We must constantly be aware of our greatness. The reason that you find Jewish people who are ashamed of their Jewishness is because they are ignorant of their greatness. If you learn Chumash properly, if you learn Tanach properly, you begin to understand what a great privilege it is to belong to the Am Yisroel. ל≈‡ָרׂ¿ ̆ƒי ָיך∆רׁ¿ ַ̆‡ – How fortunate you are Yisroel, ָךֹמוָכ יƒמ – who is like you!
A Jew has to sing at all times; his heart should sing within him because Hakadosh Baruch Hu has elevated him. ֹוּל הָכָּכׁ∆ ̆ םָﬠָה י≈רׁ¿ ַ̆‡ – How fortunate is the nation that thus is their lot; you know what lot? יוָהֹל¡‡ 'הׁ¡ ̆ םָﬠָה י≈רׁ¿ ַ̆‡ – That Hashem chose us; He’s our G-d. And therefore at all times we’re singing in our hearts, נו≈ ̃¿ל∆ח בֹוּט הַמּינו≈רׁ¿ ַ̆‡ – how fortunate we are! A Jew has to be happy at all times because of the great honor that he possesses.
And in an upside-down world it’s a constant nisayon to feel that, to never to lose sight of the great principle of םּׁ≈ ַ̆הַל םּ∆ ַ̇‡ יםƒנָּב, that we are the princes of this world. And one of the great and most common, one of the all encompassing ways that we constantly remind ourselves is by means of what we eat and what we don’t eat.
Who are we, plain nobodies? A cat will eat anything. A goy, not so much, but still, it doesn’t need a hechsher. But a king has a special diet. And we are the privileged ones who every day demonstrate our status of being chosen as Hashem’s children, by means of our noble diets.
Part III. Sacred Diet
Next Level Food
Now, we have to know that as important as it is what we’ve said up till now, as great as it is, this demonstration that the parsha of sherotzim teaches, something else is being taught to us by means of these dinim of what can and cannot go into our mouths. Because up till now we spoke on one level, that we are not permitted the diet of the nations of the world as a demonstration of our aristocracy: ם∆כ¿ ̇∆‡ ה∆לֲﬠַּמַה – I lifted you up from Mitzrayim. “I made you exalted,” says Hakadosh Baruch Hu “above all the nations.”
But now we go to a second level, a higher reason why we don’t eat these things. Because it’s not merely as a demonstration of our aristocracy; there’s something else that the laws of kashrus, the elevated status of eating kosher food, come to teach us. And it’s a very important principle that we’re going to learn now.
It’s the great principle that the Jewish body is a sanctuary. The body of a ben Yisroel or bas Yisroel is a Beis Hamikdash! And we have to study that well because it’s not a mashal! It’s actually true that our bodies are holy – and just because of that it’s forbidden to bring into it something that is unworthy.
Post Pesach Perfection
And that’s one of the important Pesach lessons that we should take with us all year long. Because it was on that first Pesach, when we came out of Mitzrayim, that we achieved that special status of holy bodies. It’s included in ם∆כ¿ ̇∆‡ ה∆לֲﬠַּמַה, when Hakadosh Baruch Hu elevated us at Yetzias Mitzrayim, and even when Pesach goes away, what we gained on Pesach remains always.
There’s a possuk in Shir HaShirim (4:16) that says like this: ןֹפוָˆ יƒרּעו – Awake, bestir yourself, O’ north wind, ןָימ≈ ̇ יƒ‡ֹבוּו – and come, you south wind. The north wind is told to move, to move away, and the south wind is told to come and take its place. And the Gemara (Zevachim 116a) tells us a queer peirush. Who is the north wind? North means all the nations of the world. And which nation is represented by the south? That’s us, the Am Yisroel. ןֹפוָˆ יƒרּעו – Move on, all the nations, יƒ‡ֹבוּו ןָימ≈ ̇ – and come in, the Am Yisroel. We take the place of the umos ha’olam.
The Glorious Future
Another understanding is that it’s talking about l’osid lavo. In the future all the nations will be demoted and the Am Hashem will be recognized as the princes of the world. Of course, we’re the princes even now but the gentiles have a hard time admitting it, they have a hard time recognizing it. It’s among ourselves that we have this secret. But in the future it’ll become clearly evident to all.
Like it says openly in Sefer Yeshaya (49:23), ¿ךָלּווֲחַּ ׁ̇¿ ̆ƒי ı∆ר∆‡ םƒיַּפַ‡ – they’ll bow down to the earth to you, כּו≈חַל¿י¿ךƒיַל¿‚ַר רַפֲﬠַו – and they’ll lick the dust of your feet. Yeshaya says openly l’osid lavo the nations will feel it a privilege to kiss the dirt under your feet. And another possuk (ibid. 60:14), כּו¿לָה¿ו¿ךƒיַּנַﬠ¿מ י≈נּ¿ב ַחֹחוׁ¿ ̆¿ךƒיַל≈‡ – the children of those who once persecuted you will go to you bowed down and they’ll bow down to the dust of the earth and kiss the dirt under your feet.
And that’s what our possuk is saying. ןֹפוָˆ יƒרּעו ןָימ≈ ̇ יƒ‡ֹבוּו! In the future, the nations of the north – it means all the gentile nations – will make way for the nation of the south, the Am Yisroel. Our princely status, our distinguished aristocracy, will be recognized by all.
Different Kinds of Offerings
But still the language of the possuk has to be explained. Because after all it’s a question, why are the goyim called the ‘north’? And why is the Am Yisroel called the south? Where do north and south come in here?
Now we have to listen to a big principle that you’ll hear now, a remarkable principle.
The only kind of offering that the nations of the world can ever bring are olos, burnt offerings. The nations of the world always brought offerings, even before the Torah was given. We know that Adam Harishon brought offerings. Kayin and Hevel brought korbonos. Noach brought korbonos. But all their korbonos were korbonos of the north, burnt offerings that are brought on the north side of the mizbeach. An olah is kosher only if it’s sacrificed הָנֹפָˆ ַחּ≈ב¿זּƒמַה¿ך∆ר∆י לַﬠ, on the north side of the mizbeach.
So we tell them, “ןֹפוָˆ יƒרּעו – Move on you people of the north side of the mizbeach, ןָימ≈ ̇ יƒ‡ֹבוּו – now come and take their place, you Am Yisroel, the people of the south.” We are the nation of the south because in addition to olos, we can bring shlomim that are offered on the south of the mizbeach. The olah you slaughter only on the north, ַחּ≈ב¿זּƒמַה¿ך∆ר∆י לַﬠ הָנֹפָˆ, but shlomim you can slaughter anywhere. You can slaughter them on the south if you wish.
But that’s no answer yet. Because what of it? So the goyim have only olos and the Am Yisroel have shlomim too; very good, but what’s so important? Is that a reason why the goyim have to move on and the Am Yisroel take their place?
Sanctity and Sacrilege
Now listen to the principle. Before Yetzias Mitzrayim nobody ever dreamed of putting a piece of a korban, a piece of sacrifice into his mouth. You mean to say you’re going to chew up a piece of the kodshei Hashem and reduce it to garbage? It’ll go down into your intestines and then later you’ll excrete it? That’s sacrilege! Nobody ever dreamed of treating the kodshei Hashem in such a manner.
Until we came to Yetzias Mitzrayim. The korban Pesach was a very big novelty; it was the very first time in the history of the world that an offering was eaten. On Pesach night a revolution occurred; the entire picture of history changed with these three words: רָׂ ָּ̆בַה ̇∆‡ּלו¿כָ‡¿ו – The bnei Yisroel must eat the flesh of the sacrifice (Shemos 12:8). We were commanded to eat from the korban Pesach!
At that time Hashem declared that the Jewish body is kodesh kodoshim. You hear such a thing?! When a Yisroel consumes a korban it’s like the fire of the mizbeach is burning it! And that’s the answer to how it could be such a thing now that never happened before, that a human being eats from a korban. Because a Yisroel is not a human being! He’s much more than a human being! That’s a very important lesson we learned at Yetzias Mitzrayim.
From then on, we eat from the korbanos. We eat kodshim! No nation ever dreamed of insulting the kodshei Hashem by eating it until the Am Yisroel came along and Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, “Yes, they can eat, because when they put korban into their mouths, it’s burning on the offering on the mizbeach to Hashem.”
Rejecting the Stranger
Now that was the demonstration of the korban Pesach. It is only we that Hashem has decided can eat the korban Pesach. So let’s imagine in Eretz Mitzrayim on that great night wherever there were Bnei Yisroel, in every house they were roasting the sheep on the fire. Imagine, thousands and thousands of homes. They weren’t wealthy; they were servants to the Egyptians and they had poor little homes, but there were very many of them. In fact there were already two million of them. And in all of these homes they were roasting lambs that night. And so the odor of roasting lamb began coming out of the houses.
And the Egyptians who passed by, sniffed at it. “We wouldn’t eat such things. Lamb, sheep, we wouldn’t eat that.” But their mouths were watering and in their hearts they were very envious of the Bnei Yisroel. Roasted mutton is delectable and the aroma it gives off is very tempting. Now suppose an Egyptian decided to yield his principles and come in and participate. As he walked in, he’d see a man standing in front of him. “Nothing doing,” he said. “I’m sorry my friend, but you can’t come in tonight.” ֹוּב לַכ‡ֹי ‡ֹל רָכ≈נ ןּ∆ב לָּכ – A stranger cannot eat from the Pesach sacrifice. (Shemos 12:43)”
“Why not?” the Egyptian says.
“What can I do?” he says, “Hakadosh Baruch Hu says that we are chosen to eat the korban Pesach and only we.”
The Shechina Within You
So now we begin to see that the eating of the korban Pesach among other purposes was to demonstrate the superiority of the Am Yisroel. That night we sat down and only we, nobody else could come in. Even a gentile king couldn’t come in and eat the korban Pesach. To demonstrate that we are not only distinguished aristocracy, but our bodies are holy. We’re not ordinary people, we’re not only tzelem Elokim, we’re much more than that.
That’s why the nations of the world will have to move on and make place for us. “I’m introducing the Am Yisroel to the world,” Hashem says. “Move out of the way for the holy nation; not only the distinguished nation, the aristocratic nation, the chosen nation, but the holy nation!”
Dieting Jewish
And so I go back to the beginning. Our special diet, the laws of kashrus, are not merely laws; they are signs of nobility. Why don’t we eat all of those foods that mankind, that tzelem Elokim, can eat? יּƒכ םּׁ≈ ַ̆ה יƒנֲ‡ – “Because I am Hashem, ı∆ר∆‡≈מ ם∆כ¿ ̇∆‡ ה∆לֲﬠַּמַה םƒיַר¿ˆƒמ – Who elevated you when I took you out of the land of Mitzrayim.”
And for that we should never stop thanking Him. We owe a debt of gratitude to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for these laws because it means that He declared our bodies sacred; the Jewish body is a makom kadosh, a Mishkan or a Mikdash, and in these sacred precincts, you cannot bring in any sherotzim.
A remarkable teaching! “I elevated you!” Not merely I showed that you are elevated, that you’re distinguished from all the nations of the world, but I have declared the sacredness, the holiness of the Jewish body. And it’s not a mashal! It’s a fact! And in that Beis Hamikdash there resides the Shechina. The Shechina is the neshama, the soul of the Jew and that soul fills the space of his Beis Hamikdash.
Have A Wonderful Shabbos
