acharei mot
5771 פרשת אחרי מות
In this week’s Parsha, the Torah describes to us the laws of Yom Kippur especially the complex laws that deal with the special Yom Kippur service of the Kohein Gadol in the Beis Hamikdash.
The Torah tells us that the only person who can enter into the holy of holies is the Kohein Gadol on Yom Kippur. However, in order for the Kohein Gadol to enter the holy of holies he had to do it at a specific time and in a specific manner. The Torah tells us that to go into the holy of holies the Kohein Gadol had to first bring as a sacrifice a sin offering and a burnt offering. The Torah then continues and says that the Kohein Gadol should enter the holy of holies in his linen garments. Most commentaries understand that these Pesukim are discussing 2 different things.
The first Pasuk is telling us that in order to go into the holy of holies there is an active requirement that must be done which is to bring the special sacrifices. The Torah then tells us that now that the Kohein Gadol brought the sacrifices and he is permitted to enter the holy of holies, he should not go in wearing his special golden garments but rather the four linen garments worn daily by the regular Kohanim.
Rashi explains that the reason for the prohibition on wearing the gold garments into the holy of holies is that it will be a reminder to God of the sin of the golden calf. When the Kohein Gadol is coming to plead with God to forgive Bnei Yisroel for their sins, we do not want the Kohein Gadol to wear clothes made out of the same material that was involved in one of the great sins of our early history as a nation.
The Siforno, on the other hand, learns that when the Torah tells us that the Kohein Gadol has to go into the holy of holies in his linen garments, it is a requirement like the sacrifices to enable the Kohein Gadol to enter the holy of holies. The Siforno explains that the Kohein Gadol must specifically wear linen garments with no design or color of any kind.
If we look at the Siforno a little more closely we can ask the following question. We can understand why bringing the sacrifices would be a necessity for entrance into the holy of holies as through them the Kohein Gadol receives forgiveness for his sins. However, why would there be a need to wear a specific kind of garment in order to merit entering into the holy of holies?
The answer can be that the Torah is teaching us a very important lesson about how to approach God in our lives especially regarding Tefilah. The Torah is teaching us that in order to approach God properly a person should not have any airs about him and no feelings of self importance rather a person should approach God the same way Avraham Avinu did which was with a feeling that when approaching God who was so great he was like dust. Only when approaching God in this manner was the Kohein Gadol allowed entry into the holy of holies. It was this requirement that necessitated the Kohein Gadol’s wearing of the simplest clothes so that they would cause him not to approach God with even a drop of haughtiness.
If we can learn how to better approach God with our prayers we should merit having God answer all of our prayers.
5770 פרשת אחרי מות – קדושים
In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes to us how after the death of Nadav and Avihu God commanded Moshe to tell Aharon the laws that relate to the special service of the Kohein Gadol in the Mishkan on Yom Kippur. After the Torah described all the laws of the Yom Kippur service, the Torah tells us that “he did what God commanded him”.
The Ohr Hachayim explains that this Pasuk refers to the actions of both Moshe and Aharon relating to two different things. Regarding Aharon the Ohr Hachayim explains that the Torah was praising him that he did the Yom Kippur service without any feeling for his own greatness but rather he did it all because it was a Mitzvah of God.
Regarding Moshe, the Torah praised him for telling Aharon exactly what God told him to say and did not change the words at all.
If we look at this Ohr Hachayim a little more closely, we can ask the following question. The Torah praises Aharon for doing the Yom Kippur service only for the sake of God, why did the Torah praise Aharon specifically here that he did the Mitzvah only for the sake of God and not the many other Mitzvos that he did also?
Further, why specifically by the Mitzvah of the Yom Kippur service did the Torah praise Moshe that he gave it over exactly as God commanded it and not by any of the other 613 Mitzvos he taught all of Bnei Yisroel?
Regarding Aharon the reason the Torah praised Aharon specifically in relation to the Yom Kippur service is that this is the one Mitzvah that only Aharon could do and the natural tendency of a person is that when they are in a situation where they inherently appear to be on a higher level than everyone else their actions will reflect that feeling and make them do the action so they will be viewed as great and not necessarily for the right reason. This is why the Torah praised Aharon for doing the Mitzvah only for the sake of God.
Regarding Moshe, all the Mitzvos that Moshe taught Bnei Yisroel he gave over to them but he was also part of the Mitzvah. When it came to the Yom Kippur service Moshe was not allowed to do the Mitzvah and had to give it all to Aharon. The natural tendency of a person who has to give away something special for another person to do they want to put their mark on it also, Moshe even though his natural tendency would be to put his mark on the Mitzvah by saying it in his own way, he never less gave over the Mitzvah exactly the way God said it and not putting his mark on it at all.
פרשת אחרי מות – קדושים 5769
In the first several Pesukim of Parshas Kedoshim the Torah brings down three mitzvos and ends each one with the words “I am Hashem, your God.” The three Mitzvos are:
1) You should be holy 2) Fear your father and mother and keep the Shabbos and 3) Do not worship idols.
The Rabbeinu Bechai is puzzled as to why the Torah by these Mitzvos and a few others all in this week’s Parsha namely: “the commandment not to afflict a convert, having honest weights and measurement, the laws of leaving over from the fruits on the trees for the poor people, not to eat from a new fruit tree for the first 4 years, and not to go to people who divine the future for readings” all end with the same words “I am Hashem your God”.
The Rabbeinu Bechai answers that the Torah is reminding us that all the Mitzvos are given from God and the act of doing the Mitzvos testifies to the fact that the Mitzvos are from God. A person who learns Torah but doesn’t do the Mitzvos is like they are denying that the Mitzvos are from God since he does not actively do the actions that testify to the fact that they are from God. Furthermore, the truth of the Torah does not become part of someone who does not actively do the Mitzvos. It is for this reason that the Torah has to remind us that learning Torah is not enough as we also have to actively do the Mitzvos which we see from the placement of the words, “I am Hashem, your God” after these Mitzvos.
If we look at the Rabbeinu Bechai a little more closely, we can ask the following questions:
- How is it possible for a person to learn Torah and realize that it is from God and not do the Mitzvos which the Torah and God said to do?
- Why did the Torah remind us by these specific Mitzvos?
In order to answer these questions we first need to analyze what is the common denominator between these listed Mitzvos. If we look at the Mitzvos what appears to be a common strand is that in all the cases the Mitzvos are something that show the hand of God in our every day lives.
With this idea we can now answer our questions. It is actually a very natural tendency for people to feel that their lives are in their own hands (kochi Votzem yadi). Even a person who learns torah and believes it to be from God and true, the ability to make the connection between knowing that there is a God and realizing that God is truly involved in every aspect of our lives is many times difficult.
With this idea, we can now also explain why the Torah picked these specific Mitzvos on which to remind people of the importance of doing the Mitzvos since it is precisely these Mitzvos where people would have the most difficult time.
Now that we are in the middle of Sefira and counting up towards Kabbalas Hatorah we need to work on ourselves to see the hand of God in every aspect of our lives and realize that when we accept the Torah we accept every aspect of it with the knowledge that all we must do is keep all the Mitzvos with no question and whatever comes from doing the Mitzvos is from God and for our benefit.
5768 פרשת אחרי מות
Due to the death of my Rebbe, Rav Henoch Leibowitz Zt”l, on Tuesday I decided this week instead of writing about this week’s Parsha, I would write a little about how special he was to his Talmidim. I can not even begin to describe his true greatness, however through the following Chazal; I can try to express some of the special qualities I saw in my Rebbe.
In Parshas Bamidbar when the Torah describes the descendents of the Tribe of Levi, it says the following:
“These are the generations of Aharon and Moshe …. These are the names of the children of Aharon: Nadav, Avihu, Elazar and Itamar.
Rashi explains why it is that the Torah seems to be listing the generations of both Moshe and Aharon and nevertheless only lists the children of Aharon:
Since Moshe taught the children of Aharon Torah, the Torah considers it as if he was the one who bore them.
Let us try to examine this Chazal on a little bit deeper level. I can understand that if a person teaches someone else’s child Torah, he would get the merit for their Torah learning, but why should he be considered like a parent?
In order to answer this question, let us first try to understand what the responsibility is that God puts on a parent in relation to their children. We can see that from the famous Braissah in the first Perek of Mesechta Kidushin:
It is incumbent upon a father to do the following things for his son: to circumcise him, to do a Pidyon Haben, to teach him Torah, to marry him off, to teach him a trade and some add to teach him to swim.
We can ask the following question:
What do all these responsibilities have in common? Some are Mitzvos that the son could not do himself at the required time (milah and Pidyon Haben), learning Torah is something the son will actively need to be doing his whole life, others would seem to life skills (teaching a trade), while yet others would seem to be general things for the benefit of the son (getting him married).
The common denominator of all of these things is that without them, the child could not reach his potential to serve God in the proper way and to reach the proper levels of perfection in his Service of God. (To go through each idea is too long for this venue).
With this idea, we can now understand why someone who teaches someone else’s son Torah is like his parent. If the whole purpose of a parent is to assist their children to reach higher and higher levels of perfection in their service of God, then certainly someone who teaches someone Torah and helps them reach those levels can be considered as if they are his parent.
This was my Rebbe Zt”l. He not only gave us a shiur, his entire life was molding Bnei Torah and Yirei Shamayim. He taught us how to learn a Gemara and a Chazal. He was constantly aware of every Talmid’s progress and how he was doing. We always had a place to turn for Daas Torah advice. He was like a father to all of his Talmidim both through assisting them in becoming Bnei Torah but also in his caring for each and every one of us. He was able to take each student, each with his own individual strengths and weaknesses and help fulfill his individual potential in serving God to the fullest. These were just a few of the many things that made Rebbe so special to all of his Talmidim.
5767 פרשת אחרי מות – קדושים
In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes to us the Avodah of Yom Kippur. One of the laws is that when the Kohein Gadol does the Avodah in the Beis Hamikdash on Yom Kippur he does not wear his gold garments but rather those made from linnen.
Everyone is familiar with the famous question of why doesn’t the Kohein Gadol wear his golden garments when he does the Avodah on Yom Kippur?
Everyone also knows the famous answer that Rashi brings down:
The prosecutor can not become the defendant meaning that since gold was what was used in the golden calf which was one of the sins that the Mishkan came to be forgive, therefore, when theKohein Gadol did the Avodah on Yom Kippur he should not wear the golden garments.
However, there is a second less known answer brought down by the same Midrash.
The Midrash says the following:
Rabbi Levi said the reason the Kohein Gadol did not wear the golden garments when he did the Avodah on Yom Kippur is that he shouldn’t feel haughty in the house of the king.
Now let us look at this Midrash a little more closely. Who are we talking about here? We are discussing the Kohein Gadol who Chazal tell us was wealthy and a big Talmis Chacham who was picked from among all the Kohanim and he is now going into the holy of holies where no one else can go. Now you would think that if the Kohein Gadolwould be a haughty person when doing the Avodah in the Mishkan it would be because of the above-mentioned traits. However, the Midrash tells us that the Kohein Gadol even with all these traits would not have had any haughtiness but the second he put on the golden garments suddenly he would feel haughty in front of God How is it that the clothing the Kohein Gadol wears is what causes haughtiness which none of his other wonderful traits could?
The answer is that clothes which are physically on a person can have much more of an impact on them than other traits in their impact on a person’s charachter especiallywhen it comes to haughtiness.
This can teach us a very important lesson. People think what they wear has no impact on their service of God. It can have a very big impact on us.
As they say clothes make the person. A person’s clothes can make them feel better than other people or the opposite it can make them feel that they are not worth much. It can also make them feel that they are on a much higher level in their service of God than they really are. Both ways can impact our service of God. We know that we should always dress properly but we should try to make sure that if we begin to have feelings of haughtiness or feelings that we have reached high levels of spirituality that we remember that the feeling may not be the truth and could have come about due to the clothes we are wearing.
We make the Beracha every day of Malbish Arumim thatGod gives us clothes. We should use this gift to help us grow in our service of God.