An Answer to an Excellent Comment

I received an excellent comment that was not possible to answer in one liners, but deserved my utmost attention.  So, I decided to cover the subjects in the comment in a separate post.

The comment from my dear friend Anonymous (I sure hear from him or her often):

I was wondering if you could possibly clarify a term I hear so much but it is not really clear to me what it means. The comment that made me wonder whether we ourselves are Erev Rav chas ve shalom is: The truth is Hashem not only takes care of people who are totally observant (not Erev Rav who only pretend)
Since as Baale Teshuva I feel we are working really hard to be observant but it doesn't always come naturally and then when you have those moments that it doesn't come from the heart, you often times feel you pretend indeed. Look forward to your explanation in a search for the truth.  

My response:

The Erev Rav was a Mixed Multitude of people of various nationalities who insincerely converted to Judaism and accompanied the Jews out of Egypt.  They saw that Egypt was devastated and that the true power of the world was with Hashem.  Their attachment to the Jewish people is viewed negatively since they only wished, for very personal and greedy reasons,  to accompany the power and wealth, jump on the band wagon, so to speak.  Everybody likes to be with winners, not losers.  They were only for their own benefit and had no true feelings for Hashem or the Jewish people.  Because their intentions for joining the Jewish people were not sincere, they therefore were very troublesome. They caused the Jewish people to sin with the Golden Calf and were a stumbling block in other trials during the wandering in the desert.  According to the Zohar, there will be traces of the Erev Rav in every generation and they will only cease to exist when Moshiach comes.

That lets us know that the Erev Rav is truly with us today.  Many of the leaders of Israel, and all the other countries of the world, demonstrate the characteristics of the Erev Rav.  Their concern for following the ways of Hashem are almost non-existent and even their concern for the Jewish people is questionable.  I have stated many times that Hashem has provided us with such leadership on purpose to cause us to turn to him and do Teshuvah.  The perfect plan of Hashem is working and will result in the true leadership of Hashem, through His Moshiach, and the end of the Erev Rav forever.

The comment made by Rav Nir Ben Artzi, shlita is alluding to fact that we cannot always distinguish true Jews, true followers of Hashem, from the Erev Rav.  There are Jews who talk a good game about their sincerity towards the Torah, but their true feeling is to satisfy their own greedy and even evil agenda.  Of course, Hashem knows the truth about each one of us and our intentions towards His truth.  We may be able to fool our fellow citizen on Earth, even our own family members, but when the time comes, Hashem will sort it out, measure for measure, and give each one of us our due reward or punishment (for eternity).  Pretending to be righteous, when one may have more Erev Rav or even Amalek in him of herself, is foolhardy, even dangerous.  It could be a future killer for you and your loved ones.

So far as being a Baal Teshuvah.  I have good news and I have good news.  First the good news.  You are not alone.  All of us returning to Hashem and wanting to do His will correctly have the same concerns and trepidations.  Are we doing enough, are we doing things correctly?  If you have the attitude that you are concerned about not handling the beautiful gift of serving Hashem correctly, then you should consider yourself fortunate and successful.  As mentioned above the two faced Erev Rav say one thing and do another; they have little concern for doing the right thing.  Your concern is well known by Hashem and is greatly appreciated.  Even better, Hashem helps those who want to do His will, but are not totally confident that they are doing it correctly.  That brings us to the good news.  Hashem does not judge us by what we know, He judges us by how we grow.  If we have the right intentions and show a passion for wanting to follow His ways, we will be totally successful and find the true happiness that comes about from following His ways (for eternity).

My advice is to take it slowly.  We are creatures of habit.  To rush in and want to do everything immediately, requiring much change in our lives, will lead to failure.  By doing things slowly and adding on mitzvot at a very comfortable pace, you won’t even notice the change but will notice the great improvement in your life.  As an example: to do all of the prayers from the start is uncomfortable, but to start out with about 5 minutes and add on prayers, a couple of minutes at a time, you don’t even notice the difference and feel very accomplished with your effort. 

Hashem’s mercy is infinite and totally there for our benefit and help.  That is more good news.