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THE WEEKLY PARSHA

KEDOSHIM

[ Dvar Torah ] [ Passages on Prayer ]
[ Stories of the Sages ] [ Education ]

(Taken from a weekly publication of Hammaayan Institutes.
Translated by Rabbi Shabtai Teicher)

THE WEEKLY PARSHA
The parsha of Kedoshim was read during the Hakhel ceremony when the king was instructed to read sections of the Torah to the entire assembly of the people of Israel. The parsha of Kedoshim was included because most of the body of laws of the Torah depend upon it.

The parsha opens when G-d tells Moshe, "Speak to the entire congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them,`Be holy,' because I, the L-rd your G-d, am holy" (Leviticus 19:2). This command to `be holy' is the opening of the parsha because it includes all the other commandments in the parsha which follow it.

Apparently, this mitzvah commands us that when we do G-d's mitzvot they should not be like a burden or yoke upon us. In other words, we should not do the mitzvot with the desire to be finished with them as soon as possible, like a child who runs away from a school where he has been forcefully compelled to study. Rather, a person's desire to do the mitzvot should emanate from the depths of his heart.

It is even possible that a person could be very scrupulous and work very hard to do the the mitzvot, yet he is actually far away from them. Despite his strenuous efforts, it might be that the mitzvot are really a heavy burden upon him, and his heart is really bound to material things and the affairs of this world. Therefore, the Torah commands us with this inclusive mitzvah to `be holy'.

The Hebrew word for `holy' is "kadosh," and it is well-known that the main implication of the word kadosh is "separate." This is true in both its positive and negative connotations. For example, a prostitute is a "kedaishah" because she is separated and set aside for sin. In its positive connotation, the word kadosh (holy) implies separation and withdrawal from the material into the spiritual.

Although all the mitzvot raise and separate a person from the material, this function also depends somewhat upon the mentality of the person who is doing them. Therefore, we are commanded not to do the mitzvot because of compulsion or as a merely external act. Rather, we should do them as acts deriving from our inner being, and we should completely identify with them.

One of the mitzvot commanded in the parsha is the prohibition to eat fruit from a tree for the first three years that it bears fruit. The first three years' fruit of a tree is called "orla," the same word used for that part of the skin which is removed by circumcision. The verse (Leviticus 19:23) which prohibits eating fruit which is orla uses a difficult arrangement of words: "ve'oraltem orlato".

The Ibn Ezra explains these difficult words by stating, firstly, that they do not constitute the actual prohibition since the verse concludes by stating explicitly, "...You shall not eat them." Then he writes, "It shall be considered in your eyes as an uncircumcised thing."

According to what has been written here, we can attempt to explain what the Ibn Ezra intended. When a person throws away the fruit of the first three years for which he labored, then he should think that it is as if this fruit is unhealthy or spoiled and he also does not want to eat it. In other words, he should identify with the mitzvah and want to do it as if it were his own desire. That is how it should appear in his own eyes.

In the same way, a person who wants to advance in his service of G-d must strive to make his desires and emotions consistent with the Will of G-d, as our sages have taught, "Make your will His Will...." The will of a person should become completely identified with G-d's Will. In this way he will become close to G-d and like Him.

THE PRAYERS OF OUR MOUTH

In the prayer called "kedushah" on Shabbat morning we say, "...Because we are waiting for You."

A favorite and beautiful saying of the Chofetz Chaim is that if we were really waiting for mashiach with all our hearts, then he would appear suddenly, but the problem is that we say one thing with our mouths while in our hearts we are not really looking forward to his arrival.

It is told that the communal leaders of the city of Brisk wanted to appoint the gaon, Rabbi Yosef Dov Solevetchik z"l to the position of rabbi in their city. At the time he was living in the city of Warsaw. When the letter of appointment was brought to him, he refused to accept it. The community of Brisk then sent to him another group of messengers who were more honorable than the first. They told the messengers that if the gaon again refuses to accept the appointment, they should say to him, "Our Rabbi, please know that thirty thousand Jews are looking forward to your arrival."

When the gaon heard these words of the messengers, he immediately commanded his butler to bring him his holiday garments and thereupon he accepted the appointment.

The Chofetz Chaim said, "Here is a kal vechomer. If the gaon could not turn away from the expectations of thirty thousand Jews who were waiting for him, all the more so that G-d will not turn away empty handed the entire community of Israel if we were really waiting truthfully and honestly for mashiach."

STORIES OF OUR SAGES

"...Do not keep the wages of a hired worker with you until morning" (Leviticus 19:13).

Rabbi Chaim Chizkiyahu Medini was the rabbi of Chevron and the author of the famous sefer "Sedai Chemed." A shoemaker once repaired his shoes and delivered them to the Rabbi's house. The cost of the repair was only a small amount, but the Rav only had a large bill in his possession. The shoemaker was not troubled and said that he would return the next day to collect his fee. However, the Rav refused to agree to this. He said that it is written in the Torah "...Do not keep the wages of a hired worker with you until morning," and just because he only has a large bill and there is no one available to change it does not exempt him from the prohibition of the Torah.

While they were talking another person entered the house and the Rav borrowed money from him in order to pay the wages of the shoemaker.

(Yechidai Segulah)

It is told about Rabbi Eliyahu Dushnitzer, the spiritual guide of the Lomzer Yeshivah in Petach Tikva, that one day after Minchah (the Afternoon Prayer) he handed to an electrician a night lamp that needed a small repair.

The electrician ususally prayed the Evening Prayer in the Yeshivah. That night he brought the repaired night light with him. Because the repair was so miniscule he had decided not to take any money for it. Rabbi Eliyahu, however, usually prayed for a long time and the electrician wanted to go home, so he entered Rabbi Eliyahu's apartment which was next to the Yeshivah and he left the night light there.

It was the custom of this electrician to come to the Yeshivah in the early morning to study before the Morning Prayer. The next morning he was surprised to see Rabbi Eliyahu waiting for him with his money in his hand.

Rabbi Eliyahu said, "Is the payment of wages to a worker on time an insignificant prohibition in your eyes?"

EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN

I have already mentioned the verse of the Torah, "You shall teach them to your children, and speak about them..." (Duet. 6:7). Every mother and father who recites this verse twice a day is obligated that the voice of G-d should penetrate into his midst and his substance. He should be aroused to cry out, "This is my portion for all my toil." If my children follow in my footsteps and remain faithful to their Creator, then my name will be engraved for eternity and there will have been a purpose to my life.

...It must be asked if every one of our women sit down sometimes to think and make an accounting of the question, "What is it to educate a child?" What is involved in educating this delicate creation which was deposited in our hands by the Creator, to make him a man and a true Jew?

Do the parents take into consideration that their own behavior is the first and foremost influence on the child as a model?

Therefore, parents must first live their own lives properly and nobly, imbued with the spirit of Torah and tradition, in order to implant love of Torah and Judaism into their delicate children. Would it be that mothers were diligent to educate their children while they are still young and delicate. Instead of nourishing their minds with fairytales about witches and little red riding hoods and things like that, they should be teaching them from the first moment to say the words of the shema. They should explain to them in attractive children's language what the words mean. They should tell them about all the wonders and miracles that G-d has done for us throughout history, and what He wants from us. Then the child will grow up to become an admirable and honorable person.

If the child is accustomed to the mitzvot while he is still in diapers, then it will definitely not become a burden upon him afterwards. If he is nourished on stories about our sages and gedolim, such as Rabbi Akiva and all the others who devoted their lives to Torah and kedushah, then the child will understand the exaltedness of our nation who will endure forever whether we are on our Land or not because the Torah is the condition of our endurance.

(The writings os Sarah Shnirer, p.40)

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