Chukas – 2017

 

·        The Para Aduma was the totally red cow, that would be slaughtered, and whose ashes would be mixed with water  and sprinkled on people who were Tomay Mase, and would be purified and the Tumah would go away.

·        Tumah is a spiritually negative condition that we don’t really understand, that comes at various levels – there’s an Av Hatumah, Rishon, Shayni, Shlishi shel tumah.

·        Taharah is one of the 6 sections of Mishnayas – and sections such as Kalim and Ohalos are the largest sections of Shas.

·        I want to focus on an interesting aspect of Tumah – certain situations where you can change the Tumah state of an object just with your mind, your thoughts.

 

·        Case 1 – Let’s say you have a piece of leather.  It can’t become Tomay – it can’t Mekabel Tumah – because only a Cli – a finished product – can become Tomay. 

·        Let’s say you intend to make a wallet from the piece of leather.

·        And there is a sheretz and some food on the leather, and the sheretz is not making the leather Tomay.

·        Suddenly you look at the piece of leather, and think to yourself, ‘I think I’ll use the piece of leather as a mat to put on my night table.’

·        Suddenly, it becomes a cli – it’s now is a finished product in my mind – a mat – and all of a sudden the sheretz makes the leather mat Tomay, and the Tomay mat makes the food tomay.

·        The change happens totally from the change of thought in my mind.

 

·        Case 2 – There’s a mase in a house, and all the Kalim in the house are Tomay.  There are 2 exits to the house, and each door has an overhang over it outside, and on each overhang is a bowl.  These bowls are outside the house – they are ledges over the outside of each door – so neither is Tomay.

·        Suddenly I decide ‘I am going to take the Mase out of door 1, not door 2’.  As soon as I have that thought, as soon as I make that decision – the bowl on the ledge over door 1 becomes Tomay.  Just based on my thought.

 

·        These are examples where thoughts affect reality.

·        Another example is when a couple decides to get married – it’s just a change of state in their mind – and look at the change that occurs in their lives.

 

·        Another case that depends on one’s state of mind is whether a person does a Melacha on Shabbos – let’s say he lights a match – whether he does it Shogeg – unintentionally – or Mazid – intentionally.

·        If he does it Shogeg, at the time of the Bais Hamikdosh he brings a Korban Chatos, and he is totally forgiven. 

·        But if he does it Mazid – intentionally – he is not allowed to bring a Korban Chatos, in fact if he does, it’s called Chulin BeAzarah – it’s an unwanted, inappropriate Korban – and it’s a major Averah. 

·        So the difference between Shogeg and Mazid is just a difference in a person’s state of mind, and represents an enormous difference is the consequences of the action.

 

·        There’s an amazing story involving Shogeg and Mazid at the very end of the 4th Perek of Yevomos, 49b.

·        It describes a confrontation between King Menashah and the great Navi Yishiyahu, who is his grandfather.

·        To fill in some background, Menashah’s father, King Cheskiyahu, had gotten extremely sick and was on his death bed.

·        Yishiyahu visited him, and said it was because Cheskiyahu had decided not to get married and not to have children.

·        Cheskiyahu said he had made that decision because he had a vision that his son would be a terrible Rasha.

·        Yishiyahu said that he had to fulfil the mitzvah of Pru Urvu.

·        Cheskiyahu suggested that perhaps it would increase the chance of having a good child if he marries Yishayahu’s daughter, and this he did.

·        They had a son Menashah, who sure enough, became a terrible Rasha.  He brought Avodah Zara back into Israel, and was as bad as Cheskiyahu had feared.

 

·        The Gemorah in Yevomos 49b says that Menashe accused Yishiyahu, his grandfather, of being a Navi Sheker, a false prophet, and was liable to the death penalty.

·        Menashe enumerates 3 cases in which he claimed that Yishayahu contradicted Moshe Rabenu.

·        For example, Moshe said Hashem can be approached at any time, Yishayahu said we should beseech Hashem ‘when’ he is available. 

 

·        Here is the amazing line.  Yishayahu decides not to respond to these accusations, and instead to run away, because ‘Menashe won’t listen to what I have to say anyway, and when he kills me, he will no longer be Shogeg, but he’ll be acting Mazid.

·        This is very difficult to understand.

·        Wasn’t Menashe, with all the Rishis he did from the time he became King – wasn’t he a Mazid?  He was certainly doing all this Rishis intentionally. He was a Rasha.

·        And second, he was convinced that Yishiyahu was a Navi Sheker, and that Yishiyahu had no credibility, and was Chayiv Misah.

·        So nothing that Yishayahu said to Menashe would change his opinion – as Yishayahu knew fully well. Menashe would not listen to the statements of a Navi Sheker.

 

·        As an analogy – In the 1930’s Stalin decided that he wanted the farms in Russia to become collectivized.

·        He commanded all the peasants to collectivize the farms – and peasants resisted, and started burning the farms down.

·        Stalin sent in the troops, and killed 20 million peasants. That’s something that Rashayim do.

·        If you were able to talk to Stalin, and said to him, you’re mistaken for such and such reasons, do you think he’s listen to you?

·        Rishis has a force of its own.

·        Everyone, especially a Rasha, rationalizes everything he does.

·        It’s hard for anyone to see things for a new point of view, and this is even more so for a Rasha on a roll in his Rishis.

 

·        So why did Yishayhu say that his defence would turn Menasha from a Shogeg to a Mazid?

·        Perhaps we can have an insight from a Gemorah in Kiddushin.

·        It says, if a Rasha says to a woman that he wants to Mekadesh her on condition that he’s a Tzadik, it’s at least a soffek Kedushin.

·        But the Gemorah says he’s a Rasha!

·        It answers that it’s a suffek Kedushin because he might have had a feeling of Tshuva, a hirhur Tshuva.

·        Why? It says he’s a Rasha!

·        One possible answer is because of the situation he’s in – he’s involved in one of the holiest activities a person can be involved in – Kiddushin, getting ready to start a family with a woman.

·        Even though he’s a Rasha – the fact that he’s involved in a holy act of Kiddushin – this could influence his thoughts in a positive direction, and bring about a thought of Tshuva.

 

·        With this insight perhaps we can get an insight into Yishayahu’s concern.

·        Sure, Menasha was a Rasha.  But if he meets Yishayahu in the Sanhendrin, and he sees Chashava Yishiyahu with his long white beard – his grandfather – the situation might soften him – and bring about a Hirhur Tschuva.

 

·        Everyone has two birds inside of him – a dove – a Yetzer Tov – and a vulture – a Yetzer Hara.

·        The insight here is that the situation we are in can affect which bird is aroused to speak up.

·        The Gemorah in Kiddushin may imply that the situation of Mekadeshing a woman is a holy situation, one capable of softening a Rasha so that his dove will be aroused to speak up inside his head, bringing a thought of Tschuva.

·        Yishayahu’s concern was that when Menasha sees his grandfather in Sandhendrin defending himself, this situation will soften up Menasha enough to arouse the dove inside him, to arouse a Hirhur Tshuva.

·        But then his vulture will squelch this ‘dove’ feeling.

·        And then he will change from being a Shogeg to being a Mazid.

 

·        This insight that we are influenced by our environment – as to whether it arouses the dove or vulture inside us – can work in the negative direction also.

·        There’s a story at the end of Kiddushin where some Jewish women are redeemed from captivity, and they are placed in the attic of a great Rav.

·        The Rabbi looked up the ladder to the attic, and all of a sudden started climbing the ladder.  He catches himself, and starts yelling ‘fire, fire’.

·        The neighbors come running in, and he says, “there is a fire, inside me.”

·        The situation aroused his Yetzer Hara, the vulture inside him, and he didn’t want it to overpower him.

 

·        We’re seen several cases where our mind affects reality.

·        In certain situations just our thoughts can affect whether objects become Tomay.

·        Whether a person does an avera with a mental state of Shogeg or Mazid has an enormous effect on the status of the action.

·        We have a dove and vulture inside of us – and our surroundings have a big effect on our thoughts – they have a big effect on which of whether the dove or vulture within us is aroused – and our thoughts affect our reality.