The ma’agal ha’shana reached its climax on Purim, a day akin to Yom Kippur, a time of kabalas haTorah mei’ahava. As we move on, we dearly wish to go forward as better people, those with a closer relationship with Hashem.
This year is a shana me’uberes, with two Adars. The main Adar is actually Adar Rishon, which is when one celebrates a bar mitzvah commemorates a yartzheit etc. However, curiously Purim is celebrated in the second Adar. Why so? The gemara explains that it is to be mekarev geulah l’geulah - to celebrate the redemption of Purim close to the redemption of Pesach. Why did Chazal deem this to be so important?
Why Wait with the Thanking?
We are in the midst of the parshiyos of sefer Vayikra which discuss the various korbanos. Curiously, while the majority of the regular korbannos are delineated in parshas Vayikra, the Torah waits until parshas Tzav to discuss the korban todah - the thanksgiving offering. Why so?
Further, parshas Tzav begins by discussing various commands given to Aharon haKohen and his family. Why do we interrupt that narrative with the korban todah?
R’ Yosef Chaim Zonenfeld offers a beautiful explanation. One offers a korban todah to thank Hashem for safely traversing the sea or desert, being released from jail, or healed from illness. These occurrences are relatively common: people often travel great distances and arrive home safely, they often fall ill and recover, or are released from jail. Though, of course, they are a matter of great relief, they are surely not comparable to the famous miracles in our history, such as kri’as Yam Suf etc.
However, there is a fundamental idea that one must take into account. During each moment of our lives we experience countless miracles. For example, our eyes are the most sophisticated cameras. They work for eighteen hours a day, have an inbuilt self-cleaning mechanism, and are fully synced with the brain. The human blood system comprises countless miracles. The various types of cells, antibodies, and the extraordinary work of the heart that pumps a huge amount of blood 24-7, without a break throughout a lifetime, is nothing short of wondrous. In every aspect of life, there are a myriad miracles, but we are so accustomed to them that we take them for granted and do not see them as such.
The First Thank You
Rabbi Frand adds a further point. When Leah had her fourth child she named him Yehuda, declaring “hapa’am odeh ess Hashem - this time I will thank Hashem”. The gemara in Brachos asserts that from the time the world was created until Yehuda was born no one had thanked Hashem as did Leah. But this is a puzzling statement, after all, Noach offered korbanos to thank Hashem upon emerging from the tevah, and Avraham and Sarah thanked Hashem for the birth of Yitzchak.
The explanation is that previously, while people would thank Hashem for open nissim, such as being saved from a flood or having a child at an extreme age, they did not thank Him for the regular, day-to-day miracles. Having a child is common, it happens every day, after all, we are constantly attending brissim and kiddushim. It seems natural and far from miraculous. But Leah saw things differently. She saw the tremendous nissim within even a natural miracle, she recognized the myriad nissim involved in having a child, in each part of the body being perfectly formed, in the way a mother can carry the baby, in the manner the child gets his nutrition, in the fact that it does not need oxygen until it is born etc. etc. She was the first to thank Hashem for this.
We can explain further that thanking Hashem for an open nes, is not the true goal. Hashem shows us His miracles so that we should appreciate everything He does, even the tevah. It follows that Leah was the first to be considered to be truly thanking Hashem.
With this R’ Yosef Chaim Zonenfeld explained why the korban Todah is not mentioned in Vayikra, only in Tzav.
Immune to Open Miracles!
There was a group of people that was privy to witness miracles all the time - the kohanim. The Mishnah enumerates ten miracles that took place in the Beis Hamikdash at all times, including the fact that flies were not attracted to the meat, the smoke of the mizbeach did not blow away in the wind, and the kohen gadol did not become tamei on Yom Kippur. Fascinatingly, there were seemingly greater miracles that are not mentioned in the list, such as the fact that the innards of a bird korban were swallowed by the floor. Why so?
The mefarshim explain that the Mishna specifically chose nissim that could have been missed and attributed to tevah. The column of smoke could have been seen as natural, the flies as simply not being present in the area etc.
The kohanim were constantly in the beis hamikdash and would witness these miracles. Although they would have appeared astounding at first, eventually they would have become accustomed to them and would not have found them so inspiring.
This is why we must wait for the korban todah until parshas Tzav. We must begin with “tzav es Aharon v’ess banav leimor”, and talk about the nissim of this korban. We must recognize that just us a kohen is privy to many miracles and must make sure he does not become too accustomed to them and see them as natural, we too must see the nes in the natural miracles with which our lives are replete. When we offer a todah or when we come to thank Hashem for health, parnasah, food, and clothes, and certainly for a simcha, we must remember that although it might seem like tevah, in reality, it is the greatest miracle.
A Gift for all of Klal Yisrael!
We are still in the midst of the great simcha of the Rosh Yeshiva having a baby boy after so many years of waiting and davening. The entire Torah world rejoiced and thanked Hashem for the miracle. The Rosh Yeshiva said this was a ness and a gift for everyone - for all of Klal Yisrael.
A young man once came to R’ Shach and informed him that he had a baby, just a year after getting married. He wanted to know whether he should make a kiddush. R’ Shach replied: “If you were waiting desperately for eight years and then finally had a child, would you make a kiddush? Now that you have not experience eight years of tza’ar, should you not make a kiddish?!”
When we witnessed the great excitement throughout the world at the Rosh Yeshiva’s simcha, when we saw thousands upon thousands coming to celebrate and thank Hashem for the nes, it gives us a greater insight into the other times we celebrate a simcha. We have a newfound appreciation of the nes that it truly is.
On Purim, we read the megila. What is so special about the megila? What was so exceptional about the nes Purim?
The megila does not mention the shem Hashem. This is because the nes Purim took place in a way that we can walk through all the nissim and not see Hashem all at all. We can be like a kohen walking through the beis hamikdash who becomes accustomed to the nissim and does not notice them anymore.
Current Times?
Purim is the climax of the year which begins with Pesach, a season of open miracles. Pesach may seem more special and exciting, however, the real avoda is to see the natural miracles and realize that all of those things that seem to be teva, those things that we experience in our day to day lives, from the food we eat to the children, health, and security we enjoy, are no less of a miracle.
This is why it is so important that we celebrate Purim as close as possible to Pesach. We must demonstrate that there is no difference between the greatness of the miraculous ten makos and krias Yam Suf and the miraculous interventions of Hashem in the Purim story.
Let us use this very special time to look at all those details in our lives, all those special gifts that Hashem has given us, and thereby draw closer to Hashem and b’ezras Hashem see the open nissim of the binyan beis hamikdash b’karov.
