Twin Compassion
G-d’s compassion extends to allowing us to get credit for the good we do with His help. While it is G-d who will bring Moshiach, He gives us all the credit for every Mitzvah we do.
Before and After
When the Israelites constructed and worshipped a golden calf, it obviously provoked the ire of G-d Who threatened to annihilate them. Moses interceded on their behalf and “persuaded” G-d to forgive them.
In response to Moses’ pleas, G-d taught Moses the secret to arouse Divine mercy in similar times of need. By reciting the “Thirteen Attributes of Mercy” the A-mighty will arise from His Throne of Justice and sit on His throne of Mercy.
These Thirteen Attributes begin with the repetitive mention of the name of G-d that connotes mercy: “G-d, G-d..” The Talmud interprets this repetition as a reference to the two occasions when we are in need of G-d’s compassion: “Once before the sin and once after the sin.”
Commentators ask why we need compassion before we sin. Isn’t compassion something we need after sinning? What is its role before the sin?
Simply put, we need G-d’s assistance not only after we’ve erred to help us get back on track and to absolve us of our past misdeeds. We are equally in need of His benevolence before we’ve strayed, to keep us from straying. This is especially true for those who live in an environment that is hostile to the ways of the Torah. The peer pressure and the temptations that abound would have swept most people off their feet and brought them down without G- d’s special blessing and assistance.
The question, however, still remains. No one would argue that we are in need of G-d’s help wherever and whenever we are. Just to cross the street safely depends on G-d seeing to it that no mishap occurs. Being in the right place at the right time is not coincidental. It is part of a Divinely orchestrated plan.
Compassion versus Generosity
But this is not the point. There is a difference between Divine generosity and Divine compassion. Kindness and generosity are expressions of G-d’s attribute of chesed, kindness, which precedes His attribute of judgment. Compassion, by contrast, is the attribute that follows His judgment. Compassion is invoked when G-d’s judgment has already been activated and one is in need of an extraordinary power to ameliorate G-d’s harsh judgment that one’s behavior has provoked.
The original question thus remains: Why do we need G-d’s compassion and mercy before we sin? While we need his blessings and kindness at all times, particularly, when we are weak and vulnerable, why would we be in need of compassion, which is G-d’s “override” mode — where He overrides His sense of justice — before there is anything to override?
G-d’s Role in Sin
One answer to this question has been provided by , Rabbi Meir, the son of one of the great Chassidic masters R. Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, in his work Keser Torah. What follows is an adaptation of his explanation:
When a person sins, and G-d’s attribute of mercy is invoked, the sin is neutralized because as the Talmud states, G-d Himself takes responsibility for having created the evil impulse. Invoking G-d’s mercy actually means that He acknowledges His own role in the commission of the sin.
True, G-d also gives us the ability to resist temptation and therefore His attribute of justice demands retribution for the transgression. His attribute of mercy, however, puts the onus on G-d and His creating of the evil impulse and the multitude of obstacles that “make” us sin.
If G-d is implicated in our sins, which ameliorates our guilt after the sin, then G-d should also be credited with our resistance to sin. How then can we take any credit for our not sinning? Is it not G-d’s energy that provides us with the ability to resist sinning? If G-d takes responsibility for our sins — getting us off the hook, so to speak — why could He not also claim responsibility for our positive record before we sin? It is not we that are righteous. Why then should we get any credit for it?
This is where there is a different kind of Divine mercy. G-d is so compassionate that He gives us total credit for the good we do, notwithstanding the major role He plays in those decisions, and despite the fact that He also assumes full responsibility for our sins after we sin (provided of course, we invoke this attribute in the process of our repentance).
In both situations, G-d overrides all the roadblocks to our spiritual growth, including the following psychological ones that come both before and after we sin:
Before we sin, we might feel that we’ve accomplished nothing because it is not our actions, but G-d’s, that keep us straight. Why then should we “push” ourselves? After we sin, we might assume full responsibility for our sins and not be capable of getting back on track; why should we try to change, it’s useless?
G-d’s dual attribute of mercy dictates otherwise: He gives us full credit for all the good we do, and takes full responsibility for the evil once we own up to the fact that we’ve sinned.
Application to Moshiach
We can apply this lesson to the efforts we have done to bring Moshiach. One might have thought, who are we to bring Moshiach? Even our positive deeds are not truly our own accomplishments, but the product of G-d putting us in the right home with the best of teachers and peers, not to speak of G-d’s blessings that accompany us all the time. Our sins, we might think, are truly our own.
The twin mention of G-d’s compassion — before and after the sin — dispels any such pessimistic self-analysis. On the contrary, we have the right to claim full credit for our positive actions while G-d will take the responsibility for the negative. We deserve Moshiach!
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Ki Sisa by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
