30 Sep YAMIM NORAIM: 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.