Parashas Acharey Mos-Kedoshim

8 Iyar 5769

May 2, 2009
Daf Yomi: Bava Metzia 7

Guest Author:
Rabbi Yirmiya Milevsky
Rabbi, Young Israel of Memphis

 

  

Before performing the majority of mitzvoth, we say a bracha – a blessing. Commentators wonder why there is no command to recite a blessing for several important mitzvoth such as giving charity and honoring one’s parents.  To understand this issue, we need to differentiate between a mishpat and a chok. 

 

The human capacity to differentiate and discern is what distinguishes man from animal. G-d placed all of His myriad creations in the world to enhance man’s freedom of choice. By exercising this freedom, such as by choosing to eat those foods the Torah forbids, a Jew becomes Holy, distinguished among the Nations. This is the importance of the Torah statement: “You shall set apart the ritually clean animal from the unclean, and the ritually unclean bird from the clean… You shall, thus, be holy to Me, for I, G-d, am holy and I have set you apart from the Nations to be mine”  (Vayikra 20:25-26).

 

What does the Torah wish to add with the seemingly superfluous concluding words “liheyot li–to be mine”? Rashi cites Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah: “A person should never say, the taste of pork repulses me; non-kosher foods taste terrible or, I hate to wear Sha’atnez (a mixture of wool and linen); it’s uncomfortable. Rather, in these and similar cases a person should train himself to say, I’d love to but what can I do; G-d commanded me not to.”

 

We learn from this by the words, “I have set you apart from the Nations to be Mine.” G-d says: “Keep the mitzvoth because it is My will–not because acting contrary to the mitzvoth is revolting or physically harmful in any way.” Our separation from the Nations has to be “liheyot li”– lishmi, for my sake, because G-d commanded us to do so.

 

This, however, appears to contradict the view of Rabbi Yochanan, who teaches that man is independently capable of differentiating between right and wrong, between good and bad. Had the Torah never been given, said Rabbi Yochanan, we would have understood intuitively the value of such qualities as modesty, honesty and fidelity and we would have learned them from nature: modesty from the cat, honesty from the ant, fidelity from the dove and so on (Eruvin 100b). Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah seems to teach just the opposite.

Is a Jew guided to holiness by his inherent nature, or by the Torah, the declaration of G-d’s will?

 

Rambam answers this difficulty by pointing out the difference between a mishpat and a chok. Mishpatim are those laws that the human mind could conclude on its own, such as the prohibitions against stealing and immorality. Chukim, on the other hand, are those laws which the human mind cannot derive on its own, but can know only because these laws are prescribed by the Torah, such as the prohibition of eating non-kosher food and the prohibition of wearing Sha’atnez. 

This, then, is the difference between the teachings of Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah. Rabbi Yochanan refers to laws that represent a human quality; man practices them because he can know, through his own sense of reasoning, that they are true.  Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, on the other hand, refers to statutes; man practices them because G-d commanded him to do so. Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah warns against confusing the two, for the person who says he cannot stomach non-kosher foods, reveals a flaw in his relationship with HaShem. G-d created chukim so that man might come to recognize G-d through serving Him. One who refrains from eating non-kosher because he assumes it to be the logical course of action, independent of the Torah’s command, misses the mark.  Such an attitude is lacking in the element of subservience that is necessary to bring one closer to G-d.

 

Having the understanding that mishpatim are laws the human mind could conclude on its own, gives us the answer to our original question: Why is no blessing recited over giving charity and honoring one’s parents?  The answer is that a blessing that declares “Vetzivanu- that You, G-d, have commanded us” can only be made when the deed is done because G-d commanded it.  Given that honoring one’s parents is a mishpat, meaning, that even without the command of G-d, one would understand that parents are to be honored; it would not be suitable to make a blessing declaring that one is honoring one’s parents solely because of God’s command.

 

Let us strengthen our resolve to observe both the mishpatim and chukim and be true servants of HaShem.

 

Shabbat Shalom.