לקיים כל מצוה כפי רצונו של הקדוש ברוך הוא
דַּבֵּר אֶל כָּל עֲדַּת בְּנֵּי יִשְּרָּאֵּל וְּאָּמַּרְּתָּ אֲלֵּהֶם קְּדשִים תִהְּיוּ כִי קָּדוֹש אֲנִי יְּהוָֹּה : אִיש אִמּוֹ וְּאָּבִיו תִירָּאוּ וְּאֶת שַּבְּתֹתַּי תִשְּמֹרוּ אֲנִי יְּהוָֹּה אֱלֹהֵּיכֶם: (יט:ב:ג)
Speak to the entire assembly of the Children of Israel and say to them, “You shall be holy, for holy am I, Hashem. Every man shall fear his mother and his father and you shall observe My Shabbosim, I am Hashem, your G-d.” (19:2-3)
Rashi explains: This teaches us that this portion was said at a gathering of the entire assembly [hakheil] because most of the essentials of the Torah depend upon it.
You shall observe My Shabbosim – the Torah juxtaposed observance of the Shabbos to reverence for one’s father, to say, although I warned you about fearing a father, if your father should say to you, “Desecrate the Shabbos,” do not listen to him. And so too, with other commandments.
It is told about the Chozeh of Lublin, that one of his students asked to him to write instructions on the topic of avodas Hashem, and the holy Rav agreed and wrote several good customs that he should follow. The student followed the instructions to the letter, and a short time later he again appeared before his Rav, and he brought the note the Rav had given him. The holy Rav took back the note and added ‘and sometimes the opposite’. By doing this the Rav wanted to instill understanding in his student that sometimes there are situations where these instructions are not appropriate, just the opposite, in certain situations these instructions are likely able to cause one to stumble chalilah, therefore, at all times he must first consider if the time is appropriate to follow the instructions.
We find this concept in this teaching of Rashi. It emerges from his explanation that HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself arouses for this, and this is what He says to Israel: “True, I commanded you with the mitzvah of ‘morah av’ – ‘reverence of one’s father’, but there is also a mitzvah in the Torah to be ‘chachamim’ – ‘wise’ – and to know when yes and when no. You must know that there are times when the appropriate course is ‘sheiv v’al taaseh’ – ‘sit and do not act’, and this is when the mitzvah will cause you to stumble, then it is incumbent on you to understand that this is not My will, for I have not given you mitzvos to stumble...”
The Torah reveals to us with this also about mitzvos in general. There are times that the Torah does not want the person to keep a mitzvah even when it commanded it, this occurs when the yetzer takes advantage of the mitzvah for its benefit, as this is one of the traps of the yetzer, to tempt the person even with something that is a mitzvah. It takes measure and sees that by keeping the mitzvah one stumbles with sins. Therefore, we must consider well and see if there are other interests involved and why the yetzer wants us to do this mitzvah so much...
In light of we have said, we can now understand well why the posukim before us are juxtaposed, for the directive of ‘Kedoshim tiheyu’ serves as an introduction for all the commandments after it. It becomes a general command to be holy by keeping the mitzvos in general, and then the Torah continues to teach that this kedusha is an acceptable trait, as it states ‘Ki kadosh ani Hashem’ - ‘for holy am I, Hashem’ – like that kedusha that I desire [sometimes ‘ki’ means ‘kemo’ – ‘as’], that is, do not add to this kedusha, perhaps based on this you will lessen it. To illustrate this, the next mitzvah the Torah brings is ‘morah av’ – ‘reverence of one’s father’ and the mitzvah of ‘Shabbos’, for one of the two is liable to lessen the other one, but we must make sure that it does not come to this.
We can also add and explain Rashi’s intent when he said, ‘this portion was said at a gathering of the entire assembly [hakheil] because the majority of the essentials of the Torah depend upon it’, that is, the Torah intended that the mitzvos in Parasas Kedoshim are to warn the person that one mitzvah should not be kept at the expense of another, and this is a ‘general rule’ for all the mitzvos and their details. Since most of the essentials of the Torah depend upon it, it fitting to be said at ‘hakheil’.
One of the main mitzvos that the yetzer hides behind is the prominent mitzvah of all the mitzvos, this is the mitzvah of ‘learning Torah’. On this mitzvah the yetzer puts all its weight to tempt the person to come up with all sorts of excuses even negative ones to avoid learning. There is a famous teaching of the ’Chazon Ish’, that when a person studies ‘Shulchan Aruch’, he will find in it what is in his heart. If he wants to find ‘kulos’ [leniencies], he will find leniencies, and if he wants to find ‘chumros’ [stringencies], he will also find what he is looking for. It is only if he wants to fulfill the will of Hashem Yisbarach, then he will find what HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants.
With his words the Chazon Ish wanted to express that even with learning Torah there are those who learn to fulfill their obligation in the world, even if they come to a topic that has various views, they do not turn just after the stringencies or the leniencies, rather, they asses each topic to determine which way HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants them to go in.
However, there are those that study Shulchan Aruch without the purpose of fulfilling the will of Hashem Yisbarach, rather, to fulfill their personal requests. Some want to use the Shulchan Aruch for ‘kavod’ [honor], some want the conveniences in it, that is, they want to demonstrate to those around them that they are particular about ‘chumros’, they study Shulchan Aruch to find every chumra to elevate their status... and there are those that forego ‘kavod’ and they want the conveniences. That is, it is hard for them to keep the Torah as stated, they look in Shulchan Aruch to find an explanation for every halacha that stands in their way... and then they follow every lenient view.
The common factor of both of these is that they both turn the pot upside down. They study Shulchan Aruch to attain goals but not for the sake of the poskim. Their study of Shulchan Aruch is not acceptable by Heaven.
The holy Amora Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi explained (Yoma 72b) the meaning of the posuk (Devorim 4:44) 'וזאת התורה אשר שם משה' – ‘This is the Torah that Moshe put’, the word שם is like the word סם [drug], if one is deserving, it becomes a drug of life. But if one is not deserving, it becomes a poison. Rava said, “When one uses the Torah skillfully [if it is used for the sake of Heaven], it is a drug of life, but if used unskillfully [not studied for the right sake], it is a drug of death.” For not only does a person not merit to correct his ways, rather he even chalilah finds ways to be wicked.
Therefore, it is appropriate that when the person approaches the Kodesh to attain Torah, he should prepare his heart and thoughts and intend to study Torah to attain its purpose, then he will merit that it will be a ‘drug of life’.
