B"H "Path Markers" Tzav: By: Yaacov Silverstein e@mail: hm16@popeye.cc.biu.ac.il HomePage: http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~hm16/ Year: 5761 This Years Parsha Series is prepared in the memory and merit of my grandfathers: Rav Yitzchak Zev Ben Yisroel Mordechai Hakohen Solomon Z"L Rav Chaim Meir Ben Yakov Silverstein Z"L *****^^^^^^^***** Get Ready for Pesach and Birchat Ilanot!!! http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~hm16 I hope to send a special Pesach edition before Pesach B"H. Pasuk (6:3) "The Kohen shall don his fitted(Mido) Tunic, and he shall don linen breeches on his flesh..." The first few chapters of this week's Parsha deal with the offerings which were mentioned in the previous chapters. In this Parsha, we see that the Torah is addressing itself to Aharon and his sons, and teaches them additional laws that relate to their sacrificial service. In our Pasuk, we see that there is mention of two priestly garments. The Talmud (Zevachim 17b) however, derives that a Kohen's service is invalid unless he wears all four of his required vestments. The fitted linen Tunic (Mido Baad), which the Kohen wore, is called the Ketonet. The Ketonet had to be fitted (Mido) according to the size of the individual Kohen. The Vilna Gaon explains that we can explain from these words that the Middot (individual character traits) of a person, should be like a garment, cut to his measure. He explains that a person must mold his Middot and turn them into holiness. Each Midah that a person has, is comprised of good and bad. On the one hand a person is not allowed to be jealous of another person, yet when one is jealous for the sake of G-d (like by Pinchas), that is good. If we take a look at the 365 negative commandments, we will not find any reference to the Middot. For unlike the negative commandments, that one must refrain from completely, with Middot one must change the negative use to a positive one. Conventional wisdom is that the Torah teaches us how to develop and refine our character traits. Rabbi Yeruchum Levovitz states that, "Torah and wisdom are not the remedy for objectionable traits, but just the reverse. When one refines his Middot, only then does one acquire the Torah". In order for one to benefit from Torah, one must first make himself into a suitable receptacle to receive it. When the Bnei Yisrael said by Mount Sinai, "Naase V'Nishma" (We will do and we will listen), one may ask the obvious question, how can one do before he hears what he should do? According to Rabbi Y. Levovitz we can explain that one must first act to attain the correct character traits, and then become a vessel which can hold the Torah. As the Talmud states (Uktzin 3:12), that Shalom (Peace), is the only vessel which can contain Torah. We must attain traits which are conducive to Shalom, such as: being kind and helping others, forgiving, apologizing, not wanting other's property, avoid speaking bad about others... By correcting our character traits, we are not only making ourselves into better people, we are also acquiring and retaining Torah in ourselves, and we are contributing to our very survival and warding off any harm coming towards us. Rabbi E. Dessler gives a slightly different opinion on how to conquer these bad traits, by explaining that one can accomplish this goal by occupying oneself with Torah. When one's interest lies solely in Torah, one would find no interest in the negative aspects of his Middot. Thus, these negative aspects will slowly lose their potency and have little if no affect on the person. Yet, this solution seems to fit best for those who occupy all their time studying the Torah. Whether we change our character traits through immense Torah study, or we change our character traits and then we study the Torah, we see from this, that a person can be whatever he/she wishes to be. When we are talking about improving our Middot, what do we mean by an improvement? In order to improve ourselves, we must first know what the function of a person is in this world. If one feels that his goal in this world is to amass great physical strength or great wealth, then one would consider self-improvement, when he gets bigger muscles or greater wealth. The implementation of the capacity of self-improvement is dependent on what one accepts as one's goal in life, thus the desired changes in life, are those that would help him get closer to his goal. Since we know that the ultimate goal of a Jew is achieved through performance of Mitzvos, thus self-improvement will consist of those changes that would enhance the performance of Mitzvos. ( Adapted from Artscroll Chumash, Strive for Truth, Dearer then Life, Twersky on Spirituality 48) --------***********-------- A special Thank You to my mother for checking & correcting the first DT draft. A special Thank You to Project Genesis - http://www.torah.org for hosting this list. If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list send a blank email to the following address: --------***********--------