Tag: Tazria

We come again to the parshos of Tazriah and Metzorah with their descriptions of white blemishes of various shapes and sizes on people, clothes and houses. We listen respectfully to the baal koreh who tries valiantly to remember whether the word is supposed to be hu or hi (easier for Chassidim) and return home to eat our cholent usually none the wiser. Is there no way we can be inspired by these parshos? Or is this our annual kaporoh for enjoying our Pesach matzos smothered with eingemachts too much?

In the Shacharis Kedusha of Shabbos and Yom Tov, we implore Hashem to rule over us. This is a very strange request. Haven’t we all already accepted Hashem as our King? When we say the Shema we affirm that Hashem is our King. He is, was and always will be our King, as we repeat many times especially on Rosh Hashono when we crown Him as we hear the resounding tekios? What do we mean when we say and often sing ‘Vesimloch oleinu ki mechakim anachnu loch – Rule over us because we are waiting for You’?

Three times a day we say the two paragraphs of Oleinu. The first paragraph emphasizes how much we must thank Hashem that He has chosen us to be His People, mentioning also that He rules over Heaven and Earth. We can never thank Hashem enough for our beautiful inheritance. But why do we say the second paragraph, that the all idol worshippers should acknowledge Him, so often? Of course we want Moshiach to come. But why do we repeat this request every time we say Oleinu?

The Rambam writes that it is a mitzvas asei to build a house for Hashem, ready for us to visit three times a year and bring korbonos in it. If possible it should be overlaid with gold. (Hilchos Beis Habechira 1:1 and 11) Later he writes that it is a mitzvas asei for the Beis Hamikdash to be guarded even though there is no fear of enemies. (ibid 8:1) The Rambam explains that guarding the Beis Hamikdash is a way of showing honour to Hashem: “One cannot compare a palace with guards to a palace without guards.”

All this is the minimum honour we can give to Hashem our King. Any powerful king has a resplendent palace which is a symbol of his power. His subjects will visit him regularly to pay homage to him and do there whatever he commands them to do. How much more so should we honour Hashem who is the King of Heaven and Earth.

This is indeed how things were in the time of the Beis Hamikdash, especially the first one. Shlomo Hamelech built a beautiful Beis Hamikdash in Hashem’s honour. Kohanim, Hashem’s hand-picked representatives, served there doing the prescribed Avoda. Three times a year all the People left their farms across Eretz Yisroel to come and pay homage to Hashem, bringing with them a sample of the blessings Hashem had granted them during the year.

During Pesach, my wife and I visited our family who live in various communities in England and we saw new shuls, new mikvaos and many Yidden davening, learning and living like loyal Jews. We were impressed. There are other beautiful communities in America, Australia, South Africa and many other places over the world. We are apt to be happy and proud of all these different communities in the “four corners of the world.”

However we may be forgetting our true lowly position or more accurately the terrible chillul Hashem in today’s situation. We have become used to Jews living mefuzar umeforad bein ho’amim – scattered among the nations. This is, for us, normal. But Hashem is King of the Heaven and Earth and His People should be living in honour in the special land which He gave us. Anything else is a chillul Hashem (Sotah 49a). Where is Hashem’s Beis Hamikdash, the symbol of His Kingship? In ruins. As the prophets bemoaned, “Where is His strength, where is His might?” Instead of doing His Avoda we have to suffice with learning what used to be done. As the malachim ask, “Where is the place of His glory?”

This is a shocking, intolerable chillul Hashem. We believe that Hashem is all-powerful but the facts on the ground seem to indicate otherwise. Modern idol-worshippers abound. Atheists invade our schools and tell us how to educate our children. We say that we are in golus but we forget about the golus of the Shechina. Our lives continue as though all is well. Where are the signs of our shock, our disgust and our misery at this spiritual catastrophe?

Fortunately, however, the siddur, reminds us not to be satisfied. We speak of Hashem’s glory and might in the first half of Oleinu. But then, in response to our realization that the world which we see hardly reflects Hashem’s glory, we immediately express our hope that this horrible contradiction will soon be rectified; that all these ancient and modern idol-worshippers, will soon “bend their knees to Hashem” in an acknowledgement of their error. In Kedusha after proclaiming Hashem’s great Holiness we immediately plead, “Mimkomecho Malkeinu sofia, eineinu sir’eno malchusecho.” Of course we believe that You are the King of Heaven and Earth, but ’eineinu sireno malchusecho’ – we want to see Your Kingship and we want the whole world to see Your Glory. As we say in Yom Tov Musaf, “Galei kevod malchusecho – Reveal the honour of your Kingdom in the eyes of all humanity, bring in our scattered ones and enable us to perform Your service. This is not because we are tired of golus but because we want Your Name to be glorified and sanctified – Yisgadal veyiskadash Shemei Rabbo. Our Oleinu should not be said as we take off our talis or as we walk out of shul but in a way which shows our heartfelt desire to see imminently “the glory of Your strength.” Our mimkomecho should be said or sang with great passion as we implore Hashem to reveal His greatness and sanctity.

As we listen to the details of Tazriah and Metzora we should ponder how Hashem’s glory once revealed itself through special signs which reminded each individual that he has sinned, as an encouragement to better behavior, Sadly, as the Seforno (13:47) says, now we do not merit such an open display of Hashem’s love for us. Instead of wishing that the krias HaTorah would end already, we can silently yearn for a return to such wonderful times, when Hashem’s glory will be revealed to all and He will be publicly and universally acknowledged as the King of Heaven and Earth.

Back in Ramat Beit Shemesh after an enjoyable Pesach in England, I went into our local florist to buy flowers l’kovod Shabbos kodesh. I asked him how Pesach was. “Baruch Hashem, he said, I’m already preparing for Shevuot.” I thanked him for his inadvertent mussar. We cannot relax. We have to begin preparing for Shevuos and kabolas HaTorah.

As we have discussed in a previous Pesach article, we must remember the day we came out of Egypt all the days of our life. We have to remember that Hashem redeemed us from bitter slavery on the condition that we accept His service. It was still a great deal because His service is a pleasant service. We gave our joyous and beautiful Shabbos as one example of the pleasant service we are now committed to.

But as the florist said, even though we have just finished Pesach, we have to start preparing for Shevuos and kabolas hatorah. What area of our service to Hashem should we be focusing on now?

Perhaps a hint can be found in the words of the Gemoro (Rosh Hashono 11a). “Someone who goes out in the month of Nissan and sees fruit trees beginning to blossom should say the following brocho. “Boruch…shelo chiser me’olomo dovor…lehonos bohem bnei odom.” “Blessed……who did not leave the world lacking and created …beautiful trees to give pleasure to people.” In this brocho we emphasise Hashem’s great kindness. Why did He create peach, plum, cherry and other trees each with beautiful blossom and later with delicious fruit? Only to give us pleasure. When we think about Hashem’s kindness to us, we are inspired to follow in His ways and show kindness to others. This was Avrohom Ovinu’s leitmotif. He saw Hashem’s great kindness in the creation and followed His example by doing chessed to others.

We all know that during the days of Sefiras Ho’omer the pupils of Rebbe Akiva were punished because they did not show each other enough honour. In Chutz Lo’oretz this week the parshos of Tazria and Metzora will be read which according to Chazal illustrate the severe punishment given to those who speak loshon hora. A thought occurred to me that Tazria and Metzora and all other double parshos hint at the concept of ‘loving our neighbour” because in halocho the two parshos are supposed to ‘share’ the seven obligatory aliyos, three and a half for each parsha. On top of all this the forty-nine sefiros which some people mention immediately after they have counted sefiras ho’omer begin with chesed. The first night is chesed shebechesed. From all this it would appear that our focus in these post-Pesach days should be mitzvos bein odom l’chaveiro, showing kindness to each other, giving honour to each other, showing sensitivity to somebody else’s feelings etc.

The Mesilas Yeshorim, (Chapter 19), discussing Chassidus, explains that a vital element in chassidus is the efforts which we have to make on behalf of other people. He says “This is subdivided into three sections; physical, financial and emotional. In terms of physical help a person should try to lighten another person’s load in whatever way he can. If another person is at risk of being damaged and he can prevent that damage or remove it, he should exert himself to do so. In terms of financial help, chassidus requires one to help someone as much as he can and also he must try his best to prevent someone else from suffering financially. As it says in Pirkei Ovos, (2:12) “Let your fellow’s possessions be as dear to you as your own.” Concerning emotional help, we should do everything we can to boost our fellow man whether in terms of honour or any other matter which affects his emotional well-being. If there is anything he could do for his fellow, which would bring that person a sense of satisfaction, it is the imperative of chassidus to do so. Certainly he should not cause his fellow any form of anguish whatsoever through any possible means.”

We have opportunities to put these concepts into practice in our lives on a daily basis. Take the example of walking down the road when someone is coming the other way. I’m not talking about a main road where hundreds of people are walking in all directions. It is a side street and you are approaching this other person. A pleasant “Good Morning” or “Good Afternoon” can be a major boost to the other person’s morale and to yours as well when the other person responds, as they nearly always do. How can a Jew pass a fellow Jew in the same way he walks past a lamp-post? Greeting a non-Jew is also an easy way to promote good relations with our fellow citizens. During my recent visit to London I greeted Jews and non-Jews frequently and invariably received a pleasant response.

One morning I was walking to shul when a middle-aged non-Jewish lady came out of her gate, leading a little dog which was wearing a coat. On the coat was written “Blind.” You may have seen this lady and her dog yourself. I said “Good Morning” to her and she responded with a “Good Morning” to me. I asked if the dog is really blind. She told me that the dog is indeed blind. She explained that as the weather is getting warmer, the dog won’t be wearing the coat for much longer. Then she looked at me and said the following words. “Thank you for greeting me. No Jew has ever greeted me before.” I said that I was sorry to hear that and continued on my way to shul. Her words are still reverberating round my mind. Here is a lady who lives in the heart of a Jewish neighbourhood, in fact very near a big shul, and no-one has ever said hello to her? I understand that some men may consider it inappropriate and children should not speak to strangers but none of our ladies has ever greeted this poor woman who I surmise is a widow and all she has to do is dote on her dog? Of course everyone is very busy thinking of innumerable things they have to do but if we could make just the small effort of smiling and greeting someone else we could be giving much pleasure to others and ourselves and making a kiddush Hashem at the same time.

I once learnt something important from the late Reb Moishe Schwab zt”l. I was a bachur in Gateshead Yeshiva and after Shacharis went into the small hanhala room at the side of the Beis Hamedrash. Men of my age who learnt in Gateshead yeshiva will remember it. He was talking to a baalabos from the Gateshead kehila and when Reb Moishe zt”l saw me he said to me that he wants to introduce me to one of Gateshead’s choshuva baalabatim- Mr … I could see how this man’s face lit up at being described so generously by Reb Moishe zt”l. even in front of a young bachur like myself. I learnt from this that when we introduce two people to each other, it is a wonderful opportunity to honour them in the other’s eyes and their own. One quickly thinks of a good characteristic or achievement of the people concerned and mentions it even with a touch of exaggeration. These people may never meet again but their self-respect has shot up. They may try to play down what was said but, believe me, they enjoy the kovod they were given and live on it in the future. This is a beautiful example of the Mesilas Yeshorim’s words about giving people koras ruach — self-satisfaction and honour as a form of bein odom l’chaveiro. I have done this many times and it has always been a very effective way of giving simcha to another person.

There is an enormous amount of chessed done in our communities by men and women.

Nevertheless I wanted to share a couple of areas which we can maybe focus on during these weeks which, as I said above, have the theme of mitzvos bein odom lechaveiro. Isn’t that what the florist said — to start preparing for Shevuos? Have a healthy Summer.

Rabbi Fletcher is the mechaber of Do You Know Hilchos Brachos? Do You Know Hilchos Shabbos? From Strength to Strength and Dancing in our Hearts. His next sefer The Hidden Light will be published אי”ה in a few weeks. It contains a new essay Where was G-d in the Holocaust? and other essays and stories on the themes of emuna and hashgacha.