Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Beautification of a Mitzvah

In parshas Toldos there are two incidents in which Jacob our patriarch takes the rights of the first born and its associated blessing from his older twin brother Esau. These rights are basically honors, specifically to be buried prominently in the family crypt, to be reckoned as the family mentor, and to perform the priestly ceremonies. A major function of the cohanim was to bring the sacrifices. This often took the form of being an honored guest at a religious dinner.

The Chumash describes Esav as a sly hunter of both animals and people, making him an inappropriate choice for this position. In the first incident he returns from the outdoors very tired. Rashi explains that the reason he was tired was because he had just committed his first murder. In addition he is later described by the commentaries as frequently catching woman from under their husbands. Esav sees Ya’akov cooking lentil soup and asks him to pour some of it down his throat. Seizing the moment Ya’akov says he’ll only agree to it if Esav gives him the rights of the first born in exchange. Esav displays his contempt for the birthright and crudely accepts.

In the second incident Isaac, who to a certain extent is moved by Esav’s skill in hunting, is preparing to give him his blessing to be the family’s rabbi. Rebecca, Yitzchak’s wife, is more inclined to Ya’akov because of his excellence in scholarship and character. Therefore, she tells Ya’akov, to trick his father, who is blind, into giving him the blessing intended for his brother. Ya’akov objects but his mother persists so he reluctantly does so.

When the trick succeeds, Yitzchak sees that Ya’akov really was the appropriate choice. Esav who does have some genuine religious feeling is bitter and outraged. He threatens to kill Ya’akov, but years later, draws the same conclusion as the rest of the family and completely forgives him.

The connection between the parsha and its haftorah is theme of disgraceful sacrifices. In it the holy One, blessed be He, complains that Israel is not honoring Him and does not fear His word. Essentially they have sullied the table of Hashem particularly with their miserable sacrifices. The animals brought are described as marred, stolen, and diseased.

Many of the sacrifices are in fact a religious banquet through which the host expresses his happiness and gratitude for the gifts of heaven. This is also the general idea of all the sacrifices. So to speak HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the honored guest; however he has sent the priest to represent Him. Therefore the food and décor should be of top quality.

What is the message of a slovenly religious feast? So to speak it is as if the king had a banquet and a slob came in and spoiled his evening. Or worse, it’s as if the celebrants are saying that the king himself really is dirty.

The subtle idea is that a person cannot use skullduggery to receive an honor. If one cheats their way into giving the opening dvar Torah, sitting in the middle of the dais, or receiving the last reading of the Torah on Simchas Torah, the honor associated with these acts changes to disgrace. Even if a person who is deserving, grabs the honor from one who is not, the honor and the person will become tarnished.

This is like the story of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the Torah giant of the generation, who was asked by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, why he did not wear Rabenu Tam tephilin. Rabbi Moshe replied that the general quality of tephilin sadly was very low and gave a list of the deficiencies. He said that in regards to regular Rashi tephilin one is obligated to put them on, therefore the shortcomings must be tolerated. However, Rabenu Tam tephilin is a beautification of the mitzvah and one cannot do a beautification in and ugly way. One can only do a beautification in a beautiful way. The Rebbe responded by sending him a sofer with instructions to write a pair of tephilin that carefully conformed the specifications of Rabbi Moshe, and Rabbi Moshe’s responsa became the basis for the tephilin we wear today.




לע"נ, ההדוד של האמא ,שמואל בן יואל לייב ז"ל נלב"ע ר"ח כסלו תשמ"ד
Acknowledgements to websites: תורת אמת, וויקיטקסטdictionary.reference.com/, http://hebrewbooks.org/,
וגם בדואר אלקטרוני    ניתן באתר  http://dyschreiber.blogspot.co.il




  

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