Mistakes were made, but not by me TB Sanhedrin 107

 Today’s daf TB Sanhedrin 107 presents the rabbinic back story to King David’s affair with Bathsheba (II Samuel 11-12). The rabbis couldn’t conceive that King David would commit such a grievous sin as committing adultery with another man’s wife.

According to the Gemara King David wanted God to test him. “Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: A person should never bring himself to undergo an ordeal, as David, king of Israel, brought himself to undergo an ordeal and failed. David said before God: Master of the Universe, for what reason does one say in prayer: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, and one does not say: God of David? God said to David: They have undergone ordeals before Me, and you have not undergone an ordeal before Me. David said before Him: Examine me and subject me to an ordeal, as it is stated: “Examine me, Lord, and subject me to an ordeal; try my kidneys and my heart” (Psalms 26:2).

“God said to him: I will subject you to an ordeal, and I will perform a matter for you that I did not perform for the Patriarchs, as for them, I did not inform them of the nature of the ordeal, while I am informing you that I will subject you to an ordeal involving a matter of a married woman, with whom relations are forbidden. Immediately, it is written: “And it came to pass one evening that David rose from his bed” (II Samuel 11:2).” (Sefaria.org translation) As you well know, King David succumbed to his yetzer hara, slept with Bathsheba, and had her husband Uriah the Hittite killed in battle when he discovered that Bathsheba was pregnant with his child.

According to Rava King David then rationalized away his sin. “Rava taught: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Against You, only You, have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your eyes; that You are justified when You speak, and right when You judge” (Psalms 51:6)? David said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: It is revealed and known before You that if I sought to suppress my evil inclination, I would have suppressed it; but I said: I will sin, so that they will not say a servant overcame his master and withstood the ordeal even though God said that he would not.

“Rava taught: What is the meaning of that which is written: “For I am ready to stumble [letzela] and my pain is always before me” (Psalms 38:18)? Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, was designated as fit for David from the six days of Creation. Rava interprets that the term letzela is referring to Eve, who was taken from the side [tzela] of Adam, the first man, and explains that she was destined for him, just as Eve was destined for Adam. But she came to him through pain. And likewise, the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, was designated as fit for David, but he partook of her unripe, before the appointed time. David would have ultimately married her in a permitted manner after the death of Uriah.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Carol Tarvis and Elliott Aronson in their book Mistakes Were Made (but not by me): why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts explain that cognitive dissonance is the engine of self-justification. “The engine that drives self-justification, the energy that produces the need to justify your actions and decisions-especially the wrong ones-is the unpleasant feeling that Festinger called ‘cognitive dissonance.’ Cognitive dissonance is a state of tension that occurs when a person holds to cognitions (ideas, attitudes, beliefs, opinions) that are psychologically inconsistent with each other…” (Page 17)

Nobody wants to live with such tension; consequently they self-justifying their actions. “Self-justification has costs and benefits. By itself, is not necessarily a bad thing. It lets us sleep at night. Without it, we would prolong the awful pangs of embarrassment. We would torture ourselves with regret over the road not taken or over how badly we navigated the road we did take. We would agonize the aftermath of almost every decision: Did we do the right thing, married the right person, buy the right house, choose the best car, enter the right career? Yet mindless self-justification, like quicksand, can draw us deeper into disaster. It blocks our ability to even see our errors, let alone correct them. It distorts reality keeping us from getting all the information we need in assessing issues clearly. It prolongs and widens and rifts between lovers, friends, and nations. It keeps us from letting go of unhealthy habits. It permits the guilty to avoid taking responsibility for their deeds. And it keeps many professionals from changing outdated attitudes and procedures that can harm the public.” (Page 11-12)

We see a prime example of this behavior in the aftermath of the greatest security breach in our country’s history when top Trump administration officials mistakenly disclosed war plans in a messaging group that included a journalist shortly before the U.S. attacked Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis. Nobody is taking responsibility for such a breach that endangered the lives of our servicemen. When Trump was asked if anyone would be fired as a result of the firestorm, he responded: "We've pretty much looked into it. It's pretty simple, to be honest ... It's just something that can happen. It can happen."

At the outset of cognitive dissonance self-justification protects our certainties, self-esteem, and our group affiliations. Admitting a mistake and in choosing the difficult but courageous and ethical decisions to resist the easy path has immense consequences for our lives and our country. (Mistakes Were Made, Page 13)

I encourage everybody to read this book.