The באר היטב תק''פא ס''ק י brings from the מהר''יל that starting from Ellul when one writes a letter to friend they need to write some form of brachah for a שנה טובה. People go to tzadikim, their rabbeim, and to parents and grandparents for ברכות before the יום הדין.
We all want brachah for the forthcoming year.
Let us look into the recent parshah for the brachos that Hashem Himself promises in the Torah.
In כי תבוא כז יב Moshe instructs klall Yisrael אלה יעמדו לברך.... Rashi explains that the לויים would first turn towards הר גריזים and open with a blessing: "Blessed is the one who does not make graven images.." They would then turn to הר עיבל and say the opposite: "Cursed is the one who makes graven images.." Each one of the following ארור's was preceded by a ברוך.
The obvious question is what happened to the ברכות?! If the לויים began with the ברכות why are they absolutely absent from the Torah's description of the events? All the Torah mentions are the subsequent קללות!
The מלבים asks this and writes that he has not seen it discussed by anyone and therefore he offers his own explanation.- Truthfully, the opposites of the קללות should not really deserve any great ברכות. The גמ' in Kiddushin says that when one withholds from sin it is like he did a מצוה only if the עבירה was a challenge to him, and he had to put in effort to withhold. The sins listed in the ארור's that one may ח''ו be cursed for, are quite evil, outrageous, and out of character for a Jew. The chances of these sins posing a challenge for a Yid is very rare, so that one who refrains from them should not deserve much credit. Therefore no actual ברכה is recorded in the Torah itself. However, the ברכה that the Yidden did receive was more of a blessing just for protection not to be punished for the sins of those who do transgress the ארור's. Since we are all one unit and responsible for each other, even though הנסתרות לה' אלוקינו, we are only not accountable for another's hidden sins if we ourselves are completely pure from the minutest form of that sin. Therefore, if not for the special ברכה there would be a great concern for the Yidden who may be cursed for their brother's sins since they themselves were not perfect in that matter.
There is one exclusion though to this approach of the מלבים. All of the ארור's are for sins that are מעשים – averos that אסור to do. Therefore one only can deserve credit for withholding when it was a challenge. However there is one aveirah in the list that is transgressed by ""שב ואל תעשה and its opposite would be a positive מצוה deserving of a real true ברכה.
The last ארור is ארור אשר לא יקים את דברי התורה הזאת. The רמבן explains this to mean a lack of אמונה in the reality of the מצוות. Someone who feels "this מצוה can't apply to me" or "it's not nogeah nowadays" or someone who doesn't feel he'll be held accountable – he is not מקבל עול מצוה as a real responsibility, is ח''ו cursed in this ארור. Accordingly, this may be a source of great ברכה for those who do the opposite it.
The Yomim Noraim are a time of strengthening and expressing the foundations of our אמונה. The מלכיות זכרונות ושופרות are the three classes of אמונה that the thirteen אני מאמין's are based on. מלכיות is יחוד ה' and the first 5 of the אני מאמין's. זכרונות is שכר ועונש – the last four of the אני מאמין's. שופרות is מתן תורה – the middle 4 of the אני מאמין's.
The central brachah of all yomim noraim prayers closes with the wordsכי אתה אלוקים אמת ודברך אמת וקיים לעד . We have to ask ourselves, "How real are the מצוות to me?" This year we have the minimum amount of slichos and yet still, many of us are bothered how much forgiveness to I have to ask for? I'm not a bad guy, and even if I did some things wrong I didn't do them on purpose… (Chances are those who don't feel this, probably are thinking that it's all בקשות for פרנסה and health so it's good to ask a lot.) We must realize that מצוות and עבירות are REAL! Every חטא has real effect upon the entire בריאה! As the מלבים mentioned – if we are not absolutely נקי from a specific חטא we are held responsible for others – because OUR LAXNESS HAS AN EFFECT ON EVERYBODY!
We know the famous story of R' Yisrael Salanter, who gave mussar schmooze about Shabbos to his Talmidim and when asked "why us?" he said that if שבת was perfected by us the Jews in Paris would smoke one less cigarette on Shabbos.
Last year I mentioned the medrash that says that the tzadikim will
get the גן עדן
of the רשעים
while the רשעים
will get the גהינום of the צדיקים. The בית הלוי explains that through the רשעים’s deeds, they caused more of a challenge
to the entire world with regard to that חטא. Therefore they are deserving of the
punishment for חטאים they caused so many others to do. The same applies in reverse
to the צדיקים.
People don't realize that חטא is real. A few weeks ago I saw someone get a little dirty at the Kiddush following davening, and dabbed some water on his pants. I told him שבת! – The מלאכה of ליבון is even with a little water without soap or rubbing! He answered "Oops, I didn't realize". "oops???" - I know a therapist who recently suffered the loss of one of his patients who took her own life. The Dr. was beside himself with grief for months thinking what could he perhaps have done more to prevent it! If I would tell him "Why worry, at worst you were just a שוגג" he'd look at me like I'm nuts. Because DEATH is REAL. Nobody walks on the edge of a bridge and slaps his friend on the back sending him into the depths of the river, killing him and then says "oops"!
Our עבירות destroy! Our עבירות bring terrorist bombs! Our עבירות bring sickness and טומאה into the world! Our עבירות cause nuclear destruction in the heavenly worlds above! Not just במזיד, but any sin has REAL effects upon the entire world! WE NEED TO ASK מחילה! Please Hashem reverse our deeds! Fix the repercussions of our חטאים! Please bring back the purity and kedushah to the world that I have abolished through my "mistakes"!
We need to feel remorseful! How can we just feel like saying "oops"?!
In the זכות of the clarification of our אמונה in the מצוות may we all be זוכה a true סליחה וכפרה and ברכות עד בלי די!
