Latest / Kerem B'Yavneh Parsha Podcast / Vayikra 5786 | Rav Blachman
Transcript
- This is חובת שבת קודש Chovas Shabbos Kodesh פרשת ויקרא Parshas Vayikra, חודש ניסן Chodesh Nissan, חודש הגאולה Chodesh HaGeulah. We should be זוכה zoche to the גאולה שלמה Geulah Shleimah במהרה בימינו bimhera beyameinu and pray for the welfare of כל כלל ישראל kol Klal Yisrael, specifically יושבי ארץ ישראל yoshvei Eretz Yisrael, and more specifically חיילינו הקדושים chayaleinu Hakadoshim, our holy soldiers, which are defending our nation, our country now, whether it be in Iran, whether it be in Lebanon. They should all יצא בשלום ויבוא בשלום yeitzei beshalom ve'yavo beshalom. We should all find only בשורות טובות besuros tovos. Yes, we are starting ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra, which is naturally called, as we all know, תורת כהנים Toras Kohanim, the teachings, the laws of the priests. Now, it is true that there are definitely all the הלכות halachos of קרבנות Korbanos and the ספרא Sifra which predominantly have to do with the עבודה avodah of כהנים Kohanim, but one would say that overwhelmingly ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra has the multitude of הלכות halachos of כל התורה כולה kol HaTorah kulo, קדושים Kedoshim, etc., go on further and further. Obviously, the usage of the word כהנים Kohanim seems a bit broader than just the priestly caste of בני אהרן bnei Aharon, but rather it refers ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש V'atem tihyu li mamleches kohanim vegoy kadosh. We too have been given the mandate and the commandment that we must become priests, people whose lives are set aside to serve God. ממלכת כהנים Mamleches kohanim, we will be a kingdom of priests. We will all, in all our daily lives, בשכבך ובקומך ובלכתך בדרך beshachbecha u'vekumecha uvelechtecha baderech, we will be ministers of הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu and מרבה כבוד שמים marbe kvod Shamayim in His world. We must all do the עבודת המזבח avodas hamizbeach of connecting עליונים ותחתונים ותחתונים לעליונים elyonim vetachtonim vetachtonim le'elyonim. We must merge the different dimensions of our reality in one harmonious beautiful thing. In the light of this, I want to try to understand the מצוה mitzvah of קרבנות Korbanos as it has to do to us specifically today, specifically to us as, I would say again, ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש Mamleches Kohanim ve'goy kadosh. As mentioned quite a few times that the רמח\"ל Ramchal brings down in his letters that if הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu takes away the capability of fulfilling a מצוה mitzvah, it means to say that He wants you to connect to the inner dimensions of the מצוה mitzvah. If you can't do the פשט peshat of the מצוה mitzvah, then you must look into the רמז דרוש וסוד remez derush and sod of the מצוה mitzvah and focus on that, and through that, hopefully and one day we will come back to the ultimate פשט peshat of the מצוה mitzvah, הקרבת קרבנות hakravas korbanos of actually sacrificing on the holy מזבח Mizbeach in הר מוריה Har Moriah in the מקדש Mikdash במהרה בימינו אמן bimhera beyameinu amen. Similar idea is found in ספר עקידת יצחק Sefer Ha'akeidas Yitzchak, actually quite a few places, one predominantly in פרשת תצוה Parshas Tetzaveh by בגדי כהנים Bigdei Kohanim, and also again once again in פרשת ויקרא Parshas Vayikra, where he discusses that multiple times we have מצות mitzvahs which are לדורותיכם ledorosaychem, חקת עולם לדורותיכם chukas olam ledorosaychem, they are perpetual. Yet practically speaking, as the רמב\"ם Rambam points out, today after the חורבן Churban and the גלות Golus, and even תרומות ומעשרות Terumos u'maasros is only דרבנן derabbanan, we only have roughly sixty מצות mitzvahs that we have to deal with out of the whole רמ\"ח Ramach. There's sixty there. I mean, we've even cut down in size. And how can הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu say this is חקת עולם לדורותיכם chukas olam ledorosaychem? It's been generations upon generations which we haven't had הקרבת קרבנות hakravas korbanos. Well, the ספר העיקרים Sefer Haikkarim writes very similar to that which the רמח\"ל Ramchal wrote in his letter, that is that when the גמרא Gemara says כל העוסק בתורת עולה כאילו הקריב עולה kol ha'osek betoras olah ke'ilu hikriv olah, a person which is עוסק osek, which deals with the תורת עולה Toras ha'olah, it's as if he was מקרב עולה makriv olah. It doesn't mean saying פרשת איזהו מקומן Parshas Eizehu Mekoman in the morning before ברוך שאמר Baruch She'amar. No, it doesn't mean that. It means being עוסק osek, putting it aside, thinking, making it your vocation, as the מגן אברהם Magen Avraham writes on the פסוק pasuk, on the ברכה beracha, לעסוק בדברי תורה la'asok b'divrei Torah, it should be your עיקר עסק ikar isuk. בתורת עולה Betoras olah means into the different dimensions of what the קרבן עולה korban olah means. And if you can't be מקריב makriv a קרבן עולה korban olah on a מזבח mizbeach, then you somehow have to find a way of being מקריב קרבן עולה בלבבי makriv korban olah belvavi. משכן אבנה Mishkan evneh, you have to find it in your heart, and there has to be a מזבח mizbeiach in your heart, and there you also have to be מקריב makriv an עולה olah. Now let's try to understand what this means. One interpretation of the פסוק pasuk of אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן לה' Adam ki yakriv mikem korban l'Hashem is found in the ספר sefer לקוטי תורה Likutey Torah of אדמו\"ר הזקן Admor HaZaken, the Alter Rebbe, the founding Rebbe of the חב\"ד Chabad חסידות Chassidus, Reb Shneur Zalman of Liadi. He writes over there: אדם כי יקריב Adam ki yakriv, a person wants to come close to הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Primarily first so God says: מכם קרבן לה' mikem korban l'Hashem. You've got to sacrifice something from your own self. God would almost sound like, like the Merchant of Venice, He wants our pound of flesh. What does He want? מן הבקר ומן הצאן תקריבו את קרבנכם min habakar u'min hatzon takrivu es korbanchem. So the Rebbe explains over there that every person has animal instincts and the different levels of animal instincts. There's the very very strong animal instincts of a שור shor, a פר par. These different, this is כח koach, and then you have different animal instincts of your נפש הבהמית nefesh habahamis, which are which are comparable to whether it's מן הבקר מן הצאן min habakar min hatzon. He goes on and discusses what these instincts are. In summation, what this is saying: that if you really want to learn how to דאוון davven, you want to become close to הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, you have to give up a bit of your self-centered search for pleasure. You have to decide that in order to finally accept מלכות שמים malchus shamayim and become a vehicle for כבוד שמים kvod shamayim, you have to stop looking into obsessive desires which are totally self-centered. Can you give something up? When you join the army, you give up a certain, your capability of making your own decisions, at least in the very beginning. You become part of a machine. And then your considerations become much more: what is the necessity of the country, of the nation, represented in the army? You stop thinking about yourself privately, you see yourself as part of a great important idea. Do you want to become part of the ministry of God? You want to be a כהן kohen, a גוי goy, ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש mamleches kohanim v'goy kadosh? You've got to give something up. ררמב\"ם Rambam describes when the soldier goes to the wars, he's got to stop thinking about his wife and the children and he's got to think about כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael and about כבוד שמים kvod shamayim. That's what the רמב\"ם Rambam writes in הלכות מלכים Hilchos Melachim, the הלכות halachos of every soldier that goes to war. And God promises that if you will do that, he will come back safely. And I say the same thing in the war, our cultural war, the world of externalities that we are trying, struggling to get close to הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu and make this world a world closer to הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we also have to give up ourselves in whatever we do. And this is a very important thing because you see many times I'm asked, 'Rabbi, how to get closer to God, how to get closer to God?' And I always tell them, you know something? The first thing you have to do is get further away from your self-centered self. And this is למעשה l'maaseh פירוש perush רמב\"ן Ramban. רמב\"ן Ramban describes קדושים תהיו Kedoshim Tihyu. You want to be ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש mamleches kohanim v'goy kadosh? פסוק pasuk says: קדושים תהיו Kedoshim Tihyu. You should be holy, yeah. How do you do that? The רמב\"ן Ramban in פרשת קדושים parshas Kedoshim says, you know what you have to do? You have to give up your obsessive desire for pleasure. You should be focused totally and more and more on what is necessary for your existence, and each one has his own psychological composition, and think of the agenda of life. קדושים תהיו Kedoshim Tihyu. Can you separate yourself from the תאוות של עולם הזה taivos shel olam hazeh? Now people think this is just a מעלה maaleh. It's a רמב\"ן Ramban. It's a רמב\"ם Rambam brings this in ספר המצוות Sefer Hamitzvos in מצוות עשה mitzvos asei ל\"ז lamed zayin, where the רמב\"ם Rambam writes explicitly on the לאו lav of לא תתורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם lo sasuru acharei l'vavchem v'acharei eineichem, which is a לאו lav, לאו מ\"ז lav mem zayin in ספר המצוות Sefer Hamitzvos. אחרי עיניכם Acharei eineichem זה זנות zeh znus, כענין שנאמר k'inyan shene'emar, ויאמר שמשון לאביו אותה קח לי כי היא ישרה בעיני vayoimer Shimshon l'aviv osah kach li ki hi yashra b'einai. Now זנות znus there does not mean having an illicit relationship with some female, because over there we have the story of Samson telling his father, 'Take...' right for me. And the גמרא Gemara says yes, he followed his eyes, what he felt was right, was right to quench his thirst. So זנות znus simply doesn't mean to say something illicit, it means to say you even enter marriage because of self-centered obsessive desires for an unquenchable thirst. That's also called זנות znus. You can get married for זנות znus. And the רמב\"ם Rambam continues, ורוצה באמרו זו זנות verotzeh be'omro zu znus, when the חז\"ל Chazal say זנות znus what does it mean? המשך אחר ההנאות והתאוות הגשמיות hemashech achar ha'hana'ot ve'hata'avos hageshmiyos, being drawn towards pleasure and obsessive desire for temporal realities. ויתעסק המחשבה בהם תמיד veyitasek hamachshavah bahem tamid and to be constantly thinking about how can I have a better time, how can I satiate my desires, how can I feel good, comfortable, etc. The חינוך Chinuch elaborates on this in מצוה שפ\"ז mitzvah shin pei zayin, I suggest we read that on the מצוה mitzvah and he writes over there שלא ירדוף אדם אחר מראה עיניו shelo yirdof adam achar marei einav, man should not be running after things he sees. Oh, I see that beautiful car, I think I need something like it. ובכלל זה שלא נרדוף אחר תאוות העולם הזה uvechlal zeh shelo nirdof achar ta'avos ha'olam hazeh we shouldn't be running after things which are obsessive desires of temporal realities כי אחריתם רעה ki achrisam ra'ah because if you live that lifestyle it doesn't end well וכדאי בזיון וכסף vekedai bizayon vakesef. And there he quotes the רמב\"ם Rambam and he explains that the idea behind this is because doing after, following to satiate a pleasure, ultimately you stop thinking about purpose, meaning, and direction. The רב רש\"ב Rebbe Rashab of Lubavitch, רב שלום בער Rav Shalom Ber, in his קונטרס ומעיין Kuntres Uma'ayan elaborates that the first הקדמה hakdamah to תפלה tefillah and spiritual growth is first give up something. Give up something, give up something. We all know, those of us who are married will understand that, you get so much more by giving up yourself because you enter the collective of us and it is so much richer and colorful and beautiful. So my message is אדם כי יקריב adam ki yakriv, we're going to learn תורת כהנים Torat Kohanim, we have to learn how to be קדושים תהיו kedoshim tihyu, we have to learn to be people that are going to give up our self-centeredness and give up some of your תאוות ta'avos, something, try it, something, just something. We all—it's like, you know, you want to be healthy you got to lose weight, and we have a lot of excess baggage. Something we have to give up for the glory of God and ultimately we will be closer to him and we will be זוכה zocheh through all this עבודת השם avodat Hashem, טאקע taka, to be close to הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu and bring כבוד שמים kvod shamayim into this world and this is the תכלית העולמות tachlis ha'olamos. I wish you all a successful venture in פרשת תורת כהנים parshat Torat Kohanim, a beautiful redemptive ניסן Nissan and we should all hear only בשורות טובות bsuros tovos and חג כשר ושמח chag kasher vesame'ach.