Friday, March 11, 2011

Parashas Vayikra

This week’s parashah begins with וַיִּקְרָא אֶל מֹשֶׁה וַיְדַבֵּר ד' אֵלָיו..., And He called to Moshe and Hashem spoke to him…. Rashi cites Chazal teaching us a number of lessons from this passuk.

One of them is that when He spoke, “Hashem spoke to him,” to Moshe alone. The Torah here is teaching that even when it says that Hashem spoke to Moshe and Aharon, it means that he spoke only to Moshe and that Moshe was to convey Hashem’s Word to Aharon.

The question is, why does the Torah teach this here; we already encountered the mention of Hashem speaking to Moshe exclusively, and the mention of Him speaking to Moshe and Aharon, in Chumash Shemos.

As we know, Aharon was Moshe’s older brother. Yet Hashem did never spoke directly to him.

But was Aharon discouraged by the fact that his younger brother had reached a higher spiritual level? No. He remained the Kohen Gadol, the High Priest of the nation, the model Servant of God.

The Torah here is introducing us to the laws of the korbanos, the sacrifices. These offerings were a way for every Jew to draw close to Hashem. Wealthy people brought animal offerings, poor people often brought bird or meal offerings.

The Torah begins its discussion of this topic with a vital lesson in our service of Hashem: Every Jew has his role, his place, his abilities and the level he can reach.

Hashem is telling us, “Don’t be discouraged if those around you achieve a higher level, that isn’t your place. Look, Aharon was the Kohen Gadol, yet I never spoke with him. He understood his role. And I am giving you the korbanos as a way that you can draw close to me according to where you are.”

Today that we have no korbanos, tefillah is the way we develop our relationship with Hashem. Now, too, although we must be inspired by others to aim toward achieving the highest level of dveikus possible, we must not be discouraged so long as we’ve tried our best.

May we be granted the opportunities to draw close to Hashem, and may He grant us success in our efforts to do so.

Gut Shabbos

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