CHOCHMAS NASHIM: DUST BALLS
By: Suri Davis
This Shabbos is called Shabbos Hagadol, the great/awesome Shabbos, named after the Haftorah we read after the Torah reading. It hails the upcoming holiday of redemption.
Today is the 7th day of Nissan, one month after the passing of Moses, the day Joshua started preparing the Jews to enter the land of Israel. Tomorrow, the Shabbos before Passover commemorates the day the first-born of Egypt battled Pharaohs troops to free the Jews to prevent the death of the first-borns in Egypt.
What do the two torah portions, last week Tazriah and this week Metzorah, have to do with redemption? Tazriah means to sprout: Jeremiah 23:51 “Behold, the days are coming says G-d, when Iwill raise up a righteous sprout from David, a king will reign and prosper, and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land.”
In Sanhedrin 98a records an episode where the Messiah is seen as a Metzorah. Taken together, we see that G-d will sprout up the Messiah to redeem us and rebuild the temple.
This fits perfectly with the Haftorah which we read: Behold! I am sending you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome/hagadol day of G-d comes that he may turn the heart of the fathers back to G-d through the children, and the heart of the children back to G-d through their fathers…”, the end of the Haftorah. Malachi 3:22.
Redemption is hope. Commemorating redemption all these millennia, removing chametz/leprosy from the home and replacing it with purity and hope and redemption. The time and effort in doing so let’s our children know how much we value a clean home, steeped in torah values and steeps our homes and souls in the value of redemption and hope.
Chulin 134, discusses that davening is not one of the 613 mitzvoth. In discussing davening, Rabbi Sholom Rosner, the teacher, said that there is an opinion that davening is Chasdei Hashem, not a chiyuv hashem/that praying is a kindness of G-d, and not an obligation towards G-d. G-d and His greatness are not affected by our actions. He gives us opportunities with his Torah and mitzvoth to get closer to Him, elevate our lives by emulating Him. If we substituted the word commandment with opportunities, we have a different outlook, prism, with which to appreciate our religious life.
In Tanya Yomi, Rabbi Yehoshua Gordon discusses the Rebbe’s Chapter 39 of Tanya which discusses kavanah in doing a mitzvah, intention. When we daven without intention, our prayers don’t quite make it to HKBH, and wait until such time as we do daven/pray with kavanah/intention, and they then all rise to HKBH. What is our intention in removing Chometz/leavening from the house, couldn’t we have just have had the commandments of the Seder and eating Matzoh, why were we commanded to be so meticulous with removing Chometz as well.
Preparing for Passover isn’t easy, because we have inside of us a desire to show G-d our devotion to Him in cleansing the chametz from our souls and homes, in the same way those with leprosy look into themselves to rid that which was the source of their sin to clean their souls and their homes which were affected by and infected with the leprosy by the lepers’ speaking evil of another person. The point isn’t leprosy or chometz, the point is to remove that which is an obstruction to our getting close to G-d.
It is our opportunity as G-d took us out of Egypt to begin the 49 day countdown and process towards our marriage on Mt. Sinai and the giving of the torah, to show our devotion back towards G-d, his Torah and commandments/mitzvoth.
Feel the love and redemption, and not the dust balls hiding under the couch.
Shabbat shalom.
Chag Sameach.
-Suri