Some people think: “I don’t need to be so frum, but it’s important that others are.” In other words, I can play a bit loose with the rules as long as G-d has a core of people in this world who take them seriously.

It’s a tempting feeling that calms one’s conscience. And according to Rav Hirsch, Hashem describes it in Devarim 29:18, which speaks of a person who reassures himself, “Even if I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, [I will be okay since] whatever is watered (ravah) will provide also for what should remain thirsty (ha’tzemeah)” (Rav Hirsch’s translation).

When rain falls, it benefits all growth, including weeds. Farmers would much prefer that the rain only benefit the crops (the ravah) and “miss” the weeds so that they remain “thirsty” (the ha’tzemeah) and die. Farmers have no such luck, though. When rain falls, weeds benefit as well.

A person may take note of this phenomenon and think, writes Rav Hirsch, “that the pronouncement of blessing and curse [in Parshas Ki Savo] have only in mind that which is judged to be the behavior of the majority, and if the nation deserved and obtained the promised blessing, then he imagines that individuals, even if they do not deserve it, cannot be debarred from participating in the general prosperity.”

Not true, says the Torah. Hashem “watches every single person in what he personally does and refrains from doing.” And if a person disregards the Torah, “Hashem will separate him out for misfortune from all the tribes of Israel” (Devarim 29:20).

In other words, we most certainly should contribute to the community and associate with righteous individuals, but we can’t hide behind them or use our support of them as a “payoff” for doing what’s right.

Hashem is watching every one of us, paying us “special attention” (hashgacha pratis).

That can be a scary thought, but it can also be extremely motivating and comforting.

Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) – head of the Jewish community in Frankfurt, Germany for over 35 years – was a prolific writer whose ideas, passion, and brilliance helped save German Jewry from the onslaught of modernity.

Elliot Resnick, PhD, is the host of “The Elliot Resnick Show” and the editor of an upcoming work on etymological explanations in Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch’s commentary on Chumash.

...