Mark Twain said, “if you
tell the truth you never have to remember anything.” That
is a lesson we find in our parshah this week, a good week to consider such an
idea as the High Holy Days approach.
In the parshah we read: "For this [Torah] which I am commanding
you today is not hidden from you; it is not far away. It is not in Heaven, that
you should say, 'Who will go to Heaven and get it for us, so that we might hear
it and do it?' For this matter is very near to you, in your mouth and in your
heart, to do it." (Deuteronomy 30:11-12, 14)
Rebbe Nachman of
Bratzlav: "Only the path to Gehinnom
(hell) is difficult and bitter. I see people spending restless days and
sleepless nights plotting how to go about sinning, and afterwards they suffer
with regrets and anxiety, which continue for the rest of their lives. But the
way to the Garden of Eden is an easy one, short and pleasant for those who walk
it."
Sometimes we make our
lives too difficult. We devote time and energy trying to avoid doing the right
thing, making excuses for bad acts, compromising principles, rationalizing our
way out of truth, justice and righteousness – and then suffering with all the
ill-effects our actions or inaction bring on.
Rebbe Nachman teaches
that a life of Torah, one of observance, but more importantly of honesty, righteousness,
no regrets, no lies, and no guilt will be, in the long run, easier, when it
comes to living with integrity and contentment.
It is, according to him, “easier” to be a mensch (a decent person) than it is to be a rasha (an evildoer). As is
said about the Torah, the Tree of Life - "its ways are ways of
pleasantness and all its paths are peace." (Proverbs 3:17)
