פרשת אמור
In this week’s parsha we read about a mitzvah that is currently being performed by the entire Jewish people every night: the counting of the omer. In the time of the Beis HaMikdash, the omer offering, made of barley, would be brought on the 16th of Nissan. From then until Shavuos, we would count each day afterwards. Even now, when there is no Beis HaMikdash and there is a dispute as to whether the mitzvah of counting the omer is Biblical or Rabbinic, we still continue to count. The Sefer HaHinuch says that we count from Pesach to Shavuos as a sign that we are greatly anticipating the giving of the Torah. Like anyone excited over a special event that is approaching, we count the days until the moment arrives. According to the Sefer HaHinuch, the main reason we are counting is because we can’t wait to get the Torah. So it’s very interesting that we count the days from the bringing of the barley offering. What does barley have to do with anything? Instead of saying “____ days to the omer” we should say “____ days to Kabbalas HaTorah!!!”
Rav Zalman Sorotzkin explains that in order to be worthy of the Torah we have to develop ourselves into people of character. The barley offering was brought as a reminder of this. Most offerings were not made out of barley. Rather, the typical offering was made of wheat, a grain that is commonly consumed by human beings. In a normal offering, by giving up what is ours, we are making the statement that we are even willing to sacrifice our own things in order to get closer to Hashem. Barley is a grain designated as food for animals. So why did Hashem command us to bring barley for the omer? We’re not animals, are we? Hashem reminds us that this isn’t completely true. When a person displays animalistic characteristics, he puts himself on a level similar to theirs. As Shavuos approaches, Hashem makes it clear that we are in no position to receive the Torah right now. We have 49 days to get our act together and uproot our animalistic tendencies. If we don’t, we won’t be capable of receiving the Torah. The omer offering teaches us that we shouldn’t only be excited about Shavuos approaching; we must understand that great preparation is necessary in order to merit kabbalas haTorah.
So what must one do to prepare for Shavuos? Rav Aharon Kotler teaches that the mishna in the 6th chapter of Pirkei Avos answers this question. The mishnah tells us that the Torah is acquired through 48 qualities. This means that one can’t get the Torah without these midos. Unless he works to perfect himself in these areas, he’ll constantly suffer from different blocks and challenges in his learning and the Torah will never truly be engrained in him. Even minor slipups can tremendously affect one’s Torah. The gemara in Pesachim 66 tells us that after the war with Midian, Moshe angrily chastised the generals because they didn’t fulfill their orders completely. Even though he rebuked them solely for the sake of heaven and the main intention of showing his anger was to make sure that such mistakes would be avoided in the future, Moshe Rabbeinu, on his level, was affected by the incident. Anger had slightly seeped in to his character. Because of this, the next parsha in the Torah about kashering non-Jewish vessels, had to be taught by Elazar, Aharon’s son. Moshe Rabbeinu’s anger had caused him to forget all these halachos. We can clearly see from here that midos have an extreme impact on one’s Torah knowledge. Therefore, Rav Kotler says we should put in some work every day and think about how to improve ourselves in these 48 areas.
During this period, we are also mourning the loss of Rebbi Akiva’s 24,000 talmidim. The gemara in Yevamos 62 chronicles this event and asserts that the reason such a tragedy happened was because the talmidim “didn’t honor each other.” The gemara doesn’t say that they insulted each other or that they ever resulted to violence. Simply, on their level, they didn’t give their colleagues the respect they should have. So why was their punishment so harsh? Is the penalty for lack of respect death at the hands of Heaven? According to what we have said before, that midos are crucial in order for one to become a vessel for Torah, we can understand what transpired a little better. Rav Kotler asserts that death at the hands of heaven was not given to the talmidim as a punishment. The Torah just couldn’t be trusted in the hands of people who were not refined enough. Although learned, these students would not be proper emissaries of what the Torah is supposed to be and therefore lacked the ability to pass Torah on to the next generation. In order to ensure a complete and untainted transmission of the Torah itself, the talmidim could not be allowed to live and become the rabbis and leaders of the next generation. New talmidim would have to take their place.
The gemara in Eruvin 55 says something even more drastic about the importance of midos in Torah. Rebbi Yochanan teaches that the verse “(The Torah) is not in the heavens” is actually a reference to the arrogant. In other words, Torah cannot be found in an arrogant person. There’s an obvious problem with this statement because we see a lot of arrogant people who are full of Torah knowledge. Some of them know even more than us! Rabbi Shimon Green believes that the resolution to this difficulty is simple. Just because someone knows what the gemara says or how to translate Hebrew doesn’t mean he has Torah. Torah is far loftier than mere information. Torah changes us and transforms us into G-dly beings. Torah humbles us and creates a relationship between us and Hashem. An arrogant person is the antithesis to the entire Torah. So, “knowledgeable” as he may be, it doesn’t mean he has Torah. There’s a story of a person who once bragged before a big rav about how much Torah he had learned. The rav immediately replied, “It’s great to hear that you have learned a lot of Torah, but tell me, how much has the Torah taught you?”
May we all be zoche to acquire all the qualities necessary to acquire the Torah!!!