General Eitan had served for nearly forty years in the IDF and upon retirement was looking for a holiday to ‘get away’ from it all. He looked at various options until he stumbled on a two week fishing vacation in Alaska. He flew to a remote part of the country on a little propeller plane and arrived at the quiet resort. The plan was that the holidaymakers were to be dropped off at twenty minutes intervals along the fishing coast to spend the day alone in the beautiful white countryside. Early evening the ski-sledge would do the rounds picking them all up. Before they set off on the first morning they were given a briefing; how to avoid getting frost bite, how to understand the tides and the currents etc.
One of the group asked the tour-guide, “what if we are confronted by a polar bear?”. The guide responded that in twenty years of working at this resort a polar bear had never been sighted. But the nervous tourist was insistent on knowing the procedure for dealing with an attacking polar bear. The guide told the group, Don’t shoot! Don’t run! This will just enrage it, rather look the polar bear in the eye, stand tall and in a voice full of authority yell at the polar bear, “this is my patch, I got here first, now clear off!”.
Several hours later General Eitan is sitting relaxing like never before in his life, it’s quiet and serene. Then suddenly he senses that he is not alone! He turns around and to his horror he sees a polar bear staring directly at him! He remembers the advice of the guide and as the bear begins advancing he stands tall and with a voice full of authority [not hard for an Israeli!] he barks in Ivrit “THIS IS MY PATCH, I GOT HERE FIRST – NOW CEAR OFF!” the polar bear seemed to pause in his steps but then continued on towards him. Eitan makes a second attempt of screaming at the polar bear, telling him whose patch he is on and to his utter amazement, the polar bear backs off entirely and disappears in to the forest!
Several hours later a rather panicky Eitan is picked up. He shares his story with the group and then turns to the guide and asks him, “how on earth do polar bears in Alaska understand Ivrit?!
The guide explained that polar bears don’t have great sight they rely heavily on their other senses. In the polar bear’s mind when they see something they ask one question, Is this prey or not. If it backs off, then the target is confirmed as prey. If it stands its ground, unafraid of the bear then the polar bear turns away to go and find some prey ”.
Believe it or not this is a true story! I did a little research and sourced an article “POLAR BEARS: A GUIDE TO SAFETY” which concurs with this method of letting the bear know that you are a person not an item of prey. “Bears will often retreat from a series of loud sounds…. It needs to know you’re a person not an item of prey; help it identify you as human”
Rabbi Shimon Kaplan used this story as a parable for dealing with the Evil inclination. All we need to do to shake him off is to make him aware that we are not prey for him! All we need to do is make this initial step of saying NO! You’ve got the wrong address – go elsewhere to find some prey.
There are various steps and stages in doing Teshuvah (Repentance) and moving forward to becoming a better person. But one vital ingredient that is going to make or break the process is the boldness to confront the Evil Inclination.
Rav Hirsch points out that the turning point of the Yom Kippur service described in this week’s Sedra is the procedure for the two goats – called “se’ir izim”. “The goat is submissive and tractable only with its own goat herd; with anyone else it will be stubborn and intractable. This intractability distinguishes the goat from the sheep, which is submissive with any leader. In fact, the term “iz” (goat) is derived from “oiz” and “izuz” (literally mighty, bold); the goat is the hard, firm, tenacious one….. this characteristic is even more prominent in the “se’ir”, which as implied by its name, “the hairy one” is rough and equipped to offer resistance. The quality of firmness… of immunity to all temptations to follow other paths which our devotion to the guidance of our “Shepherd” requires of us, could hardly be expressed more strikingly than by the character of the “seir”. And one could hardly find a more appropriate expression that “be a “seir” – to Hashem!”
When Rachel gave birth to Naftoli she called him so because “sacred schemes have I manoeuvred (“niftalti”) to equal my sister, and I have prevailed”. Rashi explains: the word “naftoli” comes from the word meaning being stubborn. She persevered to be like her great sister Leah and merit another child. Reb Yerucham of Mir points out that we can learn from here that when it comes to matters of spirituality stubbornness is a great trait. In interpersonal relationships flexibility is crucial. But to do the Will of Hashem – to be dubbed the “goat of Hashem” – we must be stubborn and strong minded like the goat.
In Ethic of our Fathers we are urged, “be bold (oz) as a leopard”. While this is often translated as ‘brazen’ it is more correctly translated as to be ‘bold’, ‘defiant’ to be able to oppose and contend against the work of the Evil Inclination. This character trait can be used to take us “Azazel” – as the scapegoat that is pushed off the desolate mountain terrain in absolute destruction – if we are to be defiant and ignore the Good Inclination, and the correct path. Or we can use the same character trait to be the “Goat of Hashem” – defiant in our striving along the path of Hashem.
Good Shabbos, Yaakov