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“The hidden (sins) are for Hashem, our G-d, but the revealed (sins) are for us and for our children forever.” (29:28)

Simply, we are not held responsible for those sinners who hide their evil. The hidden sinners are in Hashem’s province. Our focus must be on those whose evil is blatant, who have no shame and no fear. Our lack of response to those sins and sinners – and in some cases, our open acceptance of their evil – impugns the integrity of Klal Yisrael. In an alternative exegesis, the Belzer Rebbe, z.l., suggests that nistaros and niglos, “hidden” and “revealed,” refer to mitzvos and good deeds, but not to sins. His pshat, rendering of the pasuk, is better understood in…

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“And you will return unto Hashem, your G-d, and listen to His voice.” (30:2)

  There is a remarkable contrast between two types of people: one defies rebuke, laughing it off with disdain and derision; and the  baal  teshuvah,  penitent,  who  hears  Hashem’s     call, responds to His voice and returns wholeheartedly. Two people – or could it be one person, one individual in different stages of his spiritual development? Is it possible for the hard-core sinner, the individual who mocks Hashem and His followers bitterly, to return and be accepted? It is certainly possible for him to be accepted: Hashem is a loving Father Who waits patiently for His errant child. How does one…

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“From the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water.” (29:10)

Everybody was present that day, from the woodcutter to the water carrier. Is this the correct sequence? Should it not be worded, “From your leadership all the way down to your woodchoppers” or “From your goldsmiths to your woodchoppers”? One would think that the woodchopper and water carrier are basically on an equal level. Shivim Panim LaTorah suggests the following idea: When the ax is raised up over the head of the woodchopper, the “ax” would never consider that it is higher or more distinguished than the woodchopper, because the woodchopper is the one who is raising it up. Likewise,…

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