Rosh Hashana and Orlah

 

·        In just a few days, we will be standing in shul, listening to the Baal Tokea blowing the shofar.

·        Listening to the Shofar is one of the 248 Mitzvot Assay, and we take it very seriously.

·        But calling it a Mitzva Assay implies that there is a Asseah, an action involved, like the other Mitzvot Assay – such as waving the lulav or putting on Tefillin.

·        What is the Asseah, the action, involved in listening to the shofar?

 

·        Actually, if there is a loud noise within hearing range, let’s say someone screams nearby, we hear it whether we like it or not.

·        The sound enters our ears, and we hear it.

·        So when we are commanded to hear the Shofar, what action is involved?

 

·        I want to suggest that there is a VERY active process involved.

·        Because real hearing is done not with the brain, but with the heart.

·        And everyone, to some extent, has what is called an ‘Orlah’, a chatzitzah, a covering, a sheath, around the heart.

·        This Orlah is often meant to protect us, but it tends to make us insensitive to what is happening, between us and others, between us and Hashem, even between us and ourselves.

·        This Orlah keeps us from really hearing.

 

·        Therefore, the very active action that we need to do in order to really hear the Shofar is to try to lessen the insensitivity that is caused by the Orlah around the heart, so that we can genuinely hear the sound of the Shofar without the distance and separation caused by the Orlah around the heart.

·        A person who has a well-protected and thick Orlah around their heart finds it difficult to be emotionally available to the needs of others – their spouses, children, parents, and Hashem.

·        So we stand in Shul on Rosh Hashana, and try to let the sounds of the Shofar reach our hearts, just as we need to let the sounds of our spouses, children, parents, and Hashem reach our hearts.

 

·        In Messechet Shavuot 26a, it says that Rav Kahana and Rav Assi listened to a shiur given by Rav. 

·        After the shiur, Rav Kahana and Rav Assi argued about what Rav had said.

·        They were both totally sure that they were right, and both made a Shavua – an oath using Hashem’s name – that they were right about what Rav had said during his shiur.

·        When Rav returned, they asked Rav what he had said.

·        Rav said what he had said was according to one of the listeners – Rav Kahana or Rav Assi, and not the other one.

·        So the one that had been wrong asked Rav, “Am I a guilty of making a Shavua Shov?” a false oath that is chayiv Malkus or even a Korban?

·        Rav answered an amazing chidush.  He said, “No, you did not make a false oath, because you were forced by your heart to hear what you thought I said.”

 

·        This is an astounding Chiddush.

·        Rav is saying that when we listen to others, we filter it through our own mindset, our own set of assumptions, and that what we see and hear is being FORCED by our heart to see or hear it the way we are seeing or hearing it.

·        This should not come as a surprise to us.

·        Have you heard people with opposite viewpoints debating with each other?

·        For example, an argument between someone who is pro-Trump and anti-Trump?

·        Or between someone who is religious debating with someone who is anti-religious?

·        Almost 100% of the time, neither side is hearing the other AT ALL.

·        This is because each has an Orlah around their heart that is forcing them to see things the way they do, and they absolutely can’t hear anything except what they already believe.

 

·        Listening to the shofar, we are being called upon the get past this sorry state of affairs, to really HEAR, to be open to the sounds, and not be forced by an Orlah around the heart to block everything out except what we pre-conceive to be true.

·        We are being called upon to open our ears and our heart to really hear.

·        This is a great challenge, and is the mitzvah Assay of hearing the Shofar, to break open the Orlah and hear.

 

·        Messechet Yevomos 71a says that there are 2 stages of a Bris Milah.

·        The first stage removes a thick piece of the Orlah.

·        However, the second stage of Milah removes a thinner membrane, and this second stage is called Priah.

·        The Gemorah says that Avraham was commanded only to do the first stage of Milah.

·        It was only when Yehoshua entered Eretz Yisroel that the Jewish people were commanded to do the second stage of Milah called Priah.

 

·        Messechet Brochos 48b, at the bottom of the page, discusses the second paragraph of benching, that talks about Hashem giving us Eretz Yisroel.

·        Nachum Hazaken says that one of the things we must mention is Bris Milah.

·        Rashi says that it is because of the mitzvah of Bris Milah that Eretz Yisroel was given to Avraham Avinu and the Jews.

·        What is the connection between Bris Milah and Eretz Yisroel?

·        I would like to suggest that living in Eretz Yisroel requires a higher level of sensitivity, to be sensitive to the Eretz Hakodesh, to the Kiddushah that surrounds a person in Eretz Yisroel.

·        A Jew can’t have an Orlah of any kind, because he must be accessible to this Kiddushah

·        To have part of us surrounded by an Orlah is to make a mockery of the gift of Eretz Yisroel.

·        Just like having an Orlah around our heart keeps us from hearing the Shofar.

 

·        This explains why Avraham and all the Jews until Yehoshua entered Eretz Yisroel did not need to do the complete Bris Milah that includes the second stage called Priah.

·        That’s because they weren’t yet in Eretz Yisroel.

·        Yehoshua entered Eretz Yisroel on the 10th of Nissan, after the Jews had spent 40 years in the Midbar.

·        Immediately he was commanded to do the complete Milah, to make sure there was NO Orlah, no chatzitzah between the Jews and the incredible Kedushah of Eretz Yisroel.

·        On the 11th of Nissan, Yehoshua made sure every Jewish male had the complete Milah, to remove the Orlah completely.

 

·        In a few days when we hear the Shofar in Shul, let’s be cognizant of removing the Orlah that separates us from what we should be hearing.

·        Let’s really hear the Shofar, by reaching deep within ourselves and remove any trace of Orlah that surrounds our heart.

·        And let this also help us hear and care deeply about what we are hearing from those around us and from Hashem.