The Weekly Shtikle - Vayikra

A belated Weekly Shtikle mazal tov to my nephew Yaakov Yosef Shonek and his wife Miriam (née Mandelbaum) on their recent marriage. Mazal tov to the extended Shonek, Bulka and Mandelbaum families.

 

The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my Oma, Chaya Sara bas Zecharia Chaim, a"h.

 

This week's shtikle is dedicated for a refuah sheleimah for my father.

Please include Reuven Pinchas ben Yehudis in your tefillos.

 

This week's parsha deals with a number of different versions of the korban chatas, the sin offering. The sin offering of the nasi is introduced in a slightly different way than the others. The other versions of the chatas offering are introduced with the word (ve)'im, and if... The nasi's chatas, however, is introduced (4:22) with the word asher, when the nasi sins.

 

Rabbeinu Bachya approaches this linguistic discrepancy in the simplest manner. He writes that it is the nature of a man in a position of power to be consumed by haughtiness and hubris which is most likely to lead to sin. So, while the sin of others is introduced more indefinitely, "if it would happen to be that a person were to sin," the sin of the nasi is introduced almost as a certainty.

 

Rashi provides a more homiletic interpretation of the word asher from the midrash. Asher is like ashrei, praised. The pasuk is actually giving praise to the nasi, not for committing the sin, God forbid, but for having the integrity to come forth and admit it. After all, without the admission there would be no sacrifice. The high public position makes it all the more embarrassing to admit guilt. Praised is the generation whose nasi swallows that embarrassment and has the gumption to do what is required of him.

 

Malbim offers another positive approach related to that of Rashi's. The words asher and im are actually interchangeable (see Rashi Rosh HaShanah 3a). There is one slight difference between the word im and the word asher, used to mean im. The word asher is used to denote a possibility which we would like to occur while im simply implies a possibility. The best example of this is in parshas Re'eih. The parsha begins by explaining what will trigger the blessings and the curses. The pasuk states (Devarim 11:27) "Es haberachah asher tishme'u... (pasuk 28) vehakelalah im lo sishme'u." The translation is the same for both, if you will listen or if you will not listen. However, since listening is what we want to happen, the word asher is used whereas the word im is used for not listening. Here, too, we want the nasi to be one who will come forth and admit his sins. It is his position of power and influence that makes it most important for him to possess this quality. Therefore, the Torah introduces his sin offering with the word asher.

 

Have a good Shabbos and chodesh tov.
Mishenichnas Adar Marbim beSimchah (see Rashi, bottom of Taanis 29a)

 

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

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