Kotzker Rebbe: Man Is Like An Earthenware Vessel — His Value Is Not Based On Externals
At the time of the Temple, there was a way of purifying oneself from Tumas Meis, through the Parah Adumah. Today, unfortunately, we don’t have the Parah Adumah and we are all Tomayei Meisim. In the course of the discussion of Tumas Meis, the Torah alludes to other discussions of Tumah v’Tahara. One type of Tumah is that of Keylim – vessels.
Two types of vessels have two different sets of Tumah laws: There are metal utensils (kli matches) which become Tameh from outside contact with sources of Tumah. There are also earthenware vessels (kli cheres), which only become Tameh from the inside. In the case of the earthenware vessels (kli cheres), actual contact between the vessel and the Tumah is not needed. Even if a sheretz is suspended inside the kli cheres, the utensil becomes tameh.
The Kotzker Rebbe, zt”l, explains the difference: Metal itself is a precious commodity. Therefore, as soon as contact is made — even on the outside — it becomes tameh. An earthenware, kli cheres, however, is made from almost valueless material. The whole value and importance of the vessel is determined by its functionality — what it can contain. Therefore, the vessel can only be made impure by attacking its functionality — from within the walls of the vessel.
The Kotzker declares that people can also be compared to earthenware vessels. Man’s value is not based on his component elements and minerals. The value of these elements is negligible. The value of a human being is based on what is inside. Sometimes we make the mistake of getting so caught up in the chitzonius of human beings — how they dress or what kind of car they drive — that we forget this lesson. The value of a human being is like that of a kli cheres — it is based on the internals. Just as that which is put inside the earthenware vessel can be metameh it, so too, the thoughts and desires that are put into a human being can sometimes be metameh the person.
The value of a person is not based on what’s bachutz but on what’s bifnim. We must be very thoughtful and careful about what we put into both our kalim and our children’s kalim.
