Our Lifeblood by Rav Moshe Weinberger

Parshas Acharei Mos Our Lifeblood

by rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

Hashem tells us many times in the Torah, “I am Hashem,” but in this week’s parsha (Vayikra 18:5), He adds, with regard to the study of Torah and the fulfillment of the mitzvos, “And you shall live with them, I am Hashem.” The commentaries explain the meaning of the phrase, “And you shall live with them.”

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 74a) explains that it means: “You shall live with them and not die through them.” In other words, if necessary, one must violate any mitzvah in the Torah in order to save a life, with the exception of the prohibitions against idolatry, murder, and immorality. Rashi, however, explains that it means: “And you shall live with them in the World to Come.” The pasuk teaches that if we fulfill the mitzvos we will live not only in this world, but in the Next World as well.

The Netziv in Haemek Davar explains that when the Torah uses the word “chai, life,” it has two possible meanings. Sometimes it simply means “alive,” as opposed to dead. This is the sense of the word “chai, life,” in the pasuk “And you shall live with them,” according to Rashi and the Gemara. The mitzvos should not be a cause of death. In addition, by doing the mitzvos, we merit life in the Next World.

But the word “chai, life,” has another meaning. The Netziv explains that the word for life also means to live a full, whole life that is not mired in small-mindedness. Therefore, he says, with regard to this pasuk, that it obligates us to live a life in which “one’s soul should experience spiritual delight in them [the mitzvos].”

We can experience a taste of this in one of the mitzvos in the parsha which few of us have experienced: the mitzvah to cover the blood of fowl or wild animals after slaughter (Vayikra 17:1314). The Torah tells us, “When one eats a wild animal or fowl, he shall shed its blood and cover it with dirt. Because the soul of all flesh is in its blood...” While the Torah does not usually offer reasons for the mitzvos, here, the Torah says that we cover the blood of a slaughtered bird or wild animal because the animal’s soul is in its blood. The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh explains that the Torah tells us that it is only proper to cover the animal’s blood, because it contains the animal’s soul. He explains that this is similar to the reason why we honor the body of a deceased person, since it recently contained a living soul. The Torah commands us to show respect for the animal’s life by covering its blood.

Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, zt”l, the Mirrer Rosh Yeshiva, uses this Ohr Hachaim to teach us a fundamental concept. When a Jew is about to slaughter a bird or animal, it is certainly a mitzvah and it is justified so that the person can make a living and others can eat. But the act of slaughter nevertheless diminishes the value of life generally. At the time of slaughter of a chicken, for example, its life appears completely insignificant and inconsequential. Therefore, in order to counteract the diminished perception of the value of life which arises from the act of slaughter, Hashem commands us to show some honor and respect for the chicken’s life in order to restore the value and honor of life generally. When a person fulfills the mitzvah of covering the blood, he contemplates the fact that Hashem is so concerned about the value of life, even the life of a seemingly insignificant little bird, that He gave us a special mitzvah in order to instill a respect for the preciousness of life within us. We must understand the value of being alive. Rav Berenbaum takes the lesson to the next level by explaining that once a person contemplates the inherent value of life, he will come to a deeper appreciation of the source of life: the Torah. As we say in Maariv, “Because they [the words of Torah] are our life and the length of our days.” The Torah’s infinite value is not only related to the fact that it comes from and is one with Hashem Himself. It is also the source of our lives. It is what we live for and long for.

The Ran, quoting Rabbeinu Yona (on Nedarim 81a), explains the following statement in the Gemara: “Rav Yehuda says in the name of Rav: ‘What is the meaning of the pasuk “Who is wise who can understand this matter?”’ This matter [the reason for the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdash] was asked of the sages and the prophets, and they could not explain it until Hashem Himself explained it, as it says, ‘Because they abandoned my Torah,’ meaning that they did not listen to My voice, meaning that they did not go in the ways of [the Torah]. Rav Yehuda says in the name of Rav, ‘because they did not make the blessing over learning Torah before they began studying it.’”

How could the Gemara say that the Jewish people did not say the blessing over learning Torah at the time of the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdash when even the simplest Jews say this blessing? In addition, how could the entire destruction and exile result from a failure to say one blessing!?

Rabbeinu Yona, as quoted by the Ran, explains that while the Jewish people may have been studying Torah, they did not value the Torah. They may have said the blessing, but they did not have the right intentions when they did so. They viewed Torah as a source of intellectual stimulation, and they saw knowledge of Torah as a source of honor. Perhaps some studied Torah in order to obtain an ex-

emption from army service, in order to be exempt from paying taxes, or to have greater chances of “getting a good shidduch.” They did not see the Torah as their life, as inherently important. A person can study Torah all day but not see it as his life’s blood. It is not what he lives for, what he looks forward to. Hashem characterizes this attitude as abandonment of the Torah.

Do we think about what we are saying when we say the blessing over studying Torah? We say, “Hashem our G-d, please sweeten the words of the Torah in our mouths.” We thank Hashem that “He choose us from all of the nations, and He gave us His Torah.” Do we feel how blessed and how fortunate we are that we are the ones to whom Hashem gave the Torah?

Hashem gives us a multiple choice test in the Torah. He says (Devarim 30:15, 19), “See, I have placed before you life and good, death and evil...the blessing and the curse...” Like those teachers our children in yeshiva love, Hashem is kind enough to tell us in advance which answer to choose. One might expect that we should choose “good” or “blessing,” but instead, Hashem tells us, “And you shall choose life.”

The key to our work as Jews is seeing the Torah as the source of life. As the Navi (Yeshaya 55:3) says, “Listen and your soul shall live.”

A Jew can be religious and observe the mitzvos, checking off every box in the Orthodox Jewish checklist. But we were chosen for something much bigger. We must live with a vibrant Yiddishkeit. The Torah and mitzvos are our life and must be what we look forward to and long for every day. The Beis Hamikdash was destroyed because even though we kept the mitzvos, we did not value the Torah. So, too, today, a Jew can live in a way of destruction, physically observing the mitzvos, and checking off Torah study from his list of things to do most days, but he really lives for work, food, clothing, money, honor, sports, entertainment – anything but Yiddishkeit. We must feel, as the Netziv put it, “That one’s soul should experience spiritual delight in Torah.”

There is a story of the Kotzker from a visit to his hometown of Tomishov. He received a grand welcome as a son of the town who “made it big.” As was the custom in those days, the Rebbe went to visit the yeshivos where the children studied Torah and tested the boys. He came to one school where the young boys were studying the end of Parshas Bereishis, when the Torah recounts the generations from Adam to Noach, listing each patriarch of the generation, recounting the fact that he lived a certain number of years, had a certain number of children, and then he died.

The Rebbe asked one boy to read and translate a few pesukim. The boy read, “And Sheis lived one hundred and five years and he gave birth to Enosh... And it was that all of the days of Sheis were nine hundred and twelve years and he died.”

The Rebbe shook his head, “No, that’s not right.”

The boy’s rebbe was confused since the boy had translated the psukim correctly. But the Kotzker turned to another boy and asked him to read the next pesukim. This boy read, “And Enosh lived ninety years and he gave birth to Keinan... And it was that all of the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years and he died.”

The Rebbe shook his head again and asked another boy to read. This one said, “And Keinan lived seventy years and he gave birth to Mehalalel... And it was that all the days of Keinan were nine hundred and ten years and he died.”

Once again, the Kotzker shook his head and told the Rebbe that he was not teaching the boys correctly. Dumbfounded, knowing that all of the boys had correctly translated the pesukim, the boys’ rebbe asked the Kotzker how the pesukim should be translated. The Rebbe then shouted, “And Keinan lived seventy years...” And then he whispered, “And he died.”

He went on to explain, “For a Jew, the emphasis must be on what he lives for. Everything else and his ultimate death are only secondary.”

May we merit to live for Torah and mitzvos, so that Yiddishkeit is our soul, our lifeblood, the source of life. By having a living, breathing, vibrant Yiddishkeit, may we merit to rectify the underlying cause of our exile and return to Yerushalayim with the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash and 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.

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