From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 1:46 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Vayikra, 5767




                                             I've Got a Secret

             By Rabbi Joshua (confidentially  known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


  Parshas Vayikra begins with the verse, "He called to Moshe, and God spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying" (Vayikra 1:1). The Talmud (Yoma 4a) derives from the word 'saying' mentioned here that if someone tells another person something in confidence, he is not allowed to repeat it without permission of the one who told it to him. If the person does repeat it without permission, he transgressed a prohibition of 'not saying.' Although most authorities who count the six hundred thirteen mitzvos do not include this prohibition in their count, Rabbi Eliezer Azkiri, in his Sefer Charedim, does count it. I once heard Rabbi Shmuel Sperber explain that this may be a reflection of the kabbalistic bent of the sefer Charedim, since the power of silence and speech is an important theme in kabbalah. In any case, we need to understand why this prohibition is mentioned in the context of the opening verse of the book of Vayikra, which is devoted to the service of God through bringing sacrifices in the mishkan.

  Rabbi Yissochor Frand, in a shiur on parshas Vayikra, mentioned, in the context of the passage in Yoma, a talk he heard from Rabbi Matisyohu Solomon, spiritual guidance counselor, or mashgiach ruchani, of the Lakewood Yeshiva. He cited a Yalkut in parshas Emor, which says that the Jews were redeemed from Egypt in the merit of not changing their names, their language, and  their mode of dress, and for not speaking leshon hora, or evil talk. The midrash says that we know they didn't speak leshon hora because they did not reveal the secret that Moshe told them, that before they left Egypt they would ask the Egyptians to lend them their gold and silver utensils and their clothing. Now, we can understand that retaining the national language, names and mode of dress is a way of maintaining the national identity, and that this would be a factor in their redemption, but why, asks Rav Solomon, did the nation merit redemption through not speaking evil talk,as reflected in the fact that they kept a secret for an entire year? Why was the ability to keep a secret so central in meriting redemption?

  Rav Solomon answered that the ultimate purpose of the redemption from Egypt was to receive the Torah at Mt. Sinai, and to serve God through observing His commandments. In other words, the central theme of the redemption was belief in God and observance of His word. However, a person who is not a 'ne'eman,' who does not take his own word seriously, will not take God's word seriously either. In order to show that they could be trusted to believe in God's word and observe the commandments He would give, they first had to show that they were capable of keeping their own word and not reveal the secret they had been told. Perhaps this is why there is such an emphasis on the use of speech on the night of the seder, since that night is geared toward inculcating belief in God and His Torah into our hearts and the hearts of our families, and belief in God and His Torah is dependent on the importance we place on our use of language. With Rabbi Solomon's explanation in mind, we can return to the beginning of Vayikra, and try to understand the significance of speech in that context, as well.


  Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz, mashgiach ruchani of the Mir Yeshiva in pre-World War ll Poland, in his Da'as Torah to Vayikra, cites a midrash which says that Moshe would not enter the tent of meeting until God called to him. In this connection, he also notes that Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, in his classic work Mesillas Yeshorim, or Path of the Just, cites another midrash in his section on the trait of 'zehirus,' or caution, which says that any Torah scholar who does not have da'as, or understanding, "is worse than a carrion," and the Talmud in Berachaos 33a, which says that it is forbidden to have compassion upon those who will not understand. What, asks Rav Yerucham, do these statements have to do with the trait of being cautious in one's actions? He answers that being cautious, according to Rabbi Luzzatto, involves having control over oneself, and not jumping headlong into an enterprise without first thinking about it and considering whether it is truly appropriate at the time. This approach, says Rav Yerucham, is what typified Moshe's service of God, and that is why the rabbis made these comments in connection with the beginning of the book of Vayikra.

  Based on Rav Yerucham's comments, we can also understand the passage in Yoma which we began with. Rav Avrohom Pam, zt"l, would always tell his students that they must think before they speak. This is, first of all, an excellent way of controlling leshon hora, but, most importantly, a way of controlling one's use of speech, in general. Rav Pam could not bear to hear anyone use the expression 'watchamekalit,' because it reflected a lack of thought before speaking. Speech is one of the greatest gifts that God has given us, and we must exercise it with caution, and, as we saw from Rav Solomon, one's use of it really reveals the type of person he is. Thus, in the context of teaching us the importance of caution in approaching the service of God, the Talmud in Yoma very appropriately teaches us the importance of our use of speech, which plays such a central role in our service of God, as well.



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

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