What Did The Chatam Sofer Ztl Say About Leniency?

The Chatam Sofer Ztl, in his sefer Derashot, Regarding slichot, page 48, he says: in sefer Devarim, the book of Deuteronomy, in chapter 29, verse 17, it says: "פֶּן־יֵ֣שׁ בָּ֠כֶ֠ם אִ֣ישׁ אֽוֹ־אִשָּׁ֞ה א֧וֹ מִשְׁפָּחָ֣ה אוֹ־שֵׁ֗בֶט אֲשֶׁר֩ לְבָב֨וֹ פֹנֶ֤ה הַיּוֹם֙ מֵעִם֙ י-י, אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ לָלֶ֣כֶת לַֽעֲבֹ֔ד אֶת־אֱלֹהֵ֖י הַגּוֹיִ֣ם הָהֵ֑ם פֶּן־יֵ֣שׁ בָּכֶ֗ם שֹׁ֛רֶשׁ פֹּרֶ֥ה רֹ֖אשׁ וְלַֽעֲנָֽה" Long verse, haKadosh barachu says: "Perhaps, there is among you a man, or a woman, or a family, or a tribe, whose heart turns away today from being with haShem, our God, to go and serve the "Gods" of those nations Perhaps there is among you a root, flourishing with gall and wormwood. So the Chatam Sofer Ztl, says: "Why is the Torah lengthening this sentence so much?" I mean, it's three lines! Well, just bottom line, it says, "Is any one of you worshipping idols?" Because we need some shish-kebab on the barbecue, and the beit haMikdash will put you there if you want. Anyone of you are worshipping idols: Yoshke (Jesus), Buddha, something - any one of you? Chatam Sofer Ztl asks! The question: What's the whole thing? Is it one of you, or somebody's family, somebody's father, or mother, or tribe, or this, or that? [Uh-wah uh-wah] Just say: anyone worshipping idols, takhles [?], bottom line, get to the bottom line. What's the extra? Chatam Sofer Ztl says: Chatam Sofer Ztl says, "Because the reality of the questions being asked right now is not about idolatry, it's about the process of idolatry, how do you get to idolatry? The Chatam Sofer Ztl says: Are you involved with any simple leniencies, that will eventually get you to become an idol worshiper? Where a person says: "Nah, this mitzvah, You know, it's not a big deal. I don't have to do it 100%." "I can be lenient on this one." [... ?] "I could be lenient on that one." A guy's daughter comes there and says there: "Abba, can I go to the mall with my friends?" No, Tzaddikah, you know, we don't go to the mall. First of all that mall operates on Shabbat; everyone's a mechalel Shabbat over there, and second of all the the whole mall is full of places that are selling immodesty and pritzut and so on. That's not for Tzaddikim. "... hoh, Aba, but all my friends are going!" ... honey, you can't go to the mall, it's not for us! You... come on, you stay at the house, you know, help your ma a little bit - it's not for us to go to the mall. I mean, that's us, come on, you... "Nu, Aba! What am I gonna do all day?!" "All my friends are going!" "Nuuuh, Abba!" Okay. Okay. You know what, go quickly come back quickly. "Okay, Aba, thank you, I love you!" What's that? Small leniency! Small leniency. Why? You didn't want to get annoyed. He didn't want to get annoyed by his daughter, So, okay, go! ...to somewhere that's not really... You're supposed to go. You're not supposed to go there, but there does he go: "Well, it's not that big of a deal." Okay, her friends are going, "Her friends are going! She's not going by herself, she's not going by herself." "She's not going davka to eat non-kosher." "She's not going davka to go buy not modest clothes." "She's going with her friends!" "I want to go, I don't know, get a coffee or something, from the kosher place." "What's the big deal? Little leniency, a tiny one, [...], Rabbi?" Chatam Sofer Ztl says: "Rabbi, Everyone's doing it - [...]", he says. Chatam Sofer Ztl says: "What could I do, everyone's doing it?" "Why, you blame me? Everyone's doing it!" "This leniency. It's not such a big deal." Chatam Sofer Ztl says: ♪ Those types of leniences, ♪ ♪ where in reality, you know, it's not the right thing to do ♪ - it's allowed! Allowed! But you're not really supposed to do it. Allowed to go, we're not really supposed to go though. You know it. It's not the best thing. Allowed it - and you really shouldn't. Allowed to go, but you really shouldn't, why? It's not for you! Why? You're a Tzadik! You're trying be a Tzadik, you should be it Tzadik. You want to go to Gan Eden? Allowed, but he shouldn't do it. He says: ♪ those types of leniencies ♪ ♪ are what's gonna get the person to ♪ ♪ eventually fall when the real test shows up ♪ - and he doesn't have any defense system, why? He doesn't even limit the allowed, needless to say, that when the "not allowed" comes, he has no defense system. When the "not allowed" comes, he doesn't know how to defend themselves. She doesn't know how to defend herself and guess what: eventually, they follow the yetzer hara everywhere, and like the Gemarah masechet Shabbat says: they worship an idol. Why? If you want to be an ish kashel: you have to even restrict the allowed. Why? That's what it takes. Because when you do such a thing, you say to your daughter, "Honey, you can go to the place, that's not exactly full of religious people": don't be surprised, if, one day, she says: "Abba, I want you to meet my friend." Who's your friend? She goes to your school? "No, it's not a she, Abba." What? ... what do you mean it's not a she? "No, it's Jimmy. Jimmy, come out!" Who's Jimmy, what is that drawing on his face? "No, it's not a drawing, Abba, it's a tattoo." "Isn't Jimmy nice, and isn't he artistic?" Who's this "Jimmy"? Who's this "Jimmy", who are you Jimmy? "No, no, no, uh... hi! Sir. Hi Sir." "Hi, sir. Mister." I'm not a mister, I'm a Rabbi. "Oh, hi Rabbi, mister, hi mister Rabbi." Who's your father? "Uh, I don't know him, I don't know him." What's... what yeshivah did you go to? "I don't work in a yeshi... What is that? Is that a food?" No, a school! "Oh, no. No, I dropped. I got a GED, mister Rabbi, Sir." What? Why do you keep calling me Rabbi Sir? Are you Jewish? "No... why, I have to be Jewish?" Shimmy Soviet scene Where did you meet with me my daughter? "Oh, no, she one day came to the mall, and I was selling, you know, a jewelry," "there was a good deal, five dollars, and I saw your daughter, I thought she looked really cute." GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! "No Abba, he's my *friend*!" How many of these stories happen every single day? 80% of the Jews in America are intermarriage. That's how the story starts. One leniency. ♪ Eventually everything's gone. Intermarriage is not an accident. It's a systematic attack by the yetzer hara himself, to make you make the small mistakes. Why, so eventually, he could destroy the whole thing. And when a person says: "Nah, nu, come on, this Rabbi, you know, he's kind of entertaining..." "But it's not gonna happen to me!" שלום יהיה עלי The passuk says, "peace will be upon me" HaKadosh barachu himself says, anyone that says: "שלום יהיה עלי, I'm not gonna fall" Davka would fall, and I will not forgive him, he says. Passuk in the Torah. You have such confidence, that you can beat the yetzer hara, when I told you don't mess with him? It's not gonna happen to you? Davka it's gonna happen to you, and I'm not gonna forgive you, why? Because you had an attitude of arrogance. You didn't want to accept daat Torah. You didn't want to accept the warning from Heaven. You wanted to have your own system. [... ?] their blood is on their hands. And that's what happens on a daily basis, and you see it. You tell people don't send their kids to a mixed school. Boys and girls are studying in the same school. They're already 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 years old. It's not a good school for Jews. Should be boys one school, girls in a different school. "No, Rabbi, no, the Rabbi's there, nothing's happening." One day the boy comes home, 13 years old, "Ima I gotta tell you something." Ma? You got good grades? "No. No, it's not about my grades." What do you want honey? What's what's the matter? "You know that girl?" "I told you, the Rabbi's daughter, you know?" Yeah? "How about, how about if she was like, you know..." "Like, she brought you a grandkid. What do you think about that, Ima?" What? What... is this a joke? April Fool's? What is this, where did you learn this? You go to yeshiva. "No, it's a Jewish school, ima, it's not exactly a yeshiva." What? What are you gonna have a kid, you're still a kid yourself! "Yeah, I know, Ima, that's why I'm asking you..." "What do you think about that?" I don't think about it. It's a nightmare! Why would I want to think about it? "Well, Ima... hopefully you could change your mind. She's here and we have something to tell you..." Every day this happens, every day. These are the stories we deal with on a daily basis, and every single one of them: it's not accident. Yetzer hara has been working on it for a while. He invested in that person for 20 years, before he broke him completely One little leniency, one little party, one little cigarette. One little drive to the wrong place, one little friend that they shouldn't have had, one relationship. One anything, one thing. That's all the yetzer hara wants. One. Once he's got that one, It's like having, you know, a bug in somebody's room. You only have to plant it once. You can hear everything. They're gonna see forever. That's how it works, that's how the yetzer hara works, and the Chatam Sofer Ztl says: The biggest excuse that people have, is that it's not gonna happen to me. Why do they have such an excuse? Because they say: "Listen. I haven't done it yet." "Look at everybody else, I'm much more religious than everybody else I know." "This guy, he's not even keeping Shabbat." "That girl, she doesn't even know that she's supposed to wear clothes." "This guy doesn't even know what's kosher [.. ?]" "That guy is this, this guy's that." - what does he do? He compares, she compares herself to everybody else. That's what the Seitan is telling them to do. "Today, you're better than everybody else, why're you so worried?" "Today, you're the most religious guy in school, why're you so worried?" "Look, the rest of the class doesn't even know alephbeit, you already know how to spell." "The rest of the class doesn't keep Shabbat. You already know halachot Shabbat." "The rest of the class is doing all types of things not allowed - you? Tzaddik!" "Nu, say, you can go hang out with me. You'll do kiruv." "You'll do kiruv at the party. You'll do kiruv... at the club." Shatan plants one seed You let him in? Finished. Why? Shatan says they got you, and I'll come back whenever I want. Doesn't mean a person's guaranteed to lose, but it means that for sure, they're gonna have a test of a lifetime that they don't want. Had they protected themselves from the small ones, they would have actually been able to be strong enough for the big ones. Chatam Sofer Ztl says: It's known that people want you to do things because they say, "Listen, why is every time I ask you, you want to do this you want to do that - you say no, not allowed, not allowed." "Nu, come on. Let's have some unity!" "Why so much machloket, Rabbi?" "Why so much my look at every time, no, no no everything not allowed." "You know [... ?], death penalty, mehallel Shabbat, no, just accept everyone as they are!" "Nu Rabbi, be a little bit, eh... nu, come on, of today." Chatam Sofer Ztl says: We all know that shalom, desired by a non kosher people, is the beginning of the worst machlokets. Because a person is telling you: Make a leniency for shalom! [peace] Make a leniency to make shalom, but this is not a kosher leniency. Says, "Yeah, but you're gonna make this leniency, because you're going to avoid machlocket!" Chatam Sofer Ztl says the opposite: "That leniency that you're gonna make in order to make shalom, that's exactly what's gonna make machloket." That's exactly what's gonna cause the problems; you making that leniency, because the second you did it: the whole Torah [chas v'shalom] went into the garbage. But they're gonna tell you now, "Come on be some more liberal, why so this, why so that?" When it comes to Torah rabotai ekarim: There is no such thing. There's no such thing as: Using your own opinion; you just simply use what a Shem says, his chachamim said and nothing else. And the Chesed L'Avram, Avraham Lazulai, says people who don't make themselves Holy, by forbidding themselves the permissible, will ultimately turn the permissible into the korban for the Shatan. So much so that a person that does not pay attention to the minor details, of even things that are allowed to do today, Eventually, he's going to turn everything as simply as a korban to the Shatan, its' gonna be a full-time She's gonna be a full-time employee of the Shatan And that's unfortunately what happens every single day with religious people, not religion people, all types of people and don't even know: "What happened? How did I get so far?" - until it's so late, it's almost unrecoverable. So this is one of the things that a person needs to pay attention to, and not always necessarily look for things to make sense, or not always necessarily agree to everything the Rabbi says - It's okay, lady. It's okay. If you don't understand what the rabbi said, it's okay. It's okay if you don't think that the dress is good, but you know it's kosher, it's okay. Just do what it says, why? You're gonna win in the end. If you're going to look to be right all the time, you've already lost.