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A Time to Be Humble

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A Time to Be Humble בס"ד פרשת ויקרא ג' ניסן תש"פ Issue 245 28 Mar 2020 יפקד ה' פקד יפקד ה' הריני בא ללמוד תורה לשמה לעשות נחת רוח לאבינו שבשמים קבלת שבת מוצאי שבת מוצאי שבת ר"ת JLM MAN LON JLM BMTH GLSCW GHD MAN LON JLM BMTH GLSCW GHD MAN LON 8.10 7.50 7.41 7.33 7.24 7.45 7.32 7.31 7.19 6.19 6.17 6.30 6.19 6.21 6.10 A Time to Be Humble aseres hadibros. Is this double- Hashem’s bigger picture. “Man plans Rabbi Daniel Fine standards? and G-d laughs” as they say. We can only Community Rabbi, Stanmore and Canons Park US; Hasmonean Beis Programme Various answers have been given, do our best because ultimately in the including distinguishing between Moshe play that is life, we are sometimes actors, being a representative of the entire but at these times we are spectators. In sports games, there are nation versus Moshe meriting things To try and hoard, panic-buy and elicit stand-out players. In plays, there based on his own high spiritual level. But human control seems to be mistaken. are stand-out actors or actresses. for us in our current times, perhaps we It takes a big and humble person to be And in our parsha, there is can comment that there are times to able to let go – to do what we can but to arguably a stand-out letter. In be humble, and times to realise we have acknowledge that Hashem is the only classic Jewish philosophical One who can ever be in control.M vein that ‘humble things make indeed been humbled. the most impact,’ the stand- The world is sophisticated and out letter is the small Alef. And impressive, and humanity has been on the Ba’al Haturim comments the front foot of charting its course over that the reason is that Moshe’s the last few years. But the world grinds humility pushed him to ask that to a halt with a virus – reminding us, the Alef be made small, to denote above all, that humanity has its limits. a chance calling from Hashem To be proud of our achievements and (vayikar). The obvious question advances is nothing bad, but being is that there are other instances that Moshe is clearly centre- able to admit that it is Hashem’s world stage and Hashem calls him is essential. And part of that means directly – it is Moshe who goes that there is nothing wrong with life up the mountain to receive the being uncertain or being dependent on ספר בראשית ספר שמות ספר ויקרא ספר במדבר ספר דברים Please daven for לע"נ ר' יקותיאל זלמן נאה ז''ל לע"נ הב' אברהם יוסף אריה בן ר' חנניה יו''ט ליפא הי''ד בן רוחמה אילה נ"י נלב''ע ט''ז אדר תשע''ז אריאל יהודה ז״ל לרפואה שלימה בתוך חולי ישראל בן ר׳ פינחס צבי נ״י לע"נ מרת טויבא רחל נאה ע''ה stafftreats.com לע''נ ר' מרדכי בן ר' שלום ז''ל בת ר' שמואל שמעלקא הי''ד קליין נלב''ע ט''ו סיון תשס''ב נלב''ע כ''ה מנחם אב תשע''ז jle.org.uk לע''נ ר' בנימין בן ר' מאיר דוד ז''ל נלב''ע י״ז תמוז תשע''ח נלב''ע ב׳ אדר תשע''ז MEDIA PARTNERS ING NOW REACH PEOPLE 4,000 Yerushalayim, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Baltimore, Beit- Shemesh, Birmingham, Borehamwood, Budapest, Cancun, Detroit, Edgware, Elstree, Gateshead, Gibraltar, Glasgow, Hale, 2 OUNTRIES Henderson, Hong Kong, Ilford, Johannesburg, Lakewood, Larnaca, Las Vegas, Leeds, London, Los Angeles, Manchester, Melbourne, Memphis, Miami, Milan, New York, Oslo, Paris, IN 24 C Petach Tikva, Philadelphia, Pressburg, Radlett, Rio de Janeiro, Rotterdam, Ruislip, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Stanmore, Southend, Tallinn, Tarzana, Toronto, Uman, Vienna, Zurich 2 Oneg Shabbos Issue 245 This page is sponsored by | M&N Insurance mninsure.com A Novel Interpretation of the Term “Rei’ach Nichoach LaShem” he HaKsav V’HaKabbalah makes Al-mighty wants so much — it is a beautiful observation that there Rabbi Yissocher Frand what the korban Rosh Yeshiva, Tis a recurrent theme throughout is going to Ner Yisrael Baltimore Sefer Vayikra: When the Torah speaks bring out in the of the burnt offering, it refers to it quite person. ‘Korban’ comes from the often as olah, ishei, rei’ach nichoach word karev — which means coming closer. When a person lashem — an olah-offering, a fire-offering, brings a korban, that says he wants to be better. Either it is a sin a pleasing fragrance to Hashem. Most offering and he wants to bring atonement for what he has done, or it is a burnt offering (olah) or a peace offering (shelamim). of us understand that the term rei’ach In any event, his bringing the korban is an anticipatory act. He nichoach (a pleasing fragrance) refers to thereby anticipates what is going to happen by virtue of him the sacrifice. For some reason, the Ribono having brought the sacrifice. The rei’ach nichoach laShem is that shel Olam gets some type of pleasure from now the Ribono shel Olam sees — smells, if you will — from this activity of bringing a korban that this person is going to be the aroma of Korbonos. better in the future. HaKsav V’Hakabbalah brings from a sefer called ‘Ma’aseh The korban is the “smell” that indicates what is going to be. HaShem’ that this is incorrect. He interprets that the term His offering is indicative of what he is going to do and who he rei’ach nichoach laShem is not referring to the korban. It is is going to be in the future. That which is going to happen in referring to the person who brings the korban. To what can the the future is always referred to as smell. One “smells it” before matter be compared? On Erev Shabbos, most of us walk into one is actually there. HaKadosh Baruch Hu loves the smell of our homes and we smell something delicious. Maybe it will the person who wants to become better and who wants to be the chicken soup coming to a boil, maybe it will be freshly become closer to Him. That is why a korban is “rei’ach nichoach baked challah, maybe it will be the chicken that is roasting in laShem” — the person, not the animal. M the oven. Whatever it is going to be, when one walks into the door of a traditional Jewish home on Erev Shabbos — even if one is on a different floor, even if he is 50 feet away from the kitchen — aaah! It smells so good! Smell, to use an idiom from the business world, can be called “a leading economic indicator.” This means that one does not have to taste the chicken soup, one does not even have to see the chicken soup to know that “tonight I am going to have a delicious meal.” I know I am going to have fresh challah and kugel and chicken soup and it is all going to be geshmak! I know that already, without having tasted a morsel, because I smell it. The nature of smell is that it is anticipatory. Our sense of smell allows us to anticipate what it going to be. HaKsav v’HaKabalah writes that when a person brings a korban, he wants to do Teshuva. It is not the korban that the For questions on Divrei Torah, please email the editor To receive this via email To suggest an idea or a response to the ideas exchange Rabbi Yonasan Roodyn at [email protected] please email [email protected] please email [email protected] 3 פרשת ויקרא ג' ניסן תש"פ Mar 2020 28 Rabbi Avrumi Marmorstein לע''נ ביילא בת ר׳ משה ע''ה This page is sponsored What is our Sacrifice? the sacrificing serves as a cleansing of the soul of the person who brings the korban. When someone witnesses the various אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן לה׳ )ויקרא א’:ב’( At the beginning of the parsha (1:2), with the introduction to processes of the bringing of a korban, including slaughtering korbanos, the pasuk says, “ ”. “When a the animal, removing and cleaning the various parts, catching אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן לה׳ man will bring a korban to Hashem.” and sprinkling its blood, and, lastly, burning the animal on the Later (4:2), the pasuk introduces the korban chatas, the sin mizbeach, he should think to himself that the animal is replacing literally, “when a soul him, as he really should have to undergo such experiences to-”נפש כי “תחטא offering, with the words will sin.” somehow counteract all of his negative actions. We can see from these pesukim that man is essentially Such an idea is reinforced by the pesukim’s addition of the made of two parts. One is the adam, derived from the word seemingly superfluous word of “ ” (see Vayikra 1:2), as it מכם adama- earth. This represents man’s earthly desires and his from ”,מכם“ becomes clear that the korban should actually be materialistic side. The second aspect of man is his nefesh - soul, you, yourself, but Hashem, in His infinite kindness, allows Klal which represents spirituality and closeness to Hashem. When Yisrael to sacrifice animals in their stead. Thus, through the one dies, the adam returns to the earth and the neshama goes bringing of a korban and the accompanied introspection, he will to be close with Hashem. At the time of techiyas hameisim, the become a holier person and prevent such acts from occurring neshama will return to elevate and purify the adam.
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