Rashi explains that according to the Midrash, the word ceg also means “heel.” The Torah, therefore, alludes to those mitzvos which people may regard as unimportant. This disregard for the body of mitzvos that people determine to be relatively unimportant, extends to the point that they tend to tread upon the discarded mitzvos with their heels. The Torah promises Klal Yisrael that if they maintain their devotion to all of the mitzvos, even those which have been neglected due to their apparent insignificance, Hashem will reward them.
What is the meaning of “treading upon mitzvos“? Horav Moshe Swift, zl, remarks that trampling upon something with the heel, so that the weight of the entire body crushes down upon it, presents a considerably stronger statement than simply stamping on something with one’s toes. Yet, Rashi claims many people maintain this attitude in regard to mitzvos. Is this possible?
Unfortunately, not only is this attitude possible, it is prevalent among those who choose to be selective in the “type” of mitzvos they observe. Perhaps the greatest menace to Judaism is the individual who deems himself capable of determining the importance and relevance of one mitzvah above another. Some individuals focus upon the humanitarian mitzvos, while relegating the spiritual service mitzvos to a distant second place. Others venerate the communal mitzvos like kashrus, education and family purity to the point that they have no qualms about disparaging those who do not see things their way. To reject one mitzvah for another, to give precedence to one area of the Torah over another, is to trample upon mitzvos! The Torah is one great mosaic. To delete one portion of this great picture is to distort its integrity.
Horav Swift renders a very thoughtful interpretation of the pasuk in Tehillim 49:6, “Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall surround me.” We can relate to the evil which the organs of the human body perform. We can easily understand the iniquity of the eyes, the hands and the feet. The pasuk, however, seems to emphasize that on the days of judgement the sins which the heels commit will cause us great consternation. Sin in itself is pardonable. After all, we are only human beings who are easily swayed by the blandishments of the evil inclination. We should not fear the actual sin as much as the premeditation and preparation that generates the sin. Before one sins, he must first trample upon the mitzvah. He must find some legal loophole or manner in which he can convince his own conscience that the evil he is about to undertake is totally correct. He might even view his act to be a mitzvah. This is trampling upon a mitzvah. For this type of sin, there can be no forgiveness.
