In Memory of our beloved David Schwartz, who fell in battle sanctifying God’s name, on 27 Tevet, 5784 (8 January 2024).
“Le’David Barchi Nafshi” is a compilation of essays written on the weekly Torah reading by David Schwartz, of blessed memory. First published on the occasion of his marriage to Meital, David’s unique Torah thoughts that delve into the depths of the Torah are shared now to elevate his memory and sanctify his soul.
The parsha opens with the rituals that took place on Yom Kippur in the mikdash, and then deals with the unique laws of slaughter outside the Temple, alongwith the mitzvah to cover blood of a slaughtered animal, and the laws of prohibited sexual relationships.
Due to our nation’s past sins, the Temple was destroyed, and therefore these commandments are not practiced today, but they remain very relevant for study purposes. As the sages in the Talmud tell us (Berachot 8a): “From the day on which the Temple was destroyed, God has in His world only the four cubits of halakha.”
After detailing these commandments, the Torah concludes with a general command: “You shall observe My decrees and My judgments, which man shall carry out and live by them - I am the Lord.”
I will attempt with the help of God to explain the essential meaning of this mitzvah and its modern relevance. In the verse, Leviticus 18:5, it says “and live by them.” Rashi explains: “And live by them, in the world to come. For if you say that our verse refers to life in this world, is it not man’s destiny to die?”
Great authorities have explained that this essentially means that here God tells us to dedicate our life to the observance of the commandments and laws of the Torah in order to merit life in the world to come, as that is the ultimate purpose of man’s creation. R. Moshe Chaim Luzzato in his “Paths of the Upright” writes, “We see then that the fundamental purpose of man in this work is to fulfill the commandments.” I will attempt to offer another view on this.
We see today that people display their religiosity in diverse ways.
Sometimes we see people who might be experts in the major law code of the Shulchan Aruch (completed in Safed, 1563) and who might pay extra attention to performing the minor commandments of the Torah alongside the prominent commandments, but then, sadly, it happens that these same individuals who are meticulous about Divine commandments might overlook interpersonal commandments governing social responsibilities in their zeal to perform a particular mitzvah.
On the other hand, sometimes we see people who are careful to honor their fellow man, providing assistance at every opportunity, but who might not be so attentive to performing the commandments of the Torah relating to God.
In a yeshiva setting, we sometimes see the first phenomenon of meticulous attention to the minor commandments manifest itself very clearly. Yeshiva students might glorify themselves with tzitzit strings of blue techelet wool, and then be stringent enough to have long sidelocks (Hebrew, peyot) but they may go along and cut corners in their attention to commandments that govern respectful behavior between people. Certainly it goes without saying that it is wonderful to glorify God with spiritual practices such as these, but I want to make clear that there may be a cost that comes along with these stringencies. The holy Besh”t (the Baal Shem Tov, 1698-1760 ) warned of the dangers of excessive concern for needless stringencies. “Do not be overly meticulous in your actions,” the Besht said, “as this is the intention of the Yetzer haRa (the evil inclination) to cause man to worry excessively about whether he has fulfilled the commandments and thereby one could fall into sadness.”
These stringencies could also drag a person into a tense mental status, which might linger with him at the specific time of performing the mitzvah and more broadly after that.
But the other side of this is also not desirable, as there are other times when you might meet Jews who are not interested at all in these diverse expressions of Judaism, or who might not even care about the particulars of Jewish law. Sometimes they may be just doing the mitzvah by rote because that was the way they grew up, but they don’t see anything of value in it. On complex and sensitive religious issues, they might just ignore the [halakhic] issues at hand. However, this second group might be very careful to observe commandments of an interpersonal nature, demonstrating great concern for their neighbors.
Obviously in each of these two scenarios a quality is lacking. The first group of people show a lack of regard for other human beings while the second group lacks appropriate regard for sacred commandments from God. The Torah in its profound way was attentive to these phenomena and warned: “Man shall carry out the commandments and live by them.”
As we are well aware, we do not know the reward for fulfilling a specific mitzvah, so cannot know what merit comes from wearing wool tzitzit compared to fulfilling a mitzvah of tzedaka. The great second century sage known as Rebbi (Rabbi Judah HaNasi) taught: “And be careful with a minor mitzvah as you would with a major one, because you don’t know the reward that is given for fulfillment of various commandments.” Rebbi did not distinguish between different types of commandments. We need to fulfill the commandments with a complex perspective for balancing the needs of communal life along with an integration of the other side of religious values.
What it seems like is that the Torah in its vast wisdom is concerned with phenomena that teach us how to fulfill the commandments in our time. “You shall observe My decrees and My judgments, which man shall carry out and live by them, I am the Lord.” A person is obligated to observe all the words of the Torah and to be attentive to a mitzvah whether it seems to be a minor commandment or major one.
Parallel to this, specifically because of the concern for dangers of excess religious expression, the Torah writes, “which man shall carry out and live by them.” As Jewish people we need to be attentive at all times to see whether our fulfillment of commandments is not doing damage to society, that our neighbors are not harmed through our actions - as it says, “and you shall live by them.” One cannot fulfill a mitzvah without considering this ideal of the will of God. God desires that man fulfill the commandments as he looks at the social needs of those around him, at the life experiences of his neighbors.
It is worthwhile to mention here the remarkable story of Pinchas ben Yair in tractate Peah of the Jerusalem Talmud. There, it states that he was on the way to learn Torah in the House of Assembly when the River Ginai overflowed. He needed to cross the River Ginai to reach his destination. So he addressed the river and said: “Ginai, Ginai, why do you prevent me from going to the House of Assembly? I need to learn Torah and you are standing in my path.” Thereupon, the river split so that he crossed it on dry land. His students who were with him saw what he did and asked him, “May we cross also?” He answered, “He who knows that he himself has never slighted a Jew even once may cross and will not be harmed.”
There is a wonderful lesson here. Pinchas ben Yair did not say that the person who resists temptations should be able to cross the river. Nor did he say that the student who knows the Talmud by heart may cross the river. He also didn’t request that the students enhance a mitzvah or "build fences" around a mitzvah. For that matter, he didn’t say any student who has never sinned can cross the river - something which actually would be a lofty achievement. Those actions were not what caused a change in the laws of nature.
It was the student who had never scorned or belittled a person who crossed through the water. The great wisdom is always found with he who can strengthen the two sides, integrating the fear of heaven and Torah learning with the actions of social responsibility. To conclude with the words from Kohelet, “It is best to grab hold of one side while still keeping a hand with a grip on the other, for one who fears God will fulfill his duty in everything (Ecclesiastes 7:18).”
Translated by Akiva Herzfeld.