At one stage of the ensuing תוכחה — Admonition, the Torah describes how after being exiled from the land and scattered among the nations G-d will send timidity into their hearts in the land of their enemies and the sound of a rustling leaf will pursue them…and they will fall, ואין רודף — but there is no one pursuing them.
This aspect of punishment, living in uncertainty, reacting to every sound of a rustling leaf as possibly an attacker approaching, can certainly wither our sense of security and instill crushing anxiety.
But the concluding description of it being a mistaken fear, with only the wind blowing and 'no one pursuing' would seem to be a rather positive outcome.
Better a false alarm than an actual fire!
How is this detail then an element of punishment?
The next verse reports how in flight from imagined enemies וכשלו — they will stumble, איש באחיו — over one another… ואין רודף — but there is no pursuer.
Rashi quoting Sifra adds that this 'stumbling over one another' is not simply referring to their trampling over each other in panicked flight from danger, but rather to the notion that כל ישראל ערבין זה בזה — all Jews are guarantors for one another. Because they looked askance as others transgressed, not caring to intervene and prevent them from sinning, they were afflicted with a sense of fear that caused them to run from illusory foes stumbling over each other.
This placing of this sin specifically here seems out of place.
The sequence of intensifying punishments parallels the nation's 'casual' happenstance attitude towards providence. As they ignored G-d's directing hand attributing their successes to coincidence and external sources, G-d began to remove His 'evident' protection leaving them exposed to 'seemingly' random attacks. They would hopefully eventually get the message and reorient their thinking.
The lack of responsibility to others would seem an issue of lacking empathy for others, unrelated to the problems of the strengthening Admonition.
The Vilna Gaon as well as others, addressing our first question, say that having no pursuer is indeed worse than having one.
Shlomo Hamelech teaches in Koheles that G-d always יבקש — seeks out, את הנרדף — the pursued. (קהלת יג טו)
The animal offerings in the Temple are all animals who are preyed upon, the ox, the lamb and the goat. This is a law embedded within nature. Similarly, a man pursued, even if he is a wicked person being pursued by a righteous one, G-d seeks him out.
Avraham was pursued by Nimrod, Yitzchok by the Pelishtim, Yaakov by Esav, and Yosef by his brothers. (תנחומא אמור ט)
Is this simply a law of nature that G-d takes care of the underdog even if he is undeserving?
Perhaps the deeper meaning of this principle is that G-d seeks out those who sense that G-d is pursuing them through the agency and guise of the enemy. G-d is seeking the willingness of the pursued to find Him. That yearning triggers a response from a loving father to embrace the pursued.
The שור — ox is the king of animals, ראש לכל קרבנות — first in the listing of offerings.
The Shem MiShmuel says that the greatness of an ox is that he possesses דעת — knowledge, as the verse states, ידע שור — An ox knows, קונהו — his owner. (ישעיה א ג)
The primary 'pursued' knows who the 'ultimate owner' is and draws instinctively to Him.
When we are the 'pursued' we are prodded to ponder from whence he came. At some point the incessance of his pursuit draws us to the Master who orchestrates it all. At that moment G-d seeks the one who 'seeks'.
When there is no obvious pursuer, we simply wallow in our strife blaming it on our own emotional fragility and anxieties. That is the worse punishment. One that is most difficult to escape.
The lack of taking responsibility for others is merely a symptom of our being entrapped within our own anguish, incapable of seeing beyond ourselves to take initiative, despairing of any hope. It is a byproduct of our having lost sight of the One Who is desperately waiting for us to find Him.
When we finally come to our senses, we will discern that even in our stupor G-d was orchestrating our return all along. It may take decades or a lifetime, but He is waiting.
When we finally get it, the painful sense of isolation transforms into a thrilling awareness that the journey was worth it all.
A dear friend who grew up in a dysfunctional home, battling with his parents, vying with his brother for attention and validation, that resulted in bitter sibling rivalry that eventually pushed him to leave and find his own way. That painful isolation was the catalyst to a journey towards G-d and a meaningful life infused with joy, discovering his soulmate and building a family, in a home filled with love.
For decades he remained estranged from his brother, the pain of the past leaving irreparable wounds.
Recently he shared how he came to the reality that all that had transpired, was directed by G-d to bring him to where he is. In that moment the pain he carried for so many years suddenly disappeared. After stumbling over each other in bitter resentment, he was suddenly able to peel away the scars and reach out happily in sharing with his brother the joy he had merited. He finally was ready to empathize for the hurt his brother had endured and now become a guarantor for his brother's welfare.
We must never forget that G-d is seeking our attention in good or bad times. It is up to us to remember that He is waiting for us to simply open our eyes wide and see that He is there!
באהבה,
צבי יהודה טייכמאן
