Thursday, April 25, 2013
Parshas Emor: Spiritually Being Cut off in this world
10:29 AM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
"For any soul who will not be afflicted on this very day will be cut off from its people" (Vayikra 23:29) Unfortunately we see many times that people who transgress the Torah and are obligated to be spiritually cut off (Kares) and have their lives shortened, live long prosperous lives. How can we reconcile this possible contradiction?
Rav Moshe Sternbuch Shlita brings in his commentary on Chumah (Ta'am V'Da'as) that Kares is not necessarily describing physical body and death but rather spiritually and being cut off from the source (G-d himself). In reality, they desecrate all aspects of the Torah and live their lives without any spiritual connection whatsoever.
In reality, they are really considered dead (spiritually dead), that is even if they are alive in this world. There are so many people today that don't have any connection to Judaism or their spiritual heritage. Not only that, they send their children to secular schools and intermarry at an alarming rate.
The only way to cure this ailment is through learning Torah and keeping mitzvos. Without that, it is like the soul is starving and decaying.
There was a story a number of years ago of a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail. The prisoner saw one of his jailers that day and asked him, "It says in your Torah that on the festival of Passover, you are not allowed to eat unleavened bread (chametz) and here you are eating a sandwich. How do you explain that?
The jailer said, "Those are antiquated laws, for things that happened thousands of years ago. That doesn't apply today. We are the new Israel! We don't need those old laws!"
The Palestinian terrorist understood that it will be only a matter of time before Israel hands over the land to the Arabs. He understood that this person has no connection to his heritage or to his history. A person who has no connection to that, will eventually give that up.
This is a lesson for us to know that one of the worst things that can happen to us is to lose that connection to the source of all life and to the One that sustains us. Losing that connection and going in the ways of the non-Jews and the secular world is akin to cutting yourself off spiritually!
May we merit to keep the fire of Torah burning and get tremendous enjoyment of the mitzvos that we do.
Good Shabbos
Rav Moshe Sternbuch Shlita brings in his commentary on Chumah (Ta'am V'Da'as) that Kares is not necessarily describing physical body and death but rather spiritually and being cut off from the source (G-d himself). In reality, they desecrate all aspects of the Torah and live their lives without any spiritual connection whatsoever.
In reality, they are really considered dead (spiritually dead), that is even if they are alive in this world. There are so many people today that don't have any connection to Judaism or their spiritual heritage. Not only that, they send their children to secular schools and intermarry at an alarming rate.
The only way to cure this ailment is through learning Torah and keeping mitzvos. Without that, it is like the soul is starving and decaying.
There was a story a number of years ago of a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail. The prisoner saw one of his jailers that day and asked him, "It says in your Torah that on the festival of Passover, you are not allowed to eat unleavened bread (chametz) and here you are eating a sandwich. How do you explain that?
The jailer said, "Those are antiquated laws, for things that happened thousands of years ago. That doesn't apply today. We are the new Israel! We don't need those old laws!"
The Palestinian terrorist understood that it will be only a matter of time before Israel hands over the land to the Arabs. He understood that this person has no connection to his heritage or to his history. A person who has no connection to that, will eventually give that up.
This is a lesson for us to know that one of the worst things that can happen to us is to lose that connection to the source of all life and to the One that sustains us. Losing that connection and going in the ways of the non-Jews and the secular world is akin to cutting yourself off spiritually!
May we merit to keep the fire of Torah burning and get tremendous enjoyment of the mitzvos that we do.
Good Shabbos
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