Metzora: Never Despair!
Never in all of history has there been such a widespread Jewish spiritual rebirth and thirst for Torah as in the present...
"They shall not die as a result of their impurity" (Vayikra 15:31).
Never in all of history has there been such a widespread Jewish spiritual rebirth and thirst for Torah as in the present generation. Nevertheless, the yetzer hara, the Evil Inclination, doesn't surrender. He tells the Jew that was born far away from Torah that the war's over – he or she is finished. "You might as well return to the pub or the discotheque," says the conniving, lying yetzer hara. "You'll never make it as an observant Jew. You won't be able to understand a word of Gemorra – it's all in Aramaic. You won't be able to relate to a word of religious law, much less fulfill its ordnances. You're finished! Get out of here and go back to the bowling alley!"
The yetzer knocks a person down, robs him of his confidence, and injects despair in his heart. The yetzer hara's poisonous arrows incapacitate a Jew, especially a Baal Teshuva, unless that person fights back. With God's help, the following parable will explain how:
Two soldiers were fighting, side by side, against a fierce enemy. During a massive artillery barrage, both received nasty shrapnel wounds in the arm. The first soldier cried, "My arm, my arm!" His rifle fell to the ground. Defenseless, he was shot in the head and killed.
The second soldier transferred his rifle from his wounded right arm to his healthy left arm. He continued shooting and joined the assault against the enemy gun emplacement. Not only was his life saved, but he won the battle.
Some baalei Teshuva give up the first time they experience a difficult tribulation. Discouraged, they fall into despair and revert to their old ways. But, even while suffering disappointment and downfall – spiritual "wounds" – the baalei Tshuva that keep fighting eventually defeat the yetzer and win the war.
The Torah emphatically contradicts the yetzer hara – "They shall not die as a result of their impurity!" This universal truth is a beacon of guiding light for this generation: the Jews in Atlanta or Dallas did not choose to be born in a secular environment – God decreed it! If they're spiritually impure, they won't die! All they need to do is to open their hearts to Judaism, and God will do the rest, leading them on the path of Torah and teshuva.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslev declares (Likutei Moharan II:68), "There's no such thing as despair in the world!" You don't have to know Aramaic to be a good Jew. You don't have to be a scholar's son from Bnei Brak. You can be a simple Jew from a farm in Iowa, as long as you seek God with innocence and simplicity. Better yet, says Rebbe Nachman, cast all your fancy philosophies aside, because they get in the way of the pure service of God.
Don't let the yetzer steer you the wrong way. A Jew from North Dakota can go just as far – sometimes farther – than a Jew from Jerusalem. The Torah in this week's portion promises that a Jew doesn't die from spiritual impurity; Torah and Teshuva can purify any spiritual impurity. There's no such thing as despair!
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