Close To Torah

There is a well known gemara in Yevamos 62b that discusses the passing of the students of the great and illustrious Rebbi Akiva. The gemara says that they did not show respect to each other. Such a tragic event to befall Bnai Yisroel. Not due to the wicked or the heretics, but to those who were the pillars of the world. The ones who would continue the transmission of the Torah. To do something so terrible that would warrant their death, there must be much more than appears.

We know that the time in which the students passed on was between Pesach and Shavuos. During that time we count the omer. We count seven weeks of seven days from the day following the first day of Pesach. On the night that would be the fiftieth we celebrate Shavuos.

During that time period we undergo a transformation. On Pesach we bring an offering of barley, which is primarily considered animal feed. On  Shavuos we bring the Shtai HaLechem an offering of bread, which is food that a human will consume. That is as if we ascend from a level of animal to that of human.

Every night of this seven week period we count another day toward the fiftieth day. Every night we take a stride closer to purifying ourselves of the beastly urges that we have. We make a berachah and count the day of the omer. We use our mouth to say the berachah and to count the days and weeks of the omer.

The Arizal says that the word Pesach can be looked at to be Peh Sach which may mean the mouth that speaks. The idea of this is that on Pesach there are many ideas of speech. We have a mitzvah to discuss the events of the exile from Egypt. We also have the Hallel that we recite on the night of Pesach. We also use our mouth to say the omer which begins following the first day of Pesach.

The mouth is very interesting as it is the same vessel that is used for consuming food as well as breathing as well as speech and finally as a place for intimacy. How can one place be used for all those things? A place that is used for eating, doing that which is one of the most animalistic actions as well as intimacy which may also be considered animalistic. Through the same place we say beautiful words of Torah and daven as well!

I think this is the lesson of Sefiras HaOmer. We are obligated to use our mouths for kedushah on the night of Pesach and then the next day the students of Rebbi Akiva were killed for their lack of respect to their fellow. It must be that during this time period we are held to a very high standard of kedushah. We are coming from a high of Pesach where we must embrace the levels of kedushah and ascend to prepare for Kabbalos HaTorah on Shavuos. Where there is great room for kedushah and growth there is also chas v’shalom room for the opposite. Wherever Hashem allows for tov there must be an allowance for rah as that is the nature of the world after the chayte of the Aitz HaDaas. It is for this reason that we must sanctify ourselves. We must learn from the students of Rebbi Akiva who tragically were cut short of their lives. We must embrace this time period as a time to use our words with kindness. To use our mouth for kedushah not just within our friends but internally as well. We must focus on our tefillos and on our learning. This is a time where we ascend to levles of kedushah that are free from animalistic urges. We must count the omer and look up above and take the next step. May we all be zocheh to use our mouths with care and truly use this time to rise above and make the potential the reality!

The name of an object or person describes its essence, and the names of the paryshiyos are no exclusion to this idea. Consequently, parshas Acharei-Mos is more than the beginning of the parshah, it is the nature of the parshah as well. The parshah begins with Hashem telling Moshe to warn his brother Aharon that he should not repeat the ways of his children who perished. Rashi explains that Rebbi Eliezar Ben Azariyah would compare this to a sick person who goes to a doctor. The doctor tells him that he should not eat cold food and that he should not lay in the mildew. Afterwards, another person comes to the doctor and the doctor says that he should not eat cold food and lay in the mildew so you do not die like the first person.  This additional explanation will inspire the second man more than the first person. Thus, Rashi concludes that this is why the Torah tells this to Aharon HaCohen; to teach him in a way that he will be compelled to listen. Let us take a step back for a moment and look back at Parshas Shemini where this incident occurred.

In Parshas Shemini, the karbanos are brought on the eighth day of of the inauguration of the recently erected Mishkan. The Torah then relates that two of the sons of Aharon HaCohen, Nuduv and Avihu brought their own ketores offering. They decided to do this independently  without any commandment to do so.  As a result, they were punished rather than praised for their actions. Chazal tell us Nuduv and Avihu sinned when they drank wine prior to entering the Beis HaMikdash. A question appears; why would the Torah punished the children of Aharon HaCohen when the prohibition of drinking wine in the Beis HaMikdash is written following their death? One possible explanation is that they were punshied for not being careful in something that they knew was wrong. You could ask, how could they have been careful…they didn’t know it was prohibited! The answer is that they should have known that it is inappropriate go into a place of kedushah in a state that is impure. Wine is something associated with temptation, and is often used improperly. For example, a nazir does not drink wine when he saw what happened to a sotah as a result of intoxication.  As with all aspects of our lives, it is our duty to take mundane items, like wine, and sanctify them through Torah and mitzvos.   Even within the 613 mitzvos the Torah still leaves room to take your life a step further.  And that step is  kedushah.

Although wine led Nuduv and Avihu to their sin, their actual sin was bringing a ketores without being commanded to do so. While they may have had great intentions of doing Hashem’s will, in reality they acted against it. What was so wrong about bringing something that wasn’t commanded? The language that the Torah used to describe their offering was “aish zaruh” or foreign fire. Their act was considered foreign  because it was not commanded. There is a great difference between acting in a way that is l’fnim mishuris hadin, or beyond the letter of the law. The Torah is complete and perfect in every way, therefore when one tries to add to it they will inevitably retract from it. In our Avodas Hashem, we must be careful to follow the actual obligations of the Torah and to not create our own interpretations.

Why must the great Kohen Gadol Aharon HaCohen need to have his own children die in order to teach him to obey the specific prohibition of entering the Kodesh Kadushim during the year!? We are talking about the brother of Moshe Rabbeinu, the greatest man to ever live.  Now we may begin to understand the question we initially raised, why must Aharon HaCohen be taught such a serious lesson, wouldn’t telling him be enough?

Parshas  Acharei Mos, literally “After Death”, refers to the children of Aharon HaCohen, and perhaps contains a deeper meaning.  When people reach the end of their life, they engage in the deepest personal reflection imaginable.  Their life flashes before their eyes, and they examine their lives, their experiences, their relationships.  Indeed, our own mortality drives us to examine ourselves on a regular basis, lest we reach the end of days with no concept of who we are or what our purpose is.  It is this idea, the idea of deep reflection, that we learn from Parshas Acharei Mos. Aharon learned through the death of his beloved, holy children, the importance of learning from, and moving on from experiences.  We can be told the most important lessons from the most important people, but nothing teaches like Experiences.   And what better day, the day designated by G-d himself, to reflect, learn, and move on from our experiences but Yom Hakippurim.  That is why we learn Acharei Mos for Yom Hakippurim.  That is why Aharon HaCohen, and Klal Yisroel, needed this lesson.

That is truly the pasuk in the other parshah of this week, Parshas Kedoshim. The pasuk tells us “קדשים תהיו.” While there is a discussion as to what the specific mitzvah is, the basic idea is to make one’s self holy. A famous explanation of קדשים תהיו is that one should  מקדש עצמו במותר לך meaning to sanctify ones-self by that which is permitted to him. As was touched upon earlier this should never lead to one’s own interpretations of the Torah, only expressing great care in their observance to mitzvos. This idea of becoming kadosh is a deeply rooted desire of Klal Yisroel and it must be expressed through mitzvos. Otherwise it will be used improperly as we saw by the sons of Aharon HaCohen. These parshiyos are usually found during the time of Sefiras HaOmer, between Pesach and Shavuos. This is a time where we grow in preparation for the acceptance of the Torah once again. This is the time where we also observe mourning for the students of the great Rebbi Akiva whom were said to not have shown proper respect to one another. The greatest thing that we can do in this time in preparation for the acceptance of the Torah, as we grow from being like an animal (as the offering on Pesach is from food of the animals) to being like a Man (as the offering on Shavuos is from the food of Man) we should take extra measures to treat our fellow brethren with proper respect. The greatest chumros should be found in our Ben Adom L’chavayro as that is where we tend to lack. We think that the acceptance of Torah is just through our learning and davenning, it is also through the way we treat others. We should use this time to purify and sanctify ourselves before Yom HaKippurim where we come before Hashem. We should all be zocheh to grow in all ways through this period of time in our lives.