Archive for the ‘Rema’ Category

Out like a leper

The Torah explains how to diagnose a metzora, someone stricken with tzaraas: וְרָאָה הַכֹּהֵן וְהִנֵּה כִסְּתָה הַצָּרַעַת אֶת כָּל בְּשָׂרוֹ וְטִהַר אֶת הַנָּגַע כֻּלּוֹ הָפַךְ לָבָן טָהוֹר הוּא – The kohen should check the white mark. If it has cleared from his skin, it is purified. If it has spread and infected his entire body white, he too is purified. (13:13)

If the mark was not purified, the man was sent away from the city for a week.

Tzaraas should not be thought of as a physical disease, for which the metzora was quarantined. If it were so, what of the man whose entire body was stricken? Think of it as a spiritual shortcoming that is physically manifest, for which the metzora is isolated through solitary confinement.

The isolation is a critical part of being cured, but why?

The cause of tzaraas is gossip, which the Torah is highly sensitive to. Gossip is a highly destructive force, tearing apart the fabric of society by planting harmful ideas, destroying perceptions and relationships. The metzora must leave the community because tzaraas can be hidden otherwise – symbolic of how the gossip himself is able to blend into society when he is actually destroying it. This person is not what he seems – or in other words, a fake – and since he can blend, people are not on their guard. The Rema explains that this is not the case with the person whose entire body is stricken – their physical condition matches their spiritual condition – people know to steer well clear of such a person, and this metzora can therefore stay in the city.

Solitary confinement may seem a little extreme, but R’ Yisrael Salanter explains that the punishment fits the crime; the gossip – if telling the truth – is exacting over the finer details of other peoples lives. Such an expert is forced to confront his own character flaws by being exposed to only himself for a week, to rectify his own wrongdoings.

Later on, where the parsha addresses tzaraas affecting the clothing, the Torah reveals a fundamental idea, key to the entire portion of the metzora: וְרָאָה הַכֹּהֵן (…) וְהִנֵּה לֹא הָפַךְ הַנֶּגַע אֶת עינו – The kohen should check, and if the eye of the mark had not reverted… (13:55).

The point of the purification process of a metzora is for the eye to revert. Figuratively speaking, the character flaw that causes tzaraas is the eye that looks at others. At the end of his isolation, his eye should be fixed firmly on his own actions and dealings.

The Divrei Shaul points out how this reflects the Mishna in Avos, that identifies a person with a favourable eye as one of the students of Avraham Avinu, and an evil eye as a student of Bilam. If the metzora’s eye has not been fixed, he cannot end his isolation, because he is not ready to integrate into society.

Around the time the State of Israel was founded, many Jews were fighting and dying every day. A student exclaimed to the Brisker Rov how, “It’s the secular people’s fault! If they kept Shabbos surely no one would die!”.
The Brisker Rov dismissed his foolishness, “When the prophet, Yonah, fled rather than chastise the Jews’ sins – he blamed himself and preferred to be thrown off a boat – בשלי הסער הגדול הזה! Even if the entire nation were idol worshippers like then, we don’t look to others for accountability, we say בשלי הסער הגדול הזה – this great storm is all my fault. A Jew’s job is not to judge, but only to say, “How can I make it better?”".

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So what’s with the egg on Pesach?

On the Seder plate, there is a designated section for an egg. All the sections have a more obvious symbolic function, but the egg’s role is less clear.

The Ishbitzer elucidates how the egg is symbolic of the nascent Jewish nation; like an egg requires nurturing and warmth to hatch, the newly formed nation was on its way to “hatching” at Mount Sinai, upon receiving the Torah.

The Rema says that this is the very same egg as on 9 Av, and points out that the fast of 9 Av will always be on the same day of the week as the first night of Pesach. But there is more to it than just that.

Avraham was told his descendants would be enslaved in Egypt. When they left Egypt, the Torah recounts how וּמוֹשַׁב בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר יָשְׁבוּ
בְּמִצְרָיִם שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וְאַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה – the settlement of the Jews in Egypt lasted 430 years (12:40). (Note: I am aware that the number promised to Avraham is 400. I do not yet have a solution). Not commonly cited, is that “only” 86 of the years spent in Egypt were spent in slavery, which began at Miriam’s birth (hence her name, meaning “bitter”). The early departure was forced because the Jews were mired in the depth of decadence, the 49th level of impurity, beyond which they could not be saved. They had to leave early, if they were ever to leave.

But this means that only one fifth of the prophecied 430 years of slavery was spent in actual slavery. This is slightly hinted to when Yosef interpreted the butler’s dream, where he described how he’d squeezed grapes for Paroh. In the dialogue, the word כוס appears four times. Figuratively, Yosef announced that when the cup was squeezed into, he would walk free, and the same with the Jews in Egypt, that when they were “squeezed” into the כוס – 86 – they walked free. That only one fifth of the time was served is one the explanations of the bizarre word וחמושים – also a source that many Jews did not live to leave Egypt, perishing in the darkness.

The deficit in time is 344 – the word כוס multiplied four times, the numerical value of שמד – disaster. On 9 Av, the Torah portion we read berates us and says שָּׁמֵד תִּשָּׁמֵדוּן – we owe for our early, forced departure from egypt. And on the eve of 9 Av, we eat an egg, in memory of the destruction and imperfection of the world.

As the Rema says, this is the very same egg as on 9 Av. We left early, but leaving Egypt was not the perfect redemption, which we still await. We remind ourselves of this with the egg we eat before 9 Av.

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Is there a hidur mitzva after the mitzva is done?

There is a concept called hidur mitzva, which means that we enhance mitzvos we do to make them beautiful. Examples of this principle include using beautiful esrogim on Succos, using larger tefillin and arranging for a megillah to be written by the best scribe.

The basic mitzvah of Chanukah is that the householder will light one candle each night on behalf for all the residents. The next stage is where another candle is progressively lit as the holiday progresses. The ideal method of performance is where each resident lights progressively

The Brisker Rav quotes the Rambam as codifying the act of lighting in the singular, indicating his view that there is no such step as the final one mentioned above, and that therefore the best mitzvah one can do is for the householder (but not each member of the house) to light progressively, which Sefardi Jews do.

This is at odds with the Rema, whom Ashkenazi Jews tend to follow, who maintains that each person lighting is ideal. What is the disagreement over?

The Gemara in Shabbos discusses a Bris Milah, where the Mohel realises afterwards that he has left a small piece of skin. There are two types of this skin, one that leaves the baby considered uncircumcised, and the other does not matter; and therefore the mitzvah has been fulfilled. The Gemara concludes that there is no need for the Mohel to repeat the Bris if it is the type which does not matter.

Rashi explains that it is only when the circumcision takes place on Shabbos that the Mohel does not return, but that on weekdays he would. The Rambam disagrees, and says the Mohel would not perform the operation again even on a weekday.

The Brisker Rav sheds light on the issue: after the time of the mitzvah has gone, the mitzvah cannot be improved. There is no doubt that this is the case on Shabbos, where there is universal agreement that one does not break it for the hidur, but the Rambam says that once the Mohel has finished the Bris, he cannot make it any more beautiful than it was, as the mitzvah has been completed and therefore gone.

The Rema and Rashi disagree, and say that yes, you can! This is the difference with regard to lighting menorahs. The Rambam says that once the householder has lit, there is no further possibility for the rest of the household to perform a hidur, as the basic mitzva was already completed when the householder had lit the first light, so the hidur stops once he has lit additional lights. Any further attempts at beautification by doing more, eg everyone else lighting, are after the mitzva has passed, so are redundant.

Ashkenazim follow the opinion the Rema and Rashi, that we can enhance something after the main mitzvah has been completed, which is why each of us lights our own menorah.

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This Weeks Parsha

Israel: Bechukosai

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