Musar zu Wajikra 22:78

9) When one prays with the congregation, he has [the opportunity of saying] Barchu, Kedushah, and Amen yehei shemei rabbah, each of which, in itself, is awesome. For through "Barchu" we make a crown for the Holy One Blessed be He, as we find in Midrash Konein. And through Kedushah we fulfill (Vayikra 22:33): "And I shall be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel." And through this, holiness is conferred upon us, as the verse concludes: "I am the L-rd who sanctifies you." And through "Amen, yehei shemei rabbah" one is forgiven for all of his sins, as our sages of blessed memory have said (Shabbath 119b): "If one says 'Amen, yehei shemei rabbah' with all of his strength [i.e., with all of his intent], even if there is a trace of heresy in him, he is forgiven."

9) When one prays with the congregation, he has [the opportunity of saying] Barchu, Kedushah, and Amen yehei shemei rabbah, each of which, in itself, is awesome. For through "Barchu" we make a crown for the Holy One Blessed be He, as we find in Midrash Konein. And through Kedushah we fulfill (Vayikra 22:33): "And I shall be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel." And through this, holiness is conferred upon us, as the verse concludes: "I am the L-rd who sanctifies you." And through "Amen, yehei shemei rabbah" one is forgiven for all of his sins, as our sages of blessed memory have said (Shabbath 119b): "If one says 'Amen, yehei shemei rabbah' with all of his strength [i.e., with all of his intent], even if there is a trace of heresy in him, he is forgiven."

This still leaves open the question why the Torah chose the word אדם instead of איש. Granted that, had the Torah spoken about a mandatory עולה offering (which Gentiles are not allowed to bring), I would have thought that the designation אדם was chosen in order to emphasize that only Israelites are included because the title אדם does not apply to Gentiles. We further know from the use by the Torah of the term איש איש (Leviticus 22,18), in connection with קרבן נדבה, that our sages rule that such offerings by Gentiles are acceptable (Menachot 73). Because the Torah in our verse speaks about free-will offerings why would the word איש instead of אדם not have been appropriate?

אותו ואת בנו לא תשחטו ביום אחד . The Zohar (Sullam edition page 24) poses the question that if this legislation of not slaughtering the young animal on the same day as the mother animal (22,28) is to save the mother animal the pain of watching its young killed, this could be avoided simply by keeping them apart. The true reason, however, is connected to the Jewish peoples's sense of empathy. To the extent that a person displays consideration for the feeling of others he in turn may find that such considerations of his own feelings will be a factor when he will be judged. The reverse is also true.

All three commentators address themselves to the three truths surrounding the commandment to Abraham to offer Isaac as a total offering. The commandment to Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice is terribly difficult to understand. Especially so the fact that it is called מאכלת, "something that feeds," i.e. that the people of Israel still "feed" on the merit accumulated by our patriarch Abraham who took his only son and pre-ordained successor in order to slaughter him with his own hands because G–d had commanded him. Also the merit accumulated by Isaac who went along with this cheerfully, viz: Genesis 22,8: וילכו שניהם יחדו, is totally astounding. Thus it appears to anyone who reads the text of our story. If you examine the text carefully, however, you will find that both Abraham and Isaac made efforts to escape this particular death, as has been pointed out by our sages. When Abraham answers his son's question "where is the lamb for the offering? by saying: G–d will select the lamb for Himself, my son," this is to be understood as a prayer to G–d to select a different offering (22,7-8). We must read the verse as: "If G–d does not select a different lamb, then לעולה בני, "my son will be the offering." Thus we find that Abraham prayed for a miracle by G–d. Because of Abraham's prayer and the fact that G–d responded favorably, we say nowadays in our סליחות prayers that "May the One who answered Abraham at Mount Moriah, also answer our prayers." In view of all this, why does the Torah heap so much praise on Abraham? Do we not have a statement in Sifra Vayikra 22,32 that if someone undergoes martyrdom for the sake of the Holy Name of G–d hoping that G–d will save him by some miracle, no miracle will occur? Even if such a miracle does occur, such a person can certainly not be considered as having become a martyr for the sake of G–d's name!

“You shall not profane My holy name” (Leviticus 22:32). This is among [the sins for which] one is liable for excision, as will be explained. And know that, is not the (greatest) damage and destruction found among the souls of the masses on the lips of the tongue? For they mention [God’s] name for nothing, and they also mention it without reverence. And about this matter did our Rabbis explain (Leviticus Rabbah 27) that which it is written (Isaiah 1:3), “Israel did not know.” And they are also not exacting about the cleanliness of the place and cleanliness of [their] palms.

“There must be no blemish in it” (Leviticus 22:21). We were warned with this not to introduce a blemish into a firstborn - even in our times.

And the ninth level is the severity of the sins for which one is killed rather than transgressing them: Our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Sanhedrin 74a), “[With regard to] all transgressions in the Torah, if a person [is told], ‘Transgress and you will not be killed,’ he may transgress and not be killed, [...] as it is stated (Leviticus 18:5), ‘[You shall keep My statutes and My judgments,] which a person shall do, and he shall live by them’ - ‘and live by them,’ and not to die by them,” except for idol worship, forbidden sexual relations, and bloodshed. For if a person tells him about one of these three, “Transgress and you will not be killed,” he must [let himself] be killed and not transgress - even when they tell him to do the transgression in private; [whereas with other sins, such a law would only apply in public,] as it is stated (Leviticus 22:32), “that I may be sanctified in the midst of the Israelite people.”

And behold that the principle behind all of the punishments mentioned in this level is because of profaning the Torah. And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Yerushalmi Nedarim 3:14), that the sin of profanation is bigger than all of the transgressions. And it is not possible to atone [for it] with repentance and afflictions, as will be explained in the Gate of the Parts of Atonement (no longer extant). And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Kiddushin 40a), “There is no [deferral] with [the punishment] for profaning [God’s] name - whether one is inadvertent or volitional.” And now stand and reflect upon our great obligation to sanctify His name: As the essence of that which God, may He be blessed, sanctified us with His Torah and His commandments and separated us to be [a people] for Him was to sanctify Him and to fear Him. [Hence] it is fit from the ones he sanctified to be holy - in that even the vessels [used to] serve in front of God, may He be blessed, need to be sanctified; as it is stated (Leviticus 22:32), “You shall not profane My holy name, that I may be sanctified in the midst of the Israelite people; I am the Lord who sanctified you,” Note and understand that the matter that we said can be found explicitly in this verse: It is stated (Psalms 111:9), “He ordered His covenant for all time; His name is holy and awesome.” Its explanation is, because “His name is holy and awesome,” “He ordered His Covenant for all time” and commanded us with His commandments - to sanctify Him and to fear Him. Hence, it is written after it (Psalms 111:10), “The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord; sound understanding, etc.” And through the holiness of the commandments - when we sanctify God, may He be blessed, we are associated with the supernal holy ones that sanctify and venerate Him, as it is stated (Psalms 89:8), “A God venerated in the great council of holy beings, etc.”

טמא טמא יקרא . He shall call out (13,45) "Unclean! Unclean!" This is an allusion to the statement by our sages (Kidushin 70a) that כל הפוסל במומו פוסל, "When someone declares someone else as unfit, this usually reflects upon himself," i.e. that he suffers from a similar imperfection. When the Torah says in 21,18: כל איש אשר בו מום לא יקרב, "any person who is blemished must not draw near (the Tabernacle to perform sacrificial service)," this is because in principle the priest is to offer himself when he offers a sacrifice on someone else's behalf.

The "perfection" of שנה, or the concept of time, i.e. unlimited time enjoyed by Adam before his sin, was symbolized in the Temple by the various sacrifices all of which were to be offered at certain times. An animal was not fit to be offered until it was eight days old; the daily public offerings -mornings and evenings- were tied to a time frame. The additional public offerings on the Sabbaths and the festivals were also tied to a time frame. Offerings by individuals, to help them purify themselves from ritual impurity, had to be offered after a certain amount of time had elapsed after their owners had become defiled. Offerings to help individuals expiate certain sins were linked to the time the respective sins they were meant to atone for had been committed.

Commandment 282 forbids an uncircumcised priest to eat תרומה. The Talmud Yevamot 70 derives this law by association with the law prohibiting any non-circumcised Jew to eat from the Passover sacrifice. Since that prohibition extends to the resident stranger and the hired hand, so does this prohibition extend to the hired hand of a priest.

Commandment 285 determines that blemished animals must not be offered as sacrifices. The Torah writes: כל אשר בו מום לא תקריבו, "Do not offer as a sacrifice anything blemished" (22,20).

The second method of explaining these verses is based on Abraham's speculating that these visitors were angels. Thus the meal must be understood as an offering to G–d by Abraham. When Abraham "ran to the cattle," this means he went to prepare a bull for the sacrifice. This is what Vayikra Rabbah 27,9 means when it comments on the paragraph שור או כשב או עז, Leviticus 22,27 that the entire legislation of animal as well as meal offerings and the ability to atone for our sins by means of these animal offerings is due to the patriarchs. In the case of Abraham this is because אל הבקר רץ אברהם, "Abraham ran to the cattle" to select a suitable offering for G–d. The previous verse describing Abraham rushing into the tent to give instructions to Sarah what and how she was to bake, is a reference to the קרבן מנחה, the meal offering. Instead of mentioning a libation of wine, something that usually accompanies such offerings, Abraham took milk and butter. The reason he did so is that milk is conceptually connected to the attribute of Love, חסד, whereas wine is a symbol of the attribute of justice. At this point in Abraham's life the entire emphasis is on the acts of חסד he performs.

Let us return to the subject of Nadav and Avihu. These two sons of Aaron did not restrain themselves and, as a consequence beheld a vision that was beyond the capacity of their bodies; this was what caused their death. Theirs was the death described as precious to the Lord in Psalms 116,15. Their "death" should not be considered a regular death, and we must not think of it in terms of their being punished for a sin and having to die. On the contrary, they had achieved such a close affinity with G–d that their souls simply remained in the Celestial Regions, i.e. בקרבתם לפני ה'. This is the reason Moses told Aaron that theirs was an example of בקרובי אקדש, "I will be sanctified through those who are close to Me" (10,3). What this means is that their very death was the beginning of their life in the Hereafter. They may therefore be perceived as having entered the פרדס and having emerged unscathed. Since their departure from earth occurred when they were publicly preparing to enter into the most intimate relationship with G–d, it was of the "על פני כל העם אכבד" type, viz. 10,3. Rabbi Akiva suffered a similar fate when he died on קדוש השם, a martyr at the hands of the Romans. He sanctified G–d's name after having emerged from the פרדס, albeit sometime later. When the angels demurred about the fate of Rabbi Akiva and the other nine Martyrs, [cf. the liturgical prayer אלה אזכרה in the Mussaph service of the Day of Atonement. Ed.] G–d silenced them by saying that this was His decision. Here too we find that Aaron remained silent after Moses had explained the nature of his sons' "deaths" to him. This then is the explanation of the first Mishnah in Avot.

It is written, “And when the daughter of a Kohein shall be widowed or divorced, having no offspring, and she returns to her father’s house as in her youth…” (Vayikra 22:13) [and in the previous verse it is written,] “…she shall not eat of an offering of the holy things.” According to the Zohar (2:95b; 3:7a) this is an allusion to the soul. The soul was created to enter the body in order that it should be rectified and adorned with good deeds. But when a person transgresses, he blemishes his soul, causing it to cry out to Hashem, saying, “Hashem has delivered me into the hands of one against whom I cannot stand” (Eichah 1:14). When the Holy One Blessed is He hears this cry He says to the soul, “My precious daughter, you were raised in illumination and honor beneath the Throne of Glory and were called, ‘precious daughter.’ Then I lowered you into a human body, intending to elevate you to the highest levels through that human being’s good deeds. But now that he has sinned you have been degraded, plummeting from a lofty rooftop to the deep pit of the human body.” At this point the soul becomes known as a “divorcee” because it is banished from its place against its will (“divorced” and “banished” are expressed by the same word in Hebrew). But Hashem hears its cry and takes the soul from the body and purifies it though chastisements, after which it is able to relish the delights of its Heavenly Father.

Thus, the verse can be paraphrased as follows: “And when the daughter of a Kohein” — that is, the soul. “…Shall be widowed or divorced” — that is, at the death of its human host when it is banished from the body. “…Having no offspring” — that is, it performed no mitzvos or good deeds and consequently did not give birth to any of the holy angels that are formed from every good deed that a person does. “…And she returns to her father’s house” — that is, after its purification through chastisement. Nevertheless, “she shall not eat of an offering of the holy things,” as she had been accustom to do in the past, because she had become like a “stranger,” of whom it is written, “And no stranger shall eat of the holy things” (Vayikra 22:10). For only the righteous and pious may eat of them, as it is written, “Eat, dear ones, drink and become drunk, beloved ones” (Shir HaShirim 5:1).

It is written, “And let your camp be holy” (Devarim 23:15). Just as there is a border surrounding the various hosts and camps of the Shechinah, all of whom are called “holy,” so too the body and limbs of a human being comprise a “camp,” which if sanctified is also called the “camp of the Shechinah.” Thus it is written, “And I will be sanctified in the midst of (or “within”) the children of Israel” (Vayikra 22:32), and “I will dwell among (or “within”) them” (Shemos 25:8). But if a person heads in a bad direction he brings into himself the camp of the Sitra Achara. Therefore one should develop the habit of reciting this brief prayer: “Master of the Universe! Cause me to merit becoming a throne for the Shechinah!” For when the body is sanctified it becomes the throne of the Shechinah, which has a tremendous longing to settle upon the bodies of the righteous, whereas if a person perverts his ways the opposite occurs, Heaven forbid. This is concept is mentioned in the Zohar (Parashas Noach 68b) in connection with the verse, “And the [water] bore up the ark and it was raised from upon the earth” (Bereishis 7:17): “That is, when there are sinners in the world the Shechinah abandons the earth.” The Shechinah is called an “ark” — teivah — because if one changes the order of the letters of the word teivah (תיבה) it spells out the words Beis H[ashem] (בית ה') — the “House of Hashem.” The same passage elaborates on some of the ways in one can sanctify the body, the primary one being through studying Torah as much as possible. It is especially important to study at night, just before going to sleep. Thus it is related in Midrash HaNe’elam (Zohar Chadash 30b) in the name of Rabbi Yehudah: “Every night Metat, the Prince of the Countenance, takes the souls of all who study Torah and displays them before the Holy One Blessed is He. The ministering angels delay singing their song of praise until the souls of the righteous join with them and then they all sing together to God On High.”

The Torah commands us, “Your camp shall be holy” (Devarim 23:15). This means that a person must maintain his body and limbs in a state of holiness, for they are the camp of the Shechinah. This is the meaning of the verse, “And I will be sanctified within the children of Israel” (Vayikra 22:32) and the verse, “And I will dwell within them” (Shemos 25:8). But if he adopts bad ways, Heaven forbid, giving himself over to the pursuit of worldly pleasures, then his body becomes the abode of the Satan and Lilis, Heaven spare us. Therefore one should be in the habit of praying: “Master of the Universe! Enable me to remain pure and to become a throne for the Shechinah. ‘Let my soul bless Hashem and all my innards His holy Name’ (Tehillim 103:1).”

These six pillars and four supports are already alluded to in the words of 18,13: תמים תהיה עם השם אלוקיך. The word תמים alludes to the six pillars. The first is תורה, (for Psalms 19,8 speaks of תורת ה' תמימה. The next pillar, עבודה, is alluded to because the Torah (Leviticus 22,19) speaks about תמים זכר. The pillar גמילות חסדים -by definition- appears in conjunction with the pillar אמת becomes a true חסד של אמת, something which does not look forward to something in return. This is the true meaning of תמים. Both the pillars אמת, שלום, and דין are associated with the word תמים as we know from Deut. 32,4: הצור תמים פעלו כי כל דרכיו משפט א-ל אמונה ואין עול; we also know that שלום is equivalent to תמימות since the Torah tells us that when something is joined the result is תמים as in Exodus 26,24. The verse תמים תהיה עם ה' אלוקיך continues with the words עם ה' אלוקיך which is an allusion to the four "supports" of the throne. We have mentioned that the uniqueness of G–d is to be emulated by us by התבודדות, seclusion. The אשה נאה, whom we have described as one of the fundamentals of successful existence on this earth, is a simile for the נשמה, soul, which is part of G–d, His "wife," so to speak. This is why the Torah writes: עם ה' אלוקיך. The דירה נאה, beautiful dwelling we mentioned as another ingredient of successful life on earth is a metaphor for a good and dedicated heart, (seeing that the "dwelling" is something interior just as the heart). Whenever the Torah speaks of a commandment the fulfilment of which primarily depends on one's heart, we find an exhortation ויראת מאלקיך, "You shall fear the Lord your G–d." Rashi comments that this is because G–d looks into our hearts. Finally, the כלים נאים, nice clothes which we described as another fundamental for a successful existence in this life, are a metaphor for the various parts of the body with which we perform most of G–d's commandments, and which have been granted us by G–d for this purpose. Proof that we are beloved by G–d is the fact that we have been created in His image.