STAM
TORAH
PARSHAS
ACHREI MOS 5779
“THE
HEART OF THE MATTER”
Rabbi Ezriel Tauber zt’l[1]
related[2]
that he was once traveling with Rabbi Shimshon Pincus zt’l. While they were
conversing, Rabbi Tauber asked Rabbi Pincus what he would do if he found out
that his mother’s mother wasn’t Jewish and therefore, he wasn’t Jewish.[3]
Rabbi Pincus excitedly replied that if he
wasn’t Jewish, he would first run to offer a korbon to Hashem.[4]
Only afterwards, would he hurry to a Bais Din to convert and become a Jew.
Rabbi Tauber noted that he personally wouldn’t
waste a minute, even to offer a korban, and he would therefore run straight to
Bais Din so that they could convert him immediately. He wouldn’t want to lose
out on the opportunity of being a Jew for a moment longer than necessary.
After contemplating and discussing their
diverse reactions, they understood that their differing approaches were based
on their life experience. Rabbi Tauber was a survivor, and during the war years
he was forced to hide and live among non-Jews. There were many times when he
had to violate halacha, such as eating kosher and observing Shabbos, to preserve
the overriding mitzvah “And you shall live by them”[5].
Rabbi Pincus on the other hand, had grown
up as a Torah observant Jew. He had spent his years engaged in Torah study,
including the Brisker yeshiva where they studied the laws of korbanos and the
Bais Hamikdash. That engendered within him a burning desire to be able to
fulfill those mitzvos, which a Jew cannot fulfill in exile.
The beginning of Parshas Achrei Mos describes
the unique service performed by the Kohain Gadol on Yom Kippur. The Torah
introduces the Yom Kippur service by stating that it was taught, “After the
deaths of the two sons of Aharon, when they brought forth (incense) before G-d
and they died. And Hashem said to Moshe ‘speak to Aharon your brother…’”[6]
The Medrash explains that following the
destruction of Yerushalayim and the Bais Hamikdash, the prophet[7]
said “Speak upon the heart of Yerushalayim”. Just as there when the pasuk says “speak”
it means to console, so too when the pasuk states that G-d told Moshe to speak
to Aharon, the intention was that he console Aharon with words of comfort.
Rabbi Mordechai Rogov zt’l[8]
explained that the intention here was that Moshe comfort Aharon for the tragic
loss of his two sons, in the same vein as Yerushalayim would be comforted centuries
later. What was the comfort of Yerushalayim to, “speak upon the heart of
Yerushalayim”?
When a doctor is assessing a patient to
decide about a medicine or procedure for the patient, he will always examine
the patient’s heart to determine whether the patient is vibrant enough to
handle the treatment. At times, G-d forbid, a particular approach or medicine
which may be ideal for a patient, won’t be able to be used because the patient
isn’t strong enough to handle it. No matter where in the body the malady is, the
doctor must know how strong the patient’s heart is.
The prophet’s message of comfort regarding
Yerushalayim was that even though there had been so much devastation, tragedy,
and loss, the heart of Yerushalayim is still strong. The collective heart of
its exiled inhabitants is still beating, and the heartbeat of the lonely city is
still discernable to the hearkening ear. Therefore, there is hope for its
future. That comfort invigorated us even after centuries of separation from the
holy city. Despite our travails and anguish, the Jewish heartbeat - our
dedication to Torah and mitzvos, which is our eternal connection to the holy
city - never wavered.
That was the comfort Moshe was instructed
to convey to Aharon. Though his two righteous sons were physically gone, their
spiritual heartbeat – their purity, holiness, and aspiration for greatness and divine
connection, did not die, but continues to inspire their people for all time. Not
only did they did not die in vain, but that component of them never died at
all.
The service of Yom Kippur symbolizes that
no matter how much one has sinned, and how far one has strayed from the proper
path, he is always able to repent. The Torah states, “He shall atone the
sanctuary of the impurity of B’nei Yisroel and from their iniquities for all of
their sins, and so he shall do for the Tent of the Meeting, who dwells with
them amidst all of their sins.”[9]
Rashi comments, “Even when they are impure, the divine Presence rests among
them.” As long as a Jew feels he is
still a part of his people, then he will undertake the long journey back. It is
only if he tragically feels disconnected, that he will fall into spiritual cardiac
arrest.
Shlomo Hamelech describes the state of the Jewish
people in exile as “I am asleep, but my heart is awake”[10].
When G-d “knocks at our door” we are too lazy to open it, claiming that we have
already gone to bed, and are too fatigued to shake ourselves out of our complacency.
When we finally do pull ourselves up from our slumber it’s too late. Our beloved
is gone, and we, having missed the opportunity, are subjected to the torments
and mockery of the surrounding nations.
The key is that despite our failings and
missed opportunities, “my heart is awake”. When the heart is awake, there is
hope for return.
In the Haggadah, when addressing the son
who doesn’t know to ask, we are instructed that “you must open him”. It is not
sufficient to offer him explanations and speeches. The child who is disengaged
and emotionally dead, must be turned-on to the beauty of his heritage and experience
the grandeur of Torah observance. He doesn’t need intellectual stimulation, but
a cardiac jolt. Once his heart is engaged, everything else will follow.
In our generation, our greatest danger is
in this area. So many Jews do what they have to do, but are emotionally
flatlined. They lack excitement and passion, and do not understand the meaning,
depth, and truth of what they spend their lives doing. They lack the heart.
Perhaps the most important words in the life
of a Jew are the opening words of Shema: “Listen Yisroel – Hashem is our G-d;
Hashem is One.” It is a declaration, not only of our unwavering commitment to
G-d, but also of our commitment to being part of the Jewish people.[11]
The Kaliver Rebbe, Rav Menachem Mendel Taub
zt’l, passed away this week at the age of 96.
During
the last 60 years, since World War II, the Rebbe dedicated his life to perpetrating
the memory of the Kedoshim of the Holocaust. He
also devoted his life to
spreading the message of Shema Yisroel. Wherever he went he would recite the
verse and encourage others to do so as well.
The Rebbe
once explained the reason behind his emphasis on saying and spreading Shema Yisrael: “Just a few hours before we were
liberated, they Nazis gathered us inmates and were throwing us into a fire. As I
cried out Shema Yisroel I said: Master
of the World, this may be the last time I will have the merit of saying Shema
Yisrael, and soon I will be united with the rest of my family who were killed.
But if You should see fit to grant me life, I promise You that I will say and
preach the message of Shema Yisroel, declaring
Your eternity with those who survive the war.”
The Rebbe
fulfilled his promise, and now, after reciting Shema Yisroel one final time, he
has indeed ascended to reunite with his family. They sanctified the Name of
Hashem in their death; the rebbe did so throughout the years after he survived.
May
his memory be for a blessing.
“Speak
to Aharon your brother”
“I
am asleep, but my heart is awake”
Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW
Rebbe/Guidance Counselor – Heichal HaTorah
Principal – Ohr Naftoli- New Windsor
[1] Rabbi
Tauber was a Holocaust survivor, renowned lecturer, author of numerous books
and seforim, founder of multiple Torah institutions, scholar, and philanthropist.
Together with Rabbi Shimshon Pincus, he founded Shalheves in 1985, an organization
that sponsored periodic weekend seminars for inspiration for religious families.
[2] I heard
the following story years ago from one of my chavrusos, R’ Ephraim Yarmush z”l,
but I had never seen it in print. After hearing that Rabbi Ezriel Tauber passed
away just two days before Pesach, when I was in a seforim store this week, I
asked if they had any of the seforim of Rabbi Tauber. The owner brought me two
of them. I opened one of them to peruse it and it opened to this exact story.
The sefer is called “Nisyonos Acharis Hayamim – the tests of the end of days”;
the story is on page 53.
[3] Rabbi
Tauber noted that that exact situation had occurred prior with a yeshiva student.
The student had been raised as a regular Orthodox boy, attending yeshivos,
including high-level learning. Then he found out that his mother’s mother wasn’t
born Jewish and had undergone a conversion that was not halachically valid. The
student’s Rosh Yeshiva told the student that he could immediately assemble two
other rabbis to convert the student. He was shocked when the student replied
that he wanted to remain a non-Jew and only observe the seven Noachide laws.
[4] Since
the time of the construction of the Bais Hamikdash, a Jew was not permitted to
offer any karbanos (offerings) outside of it. Even after the destruction of the
Bais Hamikdash in the year 70 C.E. the Divine spirit (shechinah) has not completely
departed from there. Therefore, it is forbidden for a Jew to offer a korban
until the arrival of Moshiach when the Bais Hamikdash will be rebuilt. A Non-Jew,
however, is permitted to bring an offering to G-d on a ‘bamah’, i.e. any altar
that he finds.
[5] Vayikra 18:5
[6] Vayikra
16:1-2
[7] Yeshaya 40:2
[8] Ateres
Mordechai
[9] Vayikra
16:16
[10] Shir
Hashirim 5:2
[11] Torah
sheba’al peh (the Oral Torah) begins with the laws of reciting the daily Shema
(Berachos chapter 1)
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