Parashat Shavua

Hemdat Yamim Parashat Tazria Mezora 5764

Hemdat Yamim Parshat Tazria-Metzora 3 Iyar 5764 ******************************************************* This edition of Hemdat Yamim is dedicated to the memory of R' Meir ben Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld o.b.m., Yitzchak Eliezer Ben Avraham Mordechai Jacobson o.b.m, *************************************************************************************** Eretz Hemdah is the premier institution for training young rabbis to take the Israeli Rabbinate's rigorous Yadin Yadin examinations. Eretz Hemdah, with its distinctive blend of Religious Zionist philosophy and scholarship combined with community service, ensures that its graduates emerge with the finest training, the noblest motivations resulting in an exceptionally strong connection to Jewish communities worldwide. *************************************************************************************************************************** Spiritual Sensitivity and Susceptibility Our two parshiyot deal with a variety of tumot, which we usually translate as impurities. Tumah comes in different forms and stems from different sources. It can come from contact with the dead or from being afflicted by tzara'at, which can loosely be translated as leprosy. Our tendency is to think that the more tamei something is, the more defiled and lowly it is. But the truth is almost the opposite, as we will briefly demonstrate. Tumah usually involves two objects. One is the source of the tumah which has the potential to bring tumah to another object (m'tamei). The recipient of the tumah is mitamei. If one looks at the halachot relating to either side of the equation, he will see that there is more tumah where there is more kedusha. Corpses are a primary source of tumah. If it is the corpse of an animal, there is a serious level of tumah (av hatumah). If the corpse is human, then there is an even higher level of tumah (avi avot hatumah). The source of the tumah is actually not something defiled but is a physical object which has lost some of its kedusha. As dignified as a corpse is and as much as we must safeguard its dignity, when the soul leaves the body, the body's spiritual level goes down. A man and a woman become tamei, respectively, when those elements that have the potential to bring new life, and with it more kedusha, are lost to the body. Even when there is a happy ending to the story and new life is created (i.e. birth), the body from where the life emanated (the mother) is bereft of that life, which will now function as a separate entity. So, the object which is m'tameh is not evil or defiled but represents a step down from a past level or potential. Stepping down is a spiritual danger, and those that come in contact must take steps not to be adversely affected by the relative letdown. Regarding recipients of tumah, we find a similar phenomenon. Regular objects become tamei only when they can become a sheni l'tumah (twice removed). Lower than that, the tumah is not "registered." But terumah can become a shlishi l'tumah (three times removed) and kodashim (sacrifices) can even become a r'vi'ee l' tumah (four times removed). This is because the more holy something is, the more sensitive and susceptible it is. Following the aforementioned thesis, we can explain as follows. The more potential something has, the more spiritually dangerous it is when its full potential is not actualized. The Torah warns us to make sure that not even the slightest level of a spiritual letdown should infiltrate those things that should remain on the highest level. As we address the main form of tumah that our parshiyot discuss, we can see that the same applies by it. Tzara'at is a painful but crucial warning system of the presence of spiritual deterioration. This system was a special gift to Bnei Yisrael to help them maintain their level. While different forms of leprosy have precedent in the natural world, the tzara'at of the house and the clothes are full miracles (Ramban on Vayikra 13:47). Therefore, only in Eretz Yisrael do the houses have the spiritual potential that would enable such laws of tumah to exist. Let us strive to maximize the potential of our homes in Eretz Yisrael by using them virtuously as the base for Torah, mitzvot, and chesed. ************************************************************************************************************************** P'ninat Mishpat – Verbal Damage We are now in the midst (according to all opinions) of the time when we commemorate the death of Rabbi Akiva's talmidim, whose sin was that they did not show respect one to another. How bad a sin could that be (and what does this have to do with Jewish civil law)? One of the major topics in Choshen Mishpat is the prohibition and the legal consequences of ona'ah (mispricing). After completing discussion of this topic, the mishna in Bava Metzia (58b) makes the following strange comparison: "Just as there is ona'ah by commercial transactions, so is there ona'ah with words." The mishna and the ensuing gemara bring examples of insults one might (but should not) make which could cause emotional pain to his counterpart. The gemara learns this from the seemingly unnecessary repetition of the phrase "lo tonu ish et amito" (Vayikra 25:17). But what is the connection between mispricing and insulting someone, which would allow Chazal to learn one from the other and compare them with the phrase, "k'shem (just like)"? What does the term "ona'ah" mean anyway? The apparent explanation is as follows. "Ona'ah" is wronging a person. We are used to the concept that stealing from someone or hurting him with "sticks and stones" is considered real damage to a person, financially and personally, respectively. But many feel that one can use cunning to take more money from a customer than is appropriate. Even though the buyer agreed to the sale (and "let the buyer beware"), the seller still violated a serious prohibition. The matter is similar when one uses his tongue in a shrewd manner to cause emotional damage. Although no one asked the subject of the statement to take it to heart, he is likely to take offense and be pained, and the speaker violates the prohibition of ona'ah. This comparison should teach us to compare the financial and emotional realms. When one wrongs his neighbor monetarily, it can often include hurt feelings, especially when the victim is previously downtrodden. In the other direction, words can certainly harm as much as, if not more than, the physical damages associated with sticks and stones. If we internalize this concept, we have attained a major portion of the lesson of the sefira period. ************************************************************************************************************************* Moreshet Shaul (from the works of Hagaon Harav Shaul Yisraeli zt"l) Reward and Punishment- part II (based on Perakim B'Machshevet Yisrael, pg. 320-2) [Last time, we concentrated on the Rambam's approach that reward and punishment in the world to come is better described as a natural result of one's spiritual state than as a result of Divine decree. One who has developed a strong spiritual side will fare better in the future, spiritual world, whereas one whose soul is sacrificed at the expense of his physical side will cease to exist when his body dies.] Nefesh Hachayim (R. Chayim of Volozhin) stresses how natural reward and punishment are in this world as well. Since he explains how a person's deeds create or destroy cosmic worlds, it only stands to reason that the deed-doer should himself be affected by his own actions. R. Yisrael Salanter and the Mesilat Yesharim explain the idea of reward and punishment in this world, which the Torah describes as physical, as follows. Reward and punishment are needed in this world to encourage and scare a person, respectively, to act as he should. In order for a person's spiritual side to win out in the inner struggles with the physical side, Hashem must provide help by addressing the physical side in a "language it can understand," with physical consequences. Rav Kook puts much emphasis on the fact that the Torah discusses only the physical consequences and that they are primarily consequences that affect the group, not the individual, such as rain or drought, peace or war, etc. Judaism is interested in the welfare, first and foremost, of the community, which takes precedence even to the lofty idea of an individual's spiritual eternity. In this purest form, religious philosophy strives to bring to the nullification of the private sphere, so that the individual will see himself as part of the nation. Just as the small lights of the stars cannot be seen while the sun is out, so too the world of the individual was downplayed as long as there was prophecy in the world. When prophecy ceased, the spiritual scope shrunk, and the encouragement to proper behavior which Chazal had to stress was on the individual side, which is of lesser significance even if it discusses the advancement of one's spiritual side. [This approach of Rav Kook helps explain his outlook on those who involved themselves in the building of Eretz Yisrael, not out of personal interest, but by negating personal interest on behalf of the community's welfare. He saw in those who looked to build a simple, pure, communal life as people inspired with a vision that was a positive throwback to the one-time tendencies of our nation. He saw a potential that this approach would expand to serving Hashem in a more pure manner, where less stress would be put on personal welfare, whether in the upper or lower Garden of Eden. Rather, people should revert to looking at good deeds not as a means to an end, but as the essence of life itself.] Reward and punishment have an important part in the moral outlook of Judaism, which sees justice as a foundation of the world and does not give value to forgiveness of sin without a basis. It would be antithetical to our beliefs if the outcome of the righteous and the wicked would be identical. That which was corrupted through the misuse of freedom of choice must be rectified by the ensuing stage of reward and punishment. ************************************************************************************************************************* Ask the Rabbi Question: If one missed a day of sefirat ha'omer and is now serving as the chazzan for Ma'ariv in a place where it is customary that the chazzan recites the sefira with a beracha out loud, may he do so? Answer: This matter has been debated by the Acharonim, and it is worthwhile to understand the various, logical arguments and their relative strength to help decide how to act. We will start with the assumption that once one misses a day of sefirat ha'omer he may not continue counting with a beracha, because the 49 days constitute one mitzva of counting (Shulchan Aruch, OC 489:8). The Pri Chadash (ad loc.:8) raises a suggestion that although the beracha is inappropriate personally, it is different if he is the congregation's representative for the public recital of sefirat ha'omer. Then the obligation and the ability to make a beracha may exist on the public level, as it does by Chazarat Hashatz, even if everyone present is capable of saying Shemoneh Esrei himself. Alternately, the Beit Halevi reportedly (see Mikraei Kodesh (Frank) Pesach II, 66) suggested that someone in the minyan can be asked to refrain from making his own beracha and be yotzei with the person who forgot a day. That way, the beracha becomes appropriate based on the rule that one can make a beracha on someone else's behalf even if the person making the beracha is not doing the mitzva for himself at that time (Rosh Hashana 29a). The Pri Chadash (ibid.) rejects these possibilities because the person who forgot a day, assuming he is unable to fulfill the mitzva of sefirat ha'omer, is akin to one who is not obligated in the mitzva. Such a person is incapable of making the beracha to be motzi someone else (Rosh Hashana, ibid.). He reasons that although the person in question is generally obligated in sefirat ha'omer, the fact that he has no practical obligation at this time, makes him equivalent to the following case. The Yerushalmi says that one whose obligation to read Megillat Esther is on 14 Adar cannot read on behalf of those who are obligated on 15 Adar. The Birkei Yosef (489:19) cites (but rejects) those who deny the Pri Chadash's comparison, as follows. In the case of megilla, the person in question has no obligation to read on that day. In contrast, our chazzan is obligated today and it is just a technical (halachic) impediment that prevents him from fulfilling the mitzva. Rav Frank (ibid.) reasons that since the Talmud Bavli posits that the responsibility to help another Jew fulfill his mitzva (arvut) makes it considered as if he has a personal obligation, the Bavli must reject the aforementioned Yerushalmi. While there is not a clear conclusion on the matter, the majority opinion seems to be like the Pri Chadash, that the person who missed a day should not use the Beit Halevi's trick to enable him to make the beracha (see Sha'are Teshuva 489:20; Yabia Omer VIII, OC 46). To the contrary, he should have in mind to be yotzei with one who has not yet missed a day. One very subjective, pertinent factor is the element of embarrassment. [As we have discussed in the past] kavod habriyot (avoiding embarrassing people, including oneself) has great, halachic weight. Thus, there are those who allow a rav who customarily does the sefira out loud and for whom it would be a disgrace to publicize that he missed a day of sefirat ha'omer, to rely on the very significant opinions among Rishonim that missing one day of sefirat ha'omer does not disqualify the mitzva thereafter (Shevet Halevi III, 96). Someone other than the rav should probably not be so embarrassed, and the rav can pasken for himself. So our suggestion would be that a regular chazzan should preferably pass on to someone else the honor of saying the sefira out loud or perhaps avoid being the chazzan during that period if he will be embarrassed. (Regarding mourners, they usually do not miss days anyway.) 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