Observing the mitzvot of the Torah is a great privilege and an awesome responsibility. Not only because they are Divine commands and when G-d speaks man is meant to listen. That is very important but there is something likely even more important.
Precisely because observing the mitzvot connects us to the Divine, one must ensure that one's mitzva observance not cause a desecration of G-d’s name. Such occurs when there is a disconnect between one’s observance and one’s behaviour.
When people picture a religious Jew, they tend to think of one who keeps kosher, keeps shabbat, prays every day and follows the rituals of Judaism. While all these are all important, they reflect only the mitzvot between man and G-d.
To say that one who is meticulous in their ritual observance but is lax in mitzvot between man and man is half observant would be a mistake. This is not only because every mitzva between man and man is also a mitzva between man and G-d making observance of the mitzvot between man and G-d only “a third” of our obligations. Rather observance of mitzvot between man and G-d, while neglecting those between man and man, runs the risk turning those mitzvot into sins, making such the ‘anti-teshuva’.
The process of teshuva, repentance, begins when one regrets having sinned. Such regret is the basis of the ability to have our sins forgiven. It is even possible to turn our sins into mitzvot. Rav Ahron Soloveichik, in a talk delivered when I was a student at Yeshiva University, cited the psychological insight developed by Freud that the desire to do evil is much more powerful that the desire to do good. If one can take the energies invested in sinning and use that same energy to perform mitzvot then it turns out that the sin was the catalyst for the mitzva and with that extra energy the sin transforms into a mitzva.[1]
Yet the corollary is also true. One who regrets having done mitzvot loses the reward for such mitzvot (Rambam, Laws of Repentance 3:3). And those mitzvot can at times be turned into sins. This happens when our mitzvot serve to distance people from Judaism, when these mitzvot actually desecrate G-d’s name.
“What is an example of desecration of G-d’s name?...Abaye explains: It was taught in a baraita ‘And you shall love the Lord your G-d’ (Devarim 6:5), [meaning] that you shall make the name of Heaven beloved. One who reads Torah, and learns Mishna, and serves Torah scholars, is pleasant with people in his business transactions. What do people say about such a person? Fortunate is his father who taught him Torah, fortunate is his teacher who taught him Torah, woe to the people who have not studied Torah. So-and-so, who taught him Torah, see how pleasant are his ways, how proper are his deeds.
However, one who learns Torah and Mishna, and serves Torah scholars, but his business practices are not done faithfully, he does not speak pleasantly with other people, what do people say about him? Woe to so-and-so who studied Torah, woe to his father who taught him Torah, woe to his teacher who taught him Torah. So-and-so who studied Torah, see how destructive are his deeds, and how ugly are his ways” (Yoma 86a).
The teaching of Abaye is unmistakable. If one’s business practices are not conducted faithfully or even if one does not speak pleasantly with other people, then it would be better that one not learn Torah, nor observe mitzvot between man and G-d. Doing so will cause the opposite of making “the name of heaven beloved”; it will cause people to stay far away from religion, it will cause a desecration of G-d’s name[2].
And causing a desecration of G-d’s name is something one does not want to do, especially on erev Yom Kippur. “But one who has caused desecration of G-d’s name, his repentance has no power to suspend punishment, nor does Yom Kippur have power to atone nor does suffering absolve him. Rather, all these suspend punishment, and only death can absolve him, as it is stated (Yishayahu 22:14): “And the Lord of Hosts revealed Himself to my ears: This iniquity shall not be atoned for until you die "(Yoma 86a).
Abaye did not make this up. This is the overarching message of the prophets of Israel. We need look no further than the Haftarot our Sages chose for Yom Kippur. In the morning we read from the book of Yishayahu.
Why, when we fasted, did You not see?
When we starved our bodies, did You pay no heed?”
Because on your fast day
You see to your business
And oppress all your labourers!
Because you fast in strife and contention,
And you strike with a wicked fist!
Your fasting today is not such
As to make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast I desire,
A day for people to starve their bodies?
Is it bowing the head like a bulrush
And lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call that a fast,
A day when G-d is favourable?
No, this is the fast I desire:
To unlock fetters of wickedness,
And untie the cords of the yoke
To let the oppressed go free;
To break off every yoke.
It is to share your bread with the hungry,
And to take the wretched poor into your home;
When you see the naked, to clothe them,
And not to ignore your own kin.
It is this same theme with which Yishayahu begins his prophecy, words we say on the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av.
“’What need have I of all your sacrifices?’ says G-d….
That you come to appear before Me—
Who asked that of you?
Trample My courts
no more;
Bringing oblations is futile,
Incense is offensive to Me.
New moon and sabbath,
Proclaiming of solemnities,
Assemblies with iniquity
I cannot abide.
Your new moons and fixed seasons
Fill Me with loathing;
They are a burden to Me,
I cannot endure them.
For good measure we can add the words of Yonah we read on Yom Kippur afternoon. Hearing Yonah’s warning “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” the people of Nineveh “proclaimed a fast, and great and small alike put on sackcloth… and cried out ‘Let everyone turn back from their own evil ways and from the injustice of which they are guilty’. G-d saw what they did, how they were turning back from their evil ways. And G-d renounced the punishment that had been planned for them, and did not carry it out”. Commenting on the above, our Sages note “it is not stated 'And G-d saw their sackcloth and their fasting', rather and G-d saw their deeds, that they had turned from their evil way”
Rituals don’t impress G-d and He needs not our mitzvot. What He “needs” is that we treat those whom He created with caring, concern and compassion.
Reminding ourselves of how meaningless and even destructive observing the rituals of Judaism can be is especially important as we prepare for Yom Kippur. There is no more detailed ritual than the special Temple service of Yom Kippur, a ritual we re-enact during Mussaf.
We humans have only so much energy, be it physical or spiritual. Yom Kippur is the day we ignore our physical needs and focus on our spiritual ones. When trying to determine the best use of our energy we should ensure the mitzvot between man and man and man and G-d are in proper balance. But if they are going to be out of balance we must ensure the scales are tilted towards those mitzvot between man and man. That is the best way to sanctify the name of G-d.
[1] This explains why the person least likely to become an alcoholic is a recovered alcoholic and helps explain why ba’alei teshuva, the newly observant, are often more meticulous in their observance than those who have been observant their entire lives.
[2] As clear as Abaye’s teaching is, it sounds so radical that I must admit that I would find it difficult to follow it in practice. While I would urge someone whose business practices are wanting to take off their kippah (or even their sheitel) I would likely struggle to tell them they should eat a cheeseburger, even as there is little doubt that their keeping kosher might cause a desecration of G-d’s name.
