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Withdrawing & Rising

 

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 93a) tells the story of two false Jewish prophets who lived during the time of the Babylonian King Nevuchadnetzar.  The king accused them of prophesying falsely, and decreed that they should be thrown into a furnace.  He said that if they were real prophets, then they would miraculously survive, just as three righteous Jews – Hananya, Mishael and Azarya – had previously emerged unscathed from the furnace.  The two prophets argued that the merit of three righteous men exceeds that of just two, and so this trial was unfair.  Nevuchadnetzar allowed them to choose a third person with whom to be cast into the furnace, and they selected the tzadik Yehoshua Kohen Gadol, hoping that his merit would protect them.

 

The three was thrown into the furnace – and Yehoshua miraculously survived, while the two prophets perished.  However, Yehoshua's garment was burned by the fire.

 

Yehoshua was asked why his clothes were burned, whereas Avraham Avinu, when he was thrown into a furnace many centuries earlier, emerged completely unscathed, without even his garments being ruined.

 

Yehoshua answered that since he was in the furnace together with two wicked people, the fire was given permission to consume, and so his garments were burned.  Avraham, by contrast, was thrown into the furnace alone, and so the fire was not granted the power to consume anything.

 

This story is teaching us a sobering but important truth: when we are in bad company, we get "burned" to some extent.  Even if we succeed in "surviving," in maintaining our beliefs and values, we are likely to be affected.

 

Let us take the example of a person who works with people who routinely use foul, vulgar language.  He will, hopefully, "survive," and manage to refrain from speaking the way they do – but he will probably end up using words that he should not use; his standards are likely to be compromised in some way.

 

After Korah and his followers challenged Moshe Rabbenu, launching an audacious uprising against Moshe's authority, Hashem told Moshe and Aharon, הבדלו מתוך העדה הזאת – that they must "separate," or withdraw, from this evil group of people, and Hashem would destroy them (16:21).  Later, after Korah and his men were killed, the people continued protesting and arguing, and so Hashem commanded Moshe and Aharon, הרמו מתוך העדה הזאת – to "lift" themselves out of this nation, and He would destroy them.   Aharon eventually saved the nation by bringing an incense offering.

 

What's important for our purposes is the distinction between these two terms – הבדלו and הרמו. 

 

When possible, we are advised to "separate," to withdraw.  Sometimes, there is a small group of people that we don't need to be with, or a small event that we don't need to attend.  We need to have the conviction to withdraw, to refuse to go where we shouldn't go, to refuse to be in the company of people who pull us down, who cause us to be "burned" in one way or another.

 

But sometimes withdrawing isn't an option.  We all have people and settings that we cannot avoid, that are always going to be part of our lives – such as family members or coworkers.  Regarding these, the Torah commands us: הרמו.  We need to lift ourselves, to have the courage and confidence to keep ourselves high even when others are trying to pull us down.  We do not need to be the product of our surroundings, or even be influenced by our surroundings.  We have the capacity to lift ourselves above what is going on around us.

 

The Midrash famously comments that the ארבע מינים – the four species we hold on Sukkot – represent the four different kinds of Jews.  The etrog, with its delicious taste and pleasant fragrance, symbolizes the righteous person who both studies Torah and performs good deeds.  The aravah, which features neither taste nor scent, symbolizes the Jew with neither Torah nor good deeds to his credit.  The hadas branch has a fragrant scent but bears no fruit, while the lulav (palm branch) produces luscious dates but has no aroma – symbolizing those Jews who learn but do not perform mitzvot, or who perform mitzvot but do not learn.  We bring the four species together to symbolize unity, the harmonious blending of the many different types of Jews.  Significantly, however, while the lulav, aravot and hadasim are bound together, the etrog stands apart.  It is held closely with the other three species – but is not tied with them.

 

This shows that to be an "etrog" – to achieve greatness – we sometimes need to stand alone, to withdraw, to rise above.  The etrog is held together with the other three species because the righteous person must, on the one hand, stand together with the rest of the people, without snobbery or elitism.  However, on the other hand, the etrog remains separate – because one cannot be an "etrog" without occasionally pulling away from those who might keep him down.

 

May Hashem give us the strength we need to withdraw when we need to, and to elevate ourselves when we need to, so we can continue to grow and achieve without anyone or anything ever stopping us. - Joey Haber

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