Willpower

כִּי יְסִיתְךָ אָחִיךָ... לֵאמֹר נֵלְכָה וְנַעַבְדָה אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים... וְלֹא תָחוֹס עֵינְךָ עָלָיו וְלֹא תַחְמֹל וְלֹא תְכַסֶּה עָלָיו.

If your brother will entice you… saying, “Let us go and worship the gods of others”… your eye shall not take pity on him, you shall not be compassionate nor conceal him.[1]

The Torah’s treatment of the one who entices others after idolatry is unusually severe. No compassion is shown to him and no claims advanced by the court on his behalf, as they would be in other cases. The reason for this exceptional treatment is provided in verse 11, “כִּי בִקֵּשׁ לְהַדִּיחֲךָ מֵעַל ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ – For he sought to make you stray from near Hashem, your God.” That is to say, the extraordinarily harsh punishment is in response to his desire itself to cause people to stray from after Hashem, regardless of whether or not he succeeded in doing so.

Regarding this idea, R’ Simcha Zissel Ziv, the Alter of Kelm, commented as follows: A well-known principle in the Torah is that “מדה טובה מרובה ממדת פורענות – A positive measure is always more abundant than one of calamity.”[2] If so, then we can learn from this parsha how great will be the reward for one who seeks and endeavors to bring people closer to Hashem, whether he succeeds in doing so or not. The very desire to connect people with their Father in heaven, and the effort expended toward that end, are in and of themselves of inestimable value, and sources of incalculable merit![3]

In addition, as we know, often the person may not be open or receptive to a Torah idea at the time, but it might resurface and reverberate at some later stage, perhaps even years later, when either life experience in general or a particular event may serve as a catalyst for the idea to impact them. A Torah idea is not always received as a ray of light that is beamed back towards us instantaneously. Sometimes it is a seed that is planted, and all we see before our eyes is it being swallowed up and disappearing into the ground. We are not always there to see when the rains come and allow it to sprout, or when the sun shines and enables it to develop.

May our portion always be among those who bring merit to the community, each of us with the unique set of talents and circumstances with which he has been blessed.

[1] Devarim 13:7-9.

[2] See Sotah 11a.

[3] R’ Simcha Zissel Ziv of Kelm.