והיה בשמעו את דברי האלה הזאת, "it will be when he hears these words of a curse, etc.;" a reference to what we read above in Deut. 27,15: "cursed the man who makes a hewn image, etc." The person concerned is under the mistaken impression that he will be a beneficiary of the merit accumulated by the many people who do observe the Torah and have forsworn any form of idolatry.
והתברך בלבבו לאמר "and he will bless himself in his heart, saying;" He will think upon hearing the curses that they will not harm him and actually be turned into blessings.
בשרירות לבי אלך, "I will walk as my heart sees fit." He says to himself that in spite of the fact that he does not accept any part of the Torah which does not appeal to him he will not be punished, seeing that he is only an individual whose actions are not relevant when the vast majority of his fellow Jews are observant and therefore the whole people is deserving of God's bountiful blessing as promised. Seeing that he reasons in such a way, the Torah adds immediately that he is totally wrong. God will not forgive him, i.e. turn a blind eye to his conduct; on the contrary, God's wrath will be fuming, etc., against such an individual. The word אז in our verse is understood to mean "immediately," by Ibn Ezra.
It is also possible to understand the words בשרירות לבי as an expression of aggressive obstinacy. This individual deliberately disregards the opinion of the multitude, "doing his own thing" openly. The meaning of the expression is similar to what is known in the Talmud
(Gittin 26) as אשרתא דדייני, "a document signed by judges testifying to the fulfillment of conditions in an accompanying document," i.e. confirmation.
The reason the Torah writes למען ספות הרוה את הצמאה, is that the wicked person prides himself with his evil deeds and determines to continue in his evil ways, thereby adding more "thirst" to his whole system which previously was adequately supplied with moisture. He had hoped to become satiated by indulging his cravings for sin. His punishment consists of the fact that instead of deriving satisfaction from his sins, he constantly feels the irrepressible urge to commit more and more sins. Instead of slaking his thirst for whatever it is he wishes to achieve, he will find that he gets ever thirstier.
[A form of the principle described by our sages in Avot 4,2 עבירה גוררת עבירה, "one deliberately committed sin brings in its wake another." Ed.] The desire to sin acts like a roller-coaster; once on that path it is almost impossible to stop and to reverse course.
It is also a well known fact that man's heart is the "root" of the body. His thoughts are like the branches, his deeds like the fruit of the tree. The Torah has already stated (
Genesis 6,
5) that "all the thoughts of (wicked people) are centered all day long on doing evil." Such people will not cease producing bitter fruit (
Jeremiah 17,
8). Even if all the planning of the wicked people is not translated into deeds, such wicked people are punished for the wicked thoughts they entertain. This is what Solomon referred to when he said (
Proverbs 15,
13) "a happy heart makes for a cheerful face; a sad heart causes a despondent spirit." The meaning of the entire verse is that one should not think that mere thoughts have no bearing on one's personality. If a person has a positive attitude to life, is joyful, or has a negative attitude to life, is despondent, all depends on the kind of thoughts he entertains. In other words, the thoughts have their origin in the heart; when these thoughts are translated into action they have an impact on the body, i.e. the body reveals the nature of the thoughts a person entertains. It follows that the despondent person is in line for punishment even more so when he actually enjoys contemplating the performance of sins.
This is also what the sages
(Yoma 29) had in mind when they said that the contemplating of sins is a more serious offense than the actual carrying out of the sin. The sinful thoughts, when carried out, leave their mark on the body of a person, whereas spontaneously committed sins do not leave such marks on the body. This statement, i.e. psychological insight, of the sages is of very great importance. The statement has given rise to many and varied interpretations as I have already mentioned elsewhere where I said that it means that contemplating sins is more serious than committing the actual sin seeing that the contemplating of the sin is what brings about its execution. By contemplating sins on a regular basis, the heart becomes involved in one's deeds. Seeing that the soul has its home in the heart, such evil thoughts tend to corrupt the soul.
[The author clearly feels that the soul, something disembodied, abstract, must be housed in something physical in order to be able to function. One cannot think of the soul as being something detached from the body, independent. Therefore, the part of the body in which the soul is "at home" is of crucial significance. Ed.] Contaminating the soul by entertaining these sinful thoughts is therefore a more serious offense than the actual spontaneous commission of a sin which had not previously had such an impact on one's soul.
Another interpretation of the statement that הרהורי עבירה קשין מעבירה involves often "follow-up" sins. Let us say that a person entertains the thought of breaking into someone's house. If he is contemplating this sin instead of spontaneously stealing, he most likely weighs what action to take if his plan encounters opposition. He will think of how to deal with the opposition, i.e. possibly decide to kill the person who would frustrate his plan. Thus he already adds further sinful thoughts before even committing the original sin.
Should someone ask: "how can the Torah decree penalties for thoughts which have never been carried out? How can the Torah expect a person to be so perfect that the temptation and intention to commit a sin never occurs to him?" Let me explain the essence of the subject. We know that man is in charge (has the choice) of the actions he carries out. This is what the Torah alluded to in Deut. 30, 15-19: "see I have today given into your hand (control) over life and goodness, over death and evil;......you shall choose life." Just as man can control his actions, he can also control his thoughts. True, the latter require some preparation, education. We are commanded to entertain constructive thoughts and to avoid thinking potentially destructive, sinful thoughts. God gives credit for our entertaining positive constructive thoughts, whereas He punishes us for thinking sinful thoughts.
If, on occasion, one does entertain unworthy thoughts, thoughts which creep up on a person uninvited, such thoughts reflect the fact that the individual in question has not trained himself sufficiently not to entertain unworthy, potentially sinful thoughts. The only cure for this is to concentrate on God and what He expects us to do and how He expects us to relate to His universe and our environment. One must relate to such unworthy thoughts with anger at oneself for such thoughts to have occurred to one at all. If one does so, one may rely on the saying of our sages that הבא לטהר מסיין אותו, "when a person makes a genuine effort to purify (himself or others) he receives a divine assist."
(Yoma 38) There are numerous verses in the Bible testifying to the principle that there are divine assists for people trying to do the right thing. One such verse is found In Chronicles I 28,9: "for the Lord searches all minds and discerns the design of every thought, if you seek Him, He will be available to you." Another verse in a similar vein is found in Proverbs 21,2: "God probes the (content) of one's hearts." Solomon means that when man entertains positive thoughts, God will help translate them into reality. Other verses from Scripture which convey similar messages are found in Psalms 10,17, as well as in Chronicles I 29,18.
Maimonides explains the statement that the contemplating of commission of sins is קשין, something more severe than the actual commission of the sin, by reference to the fact that the ability to entertain thoughts is one of the major factors elevating man above the beasts. Abusing such a faculty is more serious than committing sins with the body, something we have in common with the animals, i.e. the lower forms of life. Perverting the very distinctive feature given to us by the Almighty by contemplating actions aimed against our Creator, is indeed an unforgivable abuse of the powers granted to us. By turning the dominating element of his personality into a tool to commit sins, the subservient part of man, i.e. his body, will automatically tend to become corrupted thereby. When someone commits a sin using as his instrument a foolish slave, this is not nearly as serious as when one uses a free man to carry out one's nefarious schemes. This is what Maimonides wrote at the beginning of the second part of his Moreh Nevuchim. [Actually it is found in section 3, chapter 8]
Yet another reason why planning a sin is more serious than the actual commission of it (a thought attributed to Nachmanides by the author in his book Kad Hakemach), is that the author of the statement had in mind the satisfaction one derives from having carried out the sin. The fact that the perpetrator still thinks about the sin as an accomplishment results in his punishment becoming harsher. According to this interpretation no penalty accrues to the contemplation of a sin not carried out. The author, in his volume Kad Hakemach, reasons that seeing that we do not have control of our thoughts, we cannot be held culpable for them. [I am quoting from Rabbi Chavel's notes, seeing I have neither seen the comment by Nachmanides nor the author's book Kad Hakemach. Ed.] This is based on the statement of our sages in Kidushin 40 that God does not combine the sinful thought with the actual performance of the evil deed. There is no penalty for the thought. This is also supported by a verse in Psalms 66,18: "Had I an evil thought in my mind, the Lord would not have listened." The only exception to this rule is contemplating idolatry. Such thoughts are punishable even if not carried out, as it states in Ezekiel 14,5: "Thus I will hold the House of Israel responsible for their thoughts, because they have all been estranged from Me through their fetishes."