From: JoshHoff@aol.com
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2007 5:55 AM
To: Netvort@aol.com
Subject: Netvort:parshas Tzav, 5767, corrected


Getting Ready
         By Rabbi Joshua ( preparedly knownas The Hoffer) Hoffman

Parshas Tzav, in most years, is the parsha  on which  Shabbos HaGadol, falls out , unless the year is a leap year, which has  an extra month. and therefore changes the regualr schedule of Torah readings.  Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi Kelsner, in his  Machatzis HaShekel, which is  a auper-commnetary to the Magein Avraham, a standard commentary to  the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, noted long ago that the reason Tzav was chosen as the reading for Shabbos HaGadol is that the prrging of utensil of absorbed taste is mentined in the parsha,and is also an inportant  part of the activiities we engage in before Pesach.This connection between parshas Tazav and Peach, he qrites, is hinted to by the fact that parshas Tzav is usuallly read on Shabos HaGadol..

We have mentioned in the past that Rabbi Yosef Dov Sooveitchik, zt'l, found a more specific connection betwen the process of purging utensils as mentioned in parshas Tzav and that done in preparation for  Pesach. Parshas  Tzav, he noted,  contains the laws of purging utensils used in the mishkan from any absorption of meat of a sacrifice. Once the absorption remains in the utensils longer than the amount of time one is allowed to eat  it, it is given the status of 'nosar,' meaning left-over foodof sanctified, or kodashim, status. Nosar cannot be eaten,and its absorption must be purged fromthe utensl before it can be used iagain in the mishkan/ Temple service. . The Torah therefore gives us guidelines of how to cleanse these utensils of any such absrption. What is uniue about this absorption is that when it first entered the utensil, it was permitted to eat that food, and it only beame forbidden after it remained in the utensil beyond the time that one may partake of  the  sacrifice that the food was part of. This kind of absorption isknown as 'heteira bala,' meaning,that at thr time of the actual absorption, the food  was  permissible,and it only became forbidden later.A number of posim, or halachic decisors, have noted that chametz, also, that was absorbed into a utensil during the rest of the year, before Pesach, is a permissible food product, and,so,an absorption of chametz is  considered 'heteira bala,'and therefore certain leniencies may be applied in the purging process. However, since other authorities do not view an absorption of chametz as 'heteira bala,'one should consult a competent poseik before applying any such leniencies in practice.. Our interest in the status of the purging processes is merely on a symbolic level,as we shall see.


The cleansing of utensils from materails it has absorbed has ben compared, by Rav Aharon Lichtenstei among others,to the process of spiritual cleansing that one must go through, as well. The rabbis tell us that chametz, which becomes forbidden through rising, is analogous to the yeitzer hora,or evil inclination, within a person.. Cleansing our utensils from chametz absorptions, then, is symbolic of cleansing ourselves  from whatever we may have absorbed into our systems through the yeitzer hora. Viewing an absorption of chametz as heteira bala, or as an absorpttion that at the time of ingestion  was really permissible, points to a process that has special significance for Pesach. When God told Moshe that He would redeem the Jewish people form Egypt, and Moshe wonderd through which merit they would be redeemed, He told him that, ultimately, they would worship Him at Mt.Sinai.When the nation came to Mt.Sinai, God charged them to be a 'kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' What constitutes holiness? Rashi,in his commentary to parshas Kedoshim, tels us that it means to sanctify ineself even in regard tothings that are permissible. Ramban, in his Torah commentary,elaborates on the fact that one can indulge in things that are, in as strict sense, completely permissible,and still debauch himself. Kedusha,then,or holiness,consists in exercising control over those things which are, strictly speaking, permissible.Cleansing our utensils from absorptions of chameitz,which has the status of 'heteira bala,' then, can be viewed, on a symbolic level, as cleansing ourselves, before Pesach, .from the negative effect of the misuse of things which are, in essence permissible. By cleansing ourselves in this way, we are preparing ourselves to fulfill the charge given to the Jewish nation at Mt.Sinai as a prelude to receiving the Torah, a process which is the core of the redemption from Egypt.


A joyous Pesach to all from the entire Notvort staff.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        




Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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