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THE WEEKLY SIDRA- K’DOSHIM
Rabbi Moshe Greebel
Undoubtedly, attaining a good sense of patience in all things, is certainly an admirable Torah attribute. The Gemarah in B’rachos 64a, and Airuvin 13b instructs:
“All who push the hour, are (subsequently) pushed by the hour!”
So essential is it to be enduring and tolerant, that the Midrash Koheles Rabbah 7-15, teaches us of Moshe’s impatience to HaShem, after the Pharaoh’s initial refusal to let the B’nai Yisroel out of Egypt, and his order not to supply the B’nai Yisroel with straw for bricks anymore:
“…..If Moshe had been patient, he would have been saved (from speaking against HaShem), but they (the B’nai Yisroel) provoked him and made him lose his temper, saying to him, ‘May HaShem look upon you and judge, because you have made our spirits to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh….’ (Sh’mos 5:21). He could not endure their words, and he also lost his temper and said in his anger (to HaShem), ‘Since I came to Pharaoh in Your name, he has dealt ill with this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all!’ (ibid. 5:23)’”
As can be seen then, the lack of patience even in the Av HaN’vi’im (Moshe, the father of all prophets), can be devastating. For that deficiency of enduring others, inevitably results in unwarranted anger, one of the most detestable of human responses.
In all honesty nevertheless, it must be understood that Moshe’s anger was not a matter G-d forbid, of his own ego having been insulted, but rather, his inability to see his brothers, the B’nai Yisroel, suffer even more than they had prior.
This wisdom of having patience, is a universal attribute. Leo Tolstoy once wrote, "The two most powerful warriors are patience and time." Benjamin Franklin penned, "He that can have patience, can have what he will." Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, "Patience and fortitude conquer all things."
Now, this week’s Sidra offers us a very interesting, and even surprising perspective of patience, to which we will shortly return, after a brief discussion of time.
The concept of time in the Torah, as would be expected, plays a very integral part when it comes to Issur V’Heter (that which is forbidden and
permitted), where the smallest segment of time humanly imaginable, can make vast differences in Halacha (Torah law). Lighting Shabbos candles at the prescribed time on Friday evening, is considered a Mitzvah, and an honor for the Shabbos. However, lighting these very same Shabbos candles scant moments after this prescribed time on Friday evening, may result in a Chillul Shabbos (desecration of Shabbos).
On Erev Pesach, the eating of Chametz is still permissible until a specific hour of the day. Yet, any Chametz eaten just moments after that specific hour, may be in violation of Pesach. While it is a Mitzvah to eat on Erev Yom Kippur, at a certain time towards evening, moments after the permissible time, eating may violate Yom Kippur. As expected, there are quite a few other instances of the factor of time in Halacha, but these examples given here should suffice.
In this week’s Sidra, we are given to see once again, how important a factor time can be, and how equally important it is for anyone to develop a good healthy sense of patience.
The Issur (prohibition) of Orla, refers to the first three years’ growth of a fruit tree, from which a Jew may derive no Hana’ah (benefit) in any form.
The first three years’ produce, the Orla, must be burned. The Torah states:
“And when you shall come into the land, and shall have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count its fruit as forbidden; three years shall it be forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten.” (Vayikra 19:23)
On this Passuk (verse), there is a very unusual Midrash in Vayikra Rabbah 25-2, whereby Adam HaRishon is castigated for having eaten from the Aitz HaDa’as (tree of knowledge):
“Rabbi Y’huda Ben Pazzi expounded, ‘Oh, that someone had removed the dust from your eyes, Adam! For you were unable to stand firm for an hour in your obedience, and lo, your children have now to wait in regard to forbidden fruit for three years!’”
What exactly, is the relationship between the Issur of Orla and Adam HaRishon having been able to stand firm for only a brief space of time, before eating from the forbidden fruit of the Aitz HaDa’as? In the text D’vash L’Pi, we have a very surprising and equally informative answer.
Directly after the Issur of Orla in the Torah, the Torah writes:
“You shall not eat any thing with the blood; nor shall you use enchantment, nor observe times.” (ibid. 19:26)
Expounding upon the various interpretations of the first clause of this Passuk, the Gemarah in Sanhedrin 63a, has this to say:
“For, it has been taught, ‘Whence do we know that the eating of the flesh of an animal before it has expired, is forbidden by a negative precept? From the verse, “You shall not eat anything with the blood.” Another meaning of You shall not eat anything with the blood is, you shall not eat the flesh (of offerings) while the blood is in the sprinkling bowl.’ Rabbi Dosa said, ‘Whence do we know that the meal of comfort (for mourners after a funeral) is not eaten by (the relatives of) criminals executed by Bais Din? From the verse You shall not eat (i.e., observe the funeral meal) for one whose blood has been shed.’ Rabbi Akiba said, ‘Whence do we know that a Sanhedrin which executed a person must not eat anything on the day of the execution? From the verse, You shall not eat anything with the (shedding of) blood.’”
Now, while all these different meanings of the Passuk are quite remarkable, posed the D’vash L’Pi, why is this Issur of not eating anything with the blood, placed directly in the Torah after the Issur of Orla?
Citing the commentary of the Shach and the Ohr HaChayim on this Passuk of not eating anything with the blood, which resolves why the Passuk of Orla proceeds it, the D’vash L’Pi quotes the text of the Ohr HaChayim:
“’You shall not eat any thing with the blood’…..This Mitzvah (of not eating any thing with the blood) is placed next to the Mitzvah of Orla, to hint at, what Chazal (our Rabbis of blessed memory) stated, that Adam HaRishon sinned by eating from the tree (of knowledge) prior to the time of its being permissible…..”
Leaving the Ohr HaChayim momentarily, we see something very astounding indeed. The prohibition of eating from the Aitz HaDa’as, was not an everlasting prohibition for Adam and Chava. Rather, this prohibition was only valid for three hours. Had Adam and Chava waited three hours, which would have been Shabbos, the fruit of the Aitz HaDa’as would have been permissible. We return to the Ohr HaChayim:
“…..(This eating too early from the Aitz HaDa’as) is a form of Orla. For, had he (Adam HaRishon) waited until Friday night, Shabbos Kodesh, he would have recited Kiddush on wine (The Aitz HaDa’as according to this opinion, was a grape vine (see B’rachos 40a and Sanhedrin 70a)…..”
And here, explained the D’vash L’Pi, is the meaning of the above Midrash, and the relationship between the sin of Adam and the Issur of Orla. For, Adam was commanded in the ninth hour on the Friday of his creation, not to eat from the Aitz HaDa’as for three hours, just as we are commanded not to eat Orla for three years.
In all truth though, there is another opinion in Midrash, in B’raishis Rabbah 18-6, whereby Adam HaRishon had already eaten from the Aitz HaDa’as, prior to the sixth hour:
“Rabbi Eliezer said, ‘There were three who did not remain in their tranquility for six hours. They were Adam, Yisroel, and Sisera…..’”
Nevertheless, according to the version of the above Vayikra Rabbah 25-2, as explained by the Ohr HaChayim, Adam was commanded in the ninth hour not to eat from the Aitz HaDa’as, and should have waited three more hours until Shabbos to do so. Because he did not wait, he and Chava were banished from Gan Eden (garden of Eden) in the 12th hour.
The D’vash L’Pi assumes that this matter was in the mind of the poet who composed for Hoshanah Rabbah (7th day Sukkos), “Hoshanah Shalosh Sha’os!” Or, save us from the three hours! And, because Adam and Chava were ‘divorced’ so to speak, from Gan Eden in the 12th hour of the day, the Midrash B’raishis Rabbah (chapter 21) printed in Worms, France, speaks of the twelve lines of the Get (divorce bill).
Those three hours for which Adam was too impatient to wait, were the cause of our being giving the Issur of Orla according to the above Rabbi Y’huda Ben Pazzi. Because Adam HaRishon was too impatient to wait those three hours, we make up for our ancestor by waiting the three years of Orla.
In conclusion, explained the D’vash L’Pi, now that we see the relationship of the sin of Adam and the Issur of Orla, the close proximity of the Passuk of not eating any thing with the blood, signifies that the punishment for Adam and Chava for their sin, was death:
“But of the Aitz HaDa’as, of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (B’raishis 2:17)
And so, we see the wise council of developing a good sense of patience, and not causing ourselves to rush into unwarranted action. For, if the Av HaN’vi’im could fall victim to a lack of patience, how much more so, must we guard ourselves to be more tolerant and enduring of everyone, and never under any circumstances, to allow unjustified rage to assault others.
May we soon see the G'ulah Sh'laimah in its complete resplendency, speedily in our days.
