Dvar Torah Achrei Mos/Kedoshim

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Hey Guys!

I miss you all! Shana Bet is really too far away! I say we all go back for a shana gimmel! L’Shana Haba B’Yerushalim!!

Anyway, this week’s parsha is parshas Achrei Mos/Kedoshim. I have two nice thoughts to share on Parshas Achrei Mos specifically. This parsha discusses the Avodah of Yom Kippur done by the Kohen Gadol in the Kodesh HaKedoshim. The parsha emphasizes the importance of only entering the kodesh HaKedoshim at specified times such as Yom Kippur.

The first is a beautiful point brought by Rav Shimshon Dovid Pincus-whom many of us are fond of!  He brings down an important lesson that we can learn from the makom of the Yom Kippur Avodah. This Avodah was the highlight of the year. One may think that such an important Avodah should be brought in a large, public domaine. But no--- the most intense avodah of the day, the offering of ketores, is done inside the kodesh kodashim with no one, not even a malach, present to observe! Sometimes we assign too much weight to public displays of piety and lose sight of the fact that it's what happens in private, in the 4 amos of yours that no one but you and G-d can see, that can make all the difference in the world. A perfect example is when you see two people, one who is shuckling away while davening, and one who is more quiet. The natural tendency is to think that the first person is more “into it” than the second. The knee-jerk assumption is based entirely on what we see on the outside but ignores what is going on in the kodesh kodashim inside.

This is a generation of actions, of peer approval. The Bais HaMikdash was destroyed-not because people weren’t learning or keeping the Mitzvos but because people were lax in reciting birchas haTorah. The Ran explains that the lack of birchas haTorah demonstrated a lack of "lishma," of proper intent and motivation in learning. Only Hashem can see what’s in the heart, and Hashem judges us precisely on what no one else is aware of and no one else can see but ourselves. We need to make sure that our avodah comes from within and is not just a mask to give off a false impression.

The second point is brought down by the Shem Mishmuel on the warning to Aharon that he may not enter the Kodesh HaKedoshim whenever he chooses. The pesukim reinforce the danger with a reminder that Aharon’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu, entered without permission and were killed.

The Torah tells us that they were killed because they brought an “aish zarah” so how does their death serve as a warning that simply entering the kodesh HaKedoshim poses a danger?

We all know that the greater a person is, the more harshly he is judged. We are judged relative to who we are and what we are capable of. The sin of Nadav and Avihu was actually very slight but they were judged so harshly because “B’korvasam lifnei Hashem”-because they drew closer to G-d. To enter the Kodesh HaKedoshim, demanded a level of purity that did not tolerate even a slight blemish of the soul. It’s not the sin of “aish zarah” alone which killed Nadav v’Avihu, but it was the context in which the sin took place. In the context of kodesh kodashin, the ever so slight defects of soul that these giants might have had within them were suddenly judged as glaring errors of judgment. Because the context of kodesh kodashim is so special, it must be reserved for use only on the most special moment of the year, as Aharon was told.

What we learn from this is that there is a din v’chesbon that comes along with aliya. What may have been fine for our souls before pesach and sefiras HaOmer simply does not cut it in the context of the tremendous aliya of the chag. In these days of sefiras HaOmer we are hopefully growing and working on ourselves, preparing for matan Torah on Shavuos. We need to integrate the Ohr of these days into our personalities in a way that transforms our past and provides direction for the future. As Rav Pinkus teaches in this weeks Parsha, we need to work on our pnimiyus and these days are an opportune time for this avodah!!!!

Gut Shabbos!

[Nava Kaniel]

BSD

 

Thank You Ahuva! This is beautiful!

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