Rabbi's Blog

This Dvar Torah should serve as a Refuah Sheleima for Aharon ben Bashya Kayla.

There are two things that get going in my house this time of year; baseball and Pesach preparations. There really isn’t anything to do in order to get ready for baseball, but for Pesach it’s a whole other ballgame!

Whatever we call it, Peasach or spring cleaning, it is a very thorough cleansing of the house both spiritually of Chometz and physically of unwanted things and dirt. Actual Chometz is found in the wildest and most remote places that one could never imagine.  Each year we onder how a variety of edibles could even have gotten to their bizarre hiding spots. Candy, cheerios, half eaten crackers etc. found in almost edible and clearly recognizable forms are properly disposed of. On the Halachik side, there is an absolute need to check and not just really and say, “Why clean? I will just nullify everything anyway.” According to Jewish law, this type of cleaning is absolutely necessary. On the other hand, however, cleaning “out” the house from year to year is not Halachikly necessary, but as long as we are cleaning for Pesach we can kill two birds with the same old stone. 

Part of the cleaning involves moving furniture, tables, beds, and exposing areas that have not seen the light of day since the last cleansing. This results in uncovering damages that may have occurred to the walls and surrounding areas by banging of items into them and even perhaps the discoloration in some parts of the walls. This will require a minimum washing off of those spotted areas and perhaps needing a fresh coat of paint in order to freshen it up and get rid of the potential Chometz in the wall. We now move onto the next area which is ridding the closets and shelves of old towels, linens, bedding, clothing and old broken toys with three quarters of the pieces missing. Over time the towels, for example, that have not been used start to develop stains. So, if they haven’t been used, where could those stains have come from?  Who knows! Nevertheless they are there, and at that point we reckon it’s time to throw them out. After a few days of cleaning from morning to night, we realize we aren’t as young as we used to be. We then feel the aches and pains and some of the sores that developed on our hands and feet from this cleansing process in preparing for Pesach or for the summer.

The results of our cleaning rendezvous leads us to see issues we have on our walls, clothing and even on our bodies. This rings eerily to me as we approach Parshas Tazria, the parsha which describes the affliction of Tzoraas in these three particular areas: house, clothing and body. The Rabbi’s explain that the progression of the punishment begins lightly only to the person’s house and if not corrected will end up physically on the body.  Once Tzoraas appears on a person’s body, he must be removed from society until he fixes himself up, purifying himself from the transgressions that caused the onset of the Tzoraas condition. The Gemara Erchin 16b informs us that there are different sins that may be the cause of Tzoraas, leprosy. They are: murder, swearing in vain, illicit relationships, haughtiness, stealing, stinginess, and, of course, lashon hora. Part of the rehabilitation of the individual requires that the person afflicted  be taken out of the camp. It is as if he is being removed from society and the world around him.

I would like to connect another area of Jewish thought to that of being removed from the world. Rav Shmuel Hominer, in his sefer Olas Tamid, explains the Mishna in Avos 4:28 “HaKin’a, V’Hataava, V’HaKavod Motziin Es Ha’Adam Min Ha’Olam” as follows. “Jealousy, physical desire and the pursuit of honor remove a person from the world.” No one really identifies which world the Mishna refers to - this world or the next? Rav Hominer describes three individuals in Tanach who were afraid of being removed from the world. A common word ‘VaYecherad’ – ‘and he trembled’ is used in each of the three instances. Yitzchak Avinu in Breishis 27:33 is shaking after he apparently gave the first born blessings to the wrong brother. He believed he had ruined his life and felt as though he was leaving this world. In Rus 3:8, Boaz is startled in the middle of the night and feared he might be accused of some wrong doing. Thereby concerned, he would lose his portion in this world. The third case is Shmuel I 21:2, whereby Achimelech the Kohein hurried to greet Dovid HaMelech and was concerned why Dovid was traveling alone with no one accompanying him. Each one of these three great men are the subjects of jealousy, desire, and honor. Jealousy is associated with Yitzchok because of his two sons where there was great jealousy between therm. Boaz having Rus lay at his feet, is the subject of desire, and Dovid was challenged with honor as the people sang a song relating how Shaul killed in the thousands while Dovid in the tens of thousands.

 Jealousy is typically generated because of money and the estate of others. This is represented by the house becoming struck with leprosy due to its representing the owner’s wealth. In that case the house, or at least the stone, must be removed so as to remove that jealousy.  Rav Yochanan, in Gemara Shabbos 113, describes a person who is honored as someone who has fine clothing is honored. In order to heal and rid oneself of chasing honor, the clothing that gives such honor is plagued with leprosy and must be destroyed.  The last of the three, Taava which is desire or lust, actually sins with the body. If the individual does not repent,  his body is afflicted and he must go outside of the camp to be away from people to whom he might lust after. We therefore remove him from society in order to teach him to control his desires.

The antidote to many of the less desirable character traits is represented in Matza or the lack of Chometz. Chometz and Matzah are not only the opposites in the physical sense; they are opposites in the spiritual sense as well. The Matza is flat without any honor. The Matza has almost no taste and therefore one has no physical desire to eat it. Finally, Matza is called ‘poor man’s bread’:  there is no jealousy as compared to the rich bread where a fight can break out over who gets the largest piece.

As we approach the great month of Nissan, we need to keep our focus less on the things that will remove us from the world, such as all the things that are represented in bread – richness of taste and texture, comfort, satisfaction and fullness when it’s eaten. Rather look to the qualities of Matzah and be less jealous, more humble and controlling of our desires. If we do this type of a cleaning this year, we hopefully won’t find discolored and stained walls, mysteriously stained garments, and bumps and bruises all over this time next year.

Ah Gut Shabbos and Ah Gutten Chodesh

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky