Today's Learning: Bechorot 3:4-4:1 O.C. 501:3-5 Erachin 19 Sponsored by Jerry Belsh (Edison, NJ) & Marilyn Berger (Highland Park, NJ) and families on the yahrzeit of father Shmuel Dovid ben Yitzchak Belsh a'h Hamaayan / The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz Tzav-Parah Vol. XI, No. 25 (508) 20 Adar II 5757, March 29, 1997 One of the mitzvot in this parashah is the Temple service known as "terumat hadeshen." Essentially, this service consisted of cleaning the altar and taking out the garbage. Rav Meir Rubman z'l asks: The halachah is that a Torah scholar or community leader may be exempt from the mitzvah of hashavat aveidah/returning a lost object. This is true if it is beneath that person's dignity to stoop to pick up an object in public or to be seen carrying such an object. How, then, can the Torah command that a kohen take out the Temple's garbage? Rav Rubman answers: The Torah is teaching us, "There is no greatness in the king's palace." In other words, no one is too important to perform any task in the Temple, which is Hashemþs palace. So, too, says Rav Rubman, when there is work to be done in or for a yeshiva or religious institution, no one should think himself too important. One person who practiced the above lesson was Yehoshua bin Nun, the student and successor of Moshe. Our Sages teach that Yehoshua merited to succeed Moshe because Yehoshua used to arrive early at the study hall in order to set up the benches. (Zichron Meir) Our sages have always exemplified this trait. In recent times, for example, Rav Yehuda Zev Segal (the Manchester Rosh Yeshiva) z'l was seen one Friday leaving the storage closet at a local shul with something hidden under his long coat. His mission, it turned out, was to make sure that all of the tissue dispensers in the restrooms were sufficiently filled with pre-cut tissues for Shabbat. (The Manchester Rosh Yeshivah p.195) ************************************ Parashat Tzav In Halachah This parashah contains 18 of the Torah's 613 mitzvot. (Sefer Hachinuch) It is customary to read various verses relating to the sacrifices every morning. A large number of those verses come from this parashah (see Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 1:5 and Mishnah Berurah there). "And the zevach/slaughtering of his thanksgiving peace-offering . . ." (7:15) For all sacrificial offerings, the one doing the Temple service must have in mind the sacrifice and the owner at the time of shechitah, the time of catching the blood, the time of carrying the blood to the altar, and the time of sprinkling the blood on the altar, as the above verse teaches: The slaughtering shall be for his thanksgiving peace offering. If one thought nothing while doing the service, the sacrifice is kosher [as long as he did not think the wrong thing]. (Rambam, Hil. Avodat Hakorbanot 4:10) ************************************ "When one brings his shelamim/peace offering to Hashem, he shall deliver his offering to Hashem . . ." (7:29) Rav Chaim Yosef David Azulai writes: When one brings an olah or a chatat, we hope that he will never bring such an offering again, as those offerings are brought because of sins. However, when one brings a shelamim, we bless him that he shall again deliver his offering to Hashem. (Nachal Kedumim) Moshe said to the assembly, "This is the thing that Hashem commanded to be done." (8:5) Rashi interprets: Do not say that I did anything for my own honor or for the honor of my brother (Aharon). Rav Elya Meir Bloch z'l cites the midrash which says that Moshe feared that he had improperly derived pleasure from anointing Aharon with the anointing oil. Perhaps his intention had been for the honor of his family, and not for G-d's honor. Thus, a bat kol/Heavenly voice exclaimed that Moshe's intentions were pure. Aharon too feared that he had derived pleasure from being anointed. Again, a bat kol exclaimed that his intentions were pure. What about us? asks Rav Bloch. If even Moshe and Aharon were unsure of themselves, can we be assured that our involvement in holy works is for the sake of G-d, and not for some personal honor? At least such purity is a goal we should strive for, concludes Rav Bloch. (Peninei Da'at) ************************************ From the humor of our sages . . . "And Moshe did all that G-d had commanded him, and the people gathered [before Moshe]." (8:4) Rav Mendel of Kotzk z'l said: In the old days, the people would not gather before Moshe until they saw that he did what G-d commanded him. Nowadays, people choose a rebbe without seeing that he does all that G-d commanded. ************************************ More on Unusual Haftarot The haftarah for Parashat Tzav is one of the more rarely read haftarot. In some years, as this year, Parashat Tzav coincides with Parashat Parah and a special haftarah is read. In many other years, this parashah falls on Shabbat Hagadol, the Shabbat before Pesach, and the special haftarah for that day may be read. And, in Yerushalayim, where Purim may be observed on Shabbat, Tzav can coincide with that day and a special haftarah is read. Some communities read the haftarah for Shabbat Hagadol only if Pesach falls on Sunday, and some communities read that haftarah only if Pesach does not fall on Sunday. Thus, it is impossible to state absolutely how many times in a calendar cycle the haftarah for Parashat Tzav is read. However, in the last fifteen years, Tzav has been a "free" parashah only twice. Ironically, the haftarah for Tzav is the only haftarah of a regular parashah that is specifically mentioned in the gemara (see Megillah 23b). [Thanks to Rabbi Benjie Gerstman for his research and correspondence on the frequency of various haftarot.] ************************************ Pesach Thoughts It is customary at the Pesach seder to wash our hands an extra time, dip a vegetable in salt water and do other things to induce our children to ask questions. But one year, try as he might, the Belzer Rebbe, Reb Yissachar Ber z'l, could not get his young son, Aharon, to ask any questions. Finally, the rebbe asked his son in exasperation, þWhy donþt you question all of the unusual things that I am doing? "No matter what my father does," said the boy, "I do not question it." (Haggadah Shel Pesach: Imrei Kodesh Belz) ************************************ Chazal say that Hashem hurried to take the Jewish people out of Egypt before they became permanently mired in Egypt's impurity. Although the exile was supposed to last 400 years, Hashem, in His kindness, counted the 400 years from the birth of Yitzchak. Rav Eliezer Nachman Puah z'l (Italy, 1600's) observes that the Jews were in a "catch-22" situation. On the one hand, if they had remained in Egypt, they would have been lost spiritually. On the other hand, he writes, fruit which is artificially or forcibly ripened is not as sweet as fruit which ripens naturally, and, so too, the redemption from Egypt could not be complete because it had to be hurried. This is why the Jews had to suffer so much in the desert, and this is why we have suffered in additional exiles until today. This also explains, he writes, why our Sages cautioned against hurrying the ultimate redemption. Rather, we should wait until the "fruit" ripens at the ordained time. (Haggadah Shel Pesach Midrash Bechiddush) ************************************ Donations to Hamaayan are tax-deductible