By: Rabbi Shemuel Akhamzadeh ×›Ö¼Ö´×™-יִהְיֶה לְ×ִיש×, בֵּן סוֹרֵר וּמוֹרֶה–×Öµ×™× Ö¶× Ö¼×•Ö¼ ש×ֹמֵעַ, The Talmud tells us that the Ben Sorer Umoreh never was and will never be, and that this law is given for the inherent lessons contained within it. There is a famously asked question regarding this law: Rashi points out that the Ben Sorer Umoreh was punished on the grounds of his future sins, even though they were not committed yet. This stands in contrast to the story of Yishmael. After Yishmael was removed from Avraham’s home and was on the verge of death from dehydration in the desert, Hashem brought about a miracle to save his life. Even though the Midrash tells us that the ministering angels were pointing out that Yishmael’s descendants will cause many Jews to die from thirst (and certainly he should not be worthy to be saved from thirst), Hashem’s response to the angels was that Yishmal should be judged as he is now, and not on account of the future misdeeds. The Maharsha answers this apparent contradiction by pointing out that the Ben Sorer Umoreh is judged for his own future actions, though in regards to Yishmael it’s his descendants who are acting out of order and not him. That’s why Hashem is willing to save him from thirst. Perhaps a lesson learned from the Laws of the Ben Sorer Umoreh that is befitting to these days of Elul is that one is certainly responsible for his future misdeeds, and it is upon us to make sure that the path we are on does not lead us to actions not worthy of a Jew, even if at this point everything seems to look fine. |
