‘Parsha Growth Spurts’
Rabbi Dani Staum
Parshas Acharei-Kedoshim
“He shall take some blood of the bull and some blood of the he-goat and place it on the horns of the Altar all around.” (16:18)
On Yom Kippur during the Avodah, the Kohain Gadol mixed the blood of the slaughtered ox with the blood of the slaughtered goat and sprinkled from the mixture on the Copper Mizbayach, between the poles of the Aron, and on the Golden Mizbayach.
In the text of the Avodah recited in the Mussaf of Yom Kippur (according to Nusach Sefard), it states “Sas” – that the Kohain Gadol rejoiced when mixing the blood. What was the reason for this joy?
Rav Arele, the previous Belzer Rebbe zy’a, explained that before slaughtering the ox the Kohain Gadol recited viduy for his own sins and the sins of his family. The slaughtering of the goat however achieved atonement for the sins of all of Klal Yisroel.
When one is judged individually it is frightening. One can never be confident that he will emerge meritoriously from Divine scrutiny. We prefer to be judged among the masses of Klal Yisroel, for as a nation we possess merit.
When the Kohain Gadol offered the ox there was a sense of trepidation as he sought atonement for personal and familial iniquity. But when he mixed the blood of the ox with the blood of the goat, there was a feeling of joyous relief, as it symbolized that his atonement was concurrent with that of the entire nation.
A Jew must always see himself as part of the Klal.
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“You shall reprove your fellow and do not bear a sin because of him” (19:17)
The gemara (Bava Metzia 31a) explains that the pasuk utilizes a double expression to teach that the obligation to engage in constructive criticism has no limit. In the vernacular of the gemara, one must reprove his fellow, “Even a hundred times”.
However, the gemara (Yevomos 65b) also states that “Just as it is a mitzvah to say something that will be accepted, so to it is a mitzvah not to say something that will not be accepted.”
This seems to be an inherent paradox. How can one rebuke even 100 times if he cannot rebuke if it’s not accepted?
The Alter of Kelm, Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv Broide, explained that when the gemara instructs one to offer rebuke up to 100 times, it does not mean that he should keep repeating the same message over and over. Rather, it should be offered tactfully, offering brief sentiments which can be heard and accepted. The gemara is exhorting the one offering the rebuke to have patience. Effective criticism is a process that requires planning and meticulous execution. Sometimes it may even take 100 steps until the message is able to penetrate, but often that is what’s necessary to be effective.
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“Like the actions of the land of Egypt which you dwelled in you shall not do… and in their ways you shall not go.” (18:3)
Reb Yerucham Levovitz zt’l noted that Moshe Rabbeinu’s greatest apprehension regarding Klal Yisroel was that they would mingle with the idolatrous nations surrounding them and be influenced by their practices. Moshe repeatedly warned the nation to not allow this to happen – at Sinai, and in numerous times throughout his last will and testament recorded in Chumash Devorim.
Indeed, many of the egregious national spiritual slides were due to their forgetting or not paying heed to Moshe’s warnings.
In “Birchas Hachodesh” recited each month we daven for various blessings of life. It is enigmatic that one of those requests is repeated, “Life that contains fear of Heaven and fear of sin, life that has in it love of Torah and fear of Heaven…” Why do we repeat our request for Fear of Heaven?
Rav Pinchos Teitz zt’l explained that the first time we request, “chaim sheyesh bahem” a life that inherently possesses fear of Heaven. This is a prayer that we should be surrounded with neighbors, friends, and acquaintances who are G-d-Fearing so that it will penetrate our souls and inevitably have a positive effect on us. The second time we ask for “chaim shyesh lanu” fear of Heaven within ourselves, i.e. that we ourselves become G-d Fearing.
In order for us to be G-d-fearing people we need to be surrounded by an environment suffused with G-d fearing people.
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Sources: Rav Yeruchom Levovitz – Da’as Chochma Umussar (2:89); Belzer Rebbe, Alter of Kelm & Rav Teitz – heard in their name