"You shall set up judges and law enforcement officials for yourself in all your cities [in all of your gates]". (Devarim 16:18)
Successful Commitments
Dovid HaMelech wrote (Tehilim 119:106), "I swore and I fulfilled, to keep the judgments of Your righteousness". Chazal (Nedarim 8a) explained that this pasuk teaches us, that we are allowed to commit ourselves to performing a mitzvah through an oath.
In fact, the Shulchan Aruch rules (Yoreh Deah, 203:6) that if the Yetzer Harah is trying to tempt a person to sin or to be negligent in performing one of the positive mitzvos, he has a Mitzvah to vow and make an oath to be diligent in protecting and observing that mitzvah.
The early classic mussar works explain, that the primary purpose of "vows" is for the sake of a mitzvah; when a person is inspired to change their lives through teshuva, and to strengthen their faith in Hashem and His Torah, but they begin to feel that teshuva is such a difficult process that they will not have the fortitude to continue through the process for very long. In this situation, a person should forbid his wayward behavior through a vow or oath, and the power of that vow will help him overcome his Yetzer Harah and to successfully return to Hashem through teshuva.
Therefore, when men, women and children would seek my guidance in strengthening their spirituality, I would ask them to verbally articulate that they promise to perform a specific mitzvah. And, I can testify that I have seen thousands upon thousands of Jews – those who promised to observe a certain mitzvah – successfully fulfill that mitzvah completely through the strength of that verbal promise.
"I quit smoking!"
Yet, some people, despite their promise, were still unable to overpower the temptations of their Yetzer Harah who convinced them that it was acceptable to violate their promise when the situation became slightly difficult. Or, the Yetzer Harah persuades them that, due to accidental circumstances beyond their control, they are no longer obligated to their commitment. In the end, they forget that they even made a promise.
However, there is an effective strategy to counter this Yetzer Harah: when a people commit to making a positive change in their life, they should make that resolution known to everyone in their social circle. They should tell their rabbi, their family and their friends. Therefore, when they are challenged by the Yetzer Harah, they will remain committed; motivated to avoid the embarrassment of everyone seeing them renege on their commitment.
When Rav Eliyahu Dessler, zt"l, was the mashgiach of the Ponavitch Yeshiva, he was a regular smoker. However, when he learned that smoking was unhealthy, he made a resolution to stop. He told everyone in his household that he had decided to quit smoking and whenever someone greeted him, Rav Dessler would let them know immediately that he had quit smoking.
He was a private person who typically concealed his personal conduct from the public, and this behavior was unusual for him. Therefore, one of his close associates inquired about it. Rav Dessler answered: "Smoking is a difficult habit to break. Many people who quit, later start smoking again. I was trying to think of a way to make quitting easier. Then, I realized that if I told everyone that I had quit, it would be too embarrassing to start smoking again. The fear of being embarrassed helped me to quit."
"A fire in Amram's house!"
This power of embarrassment is founded in the laws of yichud that forbid a man from being alone with a woman who is not his wife; a situation which can awaken a very powerful Yetzer Harah and a desire that can lead to impure thoughts and sinful actions. Therefore, a person should always be careful that another man is present. The potential shame and embarrassment of being seen doing anything remotely inappropriate will protect him from transgressing, as the Gemara explains (Kiddushin 80b) and the Shulchan Aruch rules (Aven HaEzra 148:2).
Chazal relates (Kiddushin 81a) that some Jewish women were taken captive. There was one pious Jew, Rav Amram Chasida, who worked to have them released. When they were freed, he brought them to his home in Neharde'a and arranged for them to sleep in his attic.
They removed the heavy ladder, that only ten men together could lift, to prevent men from climbing up after them to the attic. Whenever one of them passed by the entrance to the upper chamber, it was as though a light shone in the aperture due to her great beauty. Out of his desire for her, Rav Amram grabbed the ladder, lifted it on his own and began climbing.
Halfway up the ladder, he regretted what he was doing, and he screamed, "There is a fire in Amram's house!"
Everyone in the neighborhood came running to help extinguish the fire. Indeed, this was how Rav Aram completely eradicated the spiritual fire of desire being flamed by his Yezter Harah. From the moment he regretted his actions he wanted to create a scenario that would empower him to overcome any further temptations of his Yetzer Harah. Therefore, he did whatever he could to gather as many people there as possible so that he would be embarrassed to sin before them.
Let them know
This strategy will work for every Jew whether they are home, on vacation or wherever they may go. A person should make it known that they are Torah observant or have accepted a certain commitment to change their behaviors.
This creates a dynamic where it becomes extremely embarrassing to fail in that commitment. No one wants to be seen as unstable or for those around him to think that he lacks principles; that he can't keep his word. And, if he forgets his commitments for whatever reason, someone will remind him.
This is the advice that Hashem provides in this pasuk. "You shall set up judges and law enforcement officials for yourself". A Jew needs to make people around him like his "judges" and "law enforcement officials", by letting them know the laws and the commitments that he accepted upon himself.
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