7 minute read
The Time Is Now by Rav Moshe Weinberger
From the Fire Parshas Shoftim The Time is Now
By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
One of the most difficult halachos to learn and understand in the parsha is the halacha of the Eglah Arufah, the procedure when one finds the body of a murdered Jew between two cities. The pasuk (Devarim 31:4) says, “And the elders of that city bring the calf down into Nachal Eisan, which has not been worked or seeded, and break its neck in the valley.” According to the Gemara (Krisus 25a), this calf becomes sanctified such that no one may derive any personal benefit from it as soon as it is brought into the desolate valley called Nachal Eisan. In the words of the Gemara, “its descent into Nachal Eisan causes it to become forbidden.” Indeed, the Rambam (Hilchos Rotzeach 10:6) rules according to that Gemara.
This halacha is ostensibly related to one of the major disputes found throughout the Talmud; whether designating something for a certain purpose gives it the status it would have if the purpose for which it had been designated had already been carried out. For example, the Gemara (Sanhedrin 47b) recounts a dispute between Abaye and Rava: if one weaves a garment (a burial shroud) for a body, Abaye, based on the halacha that the calf becomes forbidden once it is brought into the valley, says that one may not derive any benefit from the garment because its designation as a burial shroud gives it the same status it would have if it had already been actually used as a burial shroud. Rava, however, says that it is permitted because its designation for a purpose does not give it the status it would have as if the purpose for which it was designated had already been carried out.
The Gemara later (Id. at 48a) offers a beraisa (proof text from the time period of the codification of the Mishna) for Abaye’s position that designation does indeed give an object the same status it will have once its designated purpose is carried out; “If one digs a grave for his father and then goes and buries him in a different grave, [the first grave] may never be used by anyone.” The Gemara, however, dismisses this proof by responding, “There [the grave is forbidden forever] because of the honor of his father” and not because designation by itself creates a special status. Many commentaries on the Gemara ask about an obvious difficulty with this answer. A son’s obligation to honor his father can explain why the son cannot use the first grave for anyone else. But it does not explain why the grave is forbidden for everyone else as well!
Abaye originally derived the rule that designation for a purpose gives an object its final status from the halacha of the Eglah Arufah, the procedure involving the breaking of the neck of the calf, from which it is forbidden to derive any benefit once the calf is brought down to Nachal Eisan. Rav Shimon Schwab, however, explains that Rava, who permits the first grave dug by the son, holds that the halacha of the calf’s descent into Nachal Eisan does not demonstrate that designation alone gives an object any special status. According to Rav Schwab, one may not derive any benefit from the calf as soon as it is brought into Nachal Eisan because the process of its mitzvah had already begun, and not because the calf had been merely designated for the mitzvah. Bringing the calf into the Nachal Eisan was not merely a designation for a mitzvah. Rather, it was the beginning of the mitzvah itself. That is why it was forbidden. According
to Rava, therefore, the halacha of the calf does not support the position that designation alone (without beginning the actual process of a mitzva) confers any special status on an object.
Similarly, Rav Schwab explains that because a son has a mitzvah to bury his father, the process of digging the grave is not merely a designation of a grave for a mitzvah to be performed later. Rather, once he began digging, the mitzvah of burial had already begun, such that the grave had the status of a grave like any other, and one may not derive personal benefit from it.
Rav Schwab’s explanation of the dispute between Abaye and Rava has tremendous implications for our outlook on life and this world. According to the Mishna in Pirkei Avos (4:21), “Rabi Yaakov says, ‘This world is compared to an antechamber before entering the World to Come. Prepare yourself in the antechamber in order that you may enter into the banquet hall.” With the principle established by Rav Schwab, we can now understand that when the Mishna says to “prepare” oneself in the antechamber, it does not simply mean that one should prepare himself now for something that will happen later. Rather, it means that we should begin living a next-worldly life right now, in this world.
We now understand why the Gemara in many places says that if one does certain good things, he is considered a ben Olam Haba, a person of the World to Come; not that he will inherit the
World to Come in the future, but that he is already a person of the World to Come in this world. For example, in various places, Chazal say that one who delights in Shabbos, who conquers his evil inclination, who does good for others, or who distances himself from falsehood is called a ben Olam Haba, a person of the World to Come. The World to Come is the world of Truth. Therefore, when a person begins preparing himself for the next world by living according to the truth in this world, he is already counted among the bnei heichila d’laeila, members of the chamber above, a person of the World to Come.
The pasuk in Tehillim 116:9 says, “I will walk before Hashem in the land of the living.” What does “the land of the
living” refer to? While it may sound as if this refers to the World to Come, which is the “land” of eternal life, according to the Gemara (Yuma 71a), it refers to the marketplaces of this world! When a person conquers his evil inclination, increases his emunah, and speaks and lives the truth, then he is a ben Olam Haba, one how lives in the World to Come while conducting business in the marketplace of Olam Hazeh.
As we stand now in the month of Elul, we now understand that Elul is not merely a time to prepare for the upcoming Yomim Noraim, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Now is the time to live in the the land of living as if it is already Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur right now.
The secret to truly living is seeing every day not as a mere precursor to something else, but as the destination where Hashem wants us to live in the world of truth in the here and now. In the merit of our living according to the truth of the World to Come right now, may Hashem bring the day when the world of truth will be revealed for all to see in this world with the coming of Moshiach, may it be soon in our days.
Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.
Landscaping & Hardscaping
C O M M E R C I A L A N D R E S I D E N T I A L Design-Build-Maintain Patios, Driveways & Walkways Outdoor Kitchens, Fireplaces & Fire Pits Playing Courts & Putting Greens Landscape Design & Water Features Artificial Turf & Install Specialists Green: Spaces, Roofs & Architecture
