Jonah and the Town Assembly
Eliezer, freshly arrived in a town where he knew no one, had a singular priority: to stay out of trouble. He was far from home, with no family or friends to fall back on, and in this unfamiliar place, that made all the difference. He kept his distance from the powerful and wealthy, mindful not to step on any toes that could crush him under their weight.
But as for the common folk—the everyday townspeople and the poor, especially—well, they couldn’t really hurt him, could they? So Eliezer wasn’t shy about being a little less careful in his dealings with them. After all, they had no influence, no power. Or so he thought.
Then one day, a neighbor—one of those "common folk" Eliezer had been so dismissive of—got into a heated argument with him. The neighbor, not one to back down easily, demanded that the whole town weigh in on who was right. An assembly was called, and suddenly, Eliezer found himself in the middle of a full-blown town trial.
Can you imagine the scene? Eliezer, who had previously ignored the poor and acted as though they were invisible, now found himself scrambling to switch gears. The stakes had shifted. So, in an instant, he began treating everyone with the utmost respect. A polite nod here, a friendly word there. The wealthy? Still important, of course. But now the poor? They were powerful too. They had a vote, and they could sway the outcome of his case.
Times of Judgement
This is exactly what the Torah warns us about: "When a camp goes out against your enemies, you shall beware of everything evil" (Deut. 23:10).
War, the Torah reminds us, is not like peace. In times of peace, we can afford to take a step back, to evaluate, and to weigh the gravity of our mistakes. Some missteps are large, demanding immediate action; others are minor, small enough to let pass without too much worry. In the calm of daily life, there’s room to sort things out, to put mistakes into perspective.
But in times of war, the rules change. Every mistake, no matter how small, carries weight. The Torah urges us to be vigilant, to “beware of everything evil.” This is a call to heightened awareness. When danger looms, we cannot afford to ignore even the smallest fault. Every detail matters.
When we stand before God during the High Holidays, we too find ourselves in a kind of spiritual "war." It’s not a battle against external enemies, but against internal ones: bad habits, weaknesses, and shortcomings. Just as Eliezer realized that he needed to treat even the humblest townspeople with respect—because each had the power to determine his fate—we must recognize that every small misstep in our lives has consequences. We must treat our actions and mistakes with care, because, in the end, it is the sum of those small moments that will shape our judgment.
During these days of teshuvah, we should be mindful of "everything evil." Every effort to correct our wrongs and improve ourselves has the power to shift our course and make us worthy of the new year ahead.
(Adapted from Ohel Yaakov, Ki Tzetzei 11).
