Finding Simcha in the Simcha

Parshat TAZRIA-Metzora

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Someone commented online that for the first time, rabbis will have something to relate the parsha to, with so many people experiencing isolation. It’s certainly a cute comment, but I don’t think it’s particularly true. The experience of the Metzora is a far cry from what we are doing. Honestly, for us to really experience the Metzora we’d have to have true isolation – no phone, no Zoom, no facetime, no posting or commenting on things on the Internet. And we’d have to not be living at home with our family – but instead be in a tent on the outskirts of town. 

And honestly, the Lashon Hora is still going on. Nasty posts online, nasty comments, calling anyone in government that we don’t agree with names, or people in other (or our own) Jewish communities names. We justify it all, of course, because we are right, and THEY ARE WRONG, and their wrongness MUST be called out! 

Actually, the opposite is true. The lesson of Tazria-Metzora and of Lashon Hora is to hold your tongue, and now your fingers on a keyboard, and choose instead to do whatever is possible to uplift and inspire. If you follow or listen to people on the Internet who do not uplift and inspire, and who foment hatred towards others, or who call those they disagree with names, it is time to stop following those people. As we are finding, life is too short to be dominated by those who are not lifting us up and inspiring us. 

More to the point indicated in the title – the parsha begins telling us about when a woman gives birth. If it’s a boy, “On the eighth day he is to be circumcised.” (12:3) Note how the Torah does not say to spend $20,000 serving mountains of food (where the extras will go to waste), hiring a DJ, hiring a photographer and videographer – it says only to circumcise the child. 

Far be it from me to tell people how their money should be spent. And certainly there is great merit to honoring a mitzvah such as Bris Milah. Particularly when we consider the sacrifice that many Jews in history had to undergo to make sure to maintain Bris Milah in our ranks, it is entirely understandable why some of us would go more than all out to celebrate and to honor the bris. (Note how a distinction is being made between honoring the mitzvah, and celebrating the birth. Anyone can (and should!) make an appropriate celebration of the birth of a girl as well as a boy. The bris celebration is a celebration of a great mitzvah, and not the celebration of the birth of a boy specifically.) 

Do we honor other mitzvahs that we had to sacrifice to maintain in the same way we honor Bris Milah? If we do – wonderful. If we don’t, why don’t we? And if we shouldn’t, then why is this mitzvah honored more than others? While I don’t have the answer to that question, I can share with you a powerful lesson I have seen in the last few weeks. 

Because of quarantining, brisses are taking place in private. Family may be on Zoom, but the only people present at the bris are the immediate family and the mohel. “And on the eighth day, he is circumcised.” Just like the Torah says. No bagels, no blintzes, no omelet stations, no French toast, no salads, cheesecakes, no mini pastries, no cappuccino stations. 

Sometimes, simplicity is the most beautiful celebration of all. Parents are finding that the joy in having the simcha comes less from being a host to a party that is over in an hour, but in realizing that we are doing this – even in privacy – because we are part of the Jewish people. That realization gives us strength, and brings a kind of joy that is often lost amid the pomp. People are still sharing their simcha! But then they turn off the computer, and bask in the joy that comes from being surrounded by those who need to share this moment together most of all: Mother, Father, their other children, and God, to Whom we owe the gratitude of all joy we experience in our lives.

An Opportunity For a Wonderful Minhag

This was written the first week post-Pesach in 2020, year of COVID-19. For those looking for Divrei Torah on Shmini, you can find them here: http://arabbiwithoutacause.blogspot.com/p/vayikra.html
There is a single page dedicated to the thoughts I've had about Nadav and Avihu, whose deaths are presented in our parsha. 
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Pirkei Avos

by Rabbi Avi Billet

One of my most cherished memories of my camping days was Shabbos afternoons Pirkei Avos. There is a custom to read a new chapter of Pirkei Avos (Ethics of the Fathers) at Mincha time from Pesach until Shavuos, one chapter a week. 6 chapters, 6 weeks, simple enough. 

There is an extended version of this custom, to learn Pirkei Avos in this weekly fashion, a chapter a week, all the way until Rosh Hashana. Obviously camp followed this latter view, and so we had a session each week. Depending on if it was a rabbi or one of the counselors running the session would determine if we would be more learning focused or story focused, but the camp gave us the time to actually read through the chapter. 

I recall Artscroll’s youth edition of the Pirkei Avos, illustrated and explained, in a manner that was most relatable. While I don’t have a photographic memory, there are elements of recall which are quite vivid, and the images from that book sweep right back into my mind when revisiting Pirkei Avos. 

The last chapter of Pirkei Avos is not mishnayos. It is actually braysos – also Tannaitic statements. The fact that it was attached to Avos is instructive, but really put Avos on the map for this custom of reading it from Pesach until Shavuos. The last chapter focuses on “Kinyan Torah,” on the many ways that a person can best acquire Torah knowledge, and commit to Torah practices. As such, it is a most befitting chapter to study just before the holiday of Shavuos, the holiday of receiving the Torah. 

The notion behind repeating this practice for 4 cycles until Rosh Hashana is to help us get into a more proper frame of mind and behavior when contemplating Elul, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Teshuva. Pirkei Avos has simplicity in its instruction that even a child can relate to. Yet it also has great depth in it, which is why it has so much commentary on it, so much explanation attached to its profound lessons. 

Shammai Taught, “Make your Torah regular, say little and do much, and greet everyone with a pleasant countenance.” Was he saying to have a regular time for study? Was he saying to make Torah regulate your habits? Was he suggesting that instead of talking so much we should focus on tasks at hand, or make goals that should be met? Was he saying that the most important way to present ourselves to people was, first and foremost, looking pleasant and untroubled? (All of these are challenges!) 

Shimon taught, “I grew up amongst the scholars, and the most important trait I learned was silence. Discussion is not as important as action. One who talks too much brings on sin.” 

They’re not saying the same thing, but they are hinting at similar ideals of humility, of action speaking much louder than words, and of growing from the teachings of the scholars. 

Without our walks to and from shul, without our socializing, with davening taking much less time absent a minyan, our Shabbos certainly has much more time in it. Let us avail ourselves of the opportunity our isolation brings us, to take full advantage of the chance to study Pirkei Avos each week. If we keep it up, we will certainly be ready for Shavuos, and we will hopefully be ready for Rosh Hashana, with our middos improved, our respect for our fellow man elevated, and our relationship with God enhanced.

The Fire Should Not Be Extinguished

Parshat Tzav

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Parshas Tzav continues the instructions of the sacrificial order that began the book of Vayikra, describing how a korban olah (completely burnt offering) is to be left on the Mizbeach overnight, to burn through the night. 

אֵ֗שׁ תָּמִ֛יד תּוּקַ֥ד עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֖חַ לֹ֥א תִכְבֶּֽה 

"Thus, there shall be a constant fire kept burning on the altar, without being extinguished.” 

Rashi notes that the fire on the Mizbeach is used to light the fire of the Menorah – both fires are described as being “Tamid” – meaning constant. So, in essence, we are talking about two of the vessels of the Mishkan, each serving a very different purpose, whose mission is to have fire on it at all times. 

There is a notable difference, however, between the fires of the Menorah and the Mizbeach. The Menorah’s fire is oil candles, which means that by definition the candles will go out and will be relit daily. If you’ve ever tried filling an oil candle while it was lit, you know the chances of your new oil putting out the flame is actually high. The candle is MEANT to go out, then be refilled and relit. The connection between the Menorah and the Mizbeach is that the fire used to light the Menorah is supposed to come from the Mizbeach. 

The fire on the Mizbeach is meant to be there always - even on Shabbos, even when people are Tamei and can’t bring Korbanos. (Yerushalmi Yoma 4:6). (Obviously it would have to be put out for travel when the Mizbeach was portable – see Bamidbar 4:13-14, though see the Torah Temimah on Vayikra 6:6 note 45, in which he records a debate in the Yerushalmi quoted above as to whether there was a small fire covered by a small vessel – which God would maintain during travel). 

Two forever fires – one goes out and is revitalized daily, one is there always, no matter what. 

One illuminates a room, one is the source for how service of God is in fact accomplished all the time, always available for anyone who is ready, for good reasons (to bring an Olah, Shlamim, Todah), or for bad (to bring a Chatas or Asham) to demonstrate one’s readiness to submit to the Almighty, either in thanks or in confession while seeking atonement for a wrongdoing. 

As for this latter fire, Alshikh describes its constant readiness in the following way: “From this [constant flame] you can see that spirituality and holiness stands by itself.” 

“Even if the wood is all burned out, and there hasn’t been a chance to put more wood on the fire, it will still not extinguish. And from this you will understand the holiness of this fire, and that it is [more] a spiritual fire [than a physical one], and the holiness of all of the service of the Mizbeach. In this way you’ll understand what is before you, and you’ll rush to do the service, which is the goal of all of this.” 

In the Mishkan, only the kohanim saw the Menorah. And yet the Menorah was considered to be a light of the people – who were instructed in Tetzaveh (and other places) to all contribute to the oil. All of the people were able to see the fire on the Mizbeach, and at the very least could see the smoke from the fire from wherever they may have been. 

Each fire represents our options today as the Jewish people, in particular at this time when our shuls are closed. The Menorah is like a private fire – we have to light our own fire day in and day out. We have to continue to pray – even as we add more things to pray for and think about. We pray for those we know who are ill, and for those we don’t know who are also ill. We pray for our community, our communities, for our state, for the country, for the world. We may gather in a a Zoom “minyan,” but we are still praying alone, and we can pray even and especially after the camera is turned off. 

The fire of the Mizbeach is the fire that is seen by all of the Jewish people, and it is a constant no matter what else is going on. Even when the Mishkan is closed down because of “Tumah,” even when the Mizbeach is largely unused because of Shabbos – the fire remains. 

For us, we have to imagine that our shul still unites us as a community, even when it is closed all week long. People are doing a tremendous amount of Chesed for others, and it is incredible to see. And we must also remember that the fire of our service of God must be maintained even when we’re not using the Mizbeach – the place where serving God takes place. 

As difficult as life is now, we have our homes, we have food, we have the ability to communicate with everyone we need to be in touch with, and we have the ability to tap into resources we never paid much attention to because we also have our Internet access. Now, more than ever, rabbis and teachers are recording – in audio, in video – everything they say. Torah is even more accessible now than ever before. The big challenge is what to click on to listen to or to watch! 

Let us do our part to see that in our own experience we should see that the fire of the Mizbeach is never extinguished. In this and many other merits, may we soon see our efforts rewarded with the end of the virus and a stronger than ever return to the service of the Almighty with the rekindling of the lights in our shul and the fire in our hearts as our community builds upon what we are accomplishing while in isolation.