Parshas Emor

5 Iyar 5768

May 10, 2008
Daf Yomi: Nazir 51

Guest Author:
Rabbi Mordechai Friedfertig
Council of YI Rabbis in Israel

 

                                                                                                   

When my wife, Orly, and I were first married, we moved to Israel. The apartment we rented had a washing machine in the kitchen, which drained its water into the sink. In order to make sure the tube which drained the water stayed in place, you had to weigh it down with a washcloth. One time the washcloth must have come off the tube and got stuck in the drain. Needless to say, there was a huge flood in the kitchen. Orly got a bunch of towels and started to clean up the soapy, dirty water. I also helped. I threw a towel down on the floor and moved it around with my foot. Orly said, "Come down here and do it with your hand, it will work better." I responded, "This is working fine." "Come down here and do it," she insisted. "I am doing fine like this." Orly found out my secret - I don't really like to get my hands dirty. The scene that followed wasn't pretty.

In this week's Torah portion, Parashat Emor, we learn about various sacrifices that are to be offered on each of the holidays in addition to the daily offerings and the special musaf sacrifices. Aside from fulfilling Hashem's will, these sacrifices, along with all sacrifices, spiritually elevate the entire Nation of Israel on our holidays. 

 

At the same time, however, these sacrifices also make a huge physical mess. For many of the sacrifices, the blood is sprinkled on the altar, the animal is skinned, the innards are removed and the meat is cut into pieces. It seems very strange. By giving something of yourself or from the community, an individual's soul or our communal soul is purified, while at the same time the cohain who offers the sacrifice becomes physically dirty. What is the Torah trying to teach us here?

I think an answer can be found in the Gemara in Pesachim (57a). The Gemara relates that the very courtyard of the Temple itself, once became quite upset, and demanded that a certain cohain - Yissachar from the village of Barkai - get out of the Temple immediately. It seems that during the divine worship of offering sacrifices, this cohain wore gloves to keep his hands from getting soiled. Rashi explains that there are two problems with a cohain wearing gloves. First, wearing the gloves constitutes a "chatzitzah" - a barrier between the hand of the cohain and the sacrifice - which invalidates the sacrifice. Second, and perhaps worse, wearing the gloves is a bezayon - a disgraceful attitude towards "Melekhet Shamayim" - the holy work of the Temple." Part of the divine service is getting your hands dirty. The cohain should have focused on the spiritual cleansing power of the sacrifice rather than his soiled hands.

This Gemara is the basis for many halachic issues.  There is a fascinating ruling in the Pitchei Teshuvah, a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 271:19), that based on this Gemara, a sofer, scribe, who writes a Torah, a Mezuzah or Tefillin, may not wear gloves to protect his hands from getting covered with ink. Part of that holy job is getting a little dirty.  Ha-Gaon Ha-Rav Moshe Feinstein has a teshuvah in Igrot Moshe (Yoreh Deah 2:16) which discusses whether a shochet can wear gloves while slaughtering an animal.  Rav Feinstein makes a distinction between whether one is holding an object which is a mitzvah or not.  And I saw in the new book "Halichot Chaim" (vol. 2 #40) that when Ha-Gaon Ha-Rav Chaim Kanievsky was asked whether it is a disgrace to wear gloves when fulfilling the mitzvah of "shiluach ha-ken" (sending the mother bird away prior to taking her chicks or eggs), he responded that it is preferable to fulfill the mitzvah without a "chatzitzah."

The Torah is teaching us that part of serving Hashem is being hands-on. Getting your hands, and probably even more of your body, dirty is part of the Jewish experience whether it is offering sacrifices, writing holy texts, building a sukkah in the backyard, sitting on the floor on Tisha B’Av or cooking in the kitchen for Shabbat and the holidays. And of course who can forget about Pesach with schlepping out the Pesach dishes, dusting them off, cleaning, scrubbing, scouring and mopping - down on hands and knees preparing our homes for Pesach. When we get filthy and grimy, we must keep in mind that the work we are doing is "Melekhet Shamayim," divine service. Although it is not always easy, the Torah encourages us to focus on the spiritual cleansing power of these acts. The physical grime leads to spiritual elevation.

The Gemara in Berachot (4a) tells us how different King David was when compared with the gentile kings. The kings of the other nations would sit on their thrones in all their glory and comfort. But King David was known to have said, "Va-ani Yadai Melukhlakhot - my hands are soiled with all types of blood which I examine in order to permit a woman to her husband." King David would sit and answer niddah sh’eilot – examining different types of blood that issue from a woman to determine if she was ritually pure or impure.

 

King David was willing to serve G-d, hands-on, examining the blood without worrying about becoming physically dirty. He was more concerned with spiritual purity and impurity than physical cleanliness and uncleanliness. Even King David, the King of Israel, the person who Halachah says must have a daily haircut and be dressed in royal garments so he will always be seen in all his glory (see Rambam, Hilchot Melachim 2:5), was not afraid to push aside his own honor for the honor of serving Hashem.

And so now – Baruch Hashem, I help change diapers, clean up when the kids get sick, squish up ground beef for hamburgers and meat loaf, and just deal with getting my hands dirty, especially when it's for a mitzvah.

 

Shabbat Shalom from the Holy Land!

 

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