Shabbat Parashat Vayechi | 5769

Quarreling With Evil People, Completing the Whole and the Individual

Ein Ayah

Quarreling With Evil People

(based on Ein Ayah, Berachot 1:84)

Gemara: Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: “It is permitted to quarrel with evil people in this world, as the pasuk says: ‘Those who leave Torah will praise an evil person, and those who keep Torah will quarrel with them’ (Mishlei 28:4).”

Ein Ayah: The prohibition to quarrel would have been because quarreling arouses anger, which is an improper acquisition in the realm of one’s character. On the other hand, hatred of evil that quarreling with evil people develops is correct in and of itself, and it is a far-reaching moral/ intellectual acquisition. Therefore, it is better to acquire the far-reaching intellectual level of hating evil, even though it heightens one’s power of anger, which is more limited in scope.

Completing the Whole and the Individual

(based on Ein Ayah, Berachot 1:89)

Gemara: About whoever is involved in Torah and gemilut chasadim (kindness) and prays with the community, Hashem says: “It is as if he redeemed Me and My sons from among the nations.”

Ein Ayah: There is a matter of self-completion by means of attaining knowledge of the truth and a matter of completing a counterpart by acts of kindness. However, neither suffices until he realizes that a person will not reach his final goal unless he attaches himself to society as a whole.

It is true that one who is involved in matters of the community should realize that it is impossible for the whole to be successful without its individual components being successful. It is impossible for the whole to be successful by means of the individuals improving each other unless each one strives also for personal shleimut (completeness).

The unity to which we refer is the foundation of Israel. We refer to, “who is like Your nation, Israel, one nation…” (from Mincha of Shabbat), which stems from the fact that Hashem is one. The nations of the world are unable to recognize this unity, how all this pleasant unity is nothing but the shleimut of the whole, which is worthy to pursue. When the nations form communities of different types, it is because the individual cannot succeed unless the community is able to band together to overcome possible obstacles. However, the goal of each one is his personal welfare…

Alas, as long as, in our great sins, we have not completed the shleimut of this unity, we are entrenched in exile. As such, the individual shleimut does not reach its desired levels and as a result the shleimut of the whole is also lacking.

This is why the gemara discusses one who is involved in Torah, to truly complete himself, and in gemilut chasadim, to complete his counterpart, and prays with the community, to impress upon himself that the goal of the personal shleimut is only for the shleimut of the whole. About such a person Hashem says: “I consider it as if he redeemed Me,” as the shleimut of the whole itself is related to His Blessed Name. It is also as if he redeemed “My sons,” as the individual shleimut flows from the pure source of the shleimut of the whole on its lofty level. This happens when the individual makes his priority just to see how the whole is successful and can stand on a high level. The concept of divinity among the nations of the world cannot be more than to help them reach individual shleimut. The idea of a shleimut of the whole can exist only by means of a central nation that will unite all of the world’s inhabitants in the light of knowledge of Hashem. This is the unique quality of Israel. By binding together all of the good deeds of the individuals, the general goal will be reached when the individual sets his heart on that goal.

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