Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

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בלה תובשחמ
The Yerushalmi in Sanhedrin (8:7) tries to explain why the rebellious son is judged
differently than any other criminal in our religion. In explaining this difference,
the Yerushalmi writes that Hashem anticipates that this child will eventually waste
his parents’ resources, steal from wayfarers, murder, and forget his Torah. For
those instances which will inevitably happen, the Torah advises us to kill this son
now so that he can die innocent rather than having him put to death full of sin.
Perhaps we can argue that whereas Yishmael’s future indiscretions are not
inevitable, the ben sorer u’moreh is doomed to the fate that he triggered. Why is
the ben sorer u’moreh’s path irreversible?
The order of the sins that the rebellious son will commit is interesting. It seems
from the Yerushalmi that it is only after he forgets his Torah that he becomes
hopeless. Even after he stole and murdered, his fate is not sealed until he forgets
his Torah. It is only when he forgets his Torah that we view him as someone who
cannot be rehabilitated.
Through this we see tremendous insight into the power of Torah. Even when a
Jew strays just about as far as he can go, there is still the possibility of return as
long as there is Torah. He is not hopeless as long as he has Torah. When we say
that Torah is a life giving force for a Jew, it means that it can even be life saving.
If we take a good look at the Yerushalmi, we can see two further relevant lessons.
First, it is not enough to learn Torah, it is vital to also remember what we are
learning. Spending our time learning Torah is important but it does not compare
to the experience of acquiring Torah: learning things so thoroughly and clearly
that we can recall what it was that we learned at any point of the day. It was only
after the ben sorer u’moreh forgot what he learned that he was doomed. Once
there was no recall anymore, it was if the Torah was not his.
The second message should resonate with us as we head toward Rosh Hashana.
Some may feel very far from the resolutions we made a year ago when we felt
close to Hashem. When deciding what we should be focusing on during Elul
to prepare for Yom Ha-din, perhaps we should start a new chavrusa or study of
a new Torah subject. Maybe I can pick up a new gemara or at least thoroughly
go through an aliya of the parsha every day during the week so that I complete