In Tribute to Aharon

OlamHatorah · Star Poster Joined: Jun 16, 2008 Posts: 13

After Aharon HaCohen received the commandment regarding lighting the flames of the Menorah in the Beis HaMikdash, the Torah tells us how he fulfilled the mitzvah:
"ויעש כן אהרן, אל מול פני המנורה העלה נרותיה, כאשר ציוה ה' את משה"
And thus did Aharon do, [facing] the Menorah, raising up its lights, as HaShem had commanded Moshe.” (B’midbar/Numbers 8:3)
Our Sages comment on this phrase, “And thus did Aharon do.” They remark that the Torah specifies that Aharon did “thus” in order to praise him because he did not deviate from any detail of the commandment (Sifri).
The text emphasizes Aharon’s virtue of obeying the word of HaShem, and praises him for not changing any aspect of the mitzvah.
We ask: that’s praise for Aharon? Doesn’t the Torah require of each Jew, great and small, in every place and time, to accept the discipline of the Torah and to fulfill the mitzvos as they are written?
Perhaps one may say that the tribute to Aharon regards his exact execution of the command to light the Menorah lights. As the High Priest, exalted above the rest of the people, Aharon could have altered the ceremonial aspects of the lighting according to the best of his understanding. Aharon could have emphasized the inner meaning of the mitzvah. He could have paid less attention to the format of fulfilling the mitzvah.
Aharon receives praise precisely because despite his high spiritual status he did not change an iota of the outer details of the mitzvah. He performed the mitzvah exactly as commanded.
It is true that the 613 mitzvos serve as rungs in a ladder stretched heavenward. The entire raison d’etre of the mitzvos is that through fulfillment of the mitzvos, we may cling to HaShem and ascend to the summit of spirituality. It is equally important, however, to carry out the mitzvos exactly as commanded. One must not change the form of the mitzvos in the name of “progress, enlightenment or personal understanding.
Such is also the case with prayer, described by our Sages as “the service of the heart.” Even though prayer must come from the heart, we are required to pray according to the liturgy handed down to us by tradition from the Men of the Great Assesmbly.
These requirements are not contradictory. Even though the order of prayer is fixed and unified for everyone, the individual can still find within it his or her own personal expression of longing for HaShem. The individual can express, through the standardized order of prayer, his or her personal yearning for HaShem.
From this we can understand the meaning of the lengthy discussion of the sacrifices brought by the princes of each tribe during the dedication of the Altar (B’midbar/Numbers 7:12). One who peruses this parasha can be bewildered by how much space the Torah devotes to the sacrifice of each prince, when each sacrifice was identical!
Our discussion regarding the fixed order of prayer and the individual’s personal involvement, however, applies here as well. In spite of the outer similarity of the princes’ sacrifices, each prince gave his korban with his own particular enthusiasm and excitement. Each one knew how to express his individuality and his unique spirituality within the communal framework.

brought to you by Rav Pealim

OlamHatorah · Star Poster Joined: Jun 16, 2008 Posts: 13

We Shall Surely Go Up and Do It, Because We Can Conquer Them.
Throughout the generations, illustrations portraying the scouts who went to spy out the Land show them clutching, in bony hands, a stave over which is suspended an enormous bunch of grapes. The difficulty of transporting the huge load is made evident in ancient drawings. (There were no cameras, digital or otherwise, at the time).
Many Jewish vintners over the years have incorporated this illustration in their marketing symbols.
I remember, as a child, looking at the illustration of two men carrying a mammoth-sized cluster of grapes hanging from a stave balanced on their shoulders. The picture was part of a trademark decorating the top of a wine-cork. I simply couldn't stand it.
As I had learned from my rebbeim, I knew that the scouts' entire intention in spying out the Land was in order to find something slanderous to say. ("Just as her fruits are abnormal, so are her people abnormal.") (B'midbar/Numbers Parashas Shlach 13:23 and Rashi, 10.) Therefore, it was hard for me to accept that Jewish-owned businesses used just this particular symbol.
When I grew up, however, I understood that the Land of Israel's production of large and juicy fruits is praiseworthy and is an expression of the superiority of the Land. I understood that Moshe Rabbeinu had told the scouts, "and you will become stronger, and you will take of the fruit of the Land" (B'midbar/Numbers 13:20) because he desired to present evidence of the Land's praiseworthiness to the People Israel. It was the scouts, who, while spying out the Land, chose not to observe the facts correctly. Instead, they decided to claim that the unusually large fruits were evidence of some defect in the Promised Land!
The scouts repeated this mistake on every mission that they undertook from the time they left the Israelite encampment to explore the Land until they returned to the desert. Moshe Rabbeinu had asked them to check whether the residents of the land of Canaan dwelled in scattered, unwalled cities, showing that they did not fear provocative attacks from other mere mortals, or whether they lived behind fortified walls, fearing other people in their vicinity.
When the scouts returned from touring the Land, they told Moshe Rabbeinu "the people in the Land are very strong, the cities are extremely large and fortified, and we even saw the children of the giant there."
The scouts ought to have realized that there was no need to fear. On the contrary, the presence of large, fortified cities indicated that the residents were weak, and could be conquered. Their need for strong fortifications advertised their weakness.The scouts, however, who wished to weaken the will of the people, sought to interpret their findings from their point of view, which was that the dwellers in the Land were strong, and that the Children of Israel would not be able to conquer them.
Had the scouts embarked on their journey with good and worthwhile intentions, they would have been able to discern that the fruits were large and beautiful, that the inhabitants of the Land were fearful and that even the children of the giant could be conquered easily.
As the Gemorah in Sota 43 explains, the verse in the parasha compares the scouts' departure with their arrival. The verse teaches that just as their arrival was accompanied with evil counsel, so had their departure been made with evil counsel. The entire trip of the scouts who went to spy out the Land had been made with flawed intentions and wicked designs.
Calev, conversely, set out with worthy intentions, and therefore he was able to divert the attention of the incited populace and to declare proudly before them, "We shall surely go up and do it, because we can conquer them."
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