Rabbi's Blog

As a young boy I remember a few annual outings my parents insisted on taking us to. Among them were the SSSJ - Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry and demonstrations at the U.N. protesting the mistreatment of Israel. We also went (religiously) to the annual Israel Day Parade, which in some years, we actually joined by marching along with other groups. For me, at least, it felt back then that despite the fact that it was not a religious experience per se, it nevertheless felt purposeful: we were part of a mission. 

Please do not take the next few words out of context. Last week we participated in the annual Israel Day fair, which is a great event that we need as Jews in the Diaspora. However, thinking back to my childhood experience celebrating Israel’s independence and relating that memory to the recent Israel Yom Ha’Atzmaut Festival fair here in San Diego makes, unfortunately, a dismal comparison. I didn’t feel a true Jewish inspiration, as I did as a youngster. Perhaps it was the commercialization and the lack of a religious component that left me with less than positive feelings. I hope that last week’s San Diego celebration gave inspiration to the youth of today as it did for me when I was their age. 

I believe part of my disappointment in this kind of celebration was the lack of Torah and religious substance. The land of Israel is not just about culture; it represents our Jewish homeland, a place to live and thrive as observant Jews. It is critical to recognize the difference between the culture of Israel and the true values of Torah Judaism in Israel. To paraphrase, “living the culture of a society is limiting to the here and now, while living the Torah is for this world and the next world”. We find a parallel concept at the very end of this week’s Parsha. 

In this week’s Parsha Bamidbar the Torah states in 4:19/20 “V’Zos Asu Lahem V’Chayu Valor Yamoosoo BGishtamEs Kodesh HaKadashim…..V’Lo YavouLiros Es HakodeshVameisu”. “Thus shall you do for them so that they shall live and not die: when they approach the Holy of Holies, Aharon and his sons shall come and assign them, every man over his work and to his burden. But they shall not come and look as the holy is inserted, lest they die”. 

The Chasam Sofer explains the verses through the words of the sages from Tractate Tamid 32a in a manner of Drush. (Drush is the contextual and non-contextual, moral and philosophical explanations of a passage). The Mishnain Tamid states: “What should a person do in order to live? The answer is to kill himself. What should a person do in order to kill himself? The answer is he needs to give life to himself”. These answers seem a bit puzzling as the answers are the opposite of what we apparently are trying to accomplish. Rav Moshe Sofer explains the Mishna from a different perspective of life and death and this world and the next. A person who wants to live ‘for’ the next world (Olam Habbah) needs to ‘kill’ himself in this world in his service to God. Through this constant effort he will live an eternal life forever and ever in the world to come. But the opposite is also true. If a person lives in the current world (Olam Hazeh) by living and taking advantage of every pleasure and desire this world has to offer, then he will be living it up here but will be killing his opportunity to live in the next world. 

Unfortunately, many people believe that by virtue of the fact someone lives an observant lifestyle he will have to give up many of the pleasures of life ,literally depriving himself of basic joys and benefitsin this world. To the contrary, this is the furthest thing from the truth. Of course every individual must fulfill and observe every Mitzva in its proper time, but one should not suffer through that experience. In fact, if a person tortures himself in order to do the Mitzva, he has abused a sacred vessel in the process.That vessel or Keli is his very own body. 

Now we can look again and more clearly understand the sequence of the words in these two pesukim. “This is what you should do…..and you will live but will not die. Don’t be so harsh that you punish yourself and ultimately die. That is not the purpose. A person is not obligated to ‘kill’ himself in this world as he approaches the Holy of Holies and performs the commandments. Rather, when a person approaches the task of doing Mitzvos and approaches the Holy of Holies, he should only do that which he is able to do and not more. 

The last words of the Parsha “But they shall not come and look as the Holy is inserted lest they die now” is understood differently. If a person makes himself crazy and gets his holy body all swallowed up in areas of Mitzvos and service to Hashem, he has done something wrong. A person is not obligated to kill himself for the sake of heaven. When things become overwhelming, he should step back a little and just ‘live’ and he will not die. 

One of the greatest and most difficult challenges facing the Jewish world is the idea of ’normality’. What actually is considered normal or extreme? Everyone has a different definition. With proper guidance every man, woman, and child, every family and every community needs to figure out what is ‘normal’ vis a vis their Avodas Hashem. The annual evaluation of the historical moment of when we received the Torah is almost here. 

As the Yom Tov of Shavuos approaches, we look to cultivate the observance of Mitzvos and the fulfillment of the Torah. Perhaps we should strive to nurture a culture of Torah learning and observance and bring opportunity to the greater San Diego Jewish community to develop a true appreciation and deep-seeded love of Toras Eretz Yisrael by returning to live in Eretz Yisrael. 

Ah Gut Shabbos 

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky