The Weekly Shtikle - Kedoshim .. and Tefillin
At the end of this week's parsha, we are instructed (20:25), "vehivdaltem bein habeheimah hatehorah latemei'ah uvein ha'of hatamei latahor." We are told to distinguish between the animals and birds that are tamei and tahor. However, there is an obvious discrepancy in the pasuk. For animals we are told to distinguish between tahor and tamei, while for birds we are told to distinguish between tamei and tahor. The order of tahor and tamei is switched.
Chizkuni offers an interesting approach to this problem. When you have a mixture of a majority and a minority, the act of distinguishing generally entails picking the minority out from within the majority. He writes that it is known that within the group of animals there are far fewer tahor animals than tamei. Therefore, the havdalah is the tahor from the tamei. However, in the bird family, there are a greater number of tahor birds than tamei birds. Therefore, the Torah tells us to distinguish the tamei ones.
Perhaps there is another explanation for this discrepancy. The Torah, in telling us what animals we may eat, gave us signs of a tahor animal. Therefore, when we are distinguishing, we are picking out the tahor animals by means of the signs the Torah gave us. That is why "tahor" is first. With the birds, however, the Torah merely told us which birds are tamei. Therefore, the distinguishing process involves picking out the tamei birds. That is why "tamei" is first.
On the day after Pesach, our son Efrayim began putting on tefillin in anticipation of his Bar Mitzvah coming up in July. I thought I would write up the speech I gave at the ensuing breakfast to share with you. A quick thought on tefillin and significance of the day:
During the past year, I was able to traverse the halachos of tefillin as part of the Dirshu Mishnah Berurah program. I noticed a unique nuance. On the one hand, there is a very public, outward aspect of the mitzvah of tefillin. The pasuk (Devarim 28:10) states וראו כל עמי הארץ כי שם ה' נקרא עליך ויראו ממך, the nations of the world will see that the name of HaShem is called upon you and they will fear you. This is traditionally interpreted by the gemara as a reference to the tefillin shel rosh. However, for the shel yad, there is a derasha והיה לך לאות ולא לאחרים לאות, it should be a sign for you, and not for others, teaching us that the shel yad is kept close to our heart and concealed.
When you delve deeper into the halachos, there is so much regarding tefillin that is hidden. The integral component, the klaf, is sealed inside the boxes. Even when you open the batim, and inspect the klaf, there is so much that could be wrong with the parshios that one could never know just by looking at it. Every word needs to be written in order. If a sofer were to erase and rewrite a letter in the middle, even a computer would not be able to detect it. Letters also must be written directly and cannot be carved out of blocks of ink. Because of all these undetectable nuances which would completely invalidate the tefillin, Mishnah Berurah repeats many times that you need to make sure when purchasing tefillin that the sofer is a yerei Shamayim and is someone you can fully trust.
In essence, the maturation process of a Bar Mitzvah is very similar. There are some obvious outward, visible changes. As Bar Mitzvah boys grow up their face and voice change, they get bigger and taller and begin to dress differently. But indeed the most significant changes that we as parents are always hoping for are inside, away from plain site. Our wish is that our dear Efrayim develop his yiddishe leiv, an inner understanding of right and wrong – how to act with people and how to serve the Ribbono Shel Olam.
This is the first big step in Efrayim's Bar Mitzvah transition – it will forever change the way he davens every morning and it is our hope and our tefillah that it inspires in him as well, the mental and spiritual maturity that comes along with physical maturity.
posted by Shtikler | 11:28 AM
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