A dirty garbage can fell into a pool this week and taught me a powerful lesson about Elul, teshuvah, and תמים תהיה עם ה׳ אלקיך.

Sometimes, keep the garbage out.
Sometimes, keep adding clean water.

Two paths. One destination: Tamim tihyeh im Hashem.

Dedicated by Eliana and Brian Ladenheim (New Milford, NJ) in memory of Feivel ben Dov Berel

Parshas Shoftim 5786

It was one of those late-summer evenings, as we soaked in the last few days of bein hazmanim. My son was swimming with a friend. The boys were playing, having a great time, and somewhere along the way, a garbage can “accidentally” ended up in the pool.

I arrived a little later, without knowing what had happened. The first thing I noticed was the mess. Debris and garbage were floating everywhere.

“What happened here? The whole pool is getting filthy!”

Then I looked toward the deep end and saw something large floating in the water.

It was the garbage can.

Now I understood where the mess had come from, and I was even more frustrated. What a royal mess.

The other boy’s mother was standing nearby, and she completely understood my reaction. We were both looking at the same scene, thinking: What a disaster. Look what this garbage can did to the pool.

My wife, however, was unfazed. She looked at the pool, looked at the garbage can, and said:

“True, the pool is getting dirty. But look, the garbage can is getting clean.”

And suddenly, we all stopped.

Same pool.
Same garbage.
Same interaction.
But an entirely different way of seeing it.

I was focused on what the garbage was doing to the pool.
She was focused on what the pool was doing to the garbage.

A DIFFERENT WAY OF SEEING

As I write this on Rosh Chodesh Elul, realizing it’s time to slow down and reflect, rise up, change, refocus, and work on our relationship with the King, this message struck a deep chord, one that reaches to the very heart of teshuvah, like a note that awakens something deep within the soul.

In this week’s parashah, the Torah first warns against the abominations of the other nations (Devarim 18:9–13):

כִּי אַתָּה בָא אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ לֹא תִלְמַד לַעֲשׂוֹת כְּתוֹעֲבֹת הַגּוֹיִם הָהֵם׃ לֹא יִמָּצֵא בְךָ מַעֲבִיר בְּנוֹ וּבִתּוֹ בָּאֵשׁ קֹסֵם קְסָמִים מְעוֹנֵן וּמְנַחֵשׁ וּמְכַשֵּׁף׃ וְחֹבֵר חָבֶר וְשֹׁאֵל אוֹב וְיִדְּעֹנִי וְדֹרֵשׁ אֶל הַמֵּתִים׃ כִּי תוֹעֲבַת ה׳ כָּל עֹשֵׂה אֵלֶּה וּבִגְלַל הַתּוֹעֵבֹת הָאֵלֶּה ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ מוֹרִישׁ אוֹתָם מִפָּנֶיךָ

The Torah warns against imitating the abominable practices of the surrounding nations—sorcery, divination, interpreting omens, casting spells, consulting spirits, and seeking information from the dead—practices that are abhorrent to Hashem.

The very next pasuk states:

תמים תהיה עם ה׳ אלקיך.

Literally translated: “You shall be wholehearted with Hashem your G-d.”

Rashi writes:

תמים תהיה עם ה׳ אלקיך: התהלך עמו בתמימות, ותצפה לו, ולא תחקר אחר העתידות, אלא כל מה שיבא עליך קבל בתמימות ואז תהיה עמו ולחלקו:

The pashut pshat, as Rashi explains, is that when one distances himself from these practices, he can attain temimus. When a person separates himself from the impurities of the nations and refuses to seek answers or security from outside sources, he becomes a receptacle—a pipeline—for the ultimate connection with Hashem.

According to Rashi, תמים תהיה עם ה׳ אלקיך is the product of that distancing. By abstaining from what is impure and placing his trust entirely in Hashem, a person merits temimus—a state of wholesomeness and oneness with Hashem. Temimus is the result, the level one reaches after turning away from everything else.

THE PATH TO TEMIMUS

The Ramban, however, disagrees with Rashi and explains just the opposite. תמים תהיה is not the product of distancing oneself from impurity. Rather, it is the prescription. It is the journey itself.

If one wants the strength and fortitude to withstand the temptations of the nations, especially considering how powerful the pull of tumah and avodah zarah was, the way to do so is by actively working on תמים תהיה עם ה׳ אלקיך.

Meaning, the more a person works on temimus, the more he soaks himself in Elokus, Torah and mitzvos, ratzon Hashem, and avodas Hashem. Through this, he develops a constant awareness of Hashem’s presence. When that awareness becomes deeply and perpetually instilled throughout his guf and neshamah, it becomes part of the very way he lives and sees the world. Only then can he find the strength to withstand the relentless temptations, allure, and impurities of the world and emerge victorious.

This brings us back to the pool.

There were two things happening at the very same moment. The garbage was dirtying the pool, while the water was washing the garbage can clean.

And perhaps that image goes even further. The very water being contaminated by the garbage was also capable of cleansing what had been dirty.

That is the contrast between Rashi and the Ramban.

According to Rashi, the focus is on what the garbage can do to the pool. Distance yourself from the tumah. Protect yourself from what can contaminate you. Through that distancing, you preserve your purity and ultimately attain temimus with Hashem.

The Ramban shifts the focus to what the pool can do to what is dirty. Fill yourself with so much Elokus, so much Torah, mitzvos, ratzon Hashem, and avodas Hashem, that the purity within you becomes stronger than the impurity pulling from without.

Rashi teaches us to be careful of what the garbage can do to the pool. The Ramban teaches us to appreciate what a full pool can do to what is dirty.

The answer to the impurities of the world is not only to keep them out. It is to make sure that what is inside us is strong enough, deep enough, and pure enough to withstand them.

PROTECT THE WATER. FILL THE WATER.

We began with a pool and a garbage can. But perhaps the imagery is not so far removed from our own lives. Yirmiyahu HaNavi writes (Eichah 2:19), שִׁפְכִי כַמַּיִם לִבֵּךְ נֹכַח פְּנֵי ה׳, “Pour out your heart like water before the presence of Hashem.” Our heart, our innermost self, is compared to water. And that water needs to be both protected and constantly replenished.

As for the garbage, none of us is immune. The pasuk tells us, כִּי אָדָם אֵין צַדִּיק בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה טּוֹב וְלֹא יֶחֱטָא, “There is no righteous person on earth who does good and never sins” (Koheles 7:20). The Torah also warns us, וְלֹא תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם, “Do not stray after your hearts and after your eyes” (Bamidbar 15:39). We live in a world of constant exposure. Things enter through our eyes, our hearts, and our surroundings. Inevitably, some garbage will find its way toward the pool.

So sometimes the path is Rashi. Guard the heart. Protect the water. Be careful what we allow in, what we expose ourselves to, and which influences we permit into our inner world. Keep the garbage out of the pool.

And sometimes the path is the Ramban. Keep adding water. Fill the heart with more Torah, more tefillah, more mitzvos, more kedushah, more Elokus. Keep filling the pool until what is pure within us becomes stronger than the impurity that finds its way in.

TWO PATHS TO TESHUVAH

As we begin the avodah of teshuvah, perhaps we can carry that image from the pool with us. I walked in and saw one thing: the garbage is making the pool dirty. My wife looked at the exact same scene and saw something else: the pool is making the garbage can clean.

Perhaps both perspectives are necessary in our own avodah. There will be times when we need the perspective I had that night. The garbage is getting in. Something is affecting me, weakening me, muddying the water. That is the time for סור מרע, the path of Rashi. Say no. Abstain. Create distance. Get the garbage out and protect the pool.

But there will also be times when we need my wife’s perspective. Instead of obsessing over the garbage, look at the water. That is the time for עשה טוב, the path of the Ramban. Add more water. Add some chlorine. Shock the pool. Keep the filter running. Fill ourselves with more Torah, more tefillah, more mitzvos, more kedushah, and more awareness of Hashem, until what is inside us becomes stronger than what is trying to get in.

They are two perspectives, two paths, but they lead to the same destination. Sometimes our teshuvah means getting the garbage out of the pool. Sometimes it means making the water so clean, so full, and so powerful that the garbage cannot overcome it.

And perhaps that was the lesson hiding in that pool all along:

Sometimes protect the water. Sometimes strengthen the water. But never stop working toward תמים תהיה עם ה׳ אלקיך. •