August 21, 2008
In this week’s parsha, Moses continues to encourage the people to obey God’s commandments and to avoid succumbing to arrogance because, he reminds them, God’s promise is not unconditional. In the course of this teaching, Moses says, “For the Lord your God is God supreme and Lord supreme, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who shows no favor and takes no bribe.” And about the phrase “takes no bribe,” Rashi says, “to appease Him with money.”
Earning forgiveness through prayer, charity, and repentance.
Well, who would ever think that God could be bribed with money? It’s true that people sometimes say, “So-and-so has more money than God,” but God has no need for cash. Obviously, the use of “bribe” here is broader. In parshat Mishpatim, judges are warned, “Do not take bribes, for bribes blind the clear-sighted and upset the pleas of those who are in the right.” A bribe is not necessarily money; rather, it is anything offered to a judge with the intention of influencing him or her so that the case will be not be decided on its merits. A judge can, of course, be bribed with money but can also be bribed with drugs, sex, power, fame, or almost anything else that people desire, because a judge is only human. The Torah’s point is that God is not susceptible to such influences. But people keep trying.
A person facing a serious illness may offer this bribe — “God, let me come out of this okay and I’ll start going to services every week.” It’s easy to understand this one — people who are frightened will reach for anything they think might help. But there are others who are much more cynical in their bribery attempts.
We know the names of Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken, and Marc Rich as famous donors to Jewish institutions who were also infamous financial criminals. (Boesky and Milken were convicted and served time in prison for insider trading; Rich was indicted for evading almost $50 million in taxes and received an 11th-hour pardon from President Clinton.) Could it be that these men believed that giving tzedaka would offset their crimes in the sight of God?
A rabbi who served as a prison chaplain in Los Angeles spoke about a man in jail for theft and fraud who was frantic because he didn’t have tefillin to put on every day. Did he think the performance of this mitzva would somehow cause God to overlook what he had done?
Nor is this just a modern problem; it was described by the prophet Isaiah in the haftara we read just two weeks ago. “What need have I of all your sacrifices? says the Lord…. Your new moons and fixed seasons fill Me with loathing…. And when you lift up your hands, I will turn My eyes away from you. Though you may pray at length, I will not listen — your hands are stained with crime. Wash yourselves clean; put your evil doings away from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good, devote yourselves to justice.”
God cannot be swayed by acts of tzedaka or piety when these are intended to cause God to overlook sin. God does not accept bribes.
On the yamim nora’im, we say that we can earn God’s forgiveness for our sins and shortcomings through teshuva, tefilla, u’tzedaka. God will not forgive our sins if we offer only tefilla (prayer) or tzedaka (charity) without the crucial third element — teshuva (repentance), which involves admitting our sins, making restitution where possible, and resolving to change our ways.
God will not take a bribe to overlook our wrong actions. Rather, God will judge us honestly and truly, weighing the actions we place before Him and what is in our hearts and minds. As our parsha says, “And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the Lord your God, to walk only in his paths, to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.”
Rabbi Joyce Newmark, a resident of Teaneck, is a former religious leader of congregations in Leonia and Lancaster, Pa.
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