What A Person Cannot Forget

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

When a person commits a sin b’shogeig (as a result of forgetfulness), part of his atonement involves bringing a korban. At the beginning of Sefer Vayikra, the Torah speaks of a “person” bringing a korban (1:2), but in describing one who brings a korban to atone for a sin done b’shogeig, a different term is used: “If a soul sins unintentionally”(4:2).

Daas Zekeinim (ibid.) questions this change, and answers it with an analogy:

Once, a king had two servants who sinned against him. One servant was an outsider, and the other was part of the palace household. The king brought the two before him for judgment. While the king commanded his servants to acquit the outsider, the palace servant was sentenced to harsh punishment.

The servants asked: “But the other one sinned against you as well?”

“Yes, but he is an outsider. He is not familiar with the good I do. A servant of the palace, however, is well aware of the good I do. How could he have sinned against me? He must be punished!”

So too, concludes the Medrash, the body is an outsider, created from the lower worlds, but the soul is from the upper worlds. It is supposed to be pure, and despite that it sinned!

The Slonimer Rebbe asks: This Medrash is not speaking about a deliberate sinner. This sin was committed unintentionally. Why should the close servant  – the soul —be taken so harshly to task? Of course, he was aware of the great benefits he had received from the king, but his sin was an accident. Why should being closer to the king make a difference?

The Rebbe answers that the soul is expected to think about Hashem at all times and cling to Him constantly. Had the soul done this, there would have been no problem of forgetfulness leading to sin.

Information that is truly a part of us we do not forget, notes Rav Dessler. We do not forget our name or address. On the other hand, details we view as external are easily forgotten. When a person sins b’shogeig, he must ask himself: How could you have been so unaware of Hashem that this happened? How could your thoughts have strayed so far away from Hashem?

A sin b’shogeig should serve as a wake-up call, showing that we have distanced ourselves from Hashem. A korban (from the Hebrew root “close”) addresses this and bring us closer to Hashem.

What about a korban brings closeness to Hashem?

Rav Chaim Friedlander explains, based on the Ramban, that when the one bringing a korban sees the animal being slaughtered, its blood collected and then tossed toward the mizbe’ach, he should think to himself:  “That should really be me. Look what my sin caused. I must subjugate myself to Hashem!”

When he sees the animal being severed into pieces, limb by limb, and then placed on the mizbe’ach, he should think to himself: “I too sinned with this limb. I sinned with my eyes, my hands, my mouth — I must now subjugate these limbs to Hashem.”

The Nadvorna Rebbe would say that if we would ask the average Jew, ‘are you dedicated to Hashem,’ most would answer: “Of course.” However, if one looks into his deeds he can find contradictions to this. When offered the chance to work more and earn more money, is his first reaction: what will be with my learning seder, or the regular minyan I go to?

The Rebbe therefore advised people to remind themselves once a day: “My main purpose in life is to serve Hashem.”

This applies particularly in times of tension, such as when family members are ill or when financial pressures mount. One must make sure to remind himself that even in these times, his main purpose is to serve Hashem.

Among those who were together with the Sanz-Klausenberger Rebbe during the Holocaust, some survivors later recounted (in the sefer, Lapid Eish) that in the darkest moments, when others thought only about how to scrounge another scrap of food, the Rebbe was always focused on Hashem.

“Once, when we received a small ration of water, the Rebbe used it in order to do netilas yadayim,” recalled one survivor.

One of his chassidim recalled: “I once came to the Rebbe to pour out my heart over the pain that all of us were going through in the [concentration] camps.  The Rebbe listened, and then told me: ‘Try to think instead about the distress this is causing to the Shechina.’

“It was in those horrific days that I merited to behold the true greatness of the Rebbe,” concluded the chassid.

May we live each moment aware of our purpose in life!

Exciting news! Rabbi Krieger’s second volume of “Gedolei Yisrael on the Parsha” is coming soon! If you would like us to inform you as soon as it is published please email office@bircas.org..