Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello, my friends, and welcome back for this week's episode of the Practical Parasha Podcast. This is Ravishlam Alkon, and I hope you are well. Before we begin this week's episode, I want to dedicate it in memory of my aunt, Mrs. Rifky Cohn. Her Hebrew name was Alta Rifka Bas Hayesara, Mayor Neshama Havanaliya. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, just want to say hello. Reach out. You're a little curious, you know, maybe you're thinking in your mind, I want to reach out. I'm shy.
[00:00:35] Just reach out. Don't worry, I'm nice. I don't bite. My email address is Rabbi Shlomo kon k o h nmail.comm I'd love to hear from you. This week's Parsha is Parshas Shmini. And just to give a little quick overview of the weekly parsha, the Parsha is really a continuation from last week's Parsha. And last week, Aaron and his sons, the Kohanim, were instructed to stay in the tabernacle, in the tent of meeting with Moshe Rabbeinu. And for seven days, Moshe Rabbeinu to inaugurate the Mishkan, to inaugurate the tabernacle.
[00:01:14] Every day he would build the Mishkan, put perform the entire service, and at the end of the day, deconstruct it and put it down. And on the second day, this would repeat itself. Moshe building it, performing the service, and then taking it down for seven days, Moshe Rabbeinu did this. And on the eighth day, Moshe Rabbeinu is giving it over to Aron Hakohen. Hence, the name of the Parsha is Parasha Shmini, the 8th. If you look in the verse, the first verse of the Parasha, it starts off Vayihi Bayomashmini. It was on the 8th day, 8th day of what? 8th day of the inauguration of the Mishkan, that from now on, Aaron and his sons would be the ones who would build the Mishkan. Aaron and his sons would be the ones to perform the service in the Tabernacle and subsequently in the Beis Hamikdash in the Temple in Jerusalem. And that's what it means by Parshas, meaning the eighth day. Because now this inauguration, it was the climax where from now on the Kohanim would be the ones to perform the service in the tabernacle, in the Beis Hamikdash. And the Parsha starts off with that ceremony.
[00:02:31] Now, the Parsha also tells us about the death of Nadav and Aviu, who were the sons of Aaron Hakoin. And we are going to get into that a little bit today of what happened, why did they die, what was their mistake, and what we can learn from it. The parsha continues with a, uh, commandment for the Kohanim to not drink any intoxicating beverages before they do the service in the Mishkan of the Temple. The parsha continues with the laws of Kashrus, the permissible animals that a, uh, Jew is allowed to eat, the forbidden animals that a Jew cannot eat, the permissible and forbidden fish that a, uh, Jew is allowed or not allowed to eat, forbidden birds that are not allowed to be eaten. And, uh, the parsha finishes off with different contaminations of different animals and this prohibition of eating certain creeping animals and creatures.
[00:03:26] Now, the first idea I want to share with you today takes us to the beginning of the Parsha. So as I mentioned earlier, Parsha Shamini is this climax where the kohanim are now inaugurating the Mishkan. They're starting to do the service in the Mishkan. They're starting to build the Mishkan. And if you look in the beginning of that first paragraph in the Parsha, to be precise, verse 7, the posseq reads as, um, Moshe said to Aaron, come near to the altar and perform the service of your sin offering and your elevation offering and provide atonement for them, as Hashem has commanded. Now, the first question which Rashi raises on this verse is the interesting wording that Moshe Rabbeinu tells Aaron Hakon. It's listed in the Torah. It says krav Elhamez Beach. Meaning Moshe is telling Aaron to come close. To come close. Seems like he was away.
[00:04:44] And Moshe is telling Aaron to come close. So if you look at Rashi, Rashi right away addresses this interesting word which is found in the Torah. So it says in Rashi as krav el amizbeach shahoya aron boish. Aaron Hakoin was embarrassed viore lagesh. And he was afraid to come close to, uh, the Mizbeyach to do the service.
[00:05:10] Omerloi moishe loma ata aboish.
[00:05:14] Why are you embarrassed?
[00:05:18] This is why you were chosen. Because you were embarrassed, because you were boysh, because you had this certain sense of staying away.
[00:05:26] That's why Hashem has chosen you to be the Kohen Gadl.
[00:05:30] And the commentaries explain different, um, reasons. What was the reason that Aron Hakohen was embarrassed or he didn't want to come forward. He didn't want to come close. He didn't feel worthy.
[00:05:44] So some commentaries explain on this that Moshe Rabbeinu, he himself exemplified this trait. We know that when God told Moshe Rabbeinu to take the Jews out of Egypt, he refused. He said, I am not the one to do it. Um, I have a speech impediment. I can't do it. And it's actually interesting, the Midrash brings down that the conversation between God and Moshe Rabbeinu before he was going to take the Jews out of Egypt, where he was telling Moshe Rabbeinu to take the Jews out and Moshe said no. Went on for seven days where Moshe was refusing to be the one, till finally God said, I'm going to be your mouth. I'm going to, you know, this is the reason why I want you to be chosen. And similarly, Aaron Hakon did the same thing. He said, I don't want to be the one. And the commentaries learn from this. We see Jewish leadership, this quality in Jewish leadership, that to be a leader, you don't necessarily want to be the leader. That's a real leader, somebody who doesn't want it. Someone who doesn't want to be the one in charge. And that's why we choose him. That's what Moshe Rabbeinu was telling him. Because that is exactly why you need to be chosen, because you don't want to be the one to do it. You know, obviously this is a stark contrast with the society that we live in, where every politician says that, you know, they're God's gift to humanity. But either way, that's just a side little idea. But really, what I wanted to talk about today, this idea of why didn't Aaron want to come close? And the Midrash tells us that the reason Aaron Hakon didn't want to come close is because he was involved to a certain extent in the Chaita Egel, in the sin of the Golden Calf. Right? We know Arna Cohen took told them to bring the gold and silver.
[00:07:30] He had good intentions in mind. He didn't want them to do this sin. He was just trying to stall them. And even though he was forgiven and it was determined that he didn't do anything wrong, he still felt that he was not the one to be chosen to be the Kohen Gadol. And that's why he didn't want to become close.
[00:07:50] And to explain this idea of the back and forth between Moshe Rabbeinu, Moses and Aaron, where Moshe Rabbeinu is telling Aaron to come close, and Aaron says, I don't want to. And then Moshe Rabbeinu says, that's why you were chosen. There's a very interesting idea, a very, um, powerful thought which I saw brought down. The Otzerachayim explains the back and forth between Moshe Rabbeinu and Aaron. We know that God protects the righteous from sinning. And we know that the level of Aron Hakohen, he was on such a high level that it doesn't make sense that he should be get tangled up in this sin of the golden calf. You know, we see that there was some small trace of liability that Aaron had or he felt he had, he was forgiven. But it seems like he had some type of trace, the connection to this golden calf.
[00:08:50] And it just doesn't make sense. How could a person, such a great person as Aaron Hakon, he was, you know, he was almost an equal to Moshe Rabbeinu, to Moses, get caught up in this sin?
[00:09:03] And he says, the Otzerachaim explains that true Aron Hakohen was on such a level that he couldn't have gotten caught up in this sin. But rather it was determined that Aaron Hakon, that Aaron, the high priest who would be the one to offer the sin offerings in the tabernacle, in the Mishkan, that the special carbonos that were to be offered for people who were coming because they had committed sins, because they had done something wrong, he would be the one to offer that sacrifice. So now, in order for him to have that feeling of empathy, to know what it means to sin, he had to experience sin on a slight level. He had to have a trace of it in his DNA, I guess, so he could know what it means to make a mistake, to fall and get back up again.
[00:10:00] And that's what it means, the back and forth between Moshe Rabbeinu and Aaron, Moshe Aaron was not coming near the altar because he felt he made a mistake. He should not be the one. And Moshe Rabbeinu was telling him, no, no, no, no, no.
[00:10:20] This is exactly why you were chosen, because you're the perfect person to be the Koen Gadlu. You're the perfect person to be the high priest. You're going to be the one to offer the sacrifices of the people who committed sins. So you can't offer a sin offering if you don't know what it means. How could you empathize with a person who's bringing this carbon chatas, this sin offering, if you yourself never Tasted it, you yourself never had a trace in it. And that's why it was destined that Aaron should have some type of connection, slight, which he was forgiven for to the golden calf. Because if he was going to be the one to offer that sacrifice, to be with those people, to get that full atonement for them, to help them get the full atonement, he had to know what it meant to go through that process. So therefore, that's why he got caught up in it. And I really this. And the important lesson that comes out from this is this idea of empathy.
[00:11:20] Empathy is not sympathy. They're two separate things.
[00:11:25] Sympathy is when you feel bad for somebody. But empathy is when you feel with somebody, you're with them, you feel their pain. Hear the difference? Sympathy is like, uh, oh, you know, you feel bad, and then you continue drinking, uh, your coffee and having your Danish. M. That's sympathy. Empathy is when it affects you as a person as well. You know, obviously we can't. We have to keep ourselves together. We have families, we have jobs. We can't just fall apart. But we need to try to empathize with other people.
[00:11:58] And, you know, one thing I could talk about is that, you know, we think to ourselves sometimes that the things that we grow through, like, how could these bad things happen to us? But the truth is that the challenging experiences that we go through in life help us as people to understand the challenges of others. There's a friend of mine, someone I learn with on a weekly basis who's a doctor, and we were talking about this concept of why do bad things happen to good people? And we sort of touched upon how sometimes the bad things that happen to us, you know, sure there's pain, sure there's challenge, but sometimes those quote unquote, bad things help us become the people we are, who we are. This fellow, he's a doctor, uh, and he had certain health challenges himself throughout his life. And he told me that since he had those challenges in his life, it changed how he is as a doctor, that he's able to empathize. He's able to feel with patients on a whole new level that he previously was unable to attain. This is a very important thought. When someone. When we are going through a challenge, to think that we're going to use this for someone else, to help someone else. And in general, whenever we have someone, a loved one, a friend, someone we meet and they have pain to try to empathize, to try to think where they're coming from, to feel with them, and, you know, it doesn't mean saying any inspirational words. Sometimes it's just saying nothing at all and just being real, just trying to feel the pain that they're going through. And that in itself is something which can help them and can help us be more compassionate and better people. The second idea I want to share with you today takes us to the death of Nadav and Aviu. Now, the story of Nadav and Aviu, who were the sons of Aaron, are very interesting in of itself. We know that it's brought down that Nadav and Aviu, the sons of Aaron, were, in a way, on a higher level then Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon. But yet, at the same time, it seems that they did make a mistake. They made a mistake. And the mistake that the Parsha tells us the Torah tells that they made, it says, uh, um, the sons of Aron and Anav and Aviu each took his fire pan and they put fire in them, and they placed incense upon it. And they brought before Hashem an alien fire that he had not commanded them, meaning they brought the Ketorah into the holy of holies. Uh, not commanded. They weren't commanded to do that, and they brought it in. Now, if you look in Rashi, Rashi gives a few reasons as to why they died. You know, they were holy people, but why did they die?
[00:15:00] So it seems that this is a discussion in the Gemaran. Elaede, Shahru Halacha, Moisha Rabbon. One opinion is that the reason why they died is because they taught a halakha. They taught a law in front of Moshe Rabbeinu, their teacher, which considers a severe disrespect, meaning they were great people, but maybe it got to their head to a certain degree. And another opinion is Rabbi Shmuel Oy mer shisu Yayin nichnasula Mikdash. They drank wine, and they came into, uh, the mikdash, which is the tabernacle, the holy place, to do the service. Now, the question that's asked, and Rabbi Twersky asks this question, is if the Torah tells us, you know, that they brought in an alien fire, so why is Rabbi Shmuel telling us that they drank wine, they went into the holy of holies? It's a separate reason, right? What did they do? Did they bring in an alien fire? Or did they drink wine, which they're not allowed to do? We're going to see. You know, that's the prohibition is listed next in the Parsha, that they drink wine, and they came in and Therefore, they died. Which one was it? Was it the fact that they brought this alien fire, this commandment, this fire that was not commanded, or they drank wine beforehand? Now, just to put things in perspective, you know, we said, uh, none of you were great men. And the opinion of Rabbi Shmuel is that they drank wine. They weren't partying to drink wine. They were drinking wine in order to gain a certain spiritual, um, elevation. We know, you know, wine gladdens the heart of man. We know this is brought down, you know, that wine could make a person more joyful.
[00:16:47] So what happened over here? So Rytorski explains that. He connects the explanation of Rabbi Shmuel that they went in with drinking to this idea that they went in with an alien fire. And, uh, the idea is that to get a spiritual high, you don't need any foreign substances to get to that point. And, uh, the idea is that where the sons of Aaron went wrong is that they thought they could take this wine and use it as a stimulant to get a extreme high spiritual experience. And they thought that we know it's brought down. Yay, Samech levavanosh. As I mentioned earlier, wine gladdens the heart of people, that it makes you, um, more joyful. But they made a mistake, because in order to have a true spiritual high, you can't have any foreign substances.
[00:17:44] Wine, all it does is it takes away the stress. It doesn't create more joy. It takes away stress. So you could feel the joy more. But when it comes to spiritual experiences, the way that we get that high should come as a result of prayer, of Torah study, of medieval meditation, contemplation, maybe singing a song that has a spiritual meaning behind it, but taking outside influences to try to put it into our spiritual service is something which is not going to get you to a true point of spiritual elevation. And, you know, unfortunately, we see nowadays where people are looking for all these externals to get them to happiness, to get them to joy, to get to something meaningful. But unfortunately, it's not going to help them get to where they need to get to. It's only temporary. It falls apart. It only takes away the stresses. So people could tap into that joy, and then as soon as it wears off, they're back to where they left off. You know, we see we're in a generation where drug use is crazy high and all these externals, people drink alcohol. But the point is, we have to realize that it's within us, that if we think about things we contemplate, we learn Torah we, you know, we have. We meditate, we even sing a song. We could even look at nature to get inspiration just to get us to that proper place of where we want to get to, to have that connection, to feel connected, to feed our neshama. And I really just, uh, really want to follow through this a little bit more. We know that the Torah gives the commandment to the kohanim, this week's parasha, to not touch wine. And it's actually interesting because if you look in the halachos about the service, a regular kohen, you know, there's two types of kohanim. There's a regular kohen and then there's the high priest. And the laws for a high priest are, you know, more elevated than a regular priest. Now we know that if a regular priest, a regular kohen, has a relative, a close relative who dies, he's not allowed to serve in the Beis Hamikdash. He has to know, go on leave. But if the high priest has a close relative who dies, right, A mother, a father, right? God forbid, um, a child, God forbid, they still have to do the service.
[00:20:00] And it's interesting. We know that the, uh, kohen, or any kohen, had to do the service in the tabernacle in a state of joy. They had to be happy.
[00:20:11] And the. It brings out this very important point here about joy. What is true joy? True joy is having this awareness that everything is from hashem, um, that everything happens for a reason. And nothing happens not for a reason. And the point is, when we have this awareness, we realize that everything happens in this world. You know, it's part of the plan. And the Cohen Godl who is on a elevated spiritual level, was able to realize that even though his close relative passed away, he recognized the fact that the service still had to continue. And it was intrinsic to the Jewish nation. He realized his responsibility, and he had the awareness to separate his feelings and still do the service in the temple and the tabernacle, uh, with joy. And this really brings me to this idea that as Jews, we're able to have two feelings at the same time. You know, as I mentioned earlier, this episode is dedicated in memory of my aunt who passed away this past week. One of my daughters asked my wife, you know, we had aseem on the same day, meaning my son had a celebration that he finished a whole parsha in school.
[00:21:20] And she asked my wife, how could we go to a siam on the same day that our aunt passed away? And my wife explained to my daughter that we could have both of these feelings at the same time, that although we're sad that our aunt passed away, we still are happy. Because, you know, Dovi M my son, he made a seeya, he made a celebration, meaning there's both of these feelings at once. When we realize that Hashem is running the world.
[00:21:50] Compartmentalize, it's a hard word right there, that on one end, we could be sad, but on the other hand, we realize that in order for us as a people to continue, we still have to be happy. So, and I think this idea is very important for us, that something bad could happen, but it doesn't have to take over us. We still could be sad and be happy. You know, it's something which is not easy all the time, but it's something we need to do as people, as Jews, to number one, feel for one another, but at the same time keep our heads high to go forward, to have that positivity, to realize that it's not just us, but people are depending on us. And we have a mission to complete. So with that, I'm going to finish with today's podcast. Hope you all enjoyed. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to reach out, feel free to send me an email at rabbi shlomo kon kohnmail.com I'd love to hear from.
