CHOCHMAS NASHIM: GREAT GIFT
By: Suri Davis
This week we read two torah portions, Tazriah and Metzorah, which discusses those who were lepers as a result of sinning, and the process one has to go through to confirm a case of leprosy, and all of his belongings which have to be burned and his home which has to be destroyed etc.
The theme in Leviticus is continued which is how we are a holy and separate nation, when we sin, we have to go to the Tabernacle or Temple and bring a sacrifice and ask G-d for forgiveness. Rebecca keeps asking me, why does G-d need our sacrifices, what’s with the sacrifices.
Rabbeinu Bchayai in his Shaar Habitachon explains that G-d is in no way contingent on man, nor is He affected by man in general. Yet “G-d chose to be affected by the actions of manand thereby gave meaning to their actions, which will then elicit Divine reward even on a basic level. Likutei Sichot, vol. 24, pp.29-30.
Let us remember that G-d created the world with His name Elokim, which is the name of judgment. His plan was that if man sinned, he would die. G-d realized with the sin of Adam, that His plan of judgment could not work in this world, that He would have to run the world with the attribute of mercy, Yud-heh-vav-heh.
There isn’t much discussion about reward and punishment for doing good deeds and sinning, in Shaar Habitachon there is a deep deep discussion on this. In sum, when we want to train youngsters to brush their teeth, the idea that some time in the future they will get a cavity is too remote to them, so we reward them when they listen to us. We know what is good for them, it will take time for them to mature to independently know that brushing their teeth is good for them, and then they will do it not for reward or fear of punishment, but because they understand it is good for them.
So too our reward and punishment for good deeds and sins, respectively. G-d knows why it is good for us to follow the laws as He set them up in the Torah, but reward and punishment is merely a basic means of training someone to do what is good. Once we mature, and we understand that good deeds are good for us in and of themselves, we no longer need the reward and punishment incentives and warnings, because we do what is right because it is good for us and we stay away from evil because it is bad for us.
We learn from Ethic of Our Fathers which we recite between Pesach and Shavuoth that the reward of a good deed is the ability to do a good deed. That when we show G-d that we are eager to do a good, then more good deed opportunities appear to us, and we get the internal good feelings which we result from our good deeds. Think about how good we feel when we have visited our parents or grandparents and seen the joy on their faces, so too when we visit nursing homes and the sick in hospitals. Not only do we bring joy to others, seeing their joy, brings joy to us as well. Schar mitvah, mitvah/the reward for a good deed is the good deed itself and the opportunity to do other good deeds.
Bringing sacrifices in the holy temple is not for G-d, it is an opportunity G-d gives us to ask for forgiveness. Understanding this, as an example, on the eve of Yom Kippur when traditionally Jews take a chicken and slaughter it saying to G-d, I know that I have sinned this year and that I deserve death for sinning, please take this chicken in my stead so that I can survive and this chicken will bear the brunt of my sin, whereupon the chicken is slaughtered and given to the poor these days. Animals sacrificed was a substitute for our death from sin.
Forgiveness, in my mind, is the greatest attribute of G-d and man. We could never live if we could not forgive each other for inevitable hurts in relationships. Forgiveness is grand. The holy temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred among Jews, because we held grudges and did not forgive each other.
As grave as the sins were for the leper to fall ill, that is how great the attribute is in G-d which we should strive to emulate. Forgiveness, the great gift.
Gutten Chodesh,
Shabbat shalom.
-Suri