CHOCHMAS NASHIM: REEH: SEE THE SUBTLETIES
By: Suri Davis
There are a myriad of commandments on varied issues in this week’s parshah, we could spend days reviewing why the juxtaposition of these issues in one torah portion, but I want to mention three this week.
Deuteronomy 13:7 “If you are incited in secret by your brother or your mother’s son, your son or your daughter, your wife who is one with you, your friend, or your father who is a s dear to you as a yourself and are told, Let us go and worship other gods which are unadquainted to you and your ancestors…”
The basic core understanding of the influence of those around us, those in our family, who live with us and with whom we are friendly.
There is then a discussion of animals which are kosher and those unkosher. Deuteronomy 14:8 “The pig because it has a split hoof, but does not chew the cud. It is impure for you.” There are two signs of a kosher animal, that it chews its cud and has split feet. The pig wants to show that it has split feet and that it is kosher for consumption, but don’t be fooled. It does not chew its cud and is singled out here, so no one stumbles over what the pig wants us to see.
Finally, there are the laws of Passover. Deuteronomy 16:3 “You may not eat leaven with it. Rather, because of it, eat matzos for seven days.” When looking at the Hebrew words for that which is leavened Chometz, and the word matzoh, they are almost identical, but for a tiny space which can cause the Hebrew letter Heh in matzo to rise and become the Hebrew letter Chet in chometz, a fraction of an inch.
These subtleties speak with me. It speaks with me in the necessity to learn deeply about our Jewish laws and customs, until we feel them in our marrow. We have to deeply absorb the lessons of ethics in our Torah, and know in our bones what is right and wrong. The importance we can see from the above.
Who would we trust more than our family, those we live with and our friends. Yet in our bones, we need to feel if they are pushing us off the right path, the moral path the Torah path. Our inclination might be to say, I am surely wrong. If the majority of my relatives think that the worship of this idol comports with Torah law, then surely they must be right and I am wrong. It is why we need to learn Torah deeply so that in our hearts, minds, kishkas we know what is right and wrong.
Moving to the pig, who is trying to convince us that he is kosher. Again, learning deeply the kosher laws and understanding them will prevent us from falling into a trap by the unwary.
Lastly, an entire 358 days of the year, we can eat chometz, leavened foods, surely there can be nothing wrong with kosher leavened foods. On Passover/Pesach, we clean our homes, cars , clothing pockets for even a crumb of chometz which can make a difference between Chometz and Matzoh, showing G-d our earnest desire to follow his dictates of Passover and our devotion to Him for having redeemed us from Egypt and watching over us every minute of every day.
Our Torah study and our observance is a means to get internally closer to G-d, to give us the self confidence to know what is right and wrong, to act on our beliefs and show G-d how grateful we are for being the chosen nation.
Good Shabbos.
Gutten Chodesh.
-Suri