Reply To: Not Sinning For Lack of Opportunity

Rabbi Avigdor Miller used to say something along the lines of:

If one sees a dead animal in the street (cat, squirrel, etc), he should say ‘Hashem I am not going to eat that animal, because You commanded me not to eat it [due to it being a non-kosher animal or nevela]’. One who verbalizes his intentions will then receive a Schar (reward) for his avoidance. If he just walks by, although he surely has no desire to eat the animal, he will not receive any reward for his avoidance of eating it.

So, should I say at every available opportunity “HaShem, I’m not performing the Ov or Yid’oni rituals now because You commanded me not to. I’m not giving my children to Molech because You commanded me not to. I’m not breaking the bones of the Korbon Pesach because You commanded me not to. I’m not bowing down to an Asheira becuase You commanded me not to…?”

The reason I ask is because, in all these instances, I couldn’t do it even if I wanted to. No one today knows how the Ov and Yid’oni rituals work. There are no more Asheirahs or Molech cults, and so on.

If your twelve year old kid came to you and said “I was a good boy today, tatty, I didn’t launch any nuclear missles at any nations today,” is that a statement truly worthy of some reward?

The Wolf