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The Mitzvah Of Kiruv

Mitzvah Of Kiruv

An excerpt from the Chofetz Chaim's Chomas Hadas, translated by Shmuel Elchonon Brog.

It is well known that when we received the Torah from God, not only did each Jew promise his own personal observance, but he also promised to do whatever was in his power to strengthen the Torah observance for all other Jews as well. We all became responsible for each other, as it says:

"The hidden things belong to the Lord our God; but the open sins must be corrected by us for we and our children are forever obligated to observe all the words of this Torah." (Deut. 29:28)

And as Rashi there explains: "...if we know of someone's sin it is our responsibility and the responsibility of our children to remove it from our midst because if we do not, everyone will be punished."

Therefore, the law states that one Jew can perform a mitzvah on behalf of a friend although he has already fulfilled his own obligation. One can, for example, make Kiddush, blow the Shofar, etc., for another because when his neighbor lacks a mitzvah it is considered as if he, too, lacks that mitzvah (Rosh, Brachos 20). Likewise, everyone is obligated to prevent his neighbor from transgressing a Negative Commandment. If he can prevent him and does not, he too is punished.

This idea of mutual responsibility, besides our having accepted it in the past when we received the Torah, is reaffirmed daily when we accept our obligation to fulfill the mitzvot (this is done in the second paragraph of Kriyat Shema [each morning, before one fourth of the day has passed, and each evening after three stars have appeared, every Jewish man is obligated to recite the passage, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One." In doing so he must keep two things in mind: (1) that God is the King of Kings who rules over all beings both above and below, and (2) that he accepts the subsequent three paragraphs, found in all prayer books, that begin V'ahavta, V'haya, and Vayomer], which contains the passage, "And you shall place these My Words in your heart..." [Deut. 11:18, Brachos 13a]), by immediately saying, in the prayer which begins Emes V'yatziv, that one accepts this for himself, his children, and the entire congregation of Israel. This is what is meant by the words:

"And His words live and endure ... for our fathers and for us, for our children, for our generations, and for all the generations of the seed of Israel His servants."

There are no exceptions.

Now let us consider ourselves. Suppose Reuven guarantees a loan of several hundred dollars made to Shimon, let alone one of several thousand dollars, and then sees how Shimon wants to purchase a business with which he, Reuven, is long familiar, which he knows to be unsound and near bankruptcy, and in which Shimon is bound to lose all his money. It is obvious that Reuven would do everything to keep Shimon from this deal because he clearly understands that if he fails, the entire debt will revert to him. So it is with us. Everyone must know that if he can prevent a friend or the members of his community from any kind of sin, whether by admonishing them or employing some other means, and he is lax in so doing, in the next world he will be punished for that sin. This is what our sages say: "One who can rebuke the members of his family and does not is held accountable for the sins of his family; the members of his community and does not is held accountable for the sins of his community; the entire world and does not is held accountable for the sins of the entire world."

The Midrash (Vayikra Rabba) states: "Israel is like a dispersed sheep" (Jeremiah 50:17). Just as all the sheep suffer when a limb of one of them is smitten (by nature a flock of sheep is so united that when one of them, for example, hurts its foot, all the others stop with it), so it is with Israel, one sins and everyone is punished."

Behold, we see that from day to day the Torah is declining and if we do not see about strengthening it, who knows what will come to pass, God forbid, in the next several years (these prophetic words were written in 1905, a few years before World War I and the Holocaust which followed, World War II). The whole house of Israel is likened to a vineyard ("Because the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel" - Isaiah 5), and when its wall is breached, if we do not look after fixing it, the breach becomes larger and larger until the entire vineyard is eventually destroyed.

Even if in the course of time but one proscription of the Torah is disregarded, it is a very terrible and a very bitter situation, and certainly if it comes to pass with, God forbid, those sins punishable with korais (lit. "to cut off" - the punishment whereby one dies before his time. See Rabeinu B"chaya, Vayikra 18:29), or death, how terrible! Will it be, because God will visit the sin upon all of us!

Let no man pride himself by saying that he will answer before God, "I had not the power to prevent them from sin." We know from many passages of Torah and from many sayings of our sages that heavenly affairs must be regarded by man at last as important as his own affairs. But concerning his own it is well known that even if his business is going badly, he still does not give it up. Instead, he tries to think of ways to improve it. He asks others, like the big executives, advice and counsel and keeps at it until the Almighty allows him to find some solution. The same applies to us. If in men's eyes the Will of God would be as important as their own, men would seek means and ways of elevating the Torah so that it would not decline and surely the Holy One, Blessed Be He, would not only let us find a way but would give us considerable help. (This is the meaning of the passage, "Know Him in all your ways" [Proverbs 3:6], i.e. in Divine affairs the same way you do in your personal affairs.)

However, because of our many sins, we do not act this way in Divine matters. As soon as it appears, with a hurried look, that there is no way out one gives up and excuses himself from judgment -- but not because he excuses himself below will he be excused above.

Go, I beg you, and see what our sages say on the passage:

"And you shall draw a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and complain" (Ezekiel 9:4):

The Almighty commanded the angel to draw a mark on the righteous as a reminder that they be saved but afterwards commanded that these holy men be punished first because the Attribute of Justice rose before Him and said, "Why are they any different than the others?"

"These men are perfectly righteous and the others are absolutely wicked," replied the Almighty.

"But," asked Justice, "they should have protested!"

"It is known to Me that the wicked would not have listened."

"If before You it is known," replied Justice," was it then known to them?"

Immediately it was decreed that everyone was guilty! (Shabbos 55)

The Midrash quotes Justice as asking, "Which one of them was killed for my sake? Which one of them was gashed in the skull for my sake?"

From this we can understand how great the obligation is for every Jew to seek ways and means, at least to the extent of willingly suffering humiliation, but only to keep error and iniquity from Israel!

And know, too, that besides bearing a sin for not restraining his neighbor -- since all Israel is considered as one man and a neighbor's transgressions are a blemish on one's own soul -- one will met with still another severe accusation in the future. When his friend, the sinner, will have been punished and put to death because of his sin, he [the righteous one] will be held responsible for his blood!

We learn this from the Tana D'vay Eliyahu:

Whoever can restrain another [from sin} and does not, or who can bring Israel to repent and does not, he is responsible for all the Jewish blood that is spilled, as it says, "And you son of man, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel; and [when] you shall hear word [of their punishment] from My Mouth, you shall give them warning in My Name. When I tell you of the wicked that he shall die, [if] you do not give him warning, [if] you speak not to warn the wicked [to repent] his evil way in order to save his life, that wicked man shall surely die because of his sin, but his blood will I seek from your hand" (Ezekiel 3:17-18).

Let every intelligent man study this and realize the tremendous obligation that exists.