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Paradise a deeper look at the weekly Torah portion and Jewish Holidays  by Elchanan Shoff Ki Savo How to sever his heads, and other tips on dealing with demons “Hashem your God will afflict the enemies who stand up to you, they will come out to attack you on one  path, and down seven paths they will flee from you.”  Dvarim 28:7 If the Jewish people keep the Torah, and live as they should, then Hashem promises that all sorts of blessings will come to them. Among them is the blessing that their enemies will flee from them if and when they attack. The Torah tells us, fascinatingly, that they will flee in seven directions. Rashi 1  explains that “it is the way of frenzied people to flee in a scattered  way.” Unity is a product of organization and peace  chaos make people frenzied and order- less. But having those people scattered in seven direction is interesting. After all  are there only seven ways that the enemies might flee? Why does the Torah employ the imagery of seven different paths? Our sages teach us a great deal about the  yetzer hara ; that part inside of every human that urges him or her to make bad choices, and to favor what is more comfortable or attractive over what is right and good. They tell us 2 that the  yetzer hara has seven different names. In one amazing story 3 , they paint the picture of the  yetzer hara as a serpent with seven different heads. We are told that this serpent terrorized the villagers of a certain town, and it was only  when Rav Acha bar Yaakov was duped into entering the Synagogue where that serpent- demon was present that the serpent was demolished. Apparently, we are taught, Rav Acha  vanquished this demon by praying to Hashem, and each time he bowed himself to Hashem, 1 To Devarim 28:7 s.v. Uvshiva 2 Sukkah 52a 3 Kiddushin 29b

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Paradisea deeper look at the weekly Torah portion and Jewish Holidays 

 by

Elchanan Shoff

Ki Savo 

How to sever his heads, and other tips on dealing with demons 

“Hashem your God will afflict the enemies who stand up to you, they will come out to attack you on one  path, and down seven paths they will flee from you.”  Dvarim 28:7 

If the Jewish people keep the Torah, and live as they should, then Hashem promises that allsorts of blessings will come to them. Among them is the blessing that their enemies will flee

from them if and when they attack. The Torah tells us, fascinatingly, that they will flee inseven directions. Rashi1 explains that “it is the way of frenzied people to flee in a scattered way.” Unity is a product of organization and peace – chaos make people frenzied and order-less. But having those people scattered in seven direction is interesting. After all  – are thereonly seven ways that the enemies might flee? Why does the Torah employ the imagery of seven different paths?

Our sages teach us a great deal about the  yetzer hara ; that part inside of every human thaturges him or her to make bad choices, and to favor what is more comfortable or attractiveover what is right and good. They tell us2 that the  yetzer hara has seven different names. Inone amazing story 3, they paint the picture of the  yetzer hara as a serpent with seven differentheads. We are told that this serpent terrorized the villagers of a certain town, and it was only  when Rav Acha bar Yaakov was duped into entering the Synagogue where that serpent-demon was present that the serpent was demolished. Apparently, we are taught, Rav Acha vanquished this demon by praying to Hashem, and each time he bowed himself to Hashem,

1 To Devarim 28:7 s.v. Uvshiva2 Sukkah 52a3 Kiddushin 29b

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guilty of infidelity, we are less than enchanted. When a very public advocate devoting his lifeto fighting global warming and encouraging others to use limited energy, is found to beusing, in his home and with his jet, more than 12 times what the average person uses in hiscountry, it’s so distressing. But that is the nature of the challenge that our lives present us. We are enjoined to be unified, and when we are so, our enemies and challenges will reveal

themselves to be scattered and irrelevant.

“Cleave to God”9 demands the Torah. “But can one in fact cleave to the Divine?” wondersthe Talmud.10 Rather, says the Talmud, this teaches us to Cleave to the wise, do business with them, eat and drink with them and marry into their families. Rambam11 explains thatthis is what our sages meant when they said12 “scuffle in the dirt of their feet, and drink their words thirstily.” That is how you connect to the Divine! Isn’t this fascinating? There is notalk in the Gemara about attending their classes, just about eating with them and doing business with them. For the greatness of Torah is when it extends to the entire person. When a person is truly spiritual, he becomes more kind. His business associates know that

he is a better person as a boss, coworker, or employee, just as the person who sits near him when he prays can see that he is serious about his prayer. True spirituality spreads and makesa difference on the whole person. Kiddush Hashem, which is when a person demonstratesin his life that his connection to the Divine, to God, has made him a better person isexemplified, we are taught13, when those who interact with him exclaim “How fortunatemust his parents and Rabbis be, who taught him Torah.” It is when a person from theoutside can see that it was the message of Torah, Judaism, and Truth that propelled thisperson to his great levels in human kindness and sensitivity. When they can see his greatnessas a product of Torah, even when it is in an area that appears far from “spiritual,” that is thedefinition of displaying the inherent holiness in Hashem’s Torah. 

 There are seven ways that space is defined in traditional Jewish thought. Up, down, the fourdirections of the compass, and where you are right now. There is nothing more. Seven. The yetzer hara  has seven names, for he pulls you in every single direction of the world. Thedemons heads are shattered when one bows to Hashem, when one commits his life to doing  what is right, always, and with all of his abilities. Not just in the shul, but even out of theshul. Perhaps this demon appeared in a shul to teach us that lesson. If your spirituality islimited to the synagogue, and does not extend to the rest of your life, then you must killsome of the demons heads. The best way to do so is to bow down14, subject your whole life

9 Devarim 11:22, 30:2010 Kesuvos 111b11 Yad Hachazaka, Deos 6:212 Avos 1:413 Yoma 86a14 See Maharsha to Kiddushin there (s.v. Kitanina) where he shows that the power of bowing is the very opposite of the power of the serpent, as our sages teach that after one bows, “he should stand upright like aserpent.” Thus, we see that standing in a bow ing position is not serpent-like. We therefore are taught in theGemara (Bava Kamma 16a) that anyone who fails to bow in thanks to Hashem during the Modim prayer willhave his spine turned into a snake seven years after his death. He also talks about the seven negative powers

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to the Truth, and to the values that you recognize. Know that Hashem is in charge of it all,and that in life it’s all important, not just certain parts of it. You have to love scuffling in thedirt produced by the feet of the wise people. For that dirt is not just dirt, its holy. Enjoy thedirt that your children produce when the walk in your home. Enjoy the dirty dishes that yourguests add to your already busy schedule. These are all fantastic signs of spiritual

achievement  –  nothing gets done without a mess. And perhaps, we will learn one of thedeepest messages of the Torah; that the business and eating and cleaning up that wise peopledo are not disconnected parts of their lives that they must “get through” in order to get tothe real part. We must take to our hearts that these distant things are actually part and parcelof a life well lived - cogs in the machinery of greatness. We need not suffer from the frenziedfrustration of having seven bickering heads any longer. All of our lives can be driven by onemission, one head, and one heart, as our sages beautifully would say 15, “Just a palm tree hasbut one heart, so do the Jewish people have but one heart focused on their Father inheaven.” 

Rabbi Elchanan Shoff is and Rabbi of the LINK East Shul in Los Angeles, and the Associate Rosh Kollel of the 

Los Angeles Intercommunity Kollel (LINK). He is the author of    Vaani Bahashem Atzapeh (Jerusalem 2010) in 

Hebrew on Tehillim, Birchasa Vishirasa (Jerusalem 2012) in Hebrew on Meseches Brachos of the Babylonian Talmud,

and his weekly Torah email “Paradise” reaches more than 1000 people. His book  Paradise: Breathtaking Strolls

Through the Length and Breadth of Torah was published in October 2012 by Urim Publications, Jerusalem.

of impurity that the serpent of Eden brought into the world, and that these are manifest in the seven namesof the yetzer hara.15 Sukkah 45b. See also Brachos 57a “One who sees a palm branch in his dream [is being informed that he]only has one heart toward his Father in Heaven.” See Leket Pirushei Aggaddah  (ad loc. s.v kappos) where heexplains the imagery of a palm tree. Date palms, he writes, get very very large in one direction only. They grow up, while their leaves do not spread out all that much, in contrast to most other trees. This represents aperson who reaches upward to Hashem, with no interest in spreading himself in any other directions. See alsoTeshuvos Mahari Weil 191, and my comments in Birchasa Visharasa to Brachos ad loc. s.v. Haroeh lulav .