Emor
Believing In Hashem Too Much
The Torah tells of the person who cursed Hashem. Wh did he do it? Rashi explains the Torah’s intro: ‘he went out…’ in three ways;
he left (-lost) his share in the world to come,
‘he came out’ of the previous parshah where we are told to put bread on the shulchan table on Shabbos, which stays there until the next Shabbos. He said ‘A king eats fresh bread. How is it that Hashem gets week-old bread?’
Fine. Why does this lead to cursing Hashem? It seems that when we bring old bread to Hashem, a seeming dishonor, others see and go farther, cursing Hashem when circumstances are ripe. He would not have actually cursed – although angry – had he not developed a disregard for Hashem’s honor.
A lesson in the ramifications of small disregard on our part!
The curser had a disagreement with other Jews and ‘he went out’ of Beis Din the loser.
So why curse Hashem – curse Beis Din?!
The kinderlach said that he cursed Hashem because it was His laws that made him lose.
We suggested that in general when people ruin their lives, they turn around and pin it on Hashem. Wicked people curse Hashem for their bad luck, and tzaddikim will piously accept Hashem’s judgment; neither realize that it has all to do with them. They themselves have caused their trouble, not Hashem. We see people justifying ‘Hashem’s judgment’ when it had nothing to do with Him.
This is how someone who lost in a court case can go out and curse Hashem!
Its Not How You Say It, Its What You Say…
How was the curser punished? ‘Take the person who cursed and stone him. And tell the Jewish people: he who curses will bear heavy sin. The one who has cursed Hashem is to be killed. Etc. And the man who kills his fellow shall die. If he kills an animal he shall pay for it. Etc. And should he wound his fellow man as he did shall be done to him. Etc.’
Why is this all pertinent here? This may be appropriate for parshas Mishpatim, where damages are discussed; why does it appear by cursing Hashem?
Perhaps the Torah is placing cursing Hashem into context: A person cursing Hashem is attacking Hashem. It’s pretty hard to attack Hashem, for He is invisible and intellectually incomprehensible. Yet there is (only) one possibility to attack Hashem. Thats by using words, our power of speech, to curse Hashem. Somehow, somewhere, this constitutes a hit on Hashem.
It is a part of the lineup – hurting Hashem, hurting a fellowman, hurting an animal. In fact, the legal definition of cusrsing Hashem is ‘May Yossi hit Yossi!’ (-substitute the name of Hashem for ‘Yossi’). Anything less is simple frivolity, for who besides Hashem can hurt Him? Asking Him to hit Him sounds odd – do we expect Him to carry this out?! And yet this is effective. Man has been given power, such awesome power.
We need to rethink the power of the tongue to damage. And this goes the other way too; we have awesome power in blessing and praying, our words do effect!
Often, we daaven quickly, anxious to get back to work, to get stuff done. Practically speaking, this is like when a crew arming up a tank or fighter jet before a battle when some whiz walks up and says ‘Hey, lets get going already! Forget all these missiles and stuff! Lets go fight!’
Well buddy, without missiles your action will be kinda short. Arming up is absolutely crucial.
Or take Sam, the newbie salesman. Visiting a business, he shmoozes with the clerk instead of spending his time pitching the boss upstairs. He reasons that the clerk is the person who actually writes out the order, so he better get onto his good side. Silly him. The clerk only writes out what the big boss tells him too. He ought to be convincing the boss!
At daavening things actually get approved by the boss. Thats where the real action is. In the workplace afterwards the clerk writes out the check. We need to focus more on the boss and less on the clerk!
Another example of this is Shabbos. Shabbos is not down time. Shabbos is the source of bracha for the entire week. Its when we fuel up and load the missiles. Shouldn’t we make sure that we get into Shabbos early and leave it late?
Ok, Who Done It?
One fellow wanted to put his tent with Dan. They shooed him away. He took the case to Beis Din and was found to be wrong. He then cursed Hashem. He wound up getting killed for his efforts, an altogether unfortunate episode.
That unknown Dannite who protested: Why did he do it. Was it correct?
The kinderlach had several thoughts;
Perhaps there was a limited area granted to Dan. Another family moving in meant less space for the rest of them. There was no real need or justification: there was place for those with no family. (- Where the Eruv Rav lived) There was no reason to welcome him in.
As events proved, he was a rotten apple. His low lineage was reflected in his acts. They may have already known of him and did not want this bum’s kids teaching their’s swear words and bad behavior. So they threw him out.
The Torah wanted Shvatim living seperately, each as a tribe. An admixture of outsiders would spoil the scheme of things. Much as they personally would welcome this family into their community, this was not what the Torah had wanted from them at this time.
A related idea: Hashem had wanted people defined by patriarchal lineage. Mr. Wannabe Dannite was presenting his matriarchal liniage. The people were rebuking him for contravening the Torah dictate and moving in. Rebuking a sinner is a Torah value.
The people of Dan were simply being selfish, keeping outsiders out. It would have been better had they been gracious about it, but they were within their rights. They were not nice, but cannot be faulted for the outcome.
Or were the people of Dan truly guilty in this sorry episode?
The Secret Code
When one sinner cursed Hashem, the Jews locked him in jail until Hashem decreed judgment. The Gemarah tells us that we cannot learn Halachik principle from this story because this was ‘a chiddush’. Rashi explains that the Jews had no legal basis to lock him up; Hashem had never labled cursing Him a sin to be punished on!
So why did they lock him up?? The answer is that although never stated, certain things go without saying, and need not be said. The Jews felt in their bones that this cannot be tolerated. Their gut reaction proved correct: he was sentenced to death.
Perhaps we can call this the sixth chelek of shulchan aruch; besides the standard four, and besides the fifth one of common sense, another code exists although written nowhere. The Code Of Devotion to Hashem is real. It exists in the hearts of people devoted to Him.
I can think of many instances where this code is evinced. Can you?
TimeSpace
The Sforno explains the pasuk: ‘It is Shabbos before Hashem in all your homes’ that every part of the world has a different time zone. The Torah tells that Shabbos starts at every location at its time, not the entire world at once.
Doesn’t the Shabbos have a specific time? Does it not affect all at the same time?
It would seem that time is not an absolute entity, the same in all places, rather it is an entity tied to place, similar to any physical object. Time exists as a point in the universe, and as the world spins, we pass through time, much as we pass through place. For example: the hour of ‘exactly four hundred hours’ since creation of the world exists at different places in different times. As the world spins, it becomes that time progressively around the world.
This seems difficult to conceptualize: when the world was created every part of it came into existence at once, presumably. An hour later each and every part was exactly an hour old, no matter where it stood. So how can it be that different parts of the world reach the four hundred hour mark at different times?
Perhaps it needs to be explained a bit differently: Time, in fact, is an aspect of matter. Matter exists as a time-object. Time is a proprty just like heat and cold is. We can say that this part of the globe is clod right now, and the next part of the globe will become cold when it reaches that place too. So it becomes Shabbos in different places at different times.
Time and space are interdependent.
Accomplished And Happy
What is the nexus between keeping from pleasure on Yom Kippur and refraining form doing work on Yom Kippur? The Torah goes back and forth between the two of them and indicates that there is some connection. What is it?
The idea behind Yom Kippur is humbling oneself; acting meek and guilty. Its power lies in the posture we assume, not in fasting itself. In fact, fasting is referred to as ‘humbling’. Acting humble and contrite brings forgiveness. If our enemy humbles himself before us we forgive him. So too, when we humble ourself before Hashem, He is inclined to forgive us.
Accomplishment is related. When we do and accomplish we feel power and ability. Doing makes us feel good about ourselves. Feeling powerful and feeling meek don’t go together.
Not working and fasting are related; they foster feelings in us that make Hashem forgive.
What is the takeaway? Being aware that we need to feel low before Hashem, and that to feel good about ourselves we need to accomplish.
©2013
kollel parshah | Tiferet Ramot 83-21, Jerusalem, Israel, 97290
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