Rabbi Reisman – Parshas Kedoshim 5776
1. Parshas Kedoshim has a tremendous variety of assorted Mitzvos in
it, but certainly the one we have to work on most minutes of our time that we
are awake is the Mitzvah of (וְאָהַבְתָּ
לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ). The Mitzvah of Ahavas Rai’im and Ahavas
Yisrael which is in this week’s Parsha. I would like to share with you a tremendous
insight which comes from the Pachad Yitzchok on Pesach, Maimar 29. Rav Hutner
there points out that there is a Mitzvah in this week’s Parsha of 19:18 (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ)
of loving another Jew and later in Sefer Devarim there is a Mitzvah of Ahavas
Hager 10:19 (וַאֲהַבְתֶּם, אֶת-הַגֵּר)
which is a separate Mitzvas Asei in the Minyan Hamitzvos. As a matter of fact in
the language of the Rambam which is found in the 6th Perek of Hilchos
Dai’os, it is that when you have love for a Ger you are Mekayeim two Mitzvos. You
are Mekayeim the Mitzvah of (וְאָהַבְתָּ
לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ) when you love any Jew and Ahavas Hager
you are Mekayeim by both Ahavas Hager and (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ).
However, this raises a problem. This is because the Rambam in his
rules of counting Mitzvos in the Sefer Hamitzvos Lo Sasei Kuf Ayin, establishes
a rule that any Mitzva that is always included in another Mitzvah is not
counted in the Taryag Mitzvos as an independent Mitzvah onto itself. Which
means to say that let us say for example there is a Mitzvah that applies to all
members of Sheivet Levi and the Torah spells it out in regards to Kohanim
specifically as well. That is only one Mitzvah. Even though when a Kohen does
that Mitzvah or in his example it is a Lo Sasei, he is Mekayeim two Lo Sasei’s
because he is a member of Sheivet Levi and a Kohen, that doesn’t matter. It all
counts as one Din. A Kohen can’t marry a Gerusha and a Kohen Gadol also can’t
marry a Gerusha, it is not two Mitzvos, it is one Mitzvah. One is Nichlal in
the other.
If so says Rav Hutner, the Mitzvah of Ahavas Hager is always
included in (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ
כָּמוֹךָ) so although they are two separate Mitzvos so to speak, but in
the counting of Taryag Mitzvos they should be one. Because of this Kasha, Rav
Hutner analyzed Ahavas Rai’im and Ahavas Hager and explains the following
Chiddush.
He says that the Mitzvah of (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ) is not a Mitzvah of
Ahavah, to whom does it apply? To a fellow Jew? No. The Mitzvah is to have
Ahava for Rai’acha because he is Rai’acha. (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ) we are talking now
about love for another person. It is not a puppy love, a love that a person happens
to love his puppy, happens to love the person next to him, it is a love that
has an appreciation for what it means to be Rai’acha. What it means to be a
member of Klal Yisrael.
For example, let’s say you know somebody and you like him, you
naturally love him but as far as you know he is not a Jew, but you love him. He
is a fellow worker, a neighbor, he is a good person. It turns out that in
Heaven they know that he is a Jew. Your love for that person is not a Kiyum of
(וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ).
(וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ)
is Mikuyam Dafka when you have love for someone with an appreciation of the
person’s position as a fellow Jew. That is the definition of (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ).
Similarly, with Ahavas Hager. The Mitzvah is to appreciate what it
means to be a Ger. There is a Mitzvah to love him because of what he has
accomplished by coming into Klal Yisrael. It turns out, therefore, that since there
is a Mitzvah to appreciate him for what he is and the two Mitzvos are not
Nichlolim one to the other. If you are Mekayeim (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ) to a Ger, you have
not yet been Mekayeim Ahavas Hager. Ahavas Hager requires another step, an
appreciation of what it means to be a Ger. This is a tremendous Nikudah in the
message of true love of a person to another person.
A deep love for another person is to appreciate the person. It is an
Ahavah that doesn’t depend on mood, doesn’t depend on circumstance, it is just
dependent on the reality of who the other person is. In general, Ahavah between
a husband and a wife is in danger of becoming diminished over time because
whatever it is that attracted you to your wife in the first place is something
that you take for granted. That is why we see incredible things when people are
married for a long time. Then they have Sholom Bayis problems or Lo Aleinu get
divorced and they say that it is because of this or that shortcoming in their
spouse. This or that shortcoming may be true, but compared to the big picture
of the things that you have in common over 20 or 30 years it pales in
comparison. But you see the Ahavah, the appreciation for who the person is, is
long ago gone because it is something that people take for granted.
Rav Pam used to say that you should always remember that you were
once dating and whoever you wanted to marry didn’t want to marry you and
whoever wanted to marry you, you didn’t want to marry that person, until your
wife came along. She is someone you wanted to marry and she wanted to marry
you. Always appreciate it. Our nature is that this is history, it was from a
long time ago. The true Ahavah Rav Hutner tells us is an appreciation for the
basics, that is Ahavah. To go home and tell your wife thanks for marrying me
even though it is a decade or two later, that is a Madreiga of Ahavah. An
Ahavah that has a Kiyum, is an Ahavah which has an appreciation for the basics
of who the person is. This is a thought on one of the many Mitzvos of this
week’s Parsha.
2. I would like to point out something that will be an issue of
dispute in many Shuls. As you know, this year Parshas Acharei Mos and Parshas
Kedoshim are separate Parshios. According to what it says in most Chumashim you
would be Laining the Haftorah of Parshas Kedoshim. After all when they are
separate you Lain the Haftorah of Kedoshim and when they are together you Lain
the Haftorah of Parshas Acharei Mos. As a matter of fact, this year we will be
Laining on Parshas Kedoshim the Haftorah of Parshas Acharei Mos. You will ask
why?
The answer is the following. Of the two Haftoras, the Haftorah of
Parshas Acharei Mos is primary, it is one of the most beautiful Haftoras of the
Parshios as is found in Amos 9:7 (הֲלוֹא
כִבְנֵי כֻשִׁיִּים אַתֶּם לִי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל). When we only Lain
one of the two we Lain the Haftorah of Acharei Mos and that is why when they
are together we Lain the Haftorah of Parshas Acharei Mos. When they are
separate we do two Haftoras so for Parshas Acharei Mos we do (הֲלוֹא כִבְנֵי כֻשִׁיִּים אַתֶּם לִי בְּנֵי
יִשְׂרָאֵל) and for Parshas Kedoshim we do its Haftorah which is from
Yechezkel which talks about Chisronos of Yerushalayim, the Avlah of
Yerushalayim in that time. This year though, Parshas Acharei Mos coincided with
Erev Rosh Chodesh and therefore, we did not read (הֲלוֹא כִבְנֵי כֻשִׁיִּים אַתֶּם לִי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל)
we read from Shmuel I 20:18 (וַיֹּאמֶר-לוֹ
יְהוֹנָתָן, מָחָר חֹדֶשׁ) and therefore, this week on Parshas
Kedoshim we should be Laining the Haftorah of Parshas Acharei Mos.
If you take out a Mishnah Brura Cheilek Daled, the very last words
in Cheilek Daled in 428:26 state this as well. It is something to make sure to
do advance work on and let the Baal Korei know, point it out to the Gabbaim of
the Shul. It is an especially wrong mistake to make given that the Haftorah
that we are supposed to be Laining is one of the shortest Haftoras and if you
Lain the Haftorah of Kedoshim it is one of the longer Haftoras which is just I
guess an added incentive to get it right. (הֲלוֹא כִבְנֵי כֻשִׁיִּים אַתֶּם לִי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל)
a short Haftorah. Take out a Nach learn the Haftorah. It is one of the most
beautiful Haftoras of all of the Haftoras that we Lain in Shul.
I would like to tell you a beautiful Maharal on that Haftorah. The
Haftorah (הֲלוֹא כִבְנֵי כֻשִׁיִּים)
we have the promise that HKB”H will as is found in Amos 9:11 (בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא, אָקִים אֶת-סֻכַּת דָּוִיד
הַנֹּפֶלֶת) make the Sukkos Dovid once again stand and this is the source
for what we say during Sukkos in Bentching (הָרַחֲמָן
הוּא יָקִים לָנוּ אֶת סֻכַּת דָּוִד הַנּוֹפֶלֶת). According to the Mari
Karo the Sukkas Dovid refers to the Bais Hamikdash and this is the way it is usually
understood.
The Maharal in Netzach Yisrael in Perek Lamed Hei asks why is the
Bais Hamikdash called a Sukkah as Sukkah is a Diras Arai, a very temporary
place. It should be called, a palace, it should be called a home, it should be
called a Bayis, why is it called a Sukkah. As a matter of fact Chazal say that
the Bais Hamikdash has 70 names. The names are generally names of significance.
Sukkah? A hut?
Hardly a hut!
The Maharal answers beautifully. He says if you have a Bayis, a
Paltiren, a palace, and it is destroyed or it is knocked down, when you build a
new one you are not putting back the old house it is a new house, a new palace
that you are building. It is not a Hemshech of what was. It is not that way
with a Sukkah. A Sukkah is a Diras Arai that you are taking apart a Sukkah and
put back your Sukkah. When someone takes apart a Sukkah and rebuilds the Sukkah
he sees it as a Hemshech, as a continuation of what was once. That is why the
Bais Hamikdash is called a Sukkah. This is because the Bais Hamidash although
destroyed once and then again, the Bais Hamikdash that will be put up will be a
Hemshech, will be a continuation of the old, and therefore, the name Sukkah. How
beautiful!
That is why we have a rule in the Mishkan which was taken apart and
put together so many times in the Midbar, a wall or beam that had been in a
particular spot in the Mishkan, had to be put back in the same place when it
was rebuilt the next time. Why? They were identical Kerashim, they were
interchangeable? Why do you have to put back the same one in the same spot? The
answer is the same message. It is not a new building, it is the old building
being put back. Something being reconstructed in the place that it had been.
How beautiful!
I might add that there is a beautiful Remez. The Gemara says in the
beginning of Maseches Sukkah that we Darshun that we know that there are three
walls to a Sukkah from the fact that it says Sukkos three times in the Torah.
It is spelled twice Choseir and once Malei. This is a Remez to the Bais
Hamikdash which was twice destroyed (Choseir) and the third time to be
permanent Bimhaira B’yameinu. A beautiful
Vort on the Haftorah for this week.
3. I asked a question a number of years ago that seemed to be very
logical. We have in this week’s Parsha three Mitzvos regarding Payos. Payos Harosh,
Payos Hazokon, and 19:9 (לֹא תְכַלֶּה
פְּאַת שָׂדְךָ לִקְצֹר). I asked why in the Payo of the field is
it enough to leave one Payo. If Payos Harosh is two and Payos Hazakein is five,
why don’t we say that in the field you have to leave many Payos?
I see that Rav Chaim Kanievsky in his Taima Dikra (page # 144 on
19:27) asks the question in the name of the Radvaz. K’darko Bakodesh, Rav Chaim
Kanievsky with tremendous insights into Pshat says a beautiful Pshat.
The Payo is one, however, the head is a specific part of the body
with a specific shape. The head has two Payos. It has two spots, two corners,
two edges. The beard has five edges. One (on each side) where it meets the
Rosh, two where the face turns, one at the corner. It just happens to have two
and five Payos. A field on the other hand can have any shape, there is no
specific shape. The Torah says leave Payo, then leave Payo. You can’t be
Mechayeiv more than one. There is no specific shape to a field. It is a
beautiful Pshat for its simplicity.
With that I wish you all an absolutely wonderful Shabbos. A Shabbos
of meaning Parshas Kedoshim with so many Mitzvos. As we continue on our march
towards Kabbalas Hatorah. IY”H let’s make it a good one. A good preparation for
Sinai, for Kabbalas Hatorah. A Gutten Shabbos to one and all!
