Forsake Evil and do Good - The Jewish Year
The pasuk in Tehillim (34) says: Sur Mera ve’asei tov – foresake evil and do good. This can be understood on a basic level as stated. It can also be expounded as referring to the negative and positive mitzvos.
Through deeper analysis, one can extract from this pasuk a fundamental principle of Torah. This principle is so important it is the founding principle underlying the Jewish calendar.
Sur mera refers to Pesach. Pesach is about ridding ourselves of chometz, which in the spiritual realm equates to arrogance, the source of all evil. The story of Pesach revolves around exodus from the physical capital of spiritual impurity and evil, Mitzrayim. (One of the Egyptian gods was called ra.)
Aseh tov refers to Sukkos. The preparation for Sukkot begins with Elul and the theme is doing one more mitzvah to try and balance the scale to good. The practice of good follows through the Yamim Neorayim (Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur) and culminates in the positive mitzvos of Sukkos. Through this we are able to attain a level of simcha, true spiritual joy (Zman Simchaseinu,) which is the purest state of good.
So we have the distancing from evil on the one hand and the doing good on the other. Could we just adopt one and not the other?
The former in the extreme, is asceticism which might condone self-harm and inhuman punishment for transgression. The latter, in extreme could lead to licentiousness and lack of a moral compass.
What is the pole around which these opposing elements spin to maintain universal equilibrium? The Vav. Vav is the letter that represents Emes (truth.) It is straight with no interruptions. Vav is Shavuos (Vav Sivan,) the celebration of giving of Torah which is Emes. Torah alone provides us the correct balance between sur mera and aseh tov.
The pasuk reveals to us the order for attainment of spiritual perfection in the world of action as delineated by the Jewish year.
First forsake evil – what Chazal call Milchamta De’yetzer (battle with the evil inclination.)
Next do good - Milchamta De’Torah (battle of Torah) toil to acquire Torah, the source of all good
Through Torah we acquire the balance between distancing from bad and doing good – Milcahamta de’emes (battle of truth.)
So this pasuk, which, at face value seems a simple word of advice, contains within it the underlying foundation of all Torah.