Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW
Rabbi, Kehillat New Hempstead
Rebbe/Guidance Counselor – ASHAR/ Yeshiva Bais
Hachinuch
STAM
TORAH
PARSHAS
ACHREI MOS/ SHABBOS HAGADOL/PESACH 5774
“A
MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE”
Dear Rabbi,
So
it's Pesach again. Another Seder night where we meet up with distant relatives
we almost forgot about, to tell a story that we aren't allowed to forget about.
Is it really necessary more than 3000 years on to still commemorate our
ancestors' freedom from slavery in Egypt
My friend, you are reading
the wrong Haggada. The Seder is not just a
memorial to events of the distant past - it is a dynamic process of freedom
from the challenges of the present.
We are slaves.
Slaves to our own inhibitions, fears, habits, cynicism and prejudices. These
self-appointed pharaohs are layers of ego that prevent us from expressing our
true inner self, from reaching our spiritual potential. Our souls are
incarcerated in selfishness, laziness and indifference.
Pesach means "Passover." It is the season of liberation, when
we pass over all these obstacles to inner freedom. On Pesach, we give our souls
a chance to be expressed.
Reread the Haggada. Every time it says
"Egypt
"We were slaves to
Pharaoh in Egypt
"We are slaves to our
egos, stuck in our limitations."
How do we free ourselves?
By eating Matza. After eating Matza, the Israelites were able to run out of Egypt
Usually, we are scared to
suspend our egos, because we think that we will lose ourselves. On Pesach we eat
the Matza, we suspend our egos and find ourselves - our true selves.
This night is different
from all other nights, because on this night we let ourselves go, we liberate
our souls to follow G-d unashamed. We say, "I may not understand what this
means, but I have a Jewish soul, and somehow that is the deepest layer of my
identity."
That soul is the innocent
child within us is waiting to be free. This Pesach, let's allow that child to
sing:
Ma Nishtana Halayla
Hazeh...
Rabbi
Aron Moss (Sydney , Australia
Rabbi Moshe Wolfson shlita, the Mashgiach
of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas in Brooklyn NY, explains that whenever a portion from
the Torah that discusses any of the holidays is read, a certain level of the
unique spiritual of blessing endemic to the holiday mentioned becomes
available.
During the prayers of each holiday we pray,”והשיאנו
ה' אלקינו את ברכת מועדיך
– Load us up, Hashem,
our G-d, with the blessings of Your holiday.” Each holiday brings with it
unique spiritual blessing and specific components of Divine Service that one
can achieve. When a weekly Shabbos Torah reading includes a discussion about a
holiday, a “taste” of that holiday’s blessing is spiritually palpable.[1]
This year parshas Achrei Mos is read on
Shabbas Hagadol. The first section of the parsha includes a detailed discussion
about the special service performed by the High Priest on Yom Kippur.
Therefore, incorporated into this Shabbos is a ‘taste’ of the holiness of Yom
Kippur. In a sense, this year the great holiday of Pesach is preceded by the
spiritual sanctity of Yom Kippur.
An important component of the service performed
by the High Priest on Yom Kippur included the offering of the goat that was
sent as the Azazel. The verse states[2],
“ומאת עדת בני ישראל יקח שני שעירי עזים לחטאת - And from the congregation of the B’nai
Yisroel you shall take two male goats as a sin offering.” The Mishna[3]
states that the two goats had to be identical in color, height and value, and
had to be purchased simultaneously.
On Yom Kippur the two goats were brought
before the High Priest. As the identical goats stood side by side, the High
Priest drew lots. From that moment onward, their paths diverged drastically.
One was designated laHashem,
as a sin-offering on the Altar, while the other was sent laAzazel, to be cast off a steep cliff in the
wilderness of the desert.
While the goat being sent to the wilderness
stood in the sanctuary, the other goat was slaughtered and its blood collected
in a vessel. The vessel was transported into the inner sanctuary (the Holy of
Holies) where the blood was sprinkled between the poles of the Holy Ark, on the
paroches[4],
and on the Golden Altar. The remainder of the goat was burnt outside of the
camp.
Soon after, a designated individual led the
other goat out of the Temple
Although the meaning and depth behind the
Azazel offering are beyond the scope of this essay, suffice it to say that the
Rambam (Maimonides) explains the Azazel as a bribery given to the Evil
Inclination in exchange for forgiveness and atonement.[5]
Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch zt’l makes a
poignant observation: If we could probe into the mind of the goat designated as
the Azazel we would notice his joy at thinking that he had gotten the better
end of the deal. As he stands in the sanctuary waiting to be taken for a stroll
in the desert, he observes the ritual slaughter of his peer followed by the
catching and sprinkling of his blood. With a haughty smugness he thinks to
himself, “Look at the difference between us! He may have been offered on the
Holy Altar as a sacrifice before G-d, but he is dead. I, on the other hand, am
alive and well.”
As they began their trek through the
desert, the goat’s joy mounted as he departed from among the masses of people
in the noisy Temple
When they finally reached the summit of the
cliff, the goat truly felt majestic. He could see Jerusalem
If somehow we could ask the Azazel-goat afterwards
who had gotten the better end of the deal, he would unquestionably point to his
friend. All along it seemed that his friend suffered a horrible fate, but at
the end of the day his friend had died for the most worthy cause, serving as
atonement for the entire Jewish Nation. The Azazel however, had died a hideous
death for the sake of pacification of the evil forces of the world.
On Yom Kippur the lesson of the goats is
particularly important. Every individual begins life with certain similarities.
But then we each have decisions to make and paths to choose. Often one path
seems wrought with sacrifice and pain - the other blissful and serene.
We're often plagued with questions: Why
give up pleasures? Why restrain ourselves? Why not get all that we can out of
life?
But any intellectually thinking person
understands that it's the struggles and sacrifices of life which reveal and
build inner strength. The easy path is never the fulfilling one. That which
seems so tempting and easy is often catastrophic. The path of least resistance does
not lead to the inner sanctum of internal fulfillment and holiness.
On Yom Kippur one looks beyond, through the
illusions which characterize this world. It is a day when we pay heed to the
underlying truths and reflect upon the path we have chosen to follow.
The Azazel-goat was the greatest victim of
his own illusions. But there are many people who live their lives in the same
manner, with false illusions and mistaken ideologies. They look at those “poor
souls” who live a life of Torah and mitzvos with the rigid demands and the yoke
that it places on its adherents.
King David stated[6]:
“Taste and see that G-d is good.” To those who counter that living a life of
Torah seems to be a miserable and deprived experience we have one answer, “Try
it! Live a Torah lifestyle for some time and you will see that it is indeed a
sublime and meaningful experience. Witness the true joy that those who
sincerely and properly live a Torah lifestyle feel. Then see if it’s bitter and
painful or internally rewarding and fulfilling.
The holiday of Pesach is dubbed the holiday
of our freedom, “זמן חרותינו“. To an outsider this may seem to be a
ridiculous title for this particular holiday. The weeks prior to Pesach are an extremely
busy time for Torah Jews. Countless hours are spent cleaning one’s home. The
kitchen must be koshered and all chometz food must be consumed or prepared to
be sold to a non-Jew for the duration of the holiday.
When we finally sit down to the regal and
majestic Seder there are myriad laws and a rigid order that must be punctiliously
followed. One must be scrupulous to consume the proper amounts of matzoh,
marror, and wine. There is a mitzvah to recount the haggadah in as much detail
as possible, yet one must be conscientious of the time in order to consume the
afikomen before midnight.[7]
With all of these vast responsibilities,
deadlines, and laws that must be meticulously followed one can surely wonder
why this holiday is called the holiday of our freedom?
The answer to this question is dependent on
how one defines freedom.
Irving Bunim, in his commentary on Pirkei
Avos, quotes the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore’s analogy for human freedom:
“I have on my table a violin string. It is free… But it is not free to do what
a violin string is supposed to do – to produce music. So I take it, fix it in
my violin, and tighten it until it is taut. Only then is it free to be a violin
string.” Commenting on that passage, Irving Bunim writes: “An uncommitted life,
free of any higher goals and responsibilities, brings a bondage worse than
slavery.”
If one conceptualizes freedom as anarchy,
lawlessness, and the ability to do whatever one chooses, then indeed the
holiday of Pesach is not a holiday of freedom at all. But if freedom refers to
the ability to connect with one’s essence and true self, the ability to
transcend one’s ego and its limitations, then Pesach is truly the holiday of
freedom. That notion of freedom can only be achieved through discipline and
obedience. It requires certain measure of forfeiture of the pleasures and
indulgences of the physical world. It takes a tremendous amount of work and
effort to overcome one’s physical drives which steer him away from his true
essence and from becoming who he has the potential to become.
Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski relates[8]
that a recovered drug attic once quipped to his father during the Seder: “How
can you say that you were a slave? You don’t know what it means to be a slave,
but I do. When I was addicted to drugs, I lost every remnant of freedom. Drugs
were my master, and I did everything I had to do for them.”
Dr. Twersky continues, “Narcotics are not
the only master to which a person may fall subject. Anyone who cannot control
his actions has become enslaved. Many people who smoke cigarettes know that
they are lethal and would like to stop smoking but are unable to do so, and
they have become slaves to cigarettes. A person who cannot stop drinking has
become a slave to alcohol. A person who cannot control his anger has become a slave
to his rage. Someone who cannot control his eating is likewise enslaved, as is
someone whose indolence makes it impossible to act swiftly and properly…When a
person pursues tranquility and pleasure as a primary goal, he may become
enslaved by these, and may not be able to free himself to do the things he
knows he should do.
“A human being should pride himself on
being free. Slavery is abhorrent even when it is not cruel, because it deprives
a person of being free and making his choices in life.”
An outsider may view the Pesach holiday and
the weeks before it as a time of slavery. In fact, this is the complaint of the
wicked son when he asks, “מה העבודה הזאת לכם - What is the work for you?” The wicked son
cannot fathom that one would celebrate a holiday of freedom by expending so
much effort and adhering to so many laws.
Our response to the wicked son is that he
would never have been redeemed. Perhaps he may have somehow merited physical
redemption and would have been able to leave the confines of Egypt
This is similar to the statement that is
mentioned prior in the haggadah, “Had G-d not taken us out of Egypt , then we, and our children, and our
children’s children, would still be slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt
Perhaps, when we state that we blunt the
teeth of the wicked son it is to symbolize that we seek to remove his teeth
which help him consume food. In order to achieve true freedom a certain measure
of sacrifice and withdrawal is necessary. We blunt his teeth to restrain his
involvement with food and overindulgence in the pleasures of this world. Only
then do we have a hope of guiding the wicked son toward repentance and the
attainment of true freedom.
The Shabbos prior to Pesach is called
“Shabbos Hagadol- the great Shabbos”.[9]
The Shabbos prior to Pesach is the anniversary of the Jewish People’s first
real demonstration of their unyielding will to be the Servants and People of
G-d. Overcoming one’s nature transforms a person into a person of “גדולה - greatness.” When
the Jews bravely demonstrated their sole obedience to G-d, the real process of
liberation began.
Two goats stand side-by-side on Yom Kippur.
The Azazel scoffs at his peer and mockingly laughs at the sacrifice he made.
Two sons sit together at the seder. The wicked
son scoffs at his wise brother and derides his efforts at attaining freedom.
But he who laughs last, laughs best!
“You shall take two goats as a sin
offering.”
“An uncommitted life… a bondage worse than
slavery.”
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There are two other correlations between
Yom Kippur and the Pesach Seder. Firstly, they are the only two times during
the year when the custom is for married men to don a kittel. Secondly, it is
the only two times that the mantra of the Jewish people in exile- “לשנה
הבאה בירושלים - Next
year in Jerusalem
It seems that it is particularly at these
two junctures that the pain of the exile becomes overbearing. At the conclusion
of the inspiring Yom Kippur service when we have spent the day immersed in
prayer and imploring G-d for forgiveness, we leave with an invigorated feeling.
Yet, it is then that we recognize the void of not having a Temple
At the conclusion of the Pesach seder too,
when we have joyfully fulfilled all the special mitzvos and obligations of the
night, we realize that our seder was remiss because we were not able to offer
and partake of the Korbon Pesach. Despite all that we have accomplished during
this exalted evening, we were unable to fulfill one of the central mitzvos of
the night.[10]
May we merit - this year - the fulfillment of
our prayer that the Temple
לשנה הבאה בירושלים" - Next year in Jerusalem”
[2] 16:5
[3] Yoma 6:1
[4] the
curtain separating between the ‘Holy’ (outer sanctuary) and the ‘Holy of
Holies’ (inner sanctuary)
[5] See
Ramban who vociferously challenges the Rambam’s explanation.
[6] Tehillim
34:9
[7] Vilna
Gaon is purported to have said that he counted 64 mitzvos that are fulfilled
during the Seder.
[8] In his
book, “Lights Along the Way”
[9] See Tur at the beginning of his discussion of the laws
of Pesach (Siman 430)
[10] Truthfully, at the conclusion of the Succos holiday
we recite a special prayer requesting that ‘next year we merit sitting in the
great Succah of the leviathan’. At that point we also recite the nostalgic
refrain. However, that prayer is clearly one of hope for the advent of
Moshiach.
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