TOTALLY RELEVANT
In this week’s Parsha, Tetzave, HaShem instructs His people to create the necessary garments for the kohanim as well as the special inaugurating offerings to be offered at the Mishkan’s inauguration. Last week’s Parsha, this week’s Parsha as well as two more Parshios that we will read in two and three weeks have apparently no relevance to any-one else other than our ancestors living in the desert 3,300 years ago.
Rabbi Isaac ben Moses Arama, the author of the Akeidas Yitzchak, is troubled by such a notion. Every verse of Torah and every portion of Torah must be relevant at all times to all Jews. How then could these four Parshios be included in Torah.
His answer is that every single mitzvah; those that pertain to kohanim and those that pertain to the Temple, those that pertain to men and those that pertain to women, those that pertain to the period of the desert and those that pertain in the Land of Israel, every one is relevant to every member of the Jewish people for all time.
Within the activities/behaviors of Man there are three categories;
- Those that are involuntary such as all the bodily functions which are caused by nature
- Those that we intentionally do based on our decision
- Those that we do as second nature based on the conditioning and training to which we subjected ourselves
The first and third do not need to conscious decision, they happen naturally. Only for the middle group must there be a conscious decision for the activity to happen. Dovid Hamelech writes that if I forget Yerushalayim I will forget my right hand. Indicating that just as he cannot forget his right hand, which he uses for everything he wants to accomplish, so too, he can never forget Yerushalayim. His right hand is found in the first category and Yerushalayim is found in the third category.
The function of the mitzvos is to create within us a second nature. With the performance of every mitzvah, we create a pathway in our mind and our psyche by which we develop a second nature. When we place Tefillin on our arm and on our head as a way to remember HaShem Who took us out from Egypt we create a second nature to recognize and be aware of His presence in our life. After some time it becomes part of who we are. The same is true with every mitzvah.
The Akeidas Yitzchak continues. The secret energy of the mitzvah is not limited to its performance. The energy of each mitzvah is found in the Torah herself. Those parts of the Torah that discuss a given mitzvah generate within us the same effect that the mitzvah itself generates. Naturally, if the opportunity to perform the mitzvah arises and one fails to perform it, he loses that energy. However if one does not have the opportunity to perform that mitzvah, then learning the parts of Torah that discuss the mitzvah is a complete replacement for the mitzvah.
With this understanding the Akeida explains that the Parsha of the Mishkan is relevant for all time. Every member of our people gains from the study of these laws. The impact that the Mishkan had on those who lived in the desert is available to all of us who open her pages and study her laws.
May we all utilize the opportunities that are so available to us and bring alive every word of Torah.
Have a wonderful Shabbos.
Paysach Diskind