A Thought on Parshas Maasei

"...ad mos HaKohen HaGadol..." "...until the death of the Kohen Gadol..." (35:25) In Biblical times, a person guilty of manslaughter was exiled into one of the Cities of Refuge. He remained there until his death or until the death of the ranking Kohen Gadol who had been serving in the Bais HaMikdash at the time of the killing. Many interpretations have been offered as to the connection between this murderer (albeit inadvertently so) and that Kohen Gadol. How is it that the murderer must remain exiled until that Kohen Gadol passes away? Rashi offers two thoughts, one being that the role of the High Priest is to bring a sense of the Divine down to the nation so that they lead long lives of holiness, whereas this murderer has done the opposite by adding to the disharmony and agony of HaShem's people. Thus, the murderer does not deserve to live among the rest of the nation who adhere to the sacred mission of that Kohen Gadol. He is released and given a fresh start once that Kohen Gadol passes on. Rashi's second thought puts the focus not on the murderer but on the Kohen Gadol himself. He should have prayed that nothing so unfortunate - such as this killing - occur during his tenure. Therefore.......unfortunately Rashi ends his comment there, which in turn has led to many interpretations as to what Rashi's second thought was. The Panae'ach Raza suggests that the concept here is that there is a symbiosis between these two figures and the events which occur. On the one hand, the Kohen Gadol sought to bring about a nation at peace in its interpersonal and its spiritual dealings. This killer tarnished that mission and this had an effect on Jewish society. There might be murmurings, once the exiled killer was released back into society, that this Kohen Gadol might seek revenge and somehow attempt to mete out additional punishment to the man who made his mission of peace imperfect. However, the Torah blocks such thinking by keeping the killer in exile until the Kohen Gadol dies. Once he is replaced by his successor, people will not gossip about a revenge conspiracy since the incoming Kohen Gadol had nothing to do with the events which occurred during his predecessor's reign. In contrast, this Kohen Gadol still needed to reflect - there is a premise in Rabbinic lore that whatever cases, questions or difficulties occur during the tenure of a Torah leader (including a Kohen Gadol), they are a reflection on him and on his own personal and spiritual issues. Thus, there is a reason why HaShem will see to it that a particular crisis, or tragedy or complication arises in the course of a particular person being in charge. Since the manslaughter happened during the tenure of this particular Kohen Gadol, he needed to contemplate wherein he may have been lacking in his own spiritual stature. Why did a tragedy occur in Israel during the time when he was the ranking spiritual force of the nation? One should not say that this was all the "karma" of the killer or of his unintended victim. It also had something to do with the Kohen Gadol at some spiritual level (not insofar as responsibility, guilt or blame but with regards to the synchronicity involved). It was not for naught that HaShem intended this tragedy to cloud the otherwise peaceful and sanctified existence that this Kohen Gadol strived for. The nation itself likely fretted over the tragedy and pondered whether there was something amiss among their spiritual leadership. Thus, the Kohen Gadol lived out his own days in a form of spiritual shackles, introspective about what role he may have had, not in the killing, but in HaShem wanted him to see that his years of devoted service to G-d and nation were not entirely perfect. With the death of the Kohen Gadol, his ultimate personal atonement was achieved, and this meant that life could resume its normal course, even for the man convicted of involuntary manslaughter. This week, when missiles flew over Bnei B'rak, the Gaon Rav Chaim Kanievsky shlit'a made a statement. People were expecting him somehow to implicate the modern city of Tel Aviv next door and how their more relaxed level of Judaism was "the cause" for that attack. However, he declared that the residents of Bnei B'rak were the ones who needed to do repentant introspection: if the event was happening to them, HaShem had it happen for purposes which pertained to each resident. Nothing is for naught. No thing is coincidental. If I strive to have a good life and something distressing interferes with my plans, there is a purpose in that. HaShem wanted me to experience that inconvenience and to grow from it. Good Shabbos. D Fox