Turn to Me and I Will Turn to You (1998)
Weekly Parsha Commentary by Binyamin Zev Kahane
Translated by Lenny Goldberg
This is the time of year when the weekly Torah readings deal with thesubjects of the Temple, sacrifices, and ritual purity. But alas, for thevast majority of us these parshas seem irrelevant. But what are we to do?They appear in the Torah, and therefore we must read them. They do notinspire us at all. In fact, we feel detached and are bored by them.
The Red Heifer
And yet, even the subject of the red heifer cannot be kept inconsequentialforever. Here we are, about to read "Parshat Para" which deals with the lawsof the red heifer, another seemingly irrelevant topic . Or is it? Surely youhave heard of the red heifer which was born in Kfar Chassidim, which causedgreat excitement. Recently, though, it was disqualified when it grew twoblack hairs on its tail at the age of six months. Apparently, only a veryfew people were truly devastated by this. Everyone else, obviously,dismissed it with the thought: Nu, we've lived 2,000 years without thissacred cow, certainly we can wait a little more... And thus they returnedto their truly important affairs....
We have not the slightest doubt that this red heifer, like so many otherevents taking place in our days, is a sign from heaven. Everything is ready( but we prefer to busy ourselves in the smallness of our day-to-day lives.Even the disqualifying black hairs are a sign from above: G-d may open thedoor, but it is still up to us to enter. And if not, then that door closes.In our generation, G-d has opened up many doors for us; we have hadopportunity after opportunity. And us? King Solomon described this situationlaconically in the Song of Songs: "my Beloved is knocking, saying, Open tome, my sister, my bride, my undefiled..". And us? "I have put off my coat;how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I soil them?" And inthe meantime - "But my Beloved has turned away"....
"The Divine Presence" - What Is It?
The real question is: Do the b'nei Torah of our time see this as irrelevant -or worse, contemptible? Do they understand that the red heifer is notmerely one more personal mitzvah, but rather the pre-condition for thehundreds of mitzvot which are dependent upon the Temple and in fact - thepre-condition for the Divine Presence in Israel!
To our great sorrow, even the phrase the pre-condition for the DivinePresence in Israel does not arouse any great emotions. It is simply words.The truth is (and this is so hard to say) that the Torah world has grownaccustomed to living without this. In fact, why not? As long as oneoccupies himself with Torah from morning till evening, is concerned with allthe myriad details of halacha - what can be missing? The Temple? TheTemple?! Forget that! Go learn another page of Gemorrah, and chill out.
But those who think this way are cut off from authentic Judaism. Through2,000 years of exile a barrier was erected between the Torah and the HolyTemple. And this, in point of fact, is a barrier between the Torah and Hewho gave the Torah!
An Intolerable Situation
Indeed it is so. There is no Torah without the Giver of the Torah, and theconnection to Him is through the Divine presence in the Temple. The essenceof the temple is the ark in the holy of holies, where the tablets are kept.That is where the Divine Presence is found. And The Sages explained inShemot Raba on Parshat Terumah (33:1): "G-d said to Israel: I have given youthe Torah - I cannot separate myself from it; and I cannot tell you not totake it; so wherever you may be found, build a house for me to dwell in - asit is written "Build for me a temple".
We must understand what is written here. G-d "could not" separate himselffrom the Torah - and He therefore asked us to build for Him a house. Andnow, since the destruction of the Temple, the reality is that G-d has beenexiled from His house, and therefore it is as if He has been separated fromHis Torah. Is this only His concern? Of course not! We are in a situationwhere although we have the Torah - G-d is nevertheless far from us. This isan intolerable situation. It is a deficiency which damages the essence ofour connection to the Torah!
When we were in exile, it was out of our hands. After all, what could wedo? But what can we say now when as we have the ability to build theTemple, are commanded to do so (see Rambam Hilchot Beit Habichira 1:1), yetdespite this we say: There is time, there are other more pressing needs,the important thing is to sit and learn? It is as if we are saying to theAlmighty: See how nicely we are managing without You, with the Torah thatYou have given us. And You can stay where You are!
This shows a lack of basic understanding in the nature of Torah and thenature of the Temple. The Temple connects us to the Giver of the Torah. Insuch a situation, the learning of Torah and its fulfillment are brought toan enirely different level. For this reason it is precisely the bnei Torahwho are constantly immersed in Torah, who must take the lead the process ofbuilding the Temple.
And this must happen, as the Yerushalmi says in Tractate Maaser Sheini,before the coming the Messiah. If not, it raises doubts as to whether tosome extent we are only clinging to the surface of the Torah, and not toits essence.
Topic: PARSHOT VAYAKHEL - PIKUDEI - Turn to Me and I Will Turn to You (Read 2058 times)