פרשת בהעלותך
In the middle of this week’s Parsha there are two verses of “ויהי בנסוע הארון” which don’t belong there and this is indicated by two backwards Nunim placed before and after these verses. Why is this segment placed there? The Gemorah in Shabbos, (116a) says that it is there to separate between the two tragedies placed on either side of it so that the Torah does not need to record two tragic events one after the other. The first tragic event is the Jews leaving Har Sinai and the second one is referring to how the Jews complained about not having any meat in the desert and were severely reprimanded. What was so bad about the Jews’ departure from Har Sinai that it is referred to by the Gemorah as a tragedy? The Ramban explains in the name of Tosafos that they left Har Sinai gleefully as a child who leaves school, fearing that if they stayed any longer, Hashem would pile more commandments upon them and this was not correct behavior which the Jews displayed.
However, this Ramban seems problematic. Were the Jews not commanded to leave Har Sinai and to travel onwards? If so, they were correct to show excitement and exhilaration at the chance to fulfill God’s commandment. Why then was this happiness which they showed so contemptible? R’ Leib Chasman explains that although it was certainly time to leave the Mountain, their attitude was not correct. They should have left with a certain amount of regret about leaving the place where they got such a precious gift – the Torah. R’ Leib contrasts this to the time that the Jews left the Reed Sea. When they left the sea, they had to practically be pulled away because they were so excited to gather the unimaginable riches that had washed up on the seashore. And when they finally departed from there it was with great sorrow. This should have been the Jews attitude upon leaving Har Sinai. But instead, they ran away from there like school children at the sound of the recess bell. This attitude indicated a clear lack of appreciation for the precious nature of the Torah and its Mitzvos and deserved rebuke.
This concept is also demonstrated at the beginning of this week’s parsha, where we are taught the correct attitude to have toward Mitzvos. We find a very unique chapter in Jewish history at the beginning of this week’s Parsha. There were a group of Jews who, for no fault of their own, were unable to bring the Pesach offering that year because they were ritually impure. So they approached Moshe and pleaded with him to try and find some way that they could go ahead and bring the Pascal Lamb despite their having missed the proper time. Now these people had legitimate excuses for not having brought the Korban and could have been excused with no punishment whatsoever. Yet they sought to find someway that they could fulfill this precious Mitzvah and not have to lose out. The Midrash extols the virtues of these Jews by calling them, “Kosher and God-fearing Jews” teaching us conclusively what the proper attitude toward the opportunity to perform a Mitzvah should be.
There is a Gemorah in Avodah Zarah (3b) which says that in the future, Hashem will test the non-Jews of the world by giving them one commandment – the Mitzvah of Succah. The Gemorah continues to say that this particular year will be an extremely hot one in which the heat will be so unbearable that the non-Jews will leave their Succahs and kick them over on the way out. This Gemorah seems a bit strange. Won’t the Jewish people also be leaving their Succahs? We know that the law states that if one cannot dwell in the Succah in a comfortable manner, there is no Mitzvah! It seems clear that this Gemorah is working with the same premise that we stated above. Of course the Jews will also leave their Succahs due to the inclement weather, but the difference is in the attitude. The Jews will leave regretfully, feeling sad that they couldn’t perform the holy Mitzvah whereas the non-Jews will leave and collapse their succahs in disgust on the way out. Here too is another example where one’s attitude makes all the difference in the world.
We see this point illustrated even further with the Pesach offering. The Midrash reports that the Jews asked Moshe if they could offer the Pesach offering in the original time, even though they were impure. Moshe responded that this was forbidden. So they requested to offer it, but they would not eat it, rather they would give their uneaten portion to another Jew who was not impure and he would eat it. What were they asking for? What would be the point of offering the Pascal Lamb if they could not partake in it? There is no Mitzvah to simply slaughter the lamb, one must consume it as well! We see from here three powerful lessons. Firstly, we see yet again that a person must foster a strong desire to fulfill a Mitzvah, and certainly not go the other way and look for ways to get out of a Mitzvah. And secondly, we find that a person should do everything in their power to try to perform the Mitzvah, even if the odds seem impossible that he will actually succeed. And if he does this, who knows, perhaps he will actually succeed in the end as the Jews indeed did with the Pesach Sheni. And thirdly, even if a person cannot actually perform the Mitzvah, it is appropriate for them to at least desire to have a part in that Mitzvah, and this attitude, is also praiseworthy and meritorious, even though they will not get credit for actually having done the Mitzvah.
Moshe Rabenu himself demonstrated his attitude toward grabbing the opportunity to perform a Mitzvah that he knew could not be completed. We find that Moshe desired to set up the cities of refuge outside of Israel, even though they would have no Halachic significance until all of them were set up and Moshe knew that by this time, he would already be dead. So we see that Moshe tried to perform a Mitzvah even though he knew with certainty that he could not complete it. The Rambam says that if Moshe, who was a complete human being, and had no need to perfect himself further, had this attitude, then certainly we, who are lacking, should try to grab every Mitzvah opportunity that we can to complete ourselves.
I would just like to conclude with the Mishan in Avos, (4;2) which says, “One should run to perform a small commandment just as one runs to perform a big one because one Mitzvah leads to another Mitzvah.” The Rabenu Yonah explains that this Mishnah is telling us that each Mitzvah that we do is part of a process in our lives whose ultimate goal is to reach perfection. Now we know that in a chain, each and every link is imperative for the chain’s strength. Similarly, each Mitzvah, although seemingly insignificant, is absolutely integral to a person’s ultimate success and growth. So the Mishnah is instructing us to not take any Mitzvah lightly because every single Mitzvah is necessary to form the person into the Tzadik that he can become!
May Hashem help us to recognize the true significance of each and every Mitzvah in our lives!