JUST ONE LOAF...:

Was Abraham a generalist or a specialist? (Rabbi Hillel Goldberg, 11/07/03, Jewish World Review)

The Evil Urge is a very shrewd tactician and a master warrior. It leaves itself room to withdraw in order to pursue its grand design and to attack again. It is a seasoned negotiator; it demands more than it really wants. Above all, it wants its victims not to feel bad, to think they won, to remain smug and contented, not to regret the losses they have suffered. Then they will not gather strength to resist, to close the breaches, to go on the offensive.

The parable of the Sages is precise. The dog did not want all the breads. All he wanted was one loaf. By upsetting the whole cart, he led the baker to believe that everything was threatened. When only one loaf was lost, the baker felt a tremendous relief. He will not learn from this experience for he does not realize that he has been tricked. Next time the baker will be fooled again.

We can learn from this, each person according to his own level. We must learn not to compromise even as much as a hair's breadth. This is all that the Evil One wants — just a hair's breadth — and this is where the battle lines are drawn.

Abraham, like the dog, knew that each loaf, each sin, compromises the whole. Abraham specialized in remedying each of his transgressions in order to sustain his general spiritual stature.

So do moralists worry about slippery slopes.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 7, 2003 12:06 PM