RABBI DONIEL FRANK | Director, M.A.P. Seminars, Inc., Marriage and Family Therapist

Click here to download PDF transcript for Re’eh

Hashem’s seal is truth. Therefore, the commitment to truth is one of – if not the – highest value in Judaism. That being the case, it’s hard to understand how someone who pursues the truth can actually be in violation of a capital crime. Yet that’s what we find in this week’s parsha!

Shoftim talks about the centrality of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court that determines Jewish law and decides cases that are brought before them. And the Torah says that, when there is an argument among the members of the Sanhedrin, the law follows the majority. But what happens if someone, who himself is fit to be a member of Sanhedrin, is sure, without a doubt, that the majority is making a mistake? What if he chooses to follow the truth the way he sees it? The Torah says it’s a capital crime! But how could that be if he’s pursuing truth?

The Alter of Kelm explains that we are living in a world – the world after Gan Eden – where everything good is mixed with bad. That doesn’t just mean that we have to filter out the good from the bad. It also means that within all good there are elements that are also not good. That’s the reality of our world. And when we say we are pursuing truth, we recognize that it will always come along with some falsehood, and we will have to accept that. That’s part of our condition. We don’t expect everything to be perfectly right. And if we expect everything to be perfectly right, if we stubbornly get stuck on every bit of truth of every single situation, we’ll get stuck in life. We won’t go anywhere. Perfectionists know this. They know what it’s like to be stuck. Just when they think that one job is right for them, or a neighborhood, or a relationship – they find a detail that shows why it’s not and they can’t go on. They can’t overlook the detail. They take every detail seriously and it causes them to go in circles.

The Alter uses food as an example. Food can sometimes make someone sick. But we don’t stop eating because of that! The “majority†of the act of eating – assuming it isn’t some kind of junk food – is right, so we eat. We always, in a sense, take chances when we do things.

And that’s what following the majority means. It’s not just a method to resolve doubt. It actually defines the truth in the way that it is found in our world. The truth of each thing is found in the majority. So when the Rebellious Elder goes his own way – even when the truth seems to be with him – since in a majority of the time the majority will have truth on their side, then even when the truth is not on their side, we have to follow them. Therefore, no matter how true his specific opinion is, we consider this Elder to be pursuing falsehood, and, more than that, undermining the concept of truth in our world… which is only found in the majority.

This is really important to consider when we make choices. We have to look for the overall truth in things and be able to tolerate and accept the parts that may not fit right. If we are going to arrive at what’s right, rather than get stuck in the debilitating tailspins of perfectionism, we need to take a global view and recognize that the good in this world is always compromised… and accept that what’s mostly true in life is often as true as it can be.

DEDICATED TO A REFUAH SHELAIMA FOR YITZCHAK ben DEVORAH

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