From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 3:01 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Emor, 5768
Feeling the Loss
By Rabbi Joshua (paradoxically known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
This week's parsha begins with the laws of the kohanim, prescribing when
a kohein may defile his sanctity to bury a dead person, and when he may not.
The general rule is that a regular kohein may defile his special sanctity to
tend to any one of seven family members who has passed away, or to a meis
mitzvoh, meaning any Jew who has passed away and does not have a sufficient
amount of people to bury him in a dignified way. A kohein godol however, may
only defile himself for a meis mitzvoh. The Torah tells us that it is only the
males of the kohanim who are restricted from contracting impurity by coming
into contact with a corpse, but not the females. Interestingly, the Rambam
writes that it is also only the male kohanim who are commanded to tend to the
burial of their relatives. Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, zt"l, in the
first volume of his Shiurim L'Zecher Abba Mori, explained that according to the
Rambam, the mitzvoh for a kohein to tend to the burial of a close relative is,
in reality, a mitzvoh to defile his otherwise state of sanctity, out of honor
to the dead. How are we to understand this seemingly paradoxical commandment?
Why should it be that the kohein honors his dead just by defiling his state of
holiness?
Hillel the Elder, as cited in Pirkei Avos, tells us, "If I am not
for myself, who is for me? And if I am only for myself, who am I?" Rav
Shimon Shkop, zt"l, the great Rosh Yeshiva of RIETS in New York, and also
of Shaarei Torah in Grodno, explained, in the introduction to his classic
Talmudic work, Sha'arei Yosher, that, as part of the mitzvoh of being holy, we
must always act on behalf of others, and not just for ourselves, just as God
always acts for others, and not for Himself. On the other hand, the midrash
qualifies this mitzvoh, and says that we should not think that we need to
resemble God 's holiness in an exact way. Rav Shimon explains that we do need
to take care of our own needs, since we are human beings, and, as Rabbi Akiva
taught, our own lives come first. The extent to which a person helps others
depends on his self-definition. Hopefully, a person's 'ani,' or definition of
self, includes others, such as his family and friends, as well. Ideally, he
should feel connected to the entire world as well, seeing himself as part of a
vast, multi-faceted machine created by God, so that his every move has repercussions
for the entire mechanism. If a person's definition of himself is limited to
himself, Hillel tells us, what kind of person can he really be? In other words,
we need to feel at one with the rest of the world and view the needs of others
as our own needs, in order to truly fulfill our mandate to be holy. With this
explanation of Hillel's teaching, we can better understand the Rambam's
approach to the laws of kohanic defilement, as well.
The special status of the kohein expresses itself in his need to
distance himself from any form of impurity, or tumah. Rav Shimshon Raphael
Hirsch explains tumah as being a negation of life. The kohein needs to
emphasize the sanctity of life, and the opportunity it gives us to foster our
relationship with God. Perhaps, then, we can explain, following Rav
Soloveitchik's explanation of the Rambam's approach to the laws of kohanic
defilement for the burial of a relative, that when a kohein suffers a loss in
his family, he must feel so connected to that relative that he was a part of
his essence, of his self-definition, so that, when that person dies, he is
taking part of the kohein with him, as well. To demonstrate this, he must
defile his special status of sanctity in order to tend to the burial, thereby
demonstrating how much he feels the loss that he has suffered. On a larger
scale, this applies to a kohein godol, as well, in terms of a meis mitzvoh,
thus showing that, ultimately, all kohanim need to feel a sense of
oneness with each of their fellow Jews. By feeling this form of
connection, the kohanim are better able to fulfill the function of the kohein
of bringing peace to the Jewish nation, as expressed in the priestly blessing,
"may God lift His countenance to you and grant you peace."
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