Chazal teach us that sheker, falsehood, has no “legs/foundation;” ultimately, it must fall. Whatever is built upon a foundation of falsity, be it blatant deceit or merely insincerity, will not endure. If so, why do we find that so many reshaim, wicked people, whose goals are to manipulate the minds and lives of their followers, seem to succeed in their endeavors? In response to this critique, Horav Yisrael Salanter, zl, commented that they act with an emes; these people approach their reprehensible work with a “sincerity” that perhaps has greater veracity to it than the emes that we perform. Regrettably, when we undertake endeavors for the “sake of Torah,” it is not always with the same sincerity and genuineness that our counterparts undertake their battle against Torah values.
It is all relative. At times we may undertake to build, create, or maintain projects that we might even believe are Torah oriented. Since our objectives are not sincere, however, our plans will not endure. To build for the express purpose of destroying a preexisting organization or program is nothing more than sham piety. This, claims Horav Tzvi Hirsch Ferber, zl, is the underlying meaning of our pasuk. You will find “Him,” you will succeed in finding and promoting the derech ha’emes, path of truth, only “if you will seek Him with all your heart and all your soul.” If you approach the search for truth with “emes” – you will succeed in discovering it.
