Divrei Nasso
Inauguration and Rejuvenation
Most of this week’s parsha is devoted to the korbanos given by the Nesiim, the leaders of the shvatim, at the inauguration of the Mizbayach in the Mishkan. Says HaRav Shimson Dovid Pincus zt”l, in history, there are four chanukos habayis for a dirah tachtonah, dedications for a home for Hashem in this lowest of all worlds. The Chanukas HaMishkan was the first, then came dedications for the First and Second Batei HaMikdash, and then, bimheyrah biyameynu, we will witness the chanukas habayis for the third and final Bais HaMikdash. All possess a common thread – a hora’as sha’ah, a temporary halachic ruling suspending the normal rules of korbanos. For example, the offerings of ketores, spice-offerings, are normally brought only by the tzibbur; but when the Torah lists the korbanos brought by the Nesiim, it mentions that they brought ketores – individual spice-offerings, an unheard-of concept. Furthermore, the sin-offerings that every Nasi brought were voluntary, whereas a sin-offering is usually an obligation that one has. What’s more the Gemara (Moed Koton 9a) notes that the Nesiim brought their presents, including these unusual korbanos, on Shabbos, when it is normally forbidden to bring individual offerings.
This trend continues with the three Batei HaMikdash. The Navi (Divrei HaYamim 2:7:7) states, “And Shlomo sanctified the midst of the courtyard that was before the House of Hashem.” The Gemara (Zevachim 59a) brings two explanations of this posuk: first, that Shlomo sanctified the floor of the Courtyard, thus making it fit to use as an altar for the many korbanos he was to bring; and second, that he expanded the mizbayach itself. Both of these actions are not found anywhere else in the entire Tanach. What’s more, the Gemara (Moed Koton 9a) mentions that the entire Jewish people feasted, not fasted, on that year’s Yom Kippur, which came out during the two weeks of Shlomo’s Chanukas HaBayis.
The inauguration of the Bayis Sheni follows this trend. The Gemara (Temurah 15b and Horios 6a) notes that the returnees from Bavel brought sin-offerings to atone for the idol-worship that occurred during trhe reign of Tzidkiyahu, the last king of Yehuda. The Gemara asks, “Sin offerings only atone for unintentional sins. This idol-worship was intentional!” Answers the Gemara, “It was a hora’as sha’ah.” In other words, for one time only, sin-offerings accomplished something they had never done before: atonement for deliberate sins.
While we do not yet possess all the details of the Bayis Shlishi, we do have some information, much of it brought in Sefer Yechezkhel. He says that during the inauguration of that Temple’s Mizbayach, “On the second day, you shall offer an unblemished he-goat for a sin-offering, and they [the Cohanim] shall cleanse the Altar as they had cleansed it with the bull.” (43:22), Rashi there says that this offering is a hora’as sha’ah, that it never occurred in either the Mishkan or in either of the two previous Batei Mikdash.
Chazal tell us that this concept has a source in Scripture. When Shlomo HaMelech described the inauguration of the Mishkan, he used the language, “Achalti Yaari Im Divshi,” (Shir HaShirim 5”1) which translates literally as, “I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey.” Rashi explains that normally one sucks on a honeycomb to get the honey, then discards the honeycomb. Sometimes, however, one loves the taste of the honey so much that he loses some self-control and gobbles the honey while it is still in the honeycomb -- what is fit and what is not fit, together. Likewise, at these Chanukos HaBayis, I, Hashem, have so much love for Klal Yisroel that I have accepted all their offerings – those that are fit and those, such as individual ketores offerings on Shabbos, that are not.
What brings out such Divine love that halachah at these inaugurations can be suspended? First, we need to understand a fundamental concept of the nature of this world, says Rav Pincus. The Midrash (Breishis Rabbah 12:15) brings a mashal: A king possessed some empty, fragile vessels and desired to fill them. He worried: “If I put hot water in them, they are liable to burst; but if I put cold water in them, they could easily shatter.” What did he do? He mixed the hot and cold together, poured them in, and the vessels held. Likewise, this world receives a mixture of Hashem’s strict justice and His kindliness. However, Olam chesed yibaneh, a world built upon constantly receiving the flow of Hashem’s goodness, is Hashem’s true desire. He wants to give and give and give, without end. On the other hand, because we who dwell in this world can accept only so much, He brings in the Midas HaDin, which puts laws and boundaries upon Hashem’s own chesed.
The root of the creation of this world, however, is chesed, which itself is rooted in ahavah; therefore, when Hashem decided to create the world, a great outpouring of chesed and ahavah accompanied every facet of maaseh breishis.
Likewise, every time we have built and will build – three times in the past and one in the future – a dwelling for Hashem in this world, we have accessed this outpouring of Divine chesed and ahavah. Because the Midas HaDin has no primary part of the projects, its rules and boundaries do not apply as strongly. Therefore, bringing individual ketores offerings on Shabbos could happen at the Chanukas HaBayis of the Mishkan, and the altar area could be temporarily enlarged at the Chanukas HaBayis of the First Bais HaMikdash.
However, says Rav Pincus, we do not have to wait for the Geulah Shleimah to partake of this spiritual bounty. In fact, every time that we undertake a new endeavor, we also can access this well-rooted power of pure chesed and ahavah. While we certainly cannot justify any changes in halacha, we can be assured that according to the act and to our degree of motivation, we will merit Divine chesed and ahavah to help us bring our project to success. The ideal way to go through life, he says, is to always have some new project – be it a completely new endeavor or a plan to rejuvenate a current undertaking -- in mind, if not in action.
When Chazal warned us, “Kol haschalos kashos – all beginnings are difficult” they were referring to the inevitable backlash of the Yetzer Harah to any new project. The Yetzer certainly is aware of the potential outpouring of goodness that can come with any new endeavor, and of course he does his assigned job, which is to try to thwart it. If, however, we are aware of the Yetzer Harah and therefore can expect those mishaps that regularly occur at the beginning of every project to happne, then we can deal with them and overcome them.
One does not necessarily have to plan an independent project to access the chesed and ahavah. In actuality, every day is an opportunity for hischadshus, to renew oneself. Therefore, says Rav Pincus, the reason that we say “Mizmor Shir Chanukas HaBayis” at the beginning of davening every morning is that we can transform that moment into a time of hischadshus, by making the effort to infuse our davening with fresh kavanah.
Perhaps one might think, “Fine. I’ll take advantage of the system. Every day, I will start a new learning project, ride the chesed and ahavah, then abandon it that afternoon!” Aside from its absurdity, this sort of thinking reflects the last mishnah in Yuma, which states, “One who fancies, ‘I’ll sin and do teshuvah, I’ll sin and do teshuvah’ – he receives no Divine assistance to do teshuvah.” Here, as well, one who looks for spiritual loopholes will find them tightly filled. The old business adage applies here: Success, plus complacency, equal failure.
Waters of Peace
The Torah (BaMidbar 5:14) describes the beginning of the process of the Sotah, the wayward wife: “And a spirit of jealousy passed over him [her husband] and he warned his wife [not to seclude herself with another man].” Should she defy him, the Torah then brings a procedure to restore their marriage, if possible. We do not have the Sotah mitzvoh today, but we do have the wisdom of the Torah, as this maaseh shows.
A century ago, Fuad, the king of Egypt, was touring with his wife, the queen, and the royal retinue. They came to a fresh, bubbling spring. The queen, who had become hot and tired from the travel, asked if she could wash herself in the spring waters. “It isn’t proper for a queen,” replied Fuad. She insisted, he angrily forbade her, but she jumped in anyway.
Upon their return, Fuad’s top officials advised him to divorce and punish the queen. “How dare she disobey His Majesty?” they argued. Fuad loved his queen and was ready to forgive and forget – but they did not let him. After all, they said, a king can never forego his own honor.
Unsure of what to do, Fuad called in Rav Nachum, the Chief Rabbi of Egypt, to find him a way out of this quandary. Rav Nachum in turn wrote to HaRav Yehoshua Leib Diskin, the genius of Brisk, who was then living in Yerushalayim.
Rav Diskin answered, “The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 47a) provides the answer. Normally, a Jew cannot derive benefit from an object that has been worshipped. However, if a spring of water has been worshipped, Jews can still use it, for the water that was in the spring at the time of worship has passed on, and the Jew is using different water. Likewise here: the water that the queen jumped into is different from the water that the king forbade; that water has already gone downstream.”
When Rav Nachum brought Rav Diskin’s reply to King Fuad, not only did the king joyfully accept the answer and keep his queen, but he even elevated Rav Nachum to be his chief advisor, over all his other ministers.