Our parsha contains the famous pasuk: “And Yeshurun became fat and kicked. You became fat, you became thick, you became corpulent—and it deserted Hashem its maker, and was contemptuous of the Rock of its salvation.” The Abarbanel and Sforno say that this pasuk is teaching us that Bnei Yisrael “turned towards physical pleasures.”
We can suggest that according to this understanding, Bnei Yisrael becoming “fat” is a reference to their excessive focus and indulgence in physicality and materialism, and as a result, they “deserted Hashem.” They, in effect, perhaps traded a life of spirituality for a life of physicality, gashmiyut; they gave up on an Olam Haba oriented life which is a spiritual way of living, and chose an Olam Hazeh life—one that is focused on pursuing the physical pleasures of this world.
Not only that, the pasuk says that they were were even “contemptuous” to Hashem—(“the Rock”), which Rashi explains means: “They demeaned and disgraced Hashem, as it says (Yechezkel 8:16), ‘Their backs faced the Temple of Hashem’ (a reference to when while they were bowing to the sun they defecated toward the Sanctuary). You have no degradation greater than this.” Am Yisrael showed such a degree of contempt to Hashem, the One Who helped them so much and was always their “salvation.” The Sforno comments that when the pasuk says they “kicked,” it means they acted “like animals who kick the very people who provide them with their food.” Bnei Yisrael demonstrated an alarming lack of hakarat hatov to Hashem who gave them so much good—they paid back evil instead of good, to He who gave them much good. The very next pasuk discusses that they would serve strange Gods, and also how they would commit abominations—which Rashi explains is a reference to sodomy and sorcery, which the Torah considers them abominations. This perhaps indicates the continued descent, all stemming from absorption in gashmiyut.
It would emerge from the above that the attachment to and indulgence in Olam Hazeh, in gashmiyut, can lead to such a decline in one’s character and spiritual level. The test of gashmiyut, and thus the unfortunate effect that can result from focusing on the pleasures of olam hazeh, seems to apply universally to all people, even to the greats of our people. As Rav Naftali Tzvi Berlin (Haamek Davar) says, that the title of “Yeshurun” in the pasuk above is referring to the most spiritually elite people of our nation, and the pasuk is teaching us that they too have fallen to such lowly deeds. Similarly, the Sforno notes the term “Yeshurun” here is a reference to the Torah learners! If it could happen to the greats, then surely to those not as great as they.
The focus and involvement in the pleasures of Olam Hazeh can determine whether one—even one with a tremendous intellectual capacity—will believe in Hashem or not. As Rav Elchanan Wasserman famously explains, the reason why even brilliant philosophers, for example Aristotle who the Rambam says was on a level below prophecy, didn’t believe in God is because their focus and desires in life was for the pleasures that Olam Hazeh offers. Since desire is blinding, therefore, someone steeped in the pursuit of self-gratification can become like a drunk person who doesn’t see straight, and thus won’t be fully capable of discerning the truth. (See Kovetz Ma’amarim V’igarot, 1:1).
We can perhaps learn from here that if a person’s desires in life are Olam Hazeh oriented instead of Olam Haba oriented, then this can combat his ability to believe in Hashem, to live a spiritual life. Thus, the involvement with gashmiyut can impact one’s emunah in Hashem—the core and bedrock foundation of having a relationship with Him. Rabbeinu Yona perhaps hints to this as he implies (in his commentary to Pirkei Avot 2:2) that our pasuk above—“And Yeshurun became fat,” teaches us that indulgence in the pleasures of this world can cause one to become haughty and forget Hashem.
Given the drastic results that can occur from absorptions in gashmiyut, it’s perhaps no wonder this could have been a focus of chastisement given to Am Yisrael in the times of the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash: In Megillat Eicha, the navi Yirmiyahu laments, “Alas—the Lord in his anger has clouded the daughter of Tzion. He cast down from Heaven to earth the glory of Israel.”
Rav Uri Deutch of Lakewood, New Jersey quoted a homiletical explanation, that the pasuk refers to Hashem, relating the following message: How did you—Am Yisrael—“cast down” your “Heaven,” your spiritual grandeur? To abandon your Heavenliness—your life of ruchniyut—that’s a tragedy in and of itself. But then that “earth” should become the “glory of Israel”? Meaning, but then that Am Yisrael have become so associated with “earth” that it became the substitute pride and glory of Am Yisrael instead of spirituality? That’s a double tragedy!
Perhaps the intention of this explanation is like the suggested message in the above pasuk in our parsha: that Am Yisrael in the times of the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash also “turned towards physical pleasures”—hence their association with earthly, physical matters; and that they essentially traded and shifted their interests, focus and pursuits from an Olam Haba oriented lifestyle, from heavenly matters—ruchniyut, and instead focused towards involvement in gashmiyut, to the pleasures of olam hazeh—“earth.”
The Navi Hoshea tells us, “Shuva Yisrael, return, Israel.” Return where? Hoshea continues, “Unto Hashem, your God.” Rav Leib Chasman says that “return” implies where one was supposed to go towards a certain destination, for example eastward, but instead went the opposite way, westward. A person was supposed to go towards Hashem—“Unto Hashem, your God!” He was supposed to live his life that would be heading towards Olam Haba. But instead, he went the opposite direction and lived a life focused on gaining the pleasures of Olam Hazeh (Ohr Yahel, Nitzavim-Vayelech).
Perhaps then, we are being exhorted by Hoshea to “return” the trade off, and that despite if one has traded a world of spirituality for a world of physicality, we nevertheless are granted the opportunity to recenter our vision, desires and goals in life, and return back “unto Hashem, your God,” to an Olam Haba oriented lifestyle.
Binyamin is a graduate of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchok Elchanan and of Wurzweiler School of Social Work.
