[Avodah] "You must be ‘complete’ before GOD, your God.”

[Prof. Levine]

The following is from Dr. Steve Bailey's weekly Sedra studies series.

Shoftim  TEXT:18:9-14

9 When you enter the land GOD, your God, is giving you, do not learn 
to imitate the detestable
ways of the nations there.
10 Let no one be found among you who passes his son or daughter 
through fire, who practices
divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,
11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.
12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to GOD, and because of 
these detestable
practices GOD, your God, will drive out those nations before you.
13 You must be complete before GOD, your God.

The 'delusion' underlying all these magical activities is that 
certain people can influence
"fate" or "nature" by means of bribery, money or power, without 
regard to good or
evil. These people claim powers that we attribute only to God. The 
implication is that,
indeed, God is not the Master of the Universe! Herein lays the 
nefarious delusion.
Belief in these practices undermines the fundamental relationship of 
a Jew to God, to
ourselves and to the world. Here are excerpts from R. Hirsch in 
Chorev (his major
work explaining mitzvot):

         God causes you to be born at such a time, at such a place, 
of such parents...; He
         brings you in contact with... such friends, such teachers; 
equips you with such
         this as a means to carry out His Will....

         But just as your past and present have come to you from God, 
so your future
         lies in His hands -- and your own. For it is the future you 
create for yourself
         according to your good or evil use of your past and present....
         But just because of this, no person, not even the universe, 
can tell you what is
         in store for you; it is known only to God. And just because 
of this no person,
         not even the universe, can mark out for you any act which 
ought to be done or
         not. For this purpose God gave you understanding...use your 
understanding.
         Nature and Humanity are the means and context of your 
activities....Which
         duty you ought to perform, you can learn from the Torah, but 
whether or how
         you can perform it, at any given moment, you must learn from 
experience and
         discretion. Therefore, for your duty, consult the Torah, but for its
         performance consult experience and discretion; and lay your 
future in God's
         hands.

R. Hirsch is making a profound observation. We are all born at a 
particular time, raised
in a particular family and educated in a particular place. That is 
our unique history.
Now we live in the present, with a combination of God's Providence 
and our own free
choices. However, no one has the ability to determine our future -- 
that is again in
God's Hands and the product of our own choices. What's most important 
to realize is
that our future is not in the hands of astrologers, Tarot card 
readers, mediums, palm
readers or even Rabbinic mystics who claim the power to give 
blessings that will
determine your future (this is my [Dr. Bailey's] comment, not R. 
Hirsch). How we should approach
the present and future is by learning from experience, using good common sense,
seeking knowledge and wisdom from wise people (not necessarily clergy) and then
choosing to guide our lives by the Torah's laws and principles, with 
the spiritual advice
(not predictions) of our chosen Rabbis and teachers. The moment we give up our
responsibility to choose for ourselves and hand it over to others to 
think for us and
order our behavior, we fall into the prohibition of seeking out 
"sorcerers, enchanters,
charmers and soothsayers...." and not seeking God's teachings to 
guide our present
decisions.

Now we can understand the imperative: "You must be complete before 
GOD, your God."

When we are plagued by insecurity and confusion, it is only from 
God's teachings that
we receive guidance and direction for our choices; when we despair 
for our future, we
need to recognize that it is from God and our own choices, based on 
our past and
present behavior, that our future is fashioned. If we are "complete" 
in our relationship
to God, we have no need for soothsayers, enchanters and sorcerers or 
mystical guides
to tell us what to do. Conversely, if we, with our insecurities, 
fears and abdication of
personal responsibility, turn to astrologers, fortune-tellers and 
mediums, we displace
God from our lives; and remain "incomplete" with Him -- and with ourselves.

YL
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