Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses the virtue of shame. This is not pathological self-destructive shame, but rather a sense of place and humility.  That is, to recognize how tiny and insignificant we are in comparison to God.  Our lives are short and our accomplishments border on pointless, if not for the opportunity to access the infinite and the immortal, by elevating our actions via sacrifice and meaning. 

To quote the lyricist and band member of “Kansas”, Kerry Livgren:

I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment's gone

All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity

Dust in the wind

All they are is dust in the wind

Now, don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky

It slips away

And all your money won't another minute buy

Dust in the wind

The Gemara says that one who cultivates this awareness will be less likely to sin for obvious reasons. In fact, the Gemaras asserts that one who does not have this character trait must not have had an ancestor who stood at Mount Sinai.

The metaphor is notable. It does not say, “One who does not have this character trait must not have had an ancestor who received the Torah.”  Knowing Torah, unfortunately, does not do the trick alone.  It is the sense of awe in encountering God, which the Jewish people felt at the foot of Mount Sinai that engenders the proper mindset.  This experience has been transmitted via the Collective Unconscious of the Jewish people, and to this day, hopefully has an influence.  It is not knowledge, instead it is awareness.  It happens every day as children observe their parents recite a blessing, perform a mitzvah, or conduct themselves with awareness of the sacred. 

What then shall we make of the prediction from the Mishna Sotah (9:15), that in the times leading up to the Messiah, בְּעִקְּבוֹת מְשִׁיחָא חֻצְפָּא יִסְגֵּא there will be an increase in Chuztpah, brazenness?

Arvei Nachal (Vayishlach 2) offers a psychological insight into this idea, along the lines of what we have discussed at other times, that any manifestation of God’s will is alternatively good or bad, depending on how the human encounters it. (Psychology of the Daf, Nedarim 8.)

Though brazenness is potentially a corrupt character trait, in the times of the Maschiach, the desire to sin will be so great that it will require brazenness to fight it.  How so?  Aside from what we ourselves see, in how much effort it takes to fight the distortions of our current secular culture and woke narratives that are invading our thoughts, and not even allowing us to express ourselves, there is also a deeper idea.  He says, there is a well known psychological and halakhic principle known as “Pas Besalo”, literally, “One who has bread in his basket is less hungry than one who does not”, which is true, even if he chooses not to eat.  There are numerous halakhic applications of this principle, most famously what is described in Yoma (67a): 

Never in recorded history had the person who escorted the Scapegoat into the wilderness on Yom Kippur needed to eat, even though he would have been permitted to do so.  The Gemara attributes this to the fact that at regular intervals on the way, there were stations with food and water that was offered to him.  All of us have experienced being hungry on the morning of a fast, even when we often do not eat breakfast on a regular day.

Thus argues the Arvei Nachal, precisely because we feel the emotional independence, and even Chutzpah to disobey God and violate the commandments, is exactly how we can manage to overcome the yetzer hara and observe the laws. We currently live in one of the most free and powerful eras of human history. A person can do almost anything he or she wishes.  We are like tiny Gods flying our Babel-Like Rockets into heaven  Many barriers of communal shame and sanction have been removed.  This makes a person’s moral choices all the more meaningful and empowering.  It is an independent decision stemming from true self.  The paradox is that the chutzpah and ability to sin enables one to also refuse sin.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

Do you like what you see? Please subscribe and also forward any articles you enjoy to your friends, (enemies too, why not?)