To Be, Or Not To Be (Parashat Chukat)

Before I became Principal of my current Yeshiva, I was a Rebbe there for approximately three years.  During that time, I was notorious to the students as the "chilled out Rabbi" who was always willing to lend a hand and help get a student out of trouble.  This was, I believe, a great part of my success with students during that time.  Unfortunately, when I gave up my position as Rebbe to accept the leadership role of Principal in the very same Yeshiva, my relationship with the students - by default - changed as well.  Baruch Hashem, I still maintain a very good relationship with majority of the students - but being that it is my role to discipline, I am no longer perceived as the "chilled out Rabbi" (though I still manage to find a way).

It seems to be the nature of society to dislike the leader.  No matter what he or she is really like as a person, we often assume leaders to be mean and against us - so we choose to stay away from them.  Despite this, however, it also seems to be the nature of society to strive for leadership roles.  The title of "leader" is highly coveted and considered to be very chashuv.  I find it very interesting that people are so willing to be disliked simply so that they can be called "leader."

In this weeks parasha, Aaron teaches us a profound lesson on what our priorities in life should actually be...

After hitting the rock rather than speaking to it as instructed by Hashem, Moshe and Aaron are told that they will not merit entering Israel with the rest of the nation.  Hashem tells Moshe to take Aaron and his son Elazar up to Mount Hor.  Once there, Moshe was to take the holy garments off of Aaron and put them on Elazar after which Aaron would die.  The men do as they are told and Moshe and Elazar descend from the mountain.  "The entire assembly saw that Aaron had perished, and they wept for Aaron thirty days, the entire House of Israel."  Rashi explains "the Entire house of Israel" to mean "the men and the women, for Aaron would pursue peace and instill love between parties to a quarrel and between a man and his wife."

So many of us are focused on achieving the leadership role and being disliked.  Aaron had a different mission.  Aaron's goal was not to be leader - let Moshe handle that.  Instead, Aaron's life was dedicated to helping others succeed and be happy.  Indeed, for doing so he was rewarded with a leadership role of his own - Kohen Gadol.  He did not strive for or earn this role however - rather, he deserved it.

May we all take a lesson from Aaron that more important than being the leader is helping others and may we all make it our goal to do so.  In accomplishing this, may we be zoche to see the coming of Mashiach speedily in our days!

Shabbat Shalom!

From Zero To Hero (Parashat Korach)

"As for the fire-pans of these sinners against their souls - they shall make them hammered-out sheets as a covering for the Altar, for they offered them before Hashem, so they became holy; they shall be a sign to the Children of Israel"

In this weeks parasha, Korach and some 250 men come before Moshe and Aaron to challenge their roles as leaders of Klal Yisrael.  Moshe instructs them to prepare an incense-offering and, according to Rashi, whoever survives it shall be leader.  The men do as Moshe says and the following morning Hashem sends forth a fire that consumes all of them.  Afterward, Hashem instructs Moshe to tell Elazar to take the fire-pans and convert them to metal sheets which will be used for the Altar.  There is, however, a strangeness about this incident....

As quoted above, Hashem refers to the fire-pans as being "of these sinners against their souls."  If He acknowledges that they were, indeed, so evil - why would they merit to have their utensils used as part of the Altar?  One of my esteemed rebbeim - Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky - once recounted the following incident during class:

While davening mincha on a Shabbat afternoon, the gartel (belt) for the Torah ripped as it was being closed up.  Without hesitating, a fellow congregant pulled his tie off and offered it as a replacement.  When Shabbat was over, the gentelman returned to reclaim his tie.  The Rav of the shul saw him and asked "what are you doing?"  "I'm getting my tie back" answered the man. "No, no" replied the Rav, "that isn't your tie anymore.  When you placed it on the Sefer Torah, it became kadosh (holy).  It's not a tie anymore - it's a gartel now.  I'm afraid you cannot have it back."

Often times, people genuinely want to grow in their practice and devotion to Hashem but they are held back by the thoughts of their past - insisting that it is impossible for someone like them to be religious or to be accepted.  Countless students have said to me over the years "Rabbi, how can I be religious?"  In truth, their argument makes sense!  It is human nature for us to judge a person based on their past.  If we know that a person was once a thief, we will think twice about leaving them alone in our house.  Of course, there is also the well-known expression regarding dating "once a cheater, always a cheater."  Society does not allow a person to break free of who they used to be!

Hashem, however, is not society!!  As we see in Parashat Korach, despite who/where the fire-pans came from and despite their horrific reason for being used in the first place, we are told "they offered them before Hashem, so they become holy."  Even something as simple as a tie was able to achieve a level of holiness once it was placed on the Sefer Torah.  If a fire-pan and a garment can achieve kedushah (holiness), how much more so can a person who - as the Torah states - was made in the image of G-d?

The pasuk goes on to explain that the "sign to the Children of Israel" is that anyone who is not a descendant of Aaron cannot being an incense-offering.  Rashi explains that the sign is a reminder of what happens to those who dispute the priesthood.

I would like to offer a third possibility.

Perhaps, the sign is a reminder to us that - despite our past - anybody who offers himself to Hashem can become "a part of the Altar".  Anyone who wants to can be holy.

May we all realize our potential for greatness as Jews and may we not be held back by "who we were" rather always looks forward to "who we can be."  In doing so, may we merit to see the coming of Mashiach speedily in our days!

Shabbat Shalom!!