The Trampled Field Syndrome
Many people enter the season of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur asking themselves, “What’s the point? I went through all this last year, and here I am, the same person as I was a year ago. Why should I brother?”
Indeed, most of us find that we are not that much different than we were a year ago on Rosh Hashanah. Why is this the case? Why is it so hard to change, and what can we do to make this year different?
There are several reasons for this phenomenon, but here we will speak of just one cause, which we might term the “trampled field phenomenon.”
The Girl Who Stumped the Rabbi
The Gemara in Masechet Eruvin (53b) cites Rabbi Yehoshua as telling of three times in his life when he was “stumped.” He relates three stories when people – once it was a woman, another time a young girl, and another time a young boy – called into question something he did, and he could not defend himself. He had no response, and was forced to concede that they were right and he was wrong. The Hid”a (Rav Haim Yosef David Azulai) explains that all these stories convey profound lessons for life that we need to learn. In the interest of brevity, we will focus our attention on the second of these stories.
Rabbi Yehoshua was once traveling, and he followed a path that extended through a field. After he crossed the field, he was met by a young girl who asked him why he had walked through somebody’s field, ruining the produce. He explained that there was a well-treaded path going through the field, and everything in that path had already been trampled on. Therefore, it was perfectly legitimate for him to follow that route.
The girl boldly shouted, “Robbers like you paved that path!” There was not supposed to be a path through this field. But inconsiderate people who wanted to take a shortcut through the field, disregarding the owner’s property rights and without any concern for the damage they caused, stepped and made a path. This did not give Rabbi Yehoshua the right to walk through the field.
Rabbi Yehoshua admitted that he had no response, that the girl stumped him and correctly criticized him.
The Hid”a explained that Rabbi Yehoshua here draws our attention to one of the most common reasons why we resist change: because the path has already been trampled on. If there’s something incorrect that we and others have always been doing, that has become “normal” and common, we just assume that we can follow that path. Even though we know, or would know if we stopped to think about it, that this is not the proper path to follow, once we see that it had already been trampled, we assume we can follow it, too. Even the great sage Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hanania made this mistake. He saw a trampled path and figured it was legal. But in truth, as the little girl said, he was a thief.
This story is so relevant for us, always, but especially during this time of year, when we are supposed to be thinking about how we can grow and improve ourselves. The trampled path, the path that everyone follows, and the one we’ve been following, is not necessarily the right path. Sometimes, the answer to the question, “Is it possible that everyone is wrong?” is a resounding “YES.” In many areas, indeed, everyone has it wrong.
The style of language that is common in today’s society is not acceptable for a religious Jew. Even if it seems that “everyone talks that way,” this does not make it acceptable. Just because everyone watches a certain television program, has seen a certain movie, or listens to a certain kind of music, this does not mean that it is acceptable. Just because everyone buys their adolescent children devices with unfiltered internet access, this does not mean that this is acceptable. The path that everyone follows is not necessarily the correct path.
Gaining Clarity
It is oftentimes very difficult to know which “trampled path” is legitimate and which isn’t. We cannot always tell whether the common approach is right or wrong. Sometimes we feel something is right, but we are uncertain whether we truly believe it, or if our vision has been tainted by our exposure and our habits.
This confusion has always existed, ever since the time Adam and Havah were banished from Gan Eden.
When G-d first created Adam and Havah and placed them in Gan Eden, they had perfect clarity. They were told precisely which foods are good and which are bad. The forbidden tree was clearly and unmistakably identified. One of the consequences of Adam and Havah’s sin was the loss of this clarity. Once Adam and Havah were sent away from Gan Eden, they were thrust into a confusing and perplexing world, where the lines between good and evil, between right and wrong, are blurred. In our unredeemed world, we have a very hard time clearly differentiating between the two.
Rosh Hashanah is the time when we are to strive to regain some of that clarity which existed in Gan Eden.
This perspective on Rosh Hashanah was developed by the Maharal of Prague, in explaining the significance of the shofar. The first time we encounter a shofar is at akedat Yitzhak, when, after G-d told Avraham not to offer his son as a sacrifice, Avraham spotted a ram and offered it as a sacrifice in Yitzhak’s place. We later find a shofar sounded at the time of Matan Torah, and the prophets tell that a shofar will be sounded when Mashiah arrives. What is the connection between these three events, and Rosh Hashanah? What is it about the shofar that links Avraham Avinu, Matan Torah, the time of Mashiah, and Rosh Hashanah?
The Maharal of Prague explained that the shofar sound is all about gaining clarity. Avraham was the first person who had a clear understanding of right and wrong, who knew with absolute clarity that what G-d wants is good, and what He does not want is bad. The Nation of Israel experienced this clarity at the time of Matan Torah, when they beheld a direct Revelation and committed themselves wholeheartedly to the Torah. Our sages teach that at that moment, Am Yisrael reached the level of purity that Adam and Havah had before their sin, but they lost this purity several weeks later, when they committed the sin of the golden calf. We will regain this perfect clarity in the future, when Mashiah comes, when we will once and for all have a clear, pristine picture of right and wrong.
This is the reason, the Maharal teaches, why we sound the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. The purpose of Rosh Hashanah is to bring us one step closer to this pristine clarity. The process of repentance, of reflecting on the concept that Hashem is King over the world, and the frightening sound of the shofar, is meant to make us view our lives and the things we do more honestly, more objectively, and more purely. Throughout the year, our perspective is tainted by our experiences, our biases, and our observation of what the people around us do. Rosh Hashanah is our opportunity to think more honestly, to take an objective look at our lives, at the decisions we make and the things we do, and ask whether they are really correct and proper.
The Gemara famously states that one of the purposes of sounding the shofar is “to confuse the Satan.” Tosafot explain that when we sound the shofar, the Satan becomes frightened because he thinks that this is the shofar sound which heralds the arrival of Mashiah. The meaning of Tosafot’s comment is that the purpose of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is to bring us a step closer to Mashiah, to the clarity that we will have in the Messianic Era. The goal is to repair, if only somewhat, our tainted vision, to help us see the world and our lives with greater clarity.
The path we follow is already “trampled,” we live the way we’ve been conditioned to think is normal and appropriate, but on Rosh Hashanah we need to ask ourselves very honestly whether our course in life really is the proper one. Do we live the way we do because we know with conviction that it’s the right way, or because that’s the “trampled field,” that’s just what’s done? Are we content just going along with the trend, following the same course that everybody else follows, or are we going to learn from the example of Avraham Avinu, who charted a different course, who resisted the tide of his contemporaries and followed the path of truth and devotion to G-d? This is the great challenge of the shofar – the challenge of clarity, of pure and honest objectivity.
Why are we the same now as we were a year ago? One of the reasons is because of the “trampled field syndrome,” because we follow paths that we shouldn’t follow simply because they have become normal and accepted. If we want to look different next year than we do this year, we need the clarity and courage to identify and avoid those improper paths, to recognize that not everything which is accepted is acceptable, and that we need to do what’s right, and not what’s commonly done.