Parshat Vayikra
The attitude of gratitude and the eternal secret of our success
When we voyage
into this parshah the first thing we notice in the first word in the
fifth letter is an aleph that is conspicuous by its lack of presence. A
very small aleph stands out in a parshah where all the other letters
are twice its size. A discerning eye will notice that it immediately
jumps out of the parshah and begs to be explored. Now we have to
understand that this is a reflection of the whole sefer Vayikra. Moshe
Rabbeinu was commanded on Mount Sinai by Hashem to rise to the pinnacle
of the mountain and to receive all of Torah from Hashem personally.
Moshe was commanded to write it. When he got to this passuk it was a
very difficult thing for such a humble person. As the Torah document,
Moshe was the most humble man in the world.
We really have
to explore what is the concept of humility. Is humility being a floor
mat for people to walk all over? It seems that Moshe Rabbeinu was not
such a floor mat. When he was in Egypt and he saw an Egyptian beating a
Jew he rose up and slayed the Egyptian. When he saw the nation of
Israel doing things that were unacceptable it caused him to stir very
deep emotions. He never ever prayed for the destruction of anyone in
the nation of Israel except for once, the Korach rebellion. When that
happened, Moshe Rabbeinu understood not that this was an affront to his
own dignity, or to his leadership. That he would have cancelled in a
split second. What he understood was that this was a malignant mutation
at the very epicenter of the nation. A leader who was earmarked for
greatness was taking Hashem’s honor for himself. That is a
catastrophe, and that is the biggest danger. Like a human body
suffering from an auto-immune disease where the body attacks itself. It
was nothing less than spiritual aids. Korach rose up and he took all
the laws to imitate leadership, instead of receiving that leadership
with love from Hashem through Moshe Rabbeinu, and accepting what Hashem
wanted with a totally pure heart. His arrogance got the better of him.
When he was not serving Hashem anymore, he was serving his own ego.
That is the
litmus test that each one of us has to do on ourselves every moment of
our lives. What is it that is stirring us? Is it our own arrogance? Am
I frustrated that I am in a traffic jam because I am important and my
time is more important that those around me? “That guy is pushing
in front of me! Who does he think he is!? I now have to prove a
point.” Or could we do something more dignified in serving
Hashem—love your fellow as yourself—and say, “Please
go ahead. If you urgently have to get somewhere, please go ahead of
me.” Many times such a behavior causes a bewildering response of
confusion. Then a person may have an opportunity—through all the
layers of his own hardened heart—to reflect on what is going on
here. Is it all about one-upsmanship; and winning isn’t
everything, it’s the only thing? Or is there another value system
in Hashem’s world? This means that sometimes by cancelling my own
will to help the greater will of the unity of the nation of Israel and
the whole world, a greater good can result in it. Instead of two people
locking horns, the one that steps aside will be rewarded far greater
than the one who stands arrogantly on the edge of hell.
So when we see
this incredible opportunity to search for mitzvot, to help people
wherever we can find them, we need to realize that they are diamonds on
the side of the road. Pick them up! Would you do anything less if you
saw a real bag full of gold then to slam on the brakes and to rush to
pick up the gold coins, and to pride yourself for your brilliant
discover? After all, where does it all come from if not from Hashem?
Where does a beggar knocking at the door come from if not from Hashem?
Does Hashem really need our help to feed his hungry? Look at the
privilege Hashem is sending us? For us it is a balancing act. Hashem
shows us that we have a limit to what we can do. We have a limit to our
koach, our moach, and our ratzon. There comes a time when a person can
suffer from donor-fatigue that is famous in medical circles. When a
person donates a liver or kidney, he needs time to recover from
donating those organs until his body functions properly again. By
virtue of a person donating a kidney or part of his liver, the
recipient is able to continue living. In a similar vain, a person who
feels like it is Purim ever day of his life. People are knocking on the
door constantly asking for food, or for money, or a total array of
different things, one realizes one’s limitations. But if one can
explore not having to say no, and even if one can’t help one
financially, one can offer one a glass of water, or a consoling word.
One could say, “I wish I could give you more, but I am not in a
position right now. May Hashem bless you that you will find all that
you need and that you will not be dependent on the hand of man, but
only on the hand of Hashem.” Whatever other blessing may be
appropriate for the situation.
So we see that
this week’s parshah starts off with this little aleph. The
commentators say that the word vayikra—from the root kara, to
call—indicates that Hashem wished to speak to Moshe Rabbeinu
purposely called to Him. On the other hand, Hashem’s prophecy to
Bilaam is indicated by the word vayikar, without the aleph. It is a
word that has two meanings. Mikreh, means that it happened by
happenstance—so to speak—by Bilaam’s standards. It
also carries the meaning of spiritual contamination. This implies that
when Hashem had reason to speak to Bilaam, he did it, but not with
love. Tradition has it that when Moshe Rabbeinu recorded Hashem’s
speaking to him, he made the aleph small, as if it were the word used
for Bilaam. From this the commentators find insight into Moshe
Rabbeinu’s legendary humility. There is a famous statement of our
sages that says those who run after honor, it runs away from them.
Those who run away from honor, the honor chases after them. Then there
is an interesting third category of a guy who runs away from honor in
slow motion, looking back to see when it will catch him. That would be
pseudo-humble. Then there is a fourth category, where a person is so
off the radar that people do not even know his greatness. That is true
humility. So really, whatever was thrust upon Moshe Rabbeinu he fought
with all his might so that it should not be his own honor.
There is a
story that took place this week of a man who is involved in monumental
kindness. Somehow CNN found out about his work and they wanted to label
him a hero of the generation. They approached him to interview him. The
ability to be a world celebrity would have been instant. He refused the
interview and the award. The wellsprings of the tents of Avrahahm are
continuing through his descendants until today. The kindness that is
going on in the world today is unprecedented and unparalleled in world
history.
When we go back
and we explore the midot of Moshe Rabbeinu, a fascinating aspect of
honor is learned from the commentators. We should run away from it, but
an even greater level is to be off the radar, not to have the honor
even pursuing. That is really the level of Moshe Rabbeinu. In all his
ways he had no perception of himself. Whenever anything happened to his
nation, he was willing to risk his life. Let us think about it: the
risks that he took to stand up to the angel of death at the incident of
the ketoret, the risks that he took to intercede on Israel’s
behalf at the incident of the golden calf, the risks that he took when
Hashem was going to strike the nation and replace the nation with Moshe
Rabbeinu’s descendants. Then Moshe Rabbeinu, in a very risky
appeal, said to Hashem, “If that is the case, take me out of your
Torah.” This is mind-boggling. Who would ever dream of wanting
their name to be stricken from the Torah? Who would give up an
opportunity to have his descendants lead the generations? Even more
that that, who would risk their own future for the sake of the nation?
The answer to all these questions is Moshe Rabbeinu.
So we see, with
incredible awe, the humility of Moshe Rabbeinu, not because of his
selflessness or his lack of personal perception, but because of his
responsibility, his love for his fellow Jew, and—even greater
than that—his love for Hashem and Hashem’s honor. That is
the ultimate achievement, when a person humbles himself to the point
where Hashem’s honor is everything. That gets to a point where
even his own dignity brings honor to Hashem. Where people are in awe of
him and they understand that it is only from Hashem. That is the light
that Hashem wanted this nation to be for the other nations of the
world.
So we see that
the smallness of the little aleph gives prominence to its letter. The
word aleph means to teach, thus implying that one must always learn to
be small and humble. No man was better qualified to teach this lesson
more than Moshe Rabbeinu, who stood against the Pharaoh and appeared to
him like a man of ten meters tall, like a three-story building. The
Pharaoh was about one meter tall. So we can try to comprehend the
greatness of Moshe Rabbeinu and the greatness that he brought to the
name of Hashem. Everything that he did was to bring honor to
Hashem’s name. Then we can do a litmus test, so to speak, to
understand what it takes to be a prophet of that magnitude. Moshe, who
was not only the greatest of all prophets, was also the most humble man
who ever lived.
I want to
explore, at this stage, what it takes to be a prophet. Rabbeinu Bachaye
says that we can learn to purpose of being called from the angels,
about whom the prophet Isaiah writes, “And one called to another
and said, “kadosh, kadosh, kadosh.” When Hashem calls a
prophet it bears witness to three major fundamentals of our belief. The
prophet is being a witness to the creator of the world. This creator
also gave the blueprint of how to navigate through the world. Thirdly,
by navigating with this blueprint, the book of life, Torah, that soul
will merit the next world, resurrection of the dead. So we see, the
creator starts creation, the blueprint for navigating this world is the
middle of existence, and leaving this world is the end of one’s
existence in this world. Each of these proves its predecessor, because
when prophecy is revealed from a prophet it shows the divine providence
over every tiny detail so that His word will return to Him
accomplished. This is a sign that Hashem was king at creation, Hashem
is king over each and every second of life in this world, Hashem will
be king for those souls that merit appreciating it in the next world.
Hashem created, His providence abounds, and the Torah was given to
those people who, through their repentance, experience the opening of
the gates of resurrection, the gates of heaven, the ultimate pleasure
of the final reward at the end of time.
Rabbeinu
Bachaye mentions that the creation of the world is brought down in the
first book of Bereishit, Matan Torah is recorded in the book of Shemot,
ressurrection is all about the book of Vayikra. When the book of
Vayikra began with kriah, it represents all three of the
above-mentioned fundamentals together, since each independently is a
key to the next. It says in Tractate Taanit that there are three keys
that Hashem does not give to man or angel, birth, rain, and the
resurrection of the dead. Birth is man’s entry into this world,
Bereishit. Rain is geshem, related to gashmiut, material life. Material
life is a requirement for people to survive in this world. A person who
does not have physical sustenance is ultimately considered dead. A
person who does not have water is considered a dead man.
There is a
famous parable based on the prayer, “mashiv haruach umorid
hageshem,” he causes the wind to blow and brings down the rain.
It is not that the wind moves the clouds to exactly the place where
they need to be parked so that the rain can come down. We have seen
huge rain clouds that missed their mark. They came over the city and
continued. They did not leave a drop in the city. This is hinting at
those who pledged to charity and did not give to charity. Just like
there was all talk and no action, so were the clouds.
The real
essence of the clouds is that Hashem controls the clouds, not man or
angel. We can also gather from the phrase, “mashiv haruach umorid
hageshem,” up goes the ruchniut, the spirituality—the
mitzvot that we do—and down comes the gashmiut, down comes the
blessings from Hashem so that you can continue for another day. Hashem
gives us our life every day for the goodness of the nation and the
whole world.
So we see
regarding the second key, rain, that Hashem does not give us our life
on this world even for a second unless there is the hope that we would
continue. Hashem says that but for My Torah I would return the world to
total desolation and decimation. The prophets have predicted that at
the end of time 60% of the world’s surface will be incinerated.
Our sages tell us that the righteous will bask in the heat of the sun
while the wicked will be like straw left in the sun, it will incinerate
them.
The third key
that Hashem does not give to man or angel is the key of resurrection.
Every soul leaves this world, that is the way of the world, but only
those who merit will have the key to their grave opened and their souls
taken into Gan Eden. My hope and prayer is that soon in our days this
world will soon be a Garden of Eden with all our forefathers and Am
Yisrael celebrating the building of the Beit Hamikdash.
We see at this
stage an incredible aspect of the world’s physicality serving the
spirituality. I would like to say that at this stage we have to
contemplate a blessing that comes once every 28 years. That is the
blessing of the sun. When we contemplate that, all-of-a-sudden this
gets to be a very awesome blessing. Most blessings are included in the
100 blessings that we say every day, as instituted by King David. We
see that this blessing can only be done once every 28 years and it can
only be done in the first three hours, otherwise you can’t use
the name of Hashem. This blessing on the sun takes place when it
reaches its original point in creation. Every 28 years it reaches that
point, as is documented in Tractate Brachot.
The Gemara also
documents that the lunar cycle is every 28 and a quarter dates plus
however many hours, minutes and seconds. That was documented in the
oral Torah 3000 years ago, codified in the Gemara 2000 years ago, and
confirmed at a cost of 50 billion dollars by the Nasa space program.
They had to send a space ship up to the moon. They planted a laser
reflector on the moon to measure to a micro-millimeter exactly when the
moon got to the same spot in the heavens each month. They found our
tradition to be perfectly accurate. They could have looked into the
Gemara free of charge but some people have to prove things the hard
way. It says, “They run and we run.” Those who do not
believe in Hashem run into a deep dark hole and those who run to Hashem
run to Gan Eden.
As mentioned,
the Gemara documents that the sun reaches its original point in the
heavens every 28 years. This year will be the 206th Bircat Hachamah
since creation. Now we have to contemplate for a second in conclusion.
The Ostrava Rebbe documents in his sefer that it should happen on the
fourth day of the month, because on the fourth day of creation Hashem
created the sun, the moon, and the stars. This is the first of the
months for Am Yisrael. According to the accepted view in tradition, man
was created on Rosh Hashanah. That was six months ago. Why are we
celebrating Bircat Hachama six months later? On the exact opposite side
of the year the sun is being celebrated as reaching its original point
in creation. Not only that, but the Ostrava Rebbe documented that the
sun being blessed on the fourteenth of the month is very rare; it
almost never happens. It usually happens in the first week of the month
and almost never in the second week, except on rare occasions. He has
documented that it has happened twice before on erev Pesach when there
was great events of earth-shattering proportions. The first time that
it has happened was before the night of yetziat Mitzraim, when Am
Yisrael went out with a raised up hand. The second time this happened
during amidst an event of world-shattering proportions was when Am
Yisrael was sentenced to death among 127 provinces by Haman the wicked.
On erev Pesach of that year, Mordechai was teaching the Jewish children
the laws of kemitzah, which are discussed in this week’s parshah.
A kemitzah is three-fingerfulls of flour for the Omer offering. He was
teaching them to get ready for the Omer, which is from the second day
of Pesach until Shavuout. That year Bircat Hachamah also fell out on
the fourteenth of the month and on that day—after Bircat
Hachamah—Hashem turned the judgment from Am Yisrael onto Haman
and his ten sons. He put all of Amalek on death row. Haman and his ten
sons swung and most of Amalek perished. But a tiny remnant continues to
affect the world until today. Queen Esther pleaded to Hashem, the king,
to do today as you did the day before to Haman and his ten sons, hang
them again. It seems a little bit sadistic but it happened. During the
Nuremburg trials, Stracha, the head of the Nazi propaganda screamed out
before he was hung, “You are giving the Jews their
Purim-fest.” This happened on Shmini Atzeret, the day that the
judgment comes into the world after Succot. Did he get his holidays
mixed up? Purim is on the other side of the year. Rather, he had a
certain fleeting prophecy just like Bilaam. Before sunrise, they flew
at 30 meters above the ground all the way to Iraq and removed the
Nebuchadnezzar of the generation’s atomic reactor. It was a
miraculous mission from the beginning to end. Nobody in the world
believed it could ever be done. The whole world was waiting with baited
breath for the holocaust that they predicted. By the grace of Hashem,
though they stand over us in every generation, threatening to destroy
us, Hashem saves us time and again. We saw that the world was outraged
and condemned Israel to the heavens and to hell. We saw that during
operation gulf storm that the American generals wrote the Israelis
generals that had Israel not eradicated the reactor, the price would be
unspeakable. This reactor was named after an idol that the children of
Israel worshipped in the Temple. There was a book written on that
mission called raid on the sun. So we see that when they worship the
sun, they can be fooled to think that those things they think can
incinerate the world and incinerate Hashem’s nation. They must
have missed a tiny prophecy that states that as long as there is heaven
and earth there will be Am Yisrael. Rabbi Tatz asked the incredible
question, if that is the case, why do we have to pray for Am Yisrael?
The answer is that we don’t have to pray for Am Yisrael as long
as there is heaven and earth. Just as that is guaranteed by Hashem so
is Am Yisrael guaranteed by Hashem. Each and every one of us is not
guaranteed by Hashem. We must all plead to Hashem that we, all our
descendants, and the whole nation will merit to survive. 28 years ago
the sunshine was taken out of Sadam Insane and he eventually hung and
swung in the same gracious way as Haman. We have been told by none less
than Peres himself that Ahmadinijad is our generation’s Hitler.
Six months ago Rav Weinburg ztzl went to Rav Elyashiv and asked him,
what is happening in the world? Rav Elyashiv said to him that we are in
a time more dangerous than pre-holocaust. When Rabbi Weinburg asked him
to explain, he said, “Iran.” Iran is atomic. Iran is going
on a head-on collision with world destiny. We are on our way to Bircat
Hachamah. The Ostrava Rebbe said that there are going to be things that
will happen in the world that are more awesome than the world has seen
before. The Prophet Yoel said that only those people who cry out to
Hashem on the great and awesome day will survive. On the night of the
seder we learn, dam, aish, vitimrot ashan. The Prophet Yoel says that
those are the signs that Hashem brings us before the great and awesome
day.
28 years ago,
during the year of the last Bircat Hachama, on the day before
Shavuot—Malchut of Malchut—Menachem Begin sent 8 F16
fighter pilots in motion.
“Sleep is
one sixtieth of death Dreams are one sixtieth of prophecy.”
(Brachot chapt 9) Therefore to wake up from one’s sleep is to
wake up from death. To wake up from one’s dreams, in other words
to do tshuvah, is one sixtieth of resurrection.
May we all
merit the Temple, Moshiach Tzidkeinu, and the real resurrection? May it
be that we and Am Yisrael and all the righteous gentiles of the world
will celebrate geulah speedily in our days.