When we think of kedushah, holiness, we tend to think of it as something abstract. However, as we will soon see, holiness is an entity that is real and concrete, and its power can create not just spiritual growth, but physical growth as well.
After klal Yisroel saw how Hashem punished Korach, there were still some non-believers who were upset that the tribe of Levi was chosen exclusively to work in the mishkan. They felt that others should have the privilege, too. To clarify, Hashem told Moshe Rabeinu that the nasi of each shevet should write his name on a stick, which would be placed before the aron. The stick that would blossom would indicate which shevet was chosen to serve in the mishkan. Sure enough, the next day Aharon Hakohen’s stick blossomed, while the others remained barren.
Back in Mitzrayim, Aharon’s stick swallowed the sticks of Pharaoh’s magicians. Baal Haturim says on the pasuk in Shemos 7:21 that the word “matosam”, their sticks, refers to two different “stick” incidents: the first is in Parshas Va’eira, when Aharon’s stick swallowed the others, and the second occurred now in Parshas Korach, when again Aharon’s stick swallowed the sticks of the nesi’im. He brings a midrash that says that Aharon’s stick swallowed all the other nesi’im’s sticks, and then when Aharon’s stick was removed, it spit out the other sticks. And that’s why the other sticks didn’t blossom.
According to the Baal Haturim, it sounds like the only reason why the other sticks didn’t blossom is because they were swallowed by Aharon’s stick! Really, why should sticks blossom at all? It’s a miracle for a dead stick to bloom. So why does it seem that the sticks would’ve blossomed, if not for the fact that they were swallowed by Aharon’s stick?
The midrash relates an incident with an individual named Yosef Meshisa. When the Romans came to destroy the Beis HaMikdash, they did not know their way around and needed a guide. They took a Jew — a traitor to his G-d and a traitor to his nation — to help them out and show them around the Beis HaMikdash. They told him that as payment for the ‘tour’, he could take whatever he wanted from the “spoils” of the Beis HaMikdash.
Yosef Meshisa went in and took out the golden menorah. Imagine how low a Jew can sink to do such a thing, to steal the menorah itself! However, the Romans told him that it was not appropriate for a commoner to have such an item in his house. They instructed him to go back in and take out anything else, just not the menorah. Yosef Meshisa replied, “I can’t go back in.” They promised him that the income from the next three years of tax collection would be his, but he persisted. “I cannot go back in. Is it not enough that I angered my G-d and defiled His Temple one time, I should have to do it again? I can’t do it.” The Romans tortured him until he died. As long as he was alive, while being tortured, he mourned “Woe unto me, for I have angered my Creator”.
The Ponevezher Rav asked, “What happened here? What made Yosef Meshisa do Teshuvah? He was apparently a Jew who had no sensitivity whatsoever to Jewish values, and then he turned around and was prepared to die as a martyr. What transpired that transformed him from a wicked person to a righteous person so quickly?”
The Ponevezher Rav answered that the very fact that Yosef Meshisa walked into a holy place transformed him. He was exposed to holiness. He went into the Beis HaMikdash for the worst of reasons and with the worst of intentions — but he walked out a different person. There is something real about holiness and purity. Mere exposure to the presence of the Shechina can change a person for life. And that is what happened to Yosef Meshisa — he was exposed to something holy.
Maybe that’s why it was necessary to have Aharon’s stick swallowing the other sticks. Because if a stick is placed before the holy aron, it would have to change. It wouldn’t remain in its original state if it’s exposed to such holiness. That doesn’t mean that they would’ve blossomed like Aharon’s stick, but Hashem didn’t want the other sticks to blossom at all. That’s why a miracle was necessary, that Aharon’s stick had to actually swallow the others so that they wouldn’t be lying in front of the aron and be forced to blossom. Because in a place of holiness, everything is forced to grow. Holiness transforms everything in its vicinity.
Rav Moshe Isserlis, better known as the Rema, in Hilchos Shavuos (Orach Chaim 494: 3) writes that “V’nohagin lishtoach asavim b’Shavuos b’beis haknesses v’habatim zeicher l’simchas Matan Torah”, that ‘the custom is to spread grass on Shavuous in the shuls and in houses, as a remembrance to the joy of Matan Torah. Har Sinai was located in a dry desert where nothing grows. How did they get greenery there? But there’s really no question, because in the presence of Shechinah, everything begins to grow. Har Sinai might be in a barren desert, but once the Shechinah came down there, it became alive with growth. (drashos Lechem Shlomo)
Today, we don’t have the holiness of the aron and we don’t have a mishkan, but we are told that our shuls are our mishkan. We have to make sure that we keep our shul holy by giving it the utmost respect. My Father, Rav Noach Isaac Oelbaum shlita, saw that talking became a problem in the early years of his shul, about 40 years ago. One Shabbos he got up and said, “If there is talking in shul, al pi halacha I can’t keep the shul open”. Sure enough, he announced that he will be closing the shul for a Shabbos and whoever wants to come back can only come back on condition that there be no talking in shul. My father got many phone calls from upset congregants. “How can you do this to us? ” they demanded. One person asked, “Can we at least borrow a sefer torah in order not to get embarrassed by davening in another shul?” But my father refused. When the shul reopened the next week, many thought there would not be enough people for a minyan, but Baruch Hashem many people came, including the regulars who were ready to begin anew. Many rabanim, including Rav Avigdor Miller Z”TL, encouraged my father and wished that other rabonim would do the same.
Yes, just being in the presence of holiness can transform us, but we need to do our part to treat our holy places with respect. Spend time in shul and in the bais medrash, realize that you are in the presence of the Shechinah, and allow the holiness to inspire real growth. If sticks can blossom, so can you. You just have to let the kedusha transform you.