We begin with a possuk in our sedrah, י≈נּ¿בּיבוƒר¿ ̃ƒה¿ו יבƒבָס ַחּ≈ב¿זּƒמַה לַﬠ םָּ„ַה ̇∆‡ּו ̃¿רָז¿ו םָּ„ַה ̇∆‡ יםƒנֲהֹּכַה ןֹרֲהַ‡ – and the kohanim should bring the blood to the mizbeach and sprinkle it on its corners (Vayikra 1:5). When a korban was brought, the kohen would catch the blood in a basin and sprinkle it on the mizbeach. But the possuk is telling us that before the actual sprinkling of the blood, there was another avodah that had to be performed: יבוƒר¿ ̃ƒה¿ו – The kohanim should bring the blood. In Gemara parlance it’s called ‘holacha, walking’ and it means that there was a special procedure of walking towards the mizbeach in order to sprinkle the blood.
And it was an essential part of the avodah; in most cases if it wasn’t done the entire korban would be rendered possul and unacceptable. Even if they would find a solution to avoid the walking – imagine they make an assembly line and a line of kohanim are standing from the place where the blood was caught all the way to the mizbeach, and they’re handing it one to the other until the last kohen who’s standing near the mizbeach sprinkles the blood; it’s no good. Even though the sprinkling is done it’s not a kosher korban because it omits holacha – it lacks the procedure of walking towards the altar and the essential lesson that holacha is coming to teach us.
The Walking Program
And what is that lesson? The Torah wants to emphasize here the procedure for coming close to Hashem. Because what is a korban after all? It’s a declaration of a person’s desire lehiskarev – to come close to his Creator and to gain His favor. And whatever we learn therefore in the Torah regarding the procedure of bringing a korban, we have to know that it’s also teaching us about coming close to Hashem. And so, if the Torah tells us that holacha is essential, it’s teaching us that if you want to come close to Hashem, if you want to achieve kirvas Elokim, then holacha, physical movement, is indispensable.
Now, we understand of course that included in kirvas Elokim is the great career of the mind – thinking as much as possible about Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Absolutely, we’re expected to be close to Hashem intellectually. If you’re learning Torah, you’re utilizing your mind to come close to Him. When you’re thinking inyanei emunah, that’s kirvas Elokim. All the great emotions of yiras Hashem and ahavas Hashem, bitachon and everything else, that’s a greatness of mind! That certainly is called kirvas Hashem!
But Hakadosh Baruch Hu desires more than that. The avodah of holacha, of walking towards the mizbeach, is intended to teach us, among other things, that He wants you to come close to Him physically. The great lesson of יבוƒר¿ ̃ƒה¿ו is that in order to achieve kirvas Elokim you have to bring your body close to Hashem. And it’s an idea that is very frequently reiterated in the nevi’im and in the dinim of the Torah.
Pesach in Yerushalayim
That’s why when there was a Beis Hamikdash it was a mitzvah to be oleh regel three times a year. הָנָּׁ ַּ̆ב יםƒמָﬠּ¿פ ׁ ֹ̆לוָׁ ̆ – Three times a year, ך¿רּכו¿ז לָכ ה∆‡ָר≈יָיך∆ ֹ̃ל¡‡ ם≈ּׁ ַ̆ה י≈נּ¿פ ̇∆‡ – you should show yourself before Hashem your G-d (Devarim 16:16 ). In ancient times nobody went to Florida for Pesach, to glatt kosher Pesach hotels. Nobody would dare cheapen Pesach with such commercialism. Where did they go? Only to Yerushalayim. And they didn’t travel on airplanes either! No; they all walked to Yerushalayim!
Oh, you’re walking up towards Hashem? You’re not just sitting in your house and thinking about Hashem? You’re walking to His house; you’re using your feet to come close to Him. It’s a tremendous thing!
That’s what it says יוָנָפ¿לּו‡ֹבּו הָח¿נƒמּו‡ׂ¿ ̆ – Raise up a gift, a korban, and come before Hashem (Divrei Hayomim I, 16:29). It means you shouldn’t just send a korban. You know, you could do that too; you could appoint a shaliach to bring a korban for you. After all, why should you make such a long trip to bring a korban? You might think that there are better ways to spend your time in His service. “I have to waste all that time traveling? I’ll send it with a messenger service and I’ll sit in my house all day long meditating about the chasdei Hashem.”
So Hashem says, “No, that’s not enough. ו‡ֹבּו יוָנָפ¿ל – Bring your bodies to Me.” It's not enough that they should make minyanim in their kibbutzim and their farms wherever they live. No. They have to forsake their homesteads and they have to travel to Yerushalayim. That’s the importance of coming physically close to Hashem.
Admiring Their Feet
And so, three times a year the whole nation packed their bags, put on their walking shoes, and hit the road. And now there were great crowds of people traveling on the roads. It was an inspiring sight to see the Am Yisroel marching up to Hashem! And as they passed different villages more and more people came to join them. And they were all singing – they were walking and singing shir hamaalos. It was a holacha to the mizbeach of the greatest magnitude! And when they finally arrived in Yerushalayim, they all sang together: יוָה ֹ̇ו„¿מֹע םƒ ָלָׁ ּ̆רו¿י¿ךƒיַרָﬠׁ¿ ּ̆ƒבּינו≈ל¿‚ַר – “We’re here! We made it! We walked miles to see You and now we’re standing in Yerushalayim” (Tehillim 122:2).
Now, how does Hakadosh Baruch Hu look at that scene? So the Gemara (Chagiga 3a) tells us what He’s thinking. He’s speaking about the Am Yisroel and He says, יבƒ„ָנ ַּ̇ב יםƒלָﬠ¿ּנַּב¿ךƒיַמָﬠ¿פּפוָּי הַמ – How beautiful are your feet adorned in shoes (Shir Hashirim 7:2). You hear that? Of all things, Hashem is praising our feet and shoes?
You have to understand that in those days not everybody wore shoes; when you had to take a long journey, you made sure to put on shoes. And so when the Am Yisroel made their trek to the Beis Hamikdash, Hashem looked at their feet and He said, “ל≈‡ָר¿ׂ ̆ƒי ל∆ׁ ̆ ם∆יה≈ל¿‚ַר יןƒ‡ָנ הָּמַּכ – How beautiful are My people who put on shoes and walk towards Me.”
The Am Yisroel is walking on the roads and Hakadosh Baruch Hu is admiring their feet. Now, He admires their minds too. If, while you’re walking you’re thinking about Him, very good. If you’re thinking over the sugyahs of Rav Chaim Brisker, excellent! Hashem loves you for that. But even if you’re not thinking at all – the mere fact that your feet are moving towards Him, that’s already especially beautiful in the eyes of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. To walk to Yerushalayim, the ir Hashem, and to climb the mountain to the top of Har Habayis where the House of Hashem is, that’s already a very big achievement.
Visiting the Mikdash
Now, we don’t have exactly that today – we look forward to that great day when we’ll be privileged once again to visit Hashem in His home in Yerushalayim but we’re still waiting. But we should listen to Dovid Hamelech because he gives us an example of physically bringing ourselves close to Hashem that we try to make use of even today. ַ̇חַ‡ ם≈ּׁ ַ̆ה ̇≈‡≈מ יּƒ ̇¿לַ‡ָׁ ̆ – “There’s only one thing I ask from You Hashem,” said Dovid. One thing! You hear that? A man has so many things he has to ask of Hashem – so many things that you want and you need. But Dovid says, there’s one thing that’s most important to me and ׁ ּ̆≈ ַ̃בֲ‡ּהָ ֹ̇ו‡ – that what I’m busy seeking always. And what is that? יַּיַח י≈מ¿י לָּכ ם≈ּׁ ַ̆ה ̇י≈בּ¿ב יּƒ ̇¿בׁƒ ̆ – I should sit in the House of Hashem all the days of my life (Tehillim 27:4).
So here’s a man who is a busy personality. Let’s say he’s a famous surgeon or maybe a great industrialist. He’s a successful man who spends a lot of time in his office. So now, when he comes home in the evening he deserves a good rest. He wants to sit on the couch with his legs up on a chair – why not; he had a long day. But he reminds himself of the words of Dovid Hamelech and he picks up his weary body and goes straight to the house he loves most; to the house of his Best Friend to sit there as long as he can.
The Wife’s Part
And his wife understands that; she says, “When you go there, take me along with you. I can’t go in body but I’m there in spirit.” Sometimes she has to urge him too; it’s more comfortable sometimes to keep his legs at rest. But she says, “Hurry up, you might miss Maariv.” And so he takes the hint and gains an alacrity. He walks to the synagogue! And he sits there too! That’s kirvas Elokim! And she has a 100% share. She goes together with him even though she’s busy at home.
Now, the truth is he can’t do it always – he has to make a living too. And even if you don’t go to work; let’s say you’re sitting in the shul all day long, but sometimes the shamash says, “Sorry, sir. We have to lock up; you have to leave.” But that has to be an ambition. “If only I could sit in the Beis Hashem all the days of my life.” To be close to Hashem physically, that’s what Dovid desired. That’s why he said, “Of all the things I desire, the one I really want is shivti b’veis Hashem – I wish I could sit in the House of Hashem, kol yemei chayay – all the days of my life.”
The Avodah of Sitting
So you might think it means to go into the shul or the beis medrash and to open up the Gemara or the Tehillim and to get to work. That’s what the shul is for after all. No; Dovid didn’t say that; He said, “The one thing I want is shivti! I want to sit in the House of Hashem.” Of course, once you’re sitting you might as well accomplish something too; but even if you don’t, just walking up the steps, bringing your body into the shul and sitting, that alone is an accomplishment.
I’ll prove it to you. Let’s say right after the tefillah you realize you forgot your coat in the shul. You’re in a hurry; you have to catch the train so you want to rush back in to get your coat. Oh no! You can’t do that! You’ll walk into the house of Hashem just for your own purpose?! You have no business coming in here just for your coat. And so you’re stuck now outside the shul.
So the Gemara gives you an eitzah. It tells you that when you walk into the shul, the first thing is you have to sit down. Sit down for a minute in the mikdash me’at. It’s a halacha – you have to sit down for a little bit and then you can take your coat. And the Rambam (Tefillah 11:9) explains that ‘sitting down in the beis haknesses is a mitzvah on its own, as the possuk states ך∆ ̇י≈ב י≈ב¿ׁ ֹ̆יו י≈ר¿ׁ ַ̆‡ – How fortunate are those who sit in Your house’.
Grabbing Opportunities
Now, if we hadn’t learned this halacha, it could be we would have thought that ashrei yoshvei beisecha means you’re sitting and learning Torah; or maybe you’re oisek b’tefillah. No. Yoshvei! Just put your body down on the chair for a moment, that’s shivti b’veis Hashem. Imagine a man comes to the beis haknesses and he does nothing – he just sits down there. Not because he wants to find some refuge from the hot sun or because it’s too cold outside – no, that you're forbidden to do; it’s ossur to utilize the beis haknesses for a material purpose. But if you’re going in to sit down, that’s wonderful!
Yes; just for the mitzvah of sitting, it pays to come into the beis haknesses. Isn’t that a good idea? You pass by a beis haknesses or a yeshiva and you don’t need it; you weren’t planning on going inside. But you walk in and sit down just for the mitzvah of sitting there. It’s a good idea to try it some time. Let’s say you’re riding in the car and you’re passing a beis haknesses or a yeshiva. It’s an opportunity to practice up on walking closer to Hashem. Stop, walk in, sit down for a minute and think, “I’m doing this for a purpose.” And what’s the purpose? The purpose is to physically come close to Hashem.
Simple Solutions
Of course, you want your mind to also become close, but that’s not so easy. But that your body should come close is much more simple to accomplish, so you should grab the opportunity. Sit there for a minute and think about that – “I’m sitting here now in the beis haknesses because I’m doing what I can to be physically close to Hashem.” If nobody’s listening say “Baruch Hashem, I was zocheh to walk in!”
You think it’s silly? It’s the unsilliest thing in the world! Because we’re learning now that walking into the House of Hashem and sitting there, that’s already a fulfillment of the great ideal of kirvas Elokim. As close as you can get to the Shechina with your body, that’s already a perfection of the neshama.
