Acharei-Kedoshim
Rabbi Mordechai Lipskier
My great-grandfather, Reb Yisroel Noach, a”h, told the following story.
The venerable chossid, Reb Hillel Paritcher, was once walking home from shul carrying his tallis and tefillin zekkel (bag). Noticing the elderly chossid trudging along in the muddy streets, a young chossid approached him and offered to carry the zekkel for him. Reb Hillel declined and explained.
On Yom Kippur (a subject of this week’s sedra) the Kohen Gadol would toivel in the mikveh five times in preparation for the special avodos of the day. The highest avodah of the day was when he brought the ketores into the Kodesh haKodoshim. Before he went back in to remove the keilim after the ketores had finished burning, he first went to the mikveh again. From here we see that even “cleaning up” after a mitzvah is holy!
Even carrying my tallis and tefillin to and from shul is part of the mitzvah, he concluded. How can I give this opportunity away?
Similarly, the leftovers of a mitzvah are so precious that we are told not to give leftover challah from lechem mishneh to a goy or an animal. (It follows, of course, that, when possible, making challah ourselves instead of buying it gives us another opportunity to serve Hashem.)
Likutei Sippurim, Perlow, pg. 421.
Taz, Orach Chaim 167, and Divrei Dovid to parshas Bo 12:34.
We live in an era where so many things that used to require personal exertion no longer do. We can get food, clothing, and even a ride by swiping our finger over a smooth screen. Contactless delivery is a celebrated innovation.
None of this is a problem, except when contactless makes things meaningless.
In our sedra we also learn about the mitzvah of kissui hadam. The entire mitzvah consists of the simple act of covering the blood of a shechted bird or chayah with earth. Yet, the Rambam concludes the laws of shechitah with the following ruling:
“When a person covers the blood, he should not cover it with his feet, but instead with his hands, a knife, or a utensil, so that he will not treat it with disdain and regard the mitzvos with scorn. For the honor is not simply for the mitzvos themselves. Instead, [the honor is] due He, blessed be He, who commanded us to observe them and [thus] saved us from groping in darkness and thus granted us a lamp to straighten crooked paths and a light to illumine the upright ways. And so it states: ‘Your words are a lamp to my feet and a light for my ways.’”
For as long as we know, Yidden have always carried their tallis and tefillin under their arm, the way something precious, like a child, is carried. Sacks of food or other items get tossed over the shoulder. Only in recent years has it become popular to carry tallis and tefillin with a strap over the shoulder. When carrying items of a mitzvah in such a way we risk dulling our sensitivity to the mitzvah and to all it represents.
The Rambam rules that handling something with care, even if we do not feel the preciousness of the item, will actually breed feelings of care.
Mitzvos and all their components connect us with Hashem. The more contact the better!
A Gut’n Shabbos,
Rabbi Mordechai Lipskier
Thank you to the Moshe Group. With wishes for continued hatzlocha and brochah.
