T86 (Tinyana) PNC - Ktanei Amana — Why Avoidos Kashois and Taaniyois Are Needed

**"Da, she-al-yedei she-ha-olam heim mi-ktanei amanah, al kein heim tzrichim li-ta'anis, de-haynu avodois kashois."** Know — it is *because the world is of those small in emunah* that the world *needs* fasts and harsh avoidos. In itself, *avodas Hashem* should be possible *be-chol davar* — *ein HaKadoish Boruch Hu ba bi-troniya im beriyois'av* (Avodah Zarah 3a). HaShem does not arrive demanding the impossible. **So why,** asks Rabbeinu, **are harsh avoidos sometimes needed?** — Bechinas mah she-amru Chazal (Sanh' 74b): **"bi-she'as shemad afilu a-arkesa de-mesana yehareig ve-al ya'avoir"** — at a time of *shemad*, even over the strap of a sandal a Yid must give his life rather than transgress. Halachah-be-emes does not require martyrdom over a strap. But because this *is* a time of shemad — *u-mis-gabrim ve-rotzim daika le-ha'avirol al das u-le-haviyo li-chefirois* — and *they* are pushing precisely to dislodge him from das and pull him into kefirah — *al kein hu mukhrach li-mesoir nafsho afilu al davar kal*. The *external situation* makes the *kal-be-emes* into something requiring *all of him*.

**Two stages of broken emunah — and why the *middle* is the most dangerous.** *Ha-avodah zarah ve-ha-kefirah heim be-bechinas* (Tehillim 135:17) **"af ein yeish ru'ach ba-hem"** — *no breath at all*. That is the *zero state*: total kefirah, no ru'ach. **And the ktanei amanah heim be-bechinas "mi-kotzer ru'ach"** — *short of breath*, a *middle*: not full emunah (which is *ma'arich rucho* — patient breath, see LM I:155), and not *full kefirah* (no breath at all). They are in the *narrow* place — *ru'ach ketzarah*, breath cut short. **Shemois 6:9: "mi-kotzer ru'ach u-mei-avodah kashah"** — Rabbeinu's reading: *because* they were in *kotzer ru'ach* (small in emunah), *therefore* they needed *avodah kashah*. The avodah-kashah was the structural correction *to* the kotzer-ru'ach. Just as in *she'as shemad* (where emunah is being uprooted entirely) one must be *moiseir nefesh* even over a kal — so too in *katnus* and *pegam* of emunah, one needs *avoidoiss kashois*. The general principle: *the harder the breath gets, the harder the avodah needed to widen it.*

**Even tzaddikim can be ktanei amanah — "mi gorem la-tzaddikim"...** *Yeish kammah bechinois bi-ktanei amunah; ki yeish afilu tzaddikim she-heim ktanei amanah.* This is sober, and it is hopeful. **Sotah 48b** on the pasuk **"ki mi vaz le-yom ketanos"** (Zechariah 4:10) — *mi gorem la-tzaddikim*: *who causes (loss to) the tzaddikim*? — *katnus*, the small days, the dimmed faith even of righteous ones. Rabbeinu's gentle teaching: *do not be surprised* if you find yourself a tzaddik in many ways and yet still battling kotzer-ru'ach. The fast, the avodah kashah, the deliberate stretching of the breath — these are not failure-fines. They are *the structurally appropriate response* to the inevitable katnus that visits even the gedolim. **Take-home**: when emunah feels short, *do not negotiate with the question*; lengthen the breath by stretching the avodah. The world is *be-shaas shemad mu'at* almost always; the harshness of the avodah is *the kindness* that lifts a *kotzer-ru'ach* generation back into the *ma'arich-rucho* generation.