THE WEEKLY SIDRA- SAZRIYA
Rabbi Moshe Greebel

The celebrated thinkers of the secular world have perceived the greatness of man in different ways. John Keats wrote, “I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest.” Pierre Trudeau stated, “The past is to be respected and acknowledged, but not worshiped; it is our future in which we will find our greatness.” In ‘Self Reliance,’ Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Greatness is a property for which no man can receive credit too soon; it must be possessed long before it is acknowledged.” Napoleon once stated, “Great people are meteors designed to burn so that the earth may be lighted.”

While the list of quotes from celebrated secular thinkers on the subject of human greatness is just about endless, not one of them could ever have imagined at how the Torah so uniquely perceives that condition of human greatness.

The end of last week’s Sidra (Sh’mini) enumerated the laws concerning the consumption of domestic and non-domestic beasts, fish, birds, and even insects. Afterwards, it concluded with the laws of Tuma V’T’hara (ritual purity and non-purity) of all the above species. In the beginning of this week’s Sidra, the Torah discusses man:
“Speak to the B’nai Yisroel, saying, ‘If a woman conceives, and bears a male child; then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her menstruation, shall she be unclean.’” (Vayikra 12:2)

On this Passuk (verse), the Midrash Vayikra Rabbah 14-1, has this to say:
“Rav Simloy said, ‘Even as man's creation was after that of cattle, beasts and birds, even so the law concerning him comes after that concerning cattle, beasts and birds. This is (indicated by) what is written, “This is the law of the beasts and of the fowl and of every living creature (Vayikra 11:46) and thereafter “If a woman conceives”’”

In his text Be’er Yosef, Rav Yosef Salant (1786-1866) of blessed memory, posed the following. What exactly did Rav Simloy come to teach us, that we did not know? Isn’t it obvious that when it comes to Sh’mini and Sazriya, man is enumerated last, as he was concerning the act of creation?

Rav Salant responded in this manner. In reality, Rav Simloy desired to teach us a very distinctive aspect of the Tuma V’T’hara of man. Now, in what non-physical sense is man different from the rest of the creations? The answer is that when it comes to these other creations, each has its own set of fixed attributes. Specifically, if the Torah gives them a status of being Tamei (impure), they remain Tamei throughout their lives. If they are given a status of being Tahor (pure), they remain Tahor throughout their lives. Only man however, is capable of altering a state of Tuma into T’hara, and vice versa, based on circumstances and time.

Concerning the Tuma of man, expounded Rav Yosef, it goes beyond even the Tuma of the Sh’moneh Sh’ratzim (eight crawling organisms) in the Torah:
“These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the rat, and the mouse, and the tortoise after its kind. And the gecko, and the monitor-lizard, and the lizard, and the snail, and the chameleon..” (Vayikra 11:29-30)

Now, these Sh’moneh Sh’ratzim attain the status of being Tamei, only as a result of their death. In life, they never have the status of being Tamei. Man however, is not so, for he can be Tamei in life and in death. 

Not only this, but, merely by lying down on something, man may cause that something to become Tamei. When dead, a man is M’Tamei (makes Tamei) everything inside the tent (home) in which he passed away, for a full seven days. And, only through the sprinkling of Mai HaZa’ah (water mixed with the ashes of the Parah Adumah- Red Heifer), can anyone who was exposed to the death, and those objects in the tent become Tahor again.

In the Zohar HaKadosh, continued Rav Yosef, we learn that man was created last in the order of creation, to signify that he is inclusive of the entire creation. That is, the other living creations, have each been granted their own unique and exclusive attribute by HaShem Yisborach. But, when man was created, all these attributes of the other creations were instilled in him. That is why man is inclusive of the act of creation. This is precisely what was taught in Avos D’Rabbi Nasan (chapter 31):
“Everything that HaKadosh Baruch Hu created in this world, He created in man.”

Continuing, Rav Yosef cited from the text Nefesh HaChayim (1-86), in which we are told that prior to the sin (of eating from the Aitz HaDa’as, tree of knowledge), Adam HaRishon was made up of only holy attributes and strengths. However, after the sin, those holy traits were invaded by the strength of Tuma and evil. From that point on, there has always been a very great confusion in the acts of man, whereby sins may have some aspect of good in them, and even the performance of Mitzvos could at times, have an evil aspect to it. 

Rav Yosef instructed, that only man among all the living creations of the planet, alters his state of Tuma V’T’hara, based on action and time. For, only within him is there a mass confusion of Tuma V’T’hara, good and bad. And now, it is simple to understand why the Torah was much more severe with the Tuma V’T’hara of man, than it was with the Tuma V’T’hara of the other creations.

Here then, concluded Rav Yosef, is the true greatness of man, to bring himself out of a state of Tuma into one of T’hara, and to realize and admit to errors, mending his ways afterwards with T’shuva (repentance). Unlike the other creations, man is not programmed only to seek food, shelter, and a mate. For, in addition to these necessities of survival, man, through the Torah HaK’dosha, constantly seeks to improve and elevate himself both religiously and socially, beyond what he is at present. May we all realize the Torah true prominence that is within us, and, may we always acquit ourselves favorably in all things.

May we soon see the G'ulah Sh'laimah in its complete resplendency- and in our times.

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