The Satan Double Dips

The Satan comes to Boro Park (part 2)
or why we are still here in Golus (part 1)

 

The Satan came to Boro Park a few weeks back, wreaked his havoc, and then moved off to the side to calculate his profit amidst all of the tumult that enveloped Boro Park and beyond.  First there was the massive manhunt for Leiby Kletzky, a”h and then the multiplicity of activities attendant to the levaya and shiva in which thousands took part.

And as the Satan was making his cheshbon, he took proper note of the outpouring of chesed from all sides and shrugged.

“Cost of doing business,” he mused to himself.

The Satan in the guise of the Yetzer Hora is a not non-profit operation.  He’s a businessman of the old school, and as such he doesn’t take kindly to losses. So he picks his fights, with chesed, especially communal chesed, being very close to off his screen.

Why so?

Did you ever notice that while we have a real problem making serious headway in inyonim such as tznius, shmiras haloshon, and achdus, to mention but a few of the war zones in which the Yetzer Hora battles us day and night without respite, when it comes to chesed we are pretty much free to do what we want with only minimal push back from him?

Be it Tomchei Shabbos, Hatzalah, Zaka, Misaskim, Satmar Bikur Cholim, all of the other bikur cholims, all of the hundreds of other chesed organizations, or the innumerable acts of chesed that we perform one to another on a daily and personal basis, the Yetzer usually does no more than put in a perfunctory appearance.  While it is certainly true that a tremendous amount of mesiras nefesh is required and the money doesn’t always come easy, at the end of the day the job almost always gets done, and more often than not great things are accomplished.

A good businessman knows his customers, and given his status as the ultimate businessman, the Yetzer knows his customers best of all.

In Michtav Me’Eliyahu, Rav Dessler states our free will is only operative at the point where the forces pulling us in opposite directions (Yetzer Tov and Yetzer Hora) are evenly matched.  That’s our bechira point.  And that point is not fixed.  As we improve ourselves it moves up, and if we, chas v’shalom deteriorate, it moves down.  Above that point, the Yetzer Hora is too strong for us and below it it’s too weak.  At either extreme there is no challenge.  

In the realm of chesed the Yetzer knows full well that we are hard wired with this quality and it is encoded on our DNA, so much so that even the Arabs, who have inherited a measure of this trait, cannot shake it off in spite of their other natural tendencies.  It’s almost as if we begin life with the middah of chesed genetically placed well below our bechira point, and that’s why the Yetzer “looks the other way,” so to speak because on a communal level it simply doesn’t pas for Yidden not to do chesed.  And good businessman that he is, he knows a losing proposition when he sees one.

So the Satan shrugged off all the chesed, but as he was packing up to leave he heard someone say achdus, and then another, and then another.

He froze in place.

In the world of the Satan achdus means trouble.  It’s the trip wire that will set off the inevitable arrival of Moshiach speedily in our days, which will in turn render the Satan an unpleasant memory.  Achdus is the Satan’s ultimate nightmare, and as such, he opposes it with everything he has.  And he gets some help along the way because unlike chesed, achdus doesn’t come pre-installed.  It is hate that comes easy says Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, whereas peace is unnatural.  Between the Satan and our natural tendencies, is it any wonder that achdus is one huge speed bump?

So now with his euphoria of the past few days considerably subdued, the Satan decided to hang around to see what all of this achdus talk was about.

He needn’t have worried.

Upon investigation the Satan realized that all the buzz about achdus was actually nothing more than an innocent mislabeling of what in reality was the multitude of chesed, Ahavas Yisroel, mesiras nefesh, and kiddush Hashem that had manifested itself during his stay in Boro Park.

After all, how could it be otherwise?  With the Satan laying low at this point, there wasn't enough bechira to go around to meet the test required of real achdus.

The Satan’s sigh of relief was palpable as he slowly and audibly exhaled.

“If they’re calling this achdus, he reasoned, they won’t bother to look further.”

And then he smiled a smile that would do the Cheshire Cat proud, slammed his suitcase shut and strode out of town with a spring in his step.