A thought on Parshas Shmini
"...k'rav el ha'mizbeach...""...come near to the altar..." (9:7)
Moshe seems to beckon to his brother Aharon, Kohen Gadol, that he draw near to the altar and inaugurate the new Mishkan. This was the moment that they, that Klal Yisroel, had been waiting for! We would expect Aharon to be poised for action, needing no cue nor encouragement to take his post. Yet, the verse says that Moshe prompted him to come forth, to draw near. Was there hesitation?
Let's turn to a verse from Psalms (Tehillim 106:20). Dovid HaMelech alludes to the troubles involving our people in the desert, and he references the tragedy of the ma'aseh egel. He refers to it as "tavnis shor" - the "image of the ox." What lurks within that unusual expression?
Rabbeinu Bachya says that Aharon could never forget the role which he had taken in the events which led to the ma'aseh egel. When the Mishkan was finally ready to accept the offerings of Aharon and the nation, he was afraid to enter within. Each time he would look at the altar, he would see tavnis shor - in his imagination, he would "see" the image of the egel.
Reminiscent of Poe's The Telltale Heart or Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray lehavdil, this midrashic insight describes how Aharon could not "shake" the imprint of the egel from his thoughts, and when he contemplated approaching the mizbeach, he (in contemporary terms) would flash back to the scene at that earlier altar in the desert and felt that his acts from that incident would bar forevermore his being acceptable to bring forth an offering to HaShem.
It was this insight into Aharon which prompted Moshe to beckon to his great and holy brother, soothing him, calling him to "come close, draw near" and serve as Kohen Gadol.
There are many times when our own predicaments and our own behavior can shape our perception and grasp of an event. Long afterward, we may experience intrusive thoughts, a bad taste or a fear response as we negotiate facing ourselves, our pasts and attempting to improve upon our errors. Chazal tell us that there is a purposefulness to the mind's retention of past events: v'chatasi negdi tamid says Dovid HaMelech (Tehillim 51:5) - keep a vigilant eye own your mistakes, always. But, HaShem also beckons us to move on. When we have changed our ways, when we have sought pardon for our straying, we are prompted to alter our perception. We look at encounters with past temptations not as reminders of our errors, but as votes of confidence from Above that we are ready for change.
As we revisit the Omer season, we too can face our challenges and set our minds on doing better, on being better. Good Shabbos. D Fox
Moshe seems to beckon to his brother Aharon, Kohen Gadol, that he draw near to the altar and inaugurate the new Mishkan. This was the moment that they, that Klal Yisroel, had been waiting for! We would expect Aharon to be poised for action, needing no cue nor encouragement to take his post. Yet, the verse says that Moshe prompted him to come forth, to draw near. Was there hesitation?
Let's turn to a verse from Psalms (Tehillim 106:20). Dovid HaMelech alludes to the troubles involving our people in the desert, and he references the tragedy of the ma'aseh egel. He refers to it as "tavnis shor" - the "image of the ox." What lurks within that unusual expression?
Rabbeinu Bachya says that Aharon could never forget the role which he had taken in the events which led to the ma'aseh egel. When the Mishkan was finally ready to accept the offerings of Aharon and the nation, he was afraid to enter within. Each time he would look at the altar, he would see tavnis shor - in his imagination, he would "see" the image of the egel.
Reminiscent of Poe's The Telltale Heart or Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray lehavdil, this midrashic insight describes how Aharon could not "shake" the imprint of the egel from his thoughts, and when he contemplated approaching the mizbeach, he (in contemporary terms) would flash back to the scene at that earlier altar in the desert and felt that his acts from that incident would bar forevermore his being acceptable to bring forth an offering to HaShem.
It was this insight into Aharon which prompted Moshe to beckon to his great and holy brother, soothing him, calling him to "come close, draw near" and serve as Kohen Gadol.
There are many times when our own predicaments and our own behavior can shape our perception and grasp of an event. Long afterward, we may experience intrusive thoughts, a bad taste or a fear response as we negotiate facing ourselves, our pasts and attempting to improve upon our errors. Chazal tell us that there is a purposefulness to the mind's retention of past events: v'chatasi negdi tamid says Dovid HaMelech (Tehillim 51:5) - keep a vigilant eye own your mistakes, always. But, HaShem also beckons us to move on. When we have changed our ways, when we have sought pardon for our straying, we are prompted to alter our perception. We look at encounters with past temptations not as reminders of our errors, but as votes of confidence from Above that we are ready for change.
As we revisit the Omer season, we too can face our challenges and set our minds on doing better, on being better. Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 6:48 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home