weakens the chashivus that tefilla b'tzibbur has for me. And if one night I don't maintain the seder, so it not only did I miss out those X hours of Talmud Torah, but it chips away and it erodes my commitment to Talmud Torah. אחרי הפעולות נמשכים הלבבות. And that's why whatever we do because אחרי הפעולות נמשכים הלבבות momentum is created by whatever we do or don't do. It can be positive momentum, it can be the opposite. And that's how rachmana litzlan the phenomenon that we see, you have someone who not that long ago, not that many years ago one knew as a very strong committed ben yeshiva ben Torah who yitachen for the right reasons, for the right reasons, goes out to work and then within a frighteningly short span of time is unrecognizable. He's a one day a week shul person with little if any meaningful Talmud Torah in his life. The commitment isn't there. It began with a practical, a practical concession, but the same way acting with zrizus creates hislaivus, acting in a way that's consistent with rachmanus creates rachmanus, acting in a way that isn't machshiv tefillah b'tzibbur lets that attitude strike root also. Acting in a way that isn't machshiv kevius itim, rachmana litzlan, lets that attitude strike roots also. Another example, again, of how when we talk about the assimilation, which begins more on the practical level. I'm told that this is a problem as well. I don't know it firsthand, but I'm told that this is a real problem as well. Medical personnel, be it, be it doctors during their training, and yitachen subsequently as well, be it Hatzalah members, are put in a position where they're supposed to be mechallel Shabbos at times. But it has to be done, it has to be done, again, we're not, obviously, the, neither am I the person, nor is this the forum for psak halacha, that's obviously not what we're talking about. But it's so easy not to do that with the achrayus and koved rosh and precision that's required. Again, we're not talking about hesitating and learning through shin chaf ches in Mishnah Berurah while someone's having a heart attack. Hold on one minute, just need Mishnah Berurah, be back soon. That's not what we're talking about. But the hospital routine, if a person is not in Shaare Zedek, if a person is not in Laniado, the hospital routine is not sensitive to what chillul Shabbos is warranted and therefore mandated, and what chillul Shabbos is unnecessary and therefore is chillul Shabbos. And rachmana litzlan, again, the achrayus of being at full alert, to exercise that and display that koved rosh and achrayus. If a person succumbs, so it begins, rachmana litzlan, and this is terrible enough keshelatzmo, it doesn't have to lead to anything beyond it. It can begin with a chillul Shabbos in the hospital, in the Hatzalah context. But it doesn't end there. Again, it's terrible enough, it's beyond. Because if acting with zrizus creates hislahavus, then once taking the easier way out—and again, in the hospital, being mchalel shabbos for something that isn't warranted—contributes to a mindset of na'aseh k'heter. And it happens, rachmana litzlan. This isn't intended to—again, the message here is not that people shouldn't be in Hatzolah. Hatzolah is such an extraordinary, extraordinary thing,

הן מצד הצלת נפשות שבו הן מצד הקידוש השם שבו.

That's not the message, nor is it the message not to be a doctor. But the message is to recognize the nisayon which is inherent in either of those callings. Because it's the same type of dynamic in terms of assimilation. It's not just a question of American Jewish history from 80 years ago, from 70, 80, and 90 years ago. The dynamic is still very much present and relevant and one that we all need to contend with. How does one resist this type of assimilation? So the ba'alei mussar have a vort. Chazal say that tzaddikim, the yetzer hara resembles a har—so Mount Everest. And for reshaim, it's kechut hasa'arah. So isn't it just the opposite? Reshaim can't deal with it, they can't overcome it, so for them it's like scaling Mount Everest. Tzaddikim are able to overcome, they're able to be misgaber, so for them it's kechut hasa'arah. So the ba'alei mussar say—provide a very, very important insight: that when the yetzer hara challenges us, so tzaddikim recognize the magnitude of that challenge. They recognize that if I don't go to minyan tomorrow morning, so it's not just one minyan—that's enough, that's bad enough, that's important enough—but they recognize that it's not just one minyan that I stand to lose, because they recognize how it instigates, how it sets in motion a process. So the yetzer hara is Mount Everest. The yetzer hara not to go to one netz seder, the yetzer hara not to get up one morning after a difficult day in the office, not to go to minyan the next morning, so they recognize that that yetzer hara is a very, very formidable yetzer hara. Reshaim say, what's the big deal? One minyan. One minyan, I'll be more alert, I'll be more productive, I'll be more... it's not a big deal. It's not a big deal. But there's a second type of assimilation. And probably of the two, the more formidable challenge because it's less tangible and less visible. And that's the type of assimilation which follows the hislahavus generates zrizus, the inner state translates into actions, the machshava as the Sefer Hachinuch explains in the context... provides the impetus for ma'aseh. We're surrounded by a culture with values, with attitudes, values and attitudes which overwhelmingly are antithetical to the values and attitudes and mindset of the Torah. By its, by its very definition, American society is pluralistic. The tolerance that it advocates is a tolerance rooted in pluralism and relativism. And that's about as core a value of the democratic Western world as there is. Obviously not referring to אלו ואלו דברי אלוקים חיים, obviously not referring to that, not in any way downplaying or diminishing its, its significance. But we, we're not pluralistic, we're not relativistic. We think that's religiously and morally anarchistic. We believe in absolute truth. Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us the Torah at Har Sinai and that's absolute truth. And while we certainly, certainly have our version of tolerance, there's a major, major difference between a tolerance which issues forth from relativism as opposed to the type of tolerance attitudinally which the Torah would have us display. There's a difference between where one is just tolerant of chillul Shabbos and mechallel Shabbos because one absorbs the Western version of tolerance, or where one thinks that chillul Shabbos is an absolute travesty. Chillul Shabbos is one of the biggest tragedies and travesties of our world. But mah rachmanus it is that the overwhelming majority of Klal Yisrael are tinokos shenishbu and because of that, rachmana litzlan, they engage in chillul Shabbos. There's a very big difference between those two versions of tolerance. Rav Aharon Kotler, when he first came to the United States, even when he had the Yeshiva in, even when he after the milchama when he established the Yeshiva in Lakewood, he lived in why he was moving, so he said that he noticed that he was beginning to be bothered a little bit less by the chilul Shabbos that he saw in Manhattan. His sensitivity to just how terrible it is that chilul Shabbos was beginning to become dulled, so he had to go somewhere where there were no non-Frum Jews and where he wouldn't encounter either any chilul Shabbos or certainly less chilul Shabbos. A tolerance which is just where we parrot Western tolerance erodes the chashivus of Shabbos, the chashivus of Torah, the absoluteness of Torah. A correct version of tolerance doesn't do that. When the person simultaneously feels the pain of chilul Shabbos together with the pain of seeing a tinok shenishba who's being mechallel Shabbos. There's a big difference between that and between, okay, okay, so he's not Frum. So I'm Frum and he's not Frum and live and let live. That erodes the absoluteness of truth, the clarity of lema natzarnu, what life is about. The society surrounding us, another core value that has developed. I don't know that this was true historically. It wasn't true historically. But by the year 2015, it has become the case. The society around us is an egalitarian society. That equality has to mean identical roles, and any discrimination between roles is translated as discrimination against. I mean, that wasn't a core value in 1776, but it very much is a core value in 2015. When such values seep into our value system, when we absorb such values by osmosis, so it's the opposite process rachmana litzlan of assimilation. It's not אחרי הפעולות נמשכים הלבבות, but it's everything begins with machshava and machshava begets ma'aseh. And here too, it's not only because machshava begets ma'aseh that that's why it's insidious. No, it's assimilation in and of itself, because to be a Jew doesn't just mean to act as a Jew, it means to think like a Jew, to feel like a Jew, to have values like a Jew. So it's assimilation in its own right, but it's also worse than that because it's not self-contained, it's not compartmentalized, it's the dynamic which the Sefer HaChinuch talks about in lo techanem. Kohena vekohena. There's no shortage of examples in terms of values and attitudes and axioms of the society around us which again on an axiological level are antithetical to Torah which represent axiological conceptual assimilation. Lamentable and frightening in its own right, but even more lamentable and even more frightening because it doesn't stop at that. And we see it tragically unfolding around us. So how does one, what's the, how do we try to inoculate ourselves against this? The first thing is to be aware of it. Just to be aware of the stark, stark axiological contrast between the culture that surrounds us and the Torah. To be aware of our susceptibility to absorbing those values. Because we're bombarded by them. It's in the air we breathe. And if we make the mistake of imbibing popular culture, so then it's in the newspapers we read, it's in the radio shows we listen to, it's everywhere. It's everywhere. So the first thing is to be aware. First thing is to be aware. How do you not slip on the ice? First thing is to be aware that ice is slippery. That's the first yesod. The second and again nothing especially insightful or profound in anything I'm saying. They're all devarim pashutim. Is to try to be as intellectually honest, to learn and very, very importantly, be mekabel, be mekabel as much Torah as possible. Not just learn on our own, but to be mekabel as much Torah as possible. If I only learn on my own, so I'm still at risk of what I learn being colored by what I've already absorbed from the surrounding culture. To be mekabel as much as possible. One's daled amos should be the daled amos of Torah. And it's also very important in counteracting and countering a yetzer hara, it's very important to cut the yetzer hara down to size, to recognize it for what it is. On the one hand it should be kehar gadol in terms of its formidability and the magnitude of the challenge, but on the other hand we should recognize the culture and society surrounding us for what it is. We live in an unprecedented technologically advanced society, tremendously impressive. We live beyond a science fiction world. I don't think the most creative and imaginative science fiction writers could imagine the technological advances that we enjoy. But realistically, realistically... The society we live in is a backward and regressive society morally. If you compare where society is today to where it was, ask your grandparents, to where it was 60 years ago, the society is not more advanced. The society is disintegrating, morally disintegrating. We live in a backward and regressive moral society. There's no reason that we should feel defensive when our values are out of sync with the values of that society, which again, by and large, they are. And there's no reason that we should be so fascinated, so enchanted by the values which are articulated by a society which is regressive morally. To say that our society has no mussag of tzniut, it's light years beyond talking about that being the problem. And by and large, apathetic to lo tin'af, much less tzniut. Increasingly apathetic to lo tirtzach. And since it's religiously, epistemologically pluralistic, it's apathetic to avoda zara also. So why should we have some kind of inferiority complex if we find that our values are not in sync with the values of this society? And why should there be any assumption that if the society is wrong about all these other things, why is there an assumption that the society is right about egalitarianism, and because of that we feel defensive rachmana litzlan and we feel inferior? There are discrete, disparate positive elements which from a lens of Torah and the Torah filter are of value and importance and significance. But we have every reason to feel fully confident and fully secure in rejecting what the Torah filter tells us should be filtered out and what the Torah lens exposes for being inauthentic and wrong. And that's part of the Vayoshavnu Be'eretz Goshen.