FROM THE RABBIS
"Where You Come First"
Kosins
Uptown
Southfield Rd. at
11 1/2 Mile • 559-3900
Big & Tall
Southfield at
101/2 Mile • 569-6930
Small Temptations Often
Ignored On Yom Kippur
RABBI IRWIN GRONER
Special to The Jewish News
0
n Yom Kippur, we
address the serious
problems of our time,
the great evils that sully and
mar human existence. But
when we think about large
problems, we often ignore the
minor deficiencies, the petty
weaknesses, and the small
transgressions to which our
conscience has been im-
munized and of which we no
longer take much notice.
The Song of Songs contains
a phrase, "Beware of the lit-
tle foxes that spoil the
vineyards." The owner of the
vineyard doesn't fear the
lions, he can guard against
them. But he has reason to be
anxious about the small
foxes. They slip into a crack in
the fence and as they despoil
the vineyard, they lay waste
the work and toil of many
months. What we have to fear
are hidden marauders that
gnaw away our spirit.
I believe that we have
strength enough to resist the
large temptations: larceny,
violence and murder. But
what about the small tempta-
tions, the petty hypocrisies,
the overlooked duplicities
which destroy character?
Consider the matter of
religion. People don't seek to
overthrow religion anymore.
There was a time in Jewish
life when we had authentic
atheists and self-proclaimed
Jewish heretics.
Today I rarely encounter a
Jewish atheist. Such em-
pathic denial is no longer con-
sidered proper. Religion
doesn't depart from our lives
by massive rejection. Instead,
it is lost by a steady, small
leakage. Peple allow months
to pass without a religious
thought or a spiritual act and
they come to the synagogue
during these Days of Awe,
spiritually depleted.
People do not lose their
faith by repudiating it in one
moment. They allow it to
evaporate, day by day, reserv-
ing religion only for high
dramatic moments, removing
their daily lives from the do-
main of its influence. By
limiting religion to three days
of the year, they diminish the
strength and sap the vitality
of Judaism.
How do we allow this pro-
cess to erode character? We
tell someone to answer the
phone for us and say "we're
Irwin Groner is rabbi at Cong.
Shaarey Zedek.
out" when we don't want to be
annoyed. We call this a
"white lie" for, after all, it
doesn't really hurt anybody.
But we have weakened our
resistance to untruth, for the
significant feature of a half-
truth is that it's a half-lie.
And thus we adjust ourselves
to the legitimacy of lying.
One day, a call is made to us
for an urgent communal
need, and we satisfy ourselves
with less than we can give,
with less than we can do. We
have a great array of excuses,
alibis and rationalizations.
"Are others giving more?
Besides I have so many
obligations. Also, the
economic climate is present-
ly unfavorable." We soothe
ourselves by these evasions;
we lower the sense of obliga-
tion; and we blunt our
sensitivity.
Consider these as small il-
lustrations of a large and
regular process that affects
human life. What spoils life is
not catastrophic failure, but
rather, slipshod habits and
trifling stupidity.
We are promised atonement
on this day. The prophet
Isaiah declares: "Though
your sins be as scaiet, they
will become as white as
snow." We believe that God
forgives. He will provide
atonement for our grievous
sins of omission and commis-
sion. He knows how frail is
the flesh, how weak and
fragile is the human being.
He recognizes that we are, at
times, overwhelmed by tidal
waves of desire and that we
abdicate our will, our judg-
ment and our reason to our
appetite. Though- our sins be
like scarlet, crimson with
rebellion and lust, proclaim-
ing our shame, they will be
forgiven.
I worry about the sins that
are not scarlet, but gray. They
are not vivid, but rather dull
and drab. As a rabbi, I rarely
encounter acts of indefensible
wickedness. But what I do see
with wearisome regularity is
stupidity, silliness, pettiness,
and vanity. Who can calculate
the misery we inflict on each
other by these small sins?
My concern is not only what
we do to each other, but also
what these petty sins do to us,
how they constantly weaken
us and gnaw away at our
character.
As we enter the Day of
Atonement, let each of us, in
the privacy of heart and
mind, think about the little
foxes that destroy the
vineyards.
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