Fresh Miracles or Stale Bread
Parshas
Emor
A quick thought for
the week. At the end of this week’s Torah portion, the Torah recounts the story
of the individual who committed the crime of blasphemy and uttered a vicious
curse against the Creator of the world. The Torah introduces us to the events
surrounding this saga with the cryptic words, “The son of an Israelite woman
went out” which prompts an obvious question: From where did he go out? The
Midrash offers a few answers. One interpretation explains the Midrash is that
he “went out” (he veered off the path) from a misunderstanding in the previous
section that the Torah was just discussing.
In that section (Chap
24 Verse 5), the Torah enlightens us about the miracle of the 12 fresh loaves
of bread, the ‘Lechem Haponim’, that were placed each Friday on the shulchan, a
specially crafted golden table that was located in the sanctum of the Temple.
These loaves of bread were not moved until the week’s end, when they were
distributed to the kohanim. The blasphemer looked at this week-old bread and
became annoyed at the fact that the Kohanim were offering Hashem what was
apparently old, stale bread. How does one treat the King of Kings like this? He
was so outraged at the slight to the glory of G-d that he took his anger out on
G-d Himself. He went out and blasphemed the name of G-d.
This is rather
difficult to understand. The fellow was bothered by a perceived injustice and
was standing up for the honor of G-d. How then could he have stooped to commit
an even worse affront to G-d?
The commentaries
explain that in truth,the lechem haponim bread actually miraculously stayed
warm and fresh the entire week. They didn’t decay as normal food would. In the
Temple, the rules of nature were suspended; the bread was as fresh and steaming
hot seven days later as the moment it came out of the oven.
However, this
disgruntled individual didn’t want to find out the true state of affairs. He
was under a misconception that provoked him to anger and he took the first
opportunity to vent it. Rather than step back and appraise the situation
calmly, he was looking for the closest target to dump on. He needed an excuse
to express his gripes about the religious system and as soon as he found an
opening, he seized it.
The problem is, venting one’s anger doesn’t diminish the
negative energy but rather fuels it. Just like alcohol prompts the urge for
more alcohol, so too, anger has an addictive quality. It tends to take on a
life of its own, triggering even more anger and indignation. For after all, one
always needs to further rationalize the initial burst of anger? Of course, brooding
on the reasons and justification for it only stokes the flames further.
Thus, after getting
angry about the loaves of bread, it wasn’t long before the person in our Parsha
blasphemed G-d himself.
The word Panim, say the the commentaries actually means ‘pnim’
…the inside. Just like our faces provide a reflection of our inner emotions so
indeed, the way we see and evaluate others also is invariably painted and
colored by our innermost values and characteristics. What we see with our panim
is dictated by our pnim! This coldhearted individual saw cold stale bread only
because he was impervious to seeing the constant daily Divine flow of blessings
in his life that would have been readily apparent had he only been more
receptive.
In our own lives, when we look honestly at why we get angry,
we will often discover that the reasons are not very solid. Others are not
cooperating with us or doing as we wish them to. That fuels a sense of
frustration and disappointment. Doesn’t this person know they are making us
impatient and angry? How can they continue not doing what we want? It’s because
they don’t respect or care for us enough. They don’t realize they should be
catering to us!
When we shout at a co-worker or family member for a slight
infraction, the real culprit is not the unfortunate target of our anger -but
our own ego that has been offended.
Let us make every effort to control the angry impulses that
wear the mantle of righteous indignation but which in the end, poison the
atmosphere, destroy relationships-and hurt ourselves most of all.
Wishing you a
wonderful Shabbos,
Spiritual Pollution
Parshas
Emor
Posted on May 17, 2019 By Rabbi Berel
Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein
| Level: Beginner
The opening subject
matter in this week’s Torah reading deals with the existence of impurities in
Jewish and human society. In our world today, especially in the realm of the
intelligentsia, there is a great deal of chatter and worry about the pollution
of our atmosphere. When the threat of global warming proved to be unfounded,
the environmentalists amongst us changed the focus of their dire warnings, about
the extinction of our planet, to now be under the new slogan of climate change.
There is very little if any scientific evidence to support their claims that
the world as we know it will disappear in the very near future because of
fossil fuels, carbon emissions and the natural behavior of cows. Nevertheless,
it is clear that all of us have to be against pollution of the atmosphere.
The pollution referred to in our Torah
reading is of a different nature completely. It concerns itself with the
impurity that comes from death and not from life, from sin and the
non-performance of good deeds and noble aspirations. It prohibits the priestly
descendants of Aaron from willfully rendering themselves to be impure. This is
a matter of ritual law, but it is also a matter of a value system and a
personal and societal outlook.
All of us, not only the priestly class of
Israel, are to avoid whenever possible both physical and spiritual impurity.
This type of impurity pollutes the atmosphere that we live in subtly. Its
influence upon us is inescapable and tragically, many times, permanent. G-d
demanded of us that we be a holy nation, but spiritual, mental and physical
pollution will always prevent us from reaching that desired goal. While it is
difficult to maintain cleanliness of body and clothing in a physically polluted
world, it is even more difficult to maintain cleanliness and purity of thought,
dress and outlook in a very polluted emotional, mental and spiritual world.
By removing all previous inhibitions, mores and social manners of
Western society, built up over generations, regarding speech, dress, public and
private behavior, a terrible cloud has enveloped society. Since the Jewish
people exist in the main within the confines of Western society, with its
attitudes and behavior patterns, there is no question that we also have been
dirtied simply by existing.
The advanced technological achievements of our time have
unfortunately been put to the service of those individuals and ideas that
intend to make us impure for their own personal, political or economic gain.
They have done so with fancy sounding slogans that espouse all types of
freedom, but really impose upon those who disagree with them the tyranny of
enforced conformity.
In many parts of the world today, especially in the Far East, people
wear masks over their noses and mouths to prevent the air pollution that
surrounds them from being inhaled. There is no question that we all need such
spiritual masks as well to allow us to counter the destructive pollution and
impurity of much of the norms of the society that we live in.
Shabbat shalom
Rabbi Berel Wein
The Impression He Made
Parshas
Emor
Posted on May 17, 2019 (5779) By Rabbi
Label Lam | Series: Dvar Torah
| Level: Beginner
You shall observe My
commandments and perform them; I am HASHEM. You shall not desecrate My holy
Name, rather I should be sanctified among the Children of Israel; I am HASHEM
Who sanctifies you, Who took you out of the Land of Egypt to be a G-d unto you
; I am HASHEM. (Vayikra 22:31-33)
Making a Kiddush
HASHEM is one of the greatest things a person can do. Making a Chilul HASHEM is
one of the most terrible things. Either our being affirms and attests to the
notion that HASHEM is real and His presence surrounds and densely fills the
world or we weaken this impression and we feed the illusion that the world is
vacant of ultimate meaning. That is a tall order indeed but is it not the
essence of our mission statement!?
I heard more than
thirty years ago from Rabbi Ezriel Tauber ztl. that every nation specializes in
delivering some good or service to the world. Some export oil, and some provide
cheap labor, while others produce coffee etc. What is it that the Jewish People
produce? Our Gross national product is not measured in dollars or exports and
imports but rather we produce Kiddush HASHEM.
The Talmud explains
that a Kiddush HASHEM is created when a person acts in such a way that people
say, even in their hearts, “Happy is the person that gave birth to this person
and happy is the teacher that taught him Torah. When the opposite impression is
created, that unfortunately results in a Chilul HASHEM. Like those in high
office or law enforcement, we represent more than ourselves. We represent the
law, and not just the law of the land, but THE LAW! We represent G-D! The
Almighty’s stock in this world rises and falls, so to speak, based on our
conduct, our attitude, and our very being. This does not require hiring a
publicist or a high priced public relations firm. Jews is news! We are center
stage everywhere we go, whether we seek the limelight or not! Privately and
publicly this obligation to make a Kiddush HASHEM goes wherever we are!
It is impossible to
measure the impact of a single quiet act of Kiddush HASHEM. I remember that
Rabbi Mordechai Schwab ztl. once told me, “I too went to public school. My
older brother Shimon went to Telz Yeshiva. I went to visit him one time. We
were sitting altogether with a group of other Yeshiva students in a Malon, a
hotel. I accidentally knocked over my cup of hot tea onto the lap of the fellow
sitting next to me. He was rubbing his leg in extreme pain but he was waving
his hand to get the attention of the waiter, and repeating, ‘Waiter, please
bring my friend another cup of hot tea. Please bring my friend a cup of tea!’
When I saw that he was more concerned about replacing my tea than he was about
his scalded lap, I said to myself, ‘If that is what learning Torah can do to a
person, then I too need to go to Yeshiva and learn Torah.’”
He became the Tzadik of
Monsey. He impacted the lives of who knows how many thousands and thousands of
people and what a walking talking Kiddush HASHEM his life was. Now that student
who sat next to him in the hotel whose lap was scalded with hot tea, he had no
idea how great was the impression he made.
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