Parshas Zachor For Bar Mitzvah Boys - Zachor 5771

 

We Lain Parshas Zachar once a year and it has nothing to do with the month of Adar. As the Chasam Sofer explains, Parshas Zachar would not have to be Lained Dafka this week. The Mitzvah is once a year to remind one’s self of what Amaleik did. Because we know that Shicha (forgetting) is after a year. Therefore, once a year we read the Parsha of Amaleik. We remember what Amaleik did and the Mitzvah of Mechiyas Amaleik and before it is forgotten the next year we read it again. 

The question is the following. What about a Bar Mitzvah boy that was Bar Mitzvah during the summer. Now he is missing Parshas Zachor. The Chasam Sofer is saying and I think we all agree that Parshas Zachor is not inherently a Mitzvah of the month of Adar. For those of us who were Bar Mitzvah long ago it is fine, we can wait another week to do Parshas Zachor because we still remember the Parshas Zachor of 11 months ago. However, for the Bar Mitzva boy who now becomes Michuyav in Mitzvos, why is he not obligated to read Parshas Zachor now. Parshas Zachor according to the Terumas Hadeshen has to be read from a Sefer Torah. Every Bar Mitzvah boy at the time of his Bar Mitzvah should Lechora have to read Parshas Zachor from a Sefer Torah or listen to it be read in order to be Mekayeim the Mitzvah. He is missing the Mitzvah from the day of his Bar Mitzvah until the first Parshas Zachor.

Many people answered that Parshas Zachor is a once a year Mitzvah. However, that is not really true, it is not a once a year Mitzvah. It is a Mitzvah that we do once a year but we do it once a year as the Chasam Sofer explains in order that we are in a constant state of awareness.

The Ragechove (Tzofnas Paneiach) was asked a Shaila. It was Erev Pesach. The Bechorim in town needed a Siyum to be absolved from fasting on Erev Pesach, however, the person who was making the Siyum was not Bar Mitzvah and people were saying that it can’t count as a Siyum as after all the Limud HaTorah of a boy under 13 is not a Mitzvah D’oraissa. The Ragechove was asked if that Siyum is adequate.

The Ragechove responded and said that depends if when a child learns Torah if it is a Mitzvah D’oraissa or not. If it is not a Mitzvah D’oraissa the Siyum is not sufficient to allow breaking a fast. The Ragechove said it is and he bases it on a Yerushalmi.

The Yerushalmi says that if someone fathers a child when he is a Koton and then he becomes Bar Mitzvah and the child survived and is born that he is Mekayaim Pru U’rvu. The reason for that is, while most Mitzvas Asei are Mitzvos that we do with an action, a few Mitzvas Asei are Mitzvos where the result is the Mitzvah. Pru U’rvu having the child is the result. It needs the action but the Mitzva is the result. So fathering a child as a person under Bar Mitzvah counts as a Mitzvah.

The same thing. Limud Hatorah has two parts, the Masei Hamitzvah to learn and the Totza’a, to know what you learned. To have knowledge of Torah. When a Koton learns, the act is not a Mitzvah D’oraissa. The Maisei Hamitzvah it is not. Because that learning could remain as a Gadol, that action of learning as a Koton counts as a Mitzvah D’oraissa and a Siyum is good. That is what the Ragechove said.

Those are two Mitzvos, Pru U’rvu and Limud HaTorah where the result is the Mitzvah. Parshas Zachor should be the same. The Mitzvah of Laining Parshas Zachor is the result that one have the knowledge, the Yidi’a, memory of Parshas Zachor. For that reason, even if you heard Parshas Zachor as a Koton the Maise that a Koton does is not a Mitzvah D’oraissa. However, Kol Zman the resultant Mitzvah is there, the Mitzvah D’oraissa is Mikuyaim.

I would add that later I saw that R’Yaakov Kamenetzky has the same Vort on Limud HaTorah.  The Rambam in the beginning of Perek Aleph of Hilchos Talmud Torah says that if a child is not taught by his father he has to learn Torah from when he is able to understand. R’Yaakov Kamenetzky asks how can a Koton be Michuyav in a Mitzvah D’oraissa and he answered that because the Yedios will remain with him later, the Mitzvah is to learn as a Koton and cause the Mitzvah D’oraissa of Yedios of the learning that is remaining later. A Geshmake Yesod which explains Parshas Zachor quite well.

Kedusha You Can Eat - Vayikra 5771

This second thought is from Rav Avigdor Millel Zatzal. This thought is also a Yesod on Sefer Vayikra. The Posuk in (הַשִּׁירִים שִׁיר) 4:16 says (עוּרִי צָפוֹן וּבוֹאִי תֵימָן) which the Gemara translates to mean until the Bais Hamikdash was built, Korbanos were brought only in the North area of the Mizbaiach and now they can be brought in the south side as well. What does that mean?

A Goy can only bring a Korban Olah. A Korban Olah is Shechted in the north. So Chazal Darshuned that (עוּרִי צָפוֹן) wake up that which was brought only in the north and (וּבוֹאִי תֵימָן) now Korbanos are brought anywhere in the Bais Hamikdash and it refers to the other Korbanos like Shelamim etc. which were brought by Klal Yisrael.

A Goy can only bring a Korban Olah. A Jew can bring a Korban which he can eat. This includes the Shelamim, the Todah, the Pesach. The significance of this he explains is as follows. The Ben Noach only understands Kedusha, something that is purely spiritual. That is a Korban Olah. That is the way it is among the non Jews, those that don’t have a deeper understanding of Avodas Hashem. They understand that something that is totally Kadosh is Kadosh, however, if someone can make Olam Hazeh Kadosh, his eating is Kadosh, is something that requires a much higher level. For that, only Klal Yisrael was privileged to bring a Shlomim. Where their own eating becomes something of a higher Kedusha. So that the Bais Hamikdash represents this higher level. Taking these pleasures of Olam Hazeh and being Mikadeish them. Something which requires a great effort to do.

I once saw that in Uri Zohar’s book, (Uri Zohar being the great Baal Teshuva, the leader of the Baal Teshuva movement), who shortly after becoming a Baal Teshuva wrote and explained feelings of secular Jews towards Religious Jews.  He wrote that a secular Jew can understand someone who is Religious because he behaves in a way that separates himself from the pleasures of this world. Someone can understand that that is a higher level. However, someone who can enjoy the pleasures of this world and bring that to a higher level of Kedusha. Someone who eats plenty of Kosher food but makes a Beracha and says now it is a Mitzvah or eats on Shabbos and Yom Tov and says the eating is a Mitzvah and the pleasures of this world are a Mitzvah, that is something that a secular Jew finds difficult to appreciate. That is this idea of (עוּרִי צָפוֹן וּבוֹאִי תֵימָן). The Bais Hamikdash is a place where eating the meat of the Korbanos (the Gemara says to eat it in a Geshmake way). You are supposed to eat it with mustard, you are supposed to eat it in a way that you will enjoy. This is because you are elevating the pleasures of Olam Hazeh with Kedusha and that is a challenge of the Bais Hamikdash.  These are 2 ideas that give a deeper understanding of the whole Parsha of the Korbanos.

Mikdash & Mishkan - Vayikra 5771

There are 2 thoughts that are very special to the whole Sefer Vayikra and an important connection to Sefer Shemos. A logical place to begin is with the Ramban’s Hakdama to Sefer Vayikra. The Ramban who explained that Sefer Shmos is the book of Galus and Geula and that it ends with the Shechina residing on the Mishkan, which is of course the zenith, the high point of Geulah, explains a continuation here as follows.  

The Ramban writes that Hashem commanded us to bring Korbanos in the Bais Hamikdash for the following reasons. The Korbanos are an opportunity for forgiveness and that Aveiros should not cause the Shechina which resides among Klal Yisrael as we have learned at the end of Sefer Shemos, to leave G-d forbid. The Korbanos are an opportunity to make sure that the Shechina remains in the Mishkan among Klal Yisrael. The Ramban explains this as the reason for the Korbanos.

There are a number of difficulties with the very idea that the purpose of the Korbanos are so limited to just keeping the Shechina in the Bais Hamikdash or in the Mishkan. First of all a Korban is called Raiach Nichoach even before the Bais Hamikdash or the Mishkan were built. We already find it being a Raiach Nichoach by Sefer Beraishis in Parshas Noach when Noach brings Korbanos in 8:20 – 21 (כ  וַיִּבֶן נֹחַ מִזְבֵּחַ, לַירוָר; וַיִּקַּח מִכֹּל הַבְּהֵמָה הַטְּהֹרָה, וּמִכֹּל הָעוֹף הַטָּהוֹר, וַיַּעַל עֹלֹת, בַּמִּזְבֵּחַ כא  וַיָּרַח יְרוָר, אֶת-רֵיחַ הַנִּיחֹחַ, וַיֹּאמֶר יְרוָר אֶל-לִבּוֹ לֹא-אֹסִף לְקַלֵּל עוֹד אֶת-הָאֲדָמָה בַּעֲבוּר הָאָדָם, כִּי יֵצֶר לֵב הָאָדָם רַע מִנְּעֻרָיו; וְלֹא-אֹסִף עוֹד לְהַכּוֹת אֶת-כָּל-חַי, כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתִי). There we see clearly that Korbanos come for better reasons. Not just to remove a Chisaron but actually to provide a Maylah and a benefit. This is a difficulty with the Ramban’s position that the reason is to keep the Shechina among Klal Yisrael.

Secondly there are numerous Gemaras that give reasons for the Korbanos. The Gemara in Maseches Rosh Hashono 16a (11 lines from the bottom) says (תניא א"ר יהודה משום ר"ע מפני מה אמרה תורה הביאו עומר בפסח מפני שהפסח זמן תבואה הוא אמר הקב"ה הביאו לפני עומר בפסח כדי שתתברך לכם תבואה שבשדות ומפני מה אמרה תורה הביאו שתי הלחם בעצרת מפני שעצרת זמן פירות האילן הוא אמר הקב"ה הביאו לפני שתי הלחם בעצרת כדי שיתברכו לכם פירות האילן ומפני מה אמרה תורה נסכו מים בחג אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא נסכו לפני מים בחג כדי שיתברכו לכם גשמי שנה). Bring before me the Shtei Halechem on Shavuos so that there should be a blessing  among the fruits of the year. The Korbanos bring Beracha and don’t simply prevent a Chisaron of the Shechina leaving. It actually brings specific Beracha. Certainly a Korban Todah which is a Korban of Thanksgiving is more than just a Kapparah for an Aveira. Therefore these are difficulties that we have with the idea, the concept of this Ramban.

I saw a beautiful answer brought in the name of the Shem MiShmuel in the Sefer Iyunim Bamikra (This Sefer had the Mar Makom).  The Shem MiShmuel in Shnas Taf Reish Ayin Vav says a beautiful Yesod from his father the Avnei Nezer. Really he explains something even more fundamental than the Korbanos. We find the name of the place of the Mizbaiach and the Aron in the Chumash as being called the Mishkan. Later when Shlomo Melech builds it, it is called the Bais Hamikdash. These names are used interchangeably. V’asu Li Mikdash refers to the Mishkan. So that we have two names Mishkan and Mikdash which are used interchangeably but primarily in the Midbar it is called the Mishkan and in Eretz Yisrael it is called the Mikdash.

The Avnei Nezer explains that each represents one function of the Mishkan, Mikdash. The word Mishkan means residing of the Shechina among Klal Yisrael. The name Mishkan represents a place where the Shechina resides. Where Korbanos are brought for forgiveness so that the Shechina should not leave. Since in the Midbar the Mishkan and the fact that the Shechina came upon the Mishkan was as the Ramban explains at the end of Sefer Shemos an Inyan of Kaparah for the Eigel, so the primary name in the 40 years in the Midbar is Mishkan. Something that began as a Kapparah for Klal Yisrael. Now of course the Mishkan is not only a place of Kapparah (of forgiveness). We have asked in our Kashas and demonstrated from those Mar Mekomos. It is also a Mikdash, a place that brings to higher and higher levels of Kedusha. Sheyiskadshu Bnei Yisrael. So there is a second aspect an aspect of reaching higher levels of Kedusha and deserving a Beracha of the Peiros and the Tevuos Hashana of a Raiach Nichoach. For that the name is Mikdash.  When Shlomo Hamelech built the Bais Hamikdash it was primarily for that and therefore the name Bais Hamikdash was used. However, there is a dual purpose in this area called either Mishkan or Mikdash. The Ramban’s introduction is explaining the flow of Shemos to Vayikra, explaining what took place in the Midbar, and therefore, his explanation is true for the Mishkan aspect of this place. The place to make sure that there is forgiveness and that the Shechina does not leave. That is not it, there is also the Mikdash aspect. When we understand these two aspects we can answer what appears to be a Stirah in the Rambam.

The Rambam in bringing a Posuk for this Mitzvah brings one Posuk in Hilchos Bais Habichira and one in Hilchos Melachim. That is, in Hilchos Bais Habichira Perek 1:1 the Rambam brings a Posuk V’asu Li Mikdash V’shachanti B’sochom. In the beginning of Hilchos Melachim there is a different Posuk brought, Lishicno Sidrishu U’vasa Shama. There are 2 different Pesukim, however, they are not a contradiction. There are dual aspects, V’asu Li Mikdash. Mikdash is an aspect of Bais Hamikdash and Lishicno Sidrishu. Lishichno is a Lashon of Mishkan and both aspects are true aspects. Therefore we have a Chiddush and a Yesod, there is a Mishkan and there is a Mikdash. The place of Kaparah, the place of reaching higher and higher level of Kedusha. The 2 aspects of Avodas Hashem, the 2 aspects of this special place where the Shechina resides.

The Calling - Vayikra 5770

1:1 This piece by Rav Gedalya Schorr is in the Yeshurun second volume. He is coming to explain the first Rashi on the Parsha which is very difficult. Rashi says ויקרא אל משה: לכל דברות ולכל אמירות ולכל צוויים קדמה קריאה, לשון חבה, לשון שמלאכי השרת משתמשים בו, שנאמר (ישעיה ו ג) וקרא זה אל זה, אבל לנביאי אומות העולם נגלה עליהן בלשון עראי וטומאה, שנאמר (במדבר כג ד) ויקר א-להים אל בלעם before every commandment it says a Lashon of Vayikra. This is a language used by the Angels because it says V’kara Zeh El Zeh V’amar.  This needs explanation because what is so special about Vayikra as an introduction to Nevua. Rashi discusses the gentile prophets and how they are spoken to because they have Tumah and he comes to explain why Nevua is so special with Vayikra.

We are accustomed to use interchangeably words like Vayidabeir and he spoke, Vayoimer and he said, and Vayikra and he called. Rav Schorr explains that Vayikra is calling someone to come to you. When you call someone you are typically calling that person towards you.

An example of this is found in Maseches Pesachim where the Posuk of Vayikra Elokim L’or Yoim is brought which means and Hashem called light day. The Gemara explains that Hashem called light and commanded it to be light by day. This sort of means to say that Hakadoish Baruch asked the light to come close.

The same thing with V’kara Zeh El Zeh V’amar which it says by the Malachim. It is a Posuk that we are used to saying in Kedusha, and Targum translates it as Ul’kadmin Dain Mi’dain. What are they being Mekabail? They are being Mekabail that they are preparing each other by calling to each other in order to say Kadoish Kadoish.

Vayikra, Rav Schorr explains is, that Hashem calls the Navi and says come close to me. This is with a Lashoin of love because when you love someone you call them to come close to you. So anytime a beloved Navi is called it is with the Lashoin of Vayikra.

Regarding the prophets of the other nations, since there is an Inyan of Tumah involved with them, there is no reason to call them to come close.  Rav Schorr goes on to explain that this is the reason why this whole Chumash is called Vayikra. Korban is the Lashoin of Karoiv of coming close to the Ribboinoi Shel Oilam. The idea of bringing a Korban of spending a significant amount of money on the animal and traveling to the Bais Hamikdash is a Lashoin of coming close to Hashem.  It says Adam Ki Yakriv Mikem, when a person brings a Korban, Mikem, it is from the person. It brings a person closer to the Ribboinoi Shel Oilam.  That is the significance of Vayikra, calling and coming close to the Ribboinoi Shel Oilam.

There are 2 practical applications of this Rav Schorr explains, davening today is in the place of Korbanois. When we start Davening we take 3 steps forward. We are walking physically closer to the Ribboinoi Shel Oilam. This is a feeling of love and an answer to the Vayikra even if we might not hear it. This is a feeling that we should try to have, a feeling of speaking one on one with the Ribboinoi Shel Oilam when we are Davening.

The second application is the Aufruf when we get called up to the Torah for a special occasion whether a Bar Mitzvah or a Yahrtzeit. Someone who is called up to the Torah is Aufruf, he is called to go up. As it says when Moshe Rabbeinu went up to Har Sinai, that Hakadoish Baruch Hu Vayikra El Moshe Vaya’al Moshe. Moshe went up which means to come closer to Hakadoish Baruch Hu. That is the idea behind the concept of Vayikra.

Doubt - Vayikra 5770

We find the idea of a Korban Asham and a Korban Chatas. The cost of the Asham is a certain given value of Shtei Kesef as brought down in Maseches Zevachim. The Korban Chattas has a cost of a Danka which is 1/48^th the cost of the Asham. This is absolutely incredible as they are both Korbanois. This is especially significant if you understand that the Korban Chattas is brought only when someone actually did an Aveira however, it was B’shoigeig, while the Korban Asham which is usually the Asham Talui is brought only when there is a Safeik if someone did an Aveira.  Why should an Asham Talui cost so much more than the Korban Chattas?  

Rabbeinu Yona in Pirkei Avos explains this with an insight into human nature. It is human nature that when you do an Aveira and especially B’shoigeig that there are tremendous feelings of regret. So it is relatively easy to do Teshuva on this Aveira. However, if there is a Safeik if someone did an Aveira and he is bringing a Korban, he is thinking do I really need this Korban? Maybe I don’t need it and it really wasn’t an Aveira. When a person is unsure he really doesn’t have feelings of Teshuva. So in order for it to count as a Kaparah we make a much a much bigger deal out of an Asham.

This insight into the psychology of a human being is used by the Steipler in Kehillas Yaakov in Maseches Nedarim to answer a K’tzois Hachoishen’s Kasha. The Gemara says a person may swear in order to ensure that he will do a Mitzvah. The K’tzois asks in Siman 73:5, that the Ramban says when you make a Neder or Shevua to do a Mitzvah it doesn’t apply. You were already obligated to do this Mitzvah from Har Sinai and therefore a promise to do a Mitzvah doesn’t take affect and it is not a Shevuah. The reason is, that a second Shevuah is not Chal on a first Shevuah.  So how does this Shevuah get you going?

The Steipler answers very Geshmak. A person can come up with all types of reasons and excuses of why a Mitzvah might not apply to him, so the Torah gives us an Eitza, take a Shevuah. Once you make a Shevuah to do it, you certainly have to do it. If it is a Mitzvah, you have to do it because it is a Mitzvah. If your excuse of this Mitzvah is that it doesn’t apply to me today, then the Shevuah is Chal and you still have to do the Mitzvah. So the purpose of the Shevuah is to pull away the excuses and in that way you will ensure yourself that you will do the Mitzvah.