PARSHAS ACHREI MOS-KEDOSHIM 10 IYAR 5773 | 20 APRIL 2013

Parsha Perspectives LEIBY BURNHAM

improve in those areas, there would be no לא תעמוד על דם ריעך... לא תשנא את אחיך בלבבך. one like you!” Following this event, the man changed, becoming a close student of the הוכח תוכיח את עמיתך, ולא תישא... חטא “Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor… Do not hate your Chofetz Chaim and living up to his potential. Whether or not we’d be prosecuted, most brother in your heart. You shall surely reprove your fellow; [but] you of us wouldn’t let someone drown. We can shall not bear a sin on his account.” (Leviticus 19:16-17) take our good intentions a step further, reaching out to others, helping in any way ccording to American law if you stand at the edge of a pool while watching we can. To do so successfully, first look for A someone drown, even if there is a life preserver at your feet, you cannot be a person’s good qualities. prosecuted. “Do not stand idly by the blood [life] of your fellow” prohibits this; Rabbi Burnham can be reached at humans have responsibility for one another. Likewise, “You shall surely reprove [email protected] your fellow” charges us with the responsibility to help someone struggling spiritually. Not only are we required to help others making moral missteps, we are given a clue how to successfully do so. WORD of the WEEK by Rabbi Mordechai Becher “Reprove not a scorner lest he hate you; attempt to talk to him. He was a Cantonist, reprove a wise man and he will love you” conscripted into the czar’s army at age 7 (Proverbs 9:8). Rabbi Yeshaya Horowitz (the and not let out until 25 years later. People עינוי Shelah) says this verse does not necessarily have tried to change his ways, but he’s refer to two different people, but rather two stubborn. It seems he missed the stage of ve’inisem your—ועניתם ways of correcting someone. “Reprove the developing his manners or his .” “[Y]ou shall souls…” (Leviticus 16:31). The verse scorner” means if you call him a scorner, Unperturbed, the Chofetz Chaim pulled i.e. point out his negative habits, he will states that on Yom Kippur, the Day of up a chair and said, “Is it true you were Atonement, there is a commandment hate you. “Reprove a wise man” means a Cantonist?” The Cantonist grunted in inuy. According to the Ibn—עיניו if you call him wise or point out his other of affirmation. “You must be such a holy Ezra, the simple translation of the good qualities that make his behavior seem individual! I can’t imagine what it took for term is to fast, the central unbecoming, he will love you! you to retain your Jewish identity. Countless of Yom Kippur. Some translate the Traveling through Europe, the Chofetz times they must have beaten you for not word as affliction and maintain that Chaim stopped at a Jewish inn and saw a converting. You never had a chance to this includes the prohibitions against sorry sight. A big, burly fellow barged in, sat study , yet you held on! You’ve been bathing, anointing, wearing shoes, and himself down, and demanded a huge meal. through the worst of conditions and yet intimacy (Targum Yonatan ben Uziel, He was gruff with the waitress, made rude stayed strong. I wish I would have your Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Shvitat jokes at people, and cursed loudly. He noisily merits. I wish I could have your portion in Asor 1:5). Some explain that the word ,l’anot—to respond—לענות wolfed down his meal without reciting any the World to Come!” is related to and that the Torah is exhorting us this blessings, washed it down with mug of ale, The man cried like a baby. He kissed the and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. one day to “respond” to the needs of Chofetz Chaim’s hand. The Chofetz Chaim the soul and not to anything else (Sfas The Chofetz Chaim approached him, but continued, “There are just a few things you Emes, Devarim, Yom Kippur). the innkeeper intercepted. “Don’t even probably need to work on, but if you could HEY, I NEVER KNEW THAT! by Rabbi Mordechai Becher Table Talk FOR DISCUSSION AROUND THE SHABBAT TABLE

The Torah portion this week discusses the laws concerning relationships between efore the blind you shall not . Some of these laws include “Do not hate your brother in your heart. You shall place a stumbling block” surely reprove your fellow… Do not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge, against B the children of your people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself…” (Leviticus (Leviticus 19:14). Two explanations 19:17-18). of this prohibition are given in the In explaining the difference between taking revenge and bearing a grudge, Oral Tradition, and neither of them Rashi offers an example of someone who refuses to lend his sickle to his On the following day, the same person who refused to lend his sickle now makes any reference to the literal (א.neighbor asks the other person to borrow his axe. Refusing to lend his axe because of the neighbor’s refusal on the previous day constitutes revenge. Lending his axe, along translation which prohibits tripping with a reminder about his generosity despite the neighbor’s refusal on the previous up a blind person. A simple reason day, constitutes bearing a grudge. The Torah seems to have left out an important preamble to this law: that it is forbidden to refuse to lend the sickle in the first place. for this is that since it is forbidden to Why would this have been left out? hurt anyone, there is no reason to It is forbidden to hate another Jew in one’s heart. The teaches that the think that one would be able to hurt Temple was destroyed because of the sin of baseless hatred. If someone hates person for a wrong that was done to him, his hatred is not baseless—there a blind person, and hence, there is (בanother is a reason for it. How, then, can hatred, which is almost always the result of feeling wronged, be considered baseless? no need for the Torah to specially prohibit this. Therefore, the verse A QUESTION FOR THE by Rabbi Mordechai Becher must be prohibiting something else. The Torah Kohanim commentary he Torah prohibits tattoos, and indeed for thousands of years, (see Rashi) understands this as a T tattoos were anathema to any Jew. One of the most common prohibition against giving someone misconceptions about tattoos is that if a Jew has a tattoo he or she may misleading or damaging advice. That not be buried in a Jewish cemetery. This is completely untrue; although would be causing someone “blind” tattooing is forbidden, it is a sin like any other, and having a sin does in a particular matter to “stumble.” not prevent someone from a Jewish burial. Someone once asked Rav The other explanation is given Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg this question and he answered, “If we didn’t by the Talmud and prohibits one bury people who have sinned in a Jewish cemetery, then no one would from causing someone “blinded” be buried there” (Rabbi Yekutiel Yehudah Greenwald, Kol Bo Al Aveilus, by either ignorance or desire to transgress a sin (Avodah Zarah 6b). pp. 191-196, Rabbi David Zvi Hoffman,Responsa Melamed Le-Ho’il, 2:114)

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