In addition to this issue of Hamaayan, please enjoy the Hamaayan Haggadah:
Volume 1
Volume 2
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Rabbi Sanford H. Shudnow and family
in memory of his father
Mr. Phillip S. Shudnow
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and grandfather
Hyman S. Shudnow
(Haim ben R’ Shneur Zalman a”h)
whose yahrzeits fall on Erev Pesach
We read in this week’s Parashah (7:37), “This is the Torah / teaching of the Olah-offering, the Mincha-offering, the Chatat-offering, and the Asham-offering; and the Milu’im/ inauguration-offerings, and the feast Shelamim-offering.” Based on this verse, the Gemara (Menachot 110a) teaches that if one engages in studying the Torah of one of these Korbanot / sacrificial offerings, it is as if he had brought that Korban.
R’ Yitzchak Weiss z”l Hy”d (rabbi of Verbau, Slovakia; killed in the Holocaust) quotes earlier works which teach that studying about a Korban counts as offering it only if the study is accompanied by deep disappointment over one’s inability to offer the sacrifice in practice. Those commentaries offer a Mashal / analogy: A king instructed two servants to perform a task that was impossible. One of them said immediately, “I’m sorry, your majesty, but that is impossible.” The other said nothing; instead, he gave a great deal of thought to how it might be possible, nevertheless, to perform the task, and he was very perturbed at his inability to perform it successfully. It is only about the latter type of person, writes R’ Weiss, that our Sages say, “If one thought of performing a Mitzvah and was prevented from doing so by circumstances beyond his control, it is considered as if he performed it.” That is not true if one just throws up his hands and does not give the “lost” Mitzvah a second thought.
A Midrash teaches: Rabbi Yose ben Kisma’s students asked him, “When is Mashiach coming?” He answered, “This is the Torah of the Olah-offering.” In light of the above, we can understand this Midrash, R’ Weiss writes. When we study the laws of the Korbanot with true pain at our inability to offer them, then we will merit to have the Bet Hamikdash rebuilt and to offer Korbanot. (Si’ach Yitzchak)
“Command Aharon and his sons . . . The Kohen shall don his fitted linen tunic, and he shall don linen breeches on his flesh; he shall separate the ash of what the fire consumed of the Olah-offering on the Altar, and place it next to the Altar.” (6:2-3)
Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Pekudah z”l (Spain; early 11th century) writes that one of the things that can easily interfere with serving Hashem with pure intentions is the feeling of pride that can come from performing a Mitzvah well--especially an important or prominent Mitzvah. Conversely, there is nothing that demonstrates a person’s subjugation to Hashem more than performing Mitzvot with humility, or what R’ Bachya calls “Keni’ah” / “submission.”
When a person’s true motivation is to serve Hashem, he will not care how honorable the task appears to be or whether performing it will elevate his stature in the eyes of those who see him. Instead, his only interest will be whether he is performing G-d’s Will. It is to make this point that Hashem commanded Aharon, the High Priest, to clean the ashes off the altar--i.e., to take out the garbage--every single morning, R’ Bachya writes. (Chovot Ha’levavot: Sha’ar Ha’keni’ah ch.6)
Rabbeinu Yonah Gerondi z”l (1210-1263; Spain) writes in a related vein: The Kohen was commanded to wear the splendorous Priestly Garments when he collected the ashes in order to make the point that a person is most honorable when he is fulfilling Hashem’s Will, even if the specific task he is doing is seemingly a demeaning one. (Derashot U’perushei Rabbeinu Yonah p.185)
“Speak to Bnei Yisrael, saying, ‘Kol cheilev / Any fat of oxen, sheep, or goats--you shall not eat’.” (7:23)
The Gemara (Yoma 74a) derives from the words “Kol cheilev” / “Any fat” that, although a person is not punished for consuming less than a Kezayit / olive measure of prohibited fat, it is nevertheless prohibited to consume even “Chatzi shiur” / a fraction of a Kezayit.
R’ Don Segal shlita (Yerushalayim and Brooklyn, N.Y.; a leading contemporary teacher of Mussar) writes: Based on the above, we can likewise interpret the Mishnah (Avot 1:6), “One should judge Kol ha’adam favorably,” to mean that one should always look for even a fraction, a small aspect, of another person that he can view favorably and praise. (Chovat Ha’adam Al Iggeret Ha’Ramban p.59, n.35)
R’ Nachman of Breslov z”l (1772-1810; Ukraine) writes: Know that one must judge every Jew favorably. Even if someone is completely wicked, others must search for and find in him some little bit of good, some little way in which he is not wicked. By doing so, one can actually cause the wicked person to repent.
We read (Tehilim 37:10), “Just a little longer and there will be no wicked one; you will contemplate his place and he will not be there.” King David is encouraging us here not to be jealous of the wicked, for their existence is temporary. R’ Nachman interprets this verse, in addition, as an instruction to judge others favorably: “Just a little bit and there is no wicked one”--even if a person is thoroughly wicked, how is it possible that he has no good in him? Surely he has done a Mitzvah or something good in his lifetime! Find that “little bit” of him that is not wicked, and focus on that good in him. In this way, you will elevate him such that he will eventually repent completely. (The unity and good feelings that one creates by finding the good in others binds their souls together such that the soul of the righteous person can influence the soul of the wicked person.) If you find that “little bit,” says the verse, there will be no “wicked one.” (Note that R’ Nachman is not advocating whitewashing a wicked person’s deeds, nor is he encouraging direct interaction with the wicked person. Rather, from a distance, identify some good in the person, some way in which he is not wicked, and thereby elevate him.)
R’ Nachman interprets the next part of the verse in this vein, as well: “Contemplate his place and he will not be there”--when you contemplate the wicked person’s place after focusing on the little bit of good in him, he will no longer be in that place, for he will be on his way to repentance.
R’ Nachman adds: Likewise, a person must find some goodness in himself as well, no matter how many faults he knows he has. (Likkutei Moharan #282, with the commentary Ne’imot Netzach)
“This is the Torah / teaching of the Olah-offering, the Mincha-offering, the Chatat-offering, and the Asham-offering; and the Milu’im / inauguration-offerings, and the feast Shelamim-offering, which Hashem commanded Moshe on Har Sinai, on the day He commanded Bnei Yisrael to bring their offerings to Hashem, in the Wilderness of Sinai.” (7:37-38)
R’ Tzvi Abba Gorelick z”l (Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Gedolah Zichron Moshe in South Fallsburg, N.Y.; died 2010) asks: For what purpose does the Torah appear to repeat itself? First it says, “Which Hashem commanded Moshe,” and then it seems to repeat, “On the day He commanded Bnei Yisrael.” Also, why does the verse first refer to Har Sinai and then to the Wilderness of Sinai.”
He explains: Our verse refers to two different aspects to the Korbanot--first, offering them in practice, and second, studying their laws. (See the front page of this issue.) Offering the Korbanot was expressly commanded at “Har Sinai.” As for studying the offerings’ laws, our Sages say that a person who studies Torah should “make himself like a wilderness,” i.e., he should distance himself from distractions. Therefore, the second aspect of the Korbanot is alluded to by the “Wilderness of Sinai.” (Pirkei Mikra)
Pesach
“For a seven-day period shall you eat Matzot, but on the previous day Tashbitu / you shall nullify the leaven from your homes.” (Shmot 12:15)
R’ Moshe ben Maimon z”l (Rambam; 1135-1204; Spain and Egypt) writes: What is this Hashbatah (“Tashbitu”) of which the Torah speaks? It is that a person should nullify it [i.e., the Chametz] in his heart and consider it to be equivalent to dust; that he should fix in his heart [the idea] that he owns no Chametz, and that any Chametz in his possession is ownerless and of no use to him. (Hil. Chametz U’Matzah 2:2)
R’ Shalom Noach Berezovsky z”l (1911-2000; Slonimer Rebbe in Yerushalayim) writes: How does this process work? All year long, a person lives on Chametz! How can he nullify it just like that?
He answers: The depth of the matter is that nullifying the Chametz means nullifying one’s will before Hashem’s Will. All year long, a person eats Chametz because that is what Hashem “commanded”--i.e., that is how He set up the world. When Pesach arrives, when Hashem commanded that Chametz not be eaten, one nullifies his own will before Hashem’s Will such that he does not even desire Chametz. He nullifies it as if it were dust.
The Slonimer Rebbe writes further: That is the essence of a Jew’s service of Hashem: to nullify himself before Hashem. That is the idea, as well, behind the Korbanot / sacrificial offerings--the subject of the Torah reading at this time of year. How does a Korban atone for a one’s sin? Sin results when a person focuses on himself--on his own physical urges, his honor, feelings of jealousy, etc. When one brings a Korban and visualizes that everything that is being done to the animal rightly should be done to him--giving himself to Hashem to the extent the Torah permits--he thereby corrects the root of his misdeed. (Netivot Shalom: Vayikra p.11)
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