Friends

Parshas Shemini

Posted on March 28, 2019 (5779) By Rabbi Pinchas Avruch | Series: Kol HaKollel | Level: Beginner

“The sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, each took his fire pan, they put fire in them and placed incense upon it; and they brought before G-d an alien fire that He had not commanded them. A fire came forth from before G-d and consumed them, and they died before G-d.” (Vayikra/Leviticus 10:1-2) At this moment of great intimacy between G-d and the Jewish Nation, they were, Rashbam (1) explains, motivated to bring the daily incense that Moshe had not yet told anyone to bring.

 

They were unaware that Moshe was waiting for a Heavenly Fire to descend and consume the incense, to have an even greater sanctification of the Divine Name. How could two so righteous individuals have made such a tragic miscalculation?

 

The Medrash Yalkut Shimoni (#524) expounds that “each took his fire pan” indicates that each took his on his own without consulting one another. Each thought they were fulfilling G-d’s will with this bold step. As people of great spiritual measure – as Moshe consoled his brother, “Of this did G-d speak, saying ‘I will be sanctified by those nearest to me…'” (v.3) – they must have given the act great forethought. How would consultation have altered the result? After great contemplation they both came to the same conclusion that it was a great act of piety to bring this alien fire. Would not that conclusion have been further solidified had they consulted with one another?

 

Rabbi Alter Henach Leibowitz (2) explains that the give and take of conversation is not merely an opportunity to confirm previously determined rationales. Rather, the reduction of thoughts and emotions to clear, concise expressions and the verbalization of one’s reasoning and justification compels one to delve deeper into the issue until he discovers the core truth.

 

Indeed, Pirkei Avos (Ethics of the Fathers, 6:6) states that one of the forty-eight essential qualities for acquisition of Torah is “friends attentive to detail”. Generally, this is thought of as referring to friends who will correct errors.

 

But from our situation, concludes Rabbi Leibowitz, we comprehend another facet. When one has a friend with whom he can share and discuss his thoughts, the friend’s attention to detail will oblige the speaker to clarify the issues and arrive at the truth.

 

Have a Good Shabbos!

 

Where Heaven Meets Earth

Parshas Shemini

Posted on March 23, 2022 (5782) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

Purim is an intensely spiritual twenty-four hours, occupying a higher spiritual realm than even Yom Kippur The elevated frame of mind that is meant to accompany this holy day is unparalleled in the Jewish calendar.

 

The challenge of embracing the spiritual while satisfying the physical is a reflection of the delicate tightrope we are expected to walk throughout our lives-finding a harmonious balance between body and soul.

 

This is one of the major themes of this week’s Torah portion.

 

The first half of the Parsha describes the inauguration of the mishkan in which Nadav and Avihu, the two sons of Aharon, meet an untimely, tragic end. In their great zeal to serve their Creator, they rushed into the Temple with an offering which they were not commanded to bring-an act that invoked immediate Divine retribution.

 

The second major theme of this week’s portion revolves around the various foods that are prohibited. The Torah calls the ingestion of crawling, creeping insects an abomination that defiles the body and forms a barrier between the soul and its heavenly source.

 

The juxtaposition of these two themes tells us much about our mission in life. We are not to live an abstinent life, denying basic human needs to enable the soul to transcend the body. Nor are we to indulge the body in its every physical whim. Instead, we are taught to achieve a singular marriage of body and soul that has the power to forge a wholesome relationship with our Divine Source.

 

All of this is summed up in the last verse of the Torah portion in which Hashem instructs us to create a havdala, separation, between the pure and the impure, between what we are permitted to eat and what we are not.

 

The great Torah sage, Rabbi Meir Shapiro, was once asked his impression of American Jewry after his visit to the United States. In his incisive style he responded, “Here, they know how to make kiddush but they do not know how to make havdala.”

 

Yes, we are quick to embrace that which is sanctified, yet we are not as ready to abstain from that which is profane. To make the division between right and wrong, pure and impure, is indeed one of the greatest challenges of our time.

 

The current worship of “moral equivalence” and humanistic values that try to erase the distinctions between moral and immoral, holy and profane, clears the way for all kinds of degenerate behavior. These hollow rationalizations cannot stand the test of time.

 

The litmus of one’s true humanity is the ability to create the wholesome marriage of body and soul where one first makes “havdala,” differentiating between that which is illusory and transitory and that which is real, solid and eternal. Only then, will we be capable of making Kiddush and becoming a truly holy people.

 

Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos