VAYIKRA 2012

ENERGETIC BLOOD AND LETHARGIC FAT

The next day, while Mr. Levy was out learning, Little Levy came into the study hall, huffing and puffing. “Dad, I told the man waiting at the door not to leave, and that you will be home in less than a minute.”  Mr. Levy hurried home and was far less than happy to find that it was none other than a tax agent, who was patiently awaiting his return. A couple of hours and many headaches later, Mr. Levy plopped himself down on the living room couch. Out of frustration, he addressed his family: “Fools! When a business man comes, no one hurries me home – but when a tax agent is at the door, you can’t say I am not available?!”

This allegory can teach us a lesson for life. We all have preprogrammed traits of enthusiasm and laziness. At times, we can use laziness to our benefit, and at times, we should look for the energy and enthusiasm within ourselves. We are commanded by G-d to observe both positive and negative commandments. The productive way of life is to use each trait at its proper time: energy and enthusiasm are appropriately used when performing the mitzvoth, whereas lethargy and a kind of indifferent laziness should be summoned when confronted with the possibility of committing the Aveirot. The problem comes about when we are lazy when we are supposed to be enthusiastic, and we are energetic when we are supposed to be lazy.

There are people who describe themselves as lazy people. If they really are lazy people, where does the energy come from when it comes to sin? The ideal situation would be if we could use the trait of laziness that we have in ourselves in situations where we are supposed to refrain from sinning, and enlist our energy and enthusiasm for the mitzvoth that we are supposed to be doing.

We can learn this lesson from the sacrifices discussed in our parasha. The parts of the animal that were sacrificed on the altar in the Beit Hamikdash were mainly the blood and the fat. This parallels what we mentioned earlier: the blood symbolizes energy; the fat, laziness. The sacrifices came as atonement for not having used these characteristics in the proper time and place.

Many people believe that who they are is defined by how they behave. This is far from the truth. A person is his wants, ambitions and free choice. The middot (character traits) one has are not the person himself.  Middot are just tools that serve us or hurt us. (See Chovot Halevovot, end of  Shaar Avodat HaElokim) Allow me to elaborate.

At times, we feel “down” – upset – when we see someone else who is more energetic and successful than we are. But this is like a singer comparing the recording of another singer, made in a professional studio, to his own recording, made on his mp3 player. The results depend on the tools that were used in the recording just as much as they depend on the voice of the singer. If you do not have the same middot as the “successful” people, you cannot compare yourself to them. But this does not mean that the game is over. Our rabbis teach us that you have to get up and get busy acquiring those middot of the successful. Become energetic for the mitzvoth. Get lazy when it comes to sin. Learn how to become more focused, so you can learn more efficiently. This does not mean to encourage looking around at others and comparing ourselves to them. Quite the contrary: it is impossible to compare different people’s successes, because some people were born with these middot, or tools, and G-d wants everyone else to make an active effort to acquire them. Middot can be acquired.  They can also be adapted and put to use in appropriate situations.

JUST A THOUGHT

The Sefer Hachinuch (Mitzvah 95) explains why the sin-offering is appropriate only for the unintentional sinner. He notes that the body of a person is similar to the body of an animal in many ways. The main difference between humans and animals is that humans have intellect and a superior level of consciousness. When a person sins against G-d unintentionally, he is essentially abandoning his intellect, and acting like an animal. When he brings an animal sacrifice for atonement, he realizes that he deserves to be put on the altar – if not for G-d’s mercy – for failing to use his intellect, and, essentially, acting like an animal. In this way, he internalizes the importance of rectifying his unintentional behavior. He resolves to act in a more self-aware and self-critical way in the future. This is part of the teshuvah process which cleanses one from sin. The intentional sinner  (מזיד), in contrast, cannot receive atonement in this way, for he sinned with his intellect. The conceptual framework we have been discussing does not apply to him, for although he may have sinned out of passion or desire, he decided consciously to sin. He put his thought into it.

The Ben Ish Chai takes this a step further. A thought is something that has tremendous power, for good as much as bad. The reason for this is because our thoughts are spiritual, and our actions are only physical. In the upper worlds, spirituality has much more weight then physicality. Our Rabbis teach us הרהורי עבירה קשים מעבירה- thoughts of sinning are a more serious violation than the sin itself (Yoma 29a.). The Shulchan Aruch rules that Mitzvoth need כוונה , intent, focus and thought.(Orach Chaim 4) Without thought, the mitzvah will not make its mark in the uppermost worlds (עולם המחשבה).

There are other places in the Torah that show us about the power of thought. We find a thought-provoking law concerningעדים זוממים , plotting witnesses.ועשיתם לו כאשר זמם לעשות לאחיו (דברים יט,יט)  ,”And you should do to him as he plotted to do to his brother.” The plotting witnesses are to be punished by death, having to make a monetary payment or lashes– depending on what they had plotted to do. The words mentioned areכאשר זמם  as he plotted and not כאשר עשה  as he did. The Talmud derives from here that when these plotting witnesses are caught after the Jewish court carried out the decree, the plotting witnesses will not get punished. This of course is seemingly incomprehensible. How can the witnesses who carried out the plot go free, whereas the one who actually was caught before court carried out the decree be punished?

There is a very deep Maharal on this concept. The Maharal (Be’er Hagolah be’er 2) writes that the explanation for this is that as long as the plot or thought is in existence, it has a certain power. Once the plot has already come to fruition, the power of the thought is used up. It is not a thought anymore; rather it is classified as an act. However, as long as the plot was left in the realm of the abstract and not carried out, the Jewish court will use that plot against the plotting witness. The Maharal compares the thought to a ball that is thrown against a wall: the ball bounces back at the person who threw it, according to the velocity of the throw. This is true only for the power of a thought. However, if the thought was translated into action, this plotting witness who got caught will not be punished by death, because he did not do any physical damage.  Rather, the damage was the outcome brought about by the court.

One of the first tractates that a Yeshiva student is taught is Massechet Makkot. I always wondered why it is such a common Tractate for young students. The Chida, in his sefer Dvash L’fi, writes that he heard from an ancient mekubal (one who studies mystic works) that it is very good to study the tractate of Makkot, for it stops one from evil thoughts. The mekubal said that the gematrya, or numerical value of the word מכות , is the same as the Hebrew word for thoughtsהרהורים  – 466. Therefore, writes the Chida, the minhag of the Yeshiva system for generations has been to teach this tractate, specifically, first, preferring it over all other tractates.

I once heard the following concept in the name of the Maharal. The reason that Yaakov loved and cherished his son Yosef and gave him more than he gave to the other Tribes( K’tonet Passim, Sh’chem and deserving of two tribes- Menashe and Efraim) was because Yosef had, in a way, the title of firstborn. Although Reuven was the first one that Yaakov fathered, Yaakov thought, on the night of the wedding, that he was marrying Rachel, when it was actually Leah. Being that this was the thought of Yaakov, he felt closeness to Yosef, who was, in fact, Rachel’s first born, as a father feels towards a firstborn son.

The Ben Ish Chai brings from the Midrash a story of a certain white-skinned king and queen who gave birth to a black-skinned child. When they looked into the reason for this surprising phenomenon, they came to the conclusion that it was because of the paintings of black people in the palace: the queen would look at these paintings, and since her thoughts were absorbed by the paintings and their black images, her offspring was born black.

Our thoughts do a lot. A lot more than we think!

Shabbat Shalom, Yosef Farhi

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