Reply To: Short & Sweet

Shoftim: אחת שאלתי

The Gemora tells us that the Kohanim began their speech to soldiers going out to war with the words שמע ישראל to allude to the fact that even if the only mitzva they have kept was reciting Shema twice a day, they will be victorious.

Yet, the same Gemora tells us that anybody who was ירא מעבירות שבידו, concerned that he had done any aveira, should not serve in the army. Which one was it – was just saying Shema enough, or did the soldiers need to be spiritually perfect?

R’ Aryeh Finkel explains that the mitzva of Shema is to be מקבל עול מלכות שמים, which means dedicating the entirety of one’s life to Hashem’s will. If a person keeps this mitzva correctly, he can go out to war even if he has aveiros he still struggles with – once one’s life as a whole is dedicated to what is right, fixing the individual aveiros is just a matter of time.

During Elul, we take stock of our year and of our lives. But we shouldn’t just think about our Mitzvos and Aveiros. Rather, we ought to ask ourselves: what have I dedicated my life to? What should I spend my days trying to accomplish? Once our life is dedicated to its proper mission, taking care of the details gets a lot easier.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציוו שלום