Dear Friends;

I hope that you will enjoy the following Parsha summary followed by a Dvar Torah;

” Parsha in a Nutshell ”

G-d instructs Moshe to command Aaron and his sons regarding their duties and rights as kohanim (“priests”) who offer the korbanot (animal and meal offerings) in the Sanctuary.

The offering burned on the altar throughout the night — are to be removed from the area by the kohen after he changes his special linen clothing.

The fire on the Altar must be kept burning at all times. In it are burned and consumed all kinds of offerings; peace, sin and guilt, and meal offerings. The kohanim eat the meat of the sin and guilt offerings, and the remainder of the meal offering. The peace offering is eaten by the one who brought it, except for specified portions given to the kohen. The holy meat of the offerings must be eaten by ritually pure persons, in their designated holy place and within their specified time.

One may not eat a korban when he is ritually impure. Blood and chelev (forbidden animal fats) are prohibited to be eaten.

Aaron and his sons remain within the Sanctuary compound for seven days, during which Moshe prepares them into the priesthood.

“ Dvar Torah “

This week’s Parsha is dedicated to the duties of the Kohanim (Priests) in the Mishkan, which was carried on in the Temple in Jerusalem later on in time. One of the prestige jobs for a Kohen was to perform the sacrifice ceremonies. At the beginning of the Parsha, the Torah commands that every morning, the Kohen in charge of performing the sacrifices, had to remove the ashes from the altar, which were left behind from the night before. He had to remove his priesthood garments and put on a more common clothes and take the ashes to the outside of the camp. He then had to come back, put on his priesthood garments again and start to do the sacrifices for that day.

The question that the Chachamim ask is, why does the cleaning of the altar had to be done by the same person who performed the sacrifices? Wouldn’t it be more efficient to assign a  “cleaning person” to do the job? Why should the physical job of cleaning the altar be given to the person who performs one of the most spiritual tasks in the Mishkan? Surely, there were many Levites, even Israelites, who would have gladly volunteered to do any work in the Mishkan, even if it had to be the dirty job of cleaning the ashes!

“Chovot HaLevavot”, one of the classic works on Ethics and Jewish philosophy written by  Ibn Paquda who lived in spain in the 11th century, says that the rational behind this is that the Torah is particularly careful that people should not let things go to their head, lest they become “ba’alei ga-avah” and become “haughty”. Here, the Kohen might think he is someone special — who in fact, IS someone special. He is among the selected few who were chosen to do the holy work of sacrificing in the Temple. The Torah, nevertheless instructs him to “Take out the ashes first!” Lest he come to think too much of himself, the Torah tells him to begin his day by the lowly task of taking out the ashes. Only then, when he realizes that he is only a servant of Hashem, only then, he is allowed to continue with the holy task of performing the sacrifice ceremonies!

The Torah is very sensitive to the idea of haughtiness. As much as Hashem loves humility and modesty, he despises haughtiness. The Torah tells us that Moshe Rabeinu was the greatest prophet of all times, only because he was the most humble person on the face of the earth. And the reason why the Torah despises Ga-avah is quite simple. A person should know that whatever he possesses, whether it is beauty, intelligence, wealth, honor or a high ranking position, it’s all because Hashem wanted him to have all these and he blessed him with them. So, when a person becomes haughty, he thinks that he has achieved all these on his own, and he forgets that these are all Hashem’s blessings which he has been showered with. And that’s why Hashem dislikes ga-avah so much!

Yes my friends, when we are blessed with affluence, power and fame, there is always a chance of air of superiority getting into our head. We might rightfully think that we are someone special. But the Torah is teaching us not to let these things get into our head. Who we are and what we have are all G-d’s decisions and not ours. That’s why we should never look down on anyone and see ourselves above them. We should respect everyone around us, even if they are poor, unattractive or unintelligent. Because everyone is made in the image of G-d and they deserve to be respected. We are all children of G-d, and Hashem loves his children equally!

So, the next time your wife asks you to take out the garbage, there is no need to get upset. There is no need to boost up your ego and say to yourself: ” I’m a successful businessman….. This is not my job to do! The maid should do it! ” On the contrary, you should jump at the opportunity and grab the garbage and take it out. Not only you’ve pleased your wife, but you’ll look good in the eyes of Hashem too!

Shabbat Shalom and Regards;

Martin