This D’var Torah is in memory of Chuck Millman’s mother Claire, whose 1st Yahrzeit will be observed on the 15th of Nisan, -and also in the celebration my wedding Anniversary with my wife Elaine , the Hebrew date was celebrated on Purim, whereas the English date was on March 21.
In this week’s Parshah we are told that Hashem spoke to Moses and said Tzav et Aharon viet banav l’aimor. Command Aaron and his sons saying: The word TZAV is deliberately expressed in a form that can refer to both the past and the future. In other words, Hashem’s commandments are as applicable today as they were when first promulgated. The rules governing man’s behaviour and man’s devotion to G-d are timeless. Consequently, our observance of the Torah should not be marked with tired, listless efforts. When we pray, we should not mumble through the prayers out of habit. Rather, we should remember whom we are addressing, and say each word carefully. The same applies to the observance of Shabbat, our Torah learning, and other Mitzvot. They should not become routine, but rather should be moments of inspiration. We must view the Torah and our prayers as instructions from G-d on how to act practically. If we do not realize this, and do not actually practice what we say and learn, our words and learning are L’Vatalah, they have no meaning or purpose. According to our sages in Kiddushin 31 “he who receives a commandment and performs it is greater than one who received no commandment and performs it”. The Kotzker Rabbi says that the reason is because it is more difficult to obey a commandment then to perform an act out of one’s own free will, without having received an explicit command.
There was no particular place specifically designated for bringing the sacrifice of the Sin Offering, the Korban Chatos, in the Mishkan. This is significant. The Korban Chatos was offered by one who had sinned and now wished to repent. If there was a specified location for these sacrifices, the sinner’s identity would become readily known, and this might in itself discourage repentance. Because the Korbon Chatos was offered in the same place as the Korban Olah, no one could be certain if the bearer of the Korban had actually sinned. In this way, the matter would remain a private one between man and G-d, and the sinner would be spared public embarrassment. Rabbi Mordechai Katz explains that if Hashem’s Torah laws deliberately avoid the shaming of others, then we should certainly be more careful not to embarrass our fellow man. Chazal tells us that whoever insults his fellow man in public forfeits his place in the world to come (Baba Metzia 59a). The reason is simple. One can kill a man only once with a knife, but he can slay him many times over with a shameful word. To illustrate, a story, Rabbi Akiva Eiger once invited a poor man to his home on Friday night. At the meal, a beautiful white tablecloth covered the Shabbat table. When the poor man lifted his glass of wine, it slipped out of hand, and the red liquid spilled over the pure white cloth, leaving an ugly blotch. Seeing the poor man squirm in embarrassment, Rabbi Eiger immediately lifted his own glass of wine and also “accidentally “ spilled it over the tablecloth. As the poor man looked on in great relief, Rabbi Eiger remarked “ it seems as the table or floor are shaking, doesn’t it?” He had been willing to make himself look careless just to spare the shame of another.
We read Chapter 7, verse 26…Vichol dum lo Tochloo…and no manner of blood shall you eat. We remember our Bubbies and our mothers standing over the sink with a chunk of meat, and performing the time-consuming ritual. They would have to soak the meat for half an hour to remove the surface blood and soften the meat. The meat was then thoroughly salted and allowed to remain so for one hour, to permit the salt to penetrate the meat, and absorb the blood not visible on the outside. After an hour, the meat was thoroughly rinsed to remove the salt, and the blood drawn out by the salt. Nowadays virtually all meat that we buy has already been kashered. We take so much care not to ingest blood. Nachmanadies offers three explanations as to why we do so.
#1.Because Man was the only creature that recognizes his Maker, he was allowed to eat the flesh of another creature. But it was considered savage to eat blood, because blood is tantamount to the very life of the creature.
#2. A human who ate the blood of an animal would himself begin to act like an animal.
#3. Blood was the very life of an animal. As such it was used in the sacrificial rights to substitute for the life of the human
transgressor who should have paid with his own life for his transgression against G-d. How then could one eat the substance that was used as a substitute for one’s own blood?
As we approach Passover, we remember the horrifying blood libels that our people suffered. We were accused of murdering non-Jews , especially Christians, in order to obtain blood for the Pesach rituals. How sad, when we read of how we cherish and respect the lives of all of G-d’s creatures.
Prepared by Martin Labow and Devorah Abenhaim
