From: JoshHoff@aol.com
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 3:16 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort:parshas Bechukosai,5768
Look
in the Mirror
By Rabbi Joshua (reflectively known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
This week I attended a bris milah at which the mohel seemed to be doubling
as both a circumciser and a comedian. While explaining the procedures to the
attendees he made many humorous comments, but interspersed them with serious
messages to the parents about the importance of having a child and the
obligations that they now have toward him. When discussing how to educate the
boy properly, the mohel told them that the Jewish approach to moral education
is to look at oneself for things to improve on, rather than to look at others
for things to criticize. In other words, he said, the proper approach is to
look in the mirror, rather than in the streets. This piece of advice, I
believe, can help us understand the placement of some of the mitzvos at the end
of this week's parsha, after the section of rebuke, known as the 'tochacha.'
Among the laws we are commanded after the section of the tochacha we
find the prohibition of substituting a good animal for a bad one, or vice
versa, after dedicating the animal as a sacrifice to God. In addition, we also
find laws regarding the redemption of houses and certain kinds of fields after
they have been dedicated to the Temple. The rule governing such redemptions is
that if the owner who dedicated them redeems them, he must add one-fifth to the
original value of the house or field. This rule applies to other kinds of
redemption as well, as Rashi points out. The section ends with an application
of the prohibition of substitution in regard to the tithing of animals. One
must not substitute the tenth animal, which is declared as holy, for another
one. The fact that laws of redemption are sandwiched between these prohibitions
of substitution, besides the fact that they all follow the section of the
tochacha, leads one to believe that they combine to send us a certain message
that pertains to the message of the tochacha, as well. What is that message?
The Ba'al HaTurim to parshas Tazria points out that the expression ' lo
yevakeir,' or, he should not discriminate, or distinguish, occurs in two places
in the Torah. One place is in our parsha, in discussing the prohibition of
substituting one animal for another. We are told, in regard to the tithing of
the animals, " He shall not distinguish between good and bad and should
not substitute for it" (Vayikra 27:33). In parshas Tazria, the
expression ' lo yevakeir' occurs in regard to a form of tzora'as, commonly
translated as leprosy. In regard to the form of tzora'as known as
'nesek,' the Torah says, " But if the nesek shall spread on the skin
after it has been declared pure, and kohein shall look at it and behold, the
nesek has spread on the skin, the kohein shall not examine it (lo yevakeir) for
a yellowish hair, for it is impure" (Vayikra 13:35-36). The Ba'al HaTurim
explains the connection between these two occurrences of the phrase ' lo yavakeir'
by saying that since this person exhibited a discriminating attitude in
general, he ended up being treated by the kohein in a way that precluded
discrimination. Rabbi Bernard Weinberger, in his work Shemen HaTov explains
that the main cause of tzora'as ie leshoh hora, or evil talk, which comes
from an attitude of discriminating among people's actions, deciding what is
good and what is evil, in violation of the sense of 'lo yevakeir' as commanded
in regard to animal sacrifices. As a result, the person who speaks leshon
hora contracts the tzora'as of nesek and becomes subject to the rule of ' lo
yevakeir' on the part of the kohein. The message , then, is that it is wrong to
develop the practice of examining other people's actions and determining whether
they are good or bad. As the mohel said, we should not look to the streets to
find things to improve, but we should look in the mirror. In fact, as part of
the purification process of the metzora, two birds are taken, one of which is
slaughtered as a sacrifice, and the other of which is sent out to the field.
Rav Dovid Feinstein explained that sending the bird out to the field delivers a
message to the metzora that, in order to avoid leshon hora in the future, he
should spend his time looking at the fields, outside the city, rather than
looking for things in the city to speak about. Again, the message is not to
examine other people's actions, because that can easily lead to leshon hora.
The alternative approach to initiating moral improvement, namely looking in the
mirror to find what is wrong with oneself and to try to improve upon it, is the
message that can be learned from the rules of redeeming a house or field
dedicated to the Temple.
Why does the Torah require an additional one-fifth of the values of the
house to be added to the price of redemption when the original owner is the one
who redeems it? I once heard from Rabbi Meir Juzint, z'l , that the idea here
is the same as that suggested by the Ramban in regard to the sin- offering that
a nazir must bring after completing his term of nezirus. Although some explain
the need for a sin offering to be reflective of the fact that the nazir sinned
by restricting himself from wine for a certain time, the Ramban takes the
opposite approach. He writes that if a person is able to maintain this level of
restriction, he has attained a certain level of holiness, and should continue
to maintain it. The fact that he ends his nezirus, then, is considered a sin,
and he must therefore bring a sin offering. In the same way, explained Rabbi
Juzint, a person who is able to dedicate his house to the Temple has attained a
certain level of holiness, and should strive to maintain it. when he comes to
redeem the house, he is lowering his spiritual level and therefore is fined one
-fifth of the value of the house. Thus, in these laws of redemption, the Torah
is teaching us that we must strive to perfect ourselves and reach a higher
level of closeness to God. The fact that these laws of redemption are
sandwiched between two references to the laws prohibiting discrimination on the
value of animals dedicated to the Temple, and, in a broader sense as we have
seen, teaching us not to take an overly critical attitude, in general, may
teach us that the proper approach to moral improvement is to look at oneself,
as reflected in the laws of redemption, rather than looking at others, as
reflected in the prohibition of substitution.
The Torah tells us, in the section of the tochacha, that the punishment
of exile from the land would come as a result of violating the laws of
shemittah. How do the laws that follow the tochacha, then, relate to the laws
of shemittah in a way that these laws will not again be violated? In last
week's message, we mentioned the explanation of Rav Sternbuch for why the
laws of supporting a poor man follow the laws of shemittah. According to Rav
Sternbuch, this juxtaposition comes to teach us that even though observance of
shemittah leads to a heightened level of belief and trust in God, we should not
ignore the needs of the poor man by saying that he, too, should rely on God to
sustain him. Rather, we should treat him as a brother and provide for his
needs. This explanation, as we focus on our own spirituality and other people's
material needs. This approach is reflected in the inclusion of the laws of
redemption and substitution after the tochacha. As we explained, these two sets
of laws, when taken together, teach us that, in seeking moral improvement, we
need to look in the mirror and improve ourselves, rather than looking at others
to see what they need to improve. According of Rav Sternbuch, this is
also one of the messages of shemittah, when taken together with the law that
immediately follows that section of the Torah. Thus, since the tochacha teaches
us that exile comes as a result of violating the laws of shemittah, the
aftermath of the section of the tochacha includes laws that teach us one of the
messages of shemittah, as a corrective to what was lost through its violation.
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