פרשת אמר

This week’s Parsha contains a wide gamut of laws about all sorts of different topics in Judaism. However, one common theme which almost every law in the Parsha seems to share is the idea of preserving holiness and sanctity in every way.

The Parsha starts of with the laws of the Kohen and instructs him about the special conduct in which he must behave in order to preserve his unique holiness that God has given him. The Torah then moves on to discuss the Kohen Gadol, who because of his greater level of sanctity then the lay-Kohen, is given a slightly more refined set of laws to safeguard his holiness. Afterward, the laws of the sacrifices are discussed in great detail and their holiness is so important that if it is desecrated, the violator is liable to be killed. The Torah then goes on to delineate the holy days of the year such as the Shabbos and the Holidays in which we are commanded in great detail to preserve their sanctity in every way. And finally, the Parsha ends of by instructing us to remove the person that curses God from amidst our camp because the Jewish people are a holy people, and they cannot tolerate being in the same company of such a sacrilegious person, much the same way that the human body will reject a harmful foreign element which is introduced to it.

From all these examples it is clear how important the Torah considers it for a Jew to preserve his holiness in every possible way. There is a Mishna in Avos, (3:15) which says, “R’ Eliezer the Modai says that one who desecrates the consecrated sacrifices, or does not treat the holy days with the proper respect, or embarrasses his fellow to the point that his face turns white in public, or nullifies his Bris, or makes halachic rulings which are not in line with the Torah, one who does any of these actions does not have a portion in the world to come”. The Meforshim explain this Mishna that each one of these violations stems from a fundamental lack of respect for things which are holy. For example, the case of one who does not treat the property of the Beis Hamikdash with the proper respect. Rashi explains that this is not referring to one who actually blemishes an animal, but rather to one who merely did not guard the animal properly and did not care enough to adequately preserve the sanctity of the Beis Hamikdash’s possessions. Or the clause about the holy days is not referring to one who actually desecrates the Yom Tov, but rather to a person who merely does not show the proper respect for the intermediary days of Chol Hamoed by not eating special meals on those days and dressing up nicely for them. The Tiferes Yisroel explains that when a Jew embarrasses another Jew, he evidences clearly that he does not retain a proper respect for the holiness of another Jew and the Mishna is teaching us that he is actually considered to have “desecrated” another Jew’s holiness.

The Shem Mishmoel explains that although the punishment for these “desecrations” seems somewhat harsh, it is actually perfectly befitting the crimes that were committed. When a person displays a fundamental lack of sensitivity for holiness, there is no way that they will be able to appreciate the refined beauty of the World to Come. In the next world, there is no physicality, only spirituality. In that world, we will spend eternity basking in the spiritual light of the Glory of God. This being the case, a person who cannot appreciate that purely spiritual existence, as is evidenced by his sacrilegious behavior on this earth, will have no place in that ethereal world. So, the Shem Mishmuel concludes, the punishment is not even a punishment at all, but rather a direct result of a person’s bad decisions on this earth!

The Sefar Emes adds a beautiful point to all that we have said. He says that just as the Jewish people are commanded to preserve the holiness of the Kohen, by always honoring him with the first of everything, and by never asking him to perform any menial tasks, he is also commanded to preserve his own sanctity by recognizing it and honoring it. (We will soon explain the difference between this attitude and the trait of haughtiness). For example he can only marry certain women, and is not allowed to visit the cemetery. Similarly, the Sefas Emes continued, each and every Jew is required to recognize his own inherent holiness and treat himself with the respect that he deserves. Otherwise, he too will be guilty of the same sacrilegious tendencies that one who embarrasses other Jews is guilty of because he will have not fostered a proper respect for what holiness is!

Chazal say in Berachos (53), that a person is required to sanctify himself by washing his hands before the meal and after the meal, and by rubbing himself with fragrant oils after the meal. What is their source for this seemingly arrogant behavior? The verse says, “And you shall make yourselves holy, and you will be a holy people”. Part and parcel of a Jew’s holiness is his recognition that he is a prince and as such, is responsible to treat himself with the epitome of respect by being immaculate and respectable at all times! Any less than this standard, reflects negatively not only on himself, but on his Father in Heaven as well, and will eventually lead him to sin as we will soon explain.

I would just like to conclude by elucidating the difference between this approach of respecting oneself, and the very negative attribute of arrogance which is perhaps the most frowned upon of all traits in Judaism. Arrogance comes from one’s acting showy or flashy and it stems from a fundamental distortion of one’s self-portrait. When a person believes himself to be something he is not, he begins to become arrogant. But self-respect, on the other hand, comes from a person realizing who he truly is, a son of God. This realization will actually distance him from sin because when he understands who he truly is, and treats himself with the proper respect of a prince by not degrading himself, he will inculcate that understanding into his psyche and will not be able to defile himself with the dirt of sin. It will be beneath his social class, so to speak. Whereas if a person constantly does not recognize his own worth, by dressing sloppily, or chewing gum in the street in a way which is not respectable, it will be much easier for him to sin because he will not feel that he is above those despicable actions.

May we all merit to realize who we truly are, and treat ourselves and our peers with the holiness that befits us!