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Shema Yisrael Torah Network

Opinion & Comment
Your Share is Greater!

by HaRav Nosson Meir Wachtfogel

Part I

"Speak to Aharon and say to him: `When you kindle the lamps, toward the face of the menorah shall the seven lamps give their light'" (Bamidbar 8:2).

The Midrash (Tanchuma 5, cited in Rashi, ibid.) asks: "Why is the parsha of the menorah juxtaposed to the inauguration of the mizbeiach by the nesi'im? When Aharon saw the inauguration done by the nesi'im he was distressed at his exclusion and that of his shevet in the process. HaKodosh Boruch Hu said to him: `Your share is greater than theirs, since you shall kindle and clean the lamps.'"

What exactly is the meaning of HaKodosh Boruch Hu's answer as the Midrash describes it, "Your share is greater than theirs"? Why was Aharon not satisfied by the fact that he would offer the other korbonos and do the other avodos in the Beis Hamikdosh? Why was kindling and cleaning the lamps more of a consolation than all else? The Ramban, in his commentary on the Torah (ibid.), analyzes this problem:

"It is unclear why the kindling of the lamps would console [the Cohanim for being left out of the inauguration]. Why was the offering of ketores every day and night—which the posuk (Devorim 33:10) praises: `They shall put ketores before You'—why were all the korbonos, the minchas chavitin, the avodoh on Yom Kippur permitted solely to the Cohen Godol, the Cohen Godol's entry to the Kodesh Kodoshim, when he becomes a kedosh Hashem standing in the Heichal to serve Him and make a brochoh in His name—why was his whole shevet being servants of our Elokim, all still insufficient to console [Aharon]? Furthermore, why should [Aharon] be distressed at all? He offered more korbonos than the nesi'im, and even offered at that time, during the days of the milu'im, many obligatory korbonos . . ..

"This aggadah is teaching us that the parsha alludes to the inauguration of the lamps in the time of the second Beis Hamikdosh, by the Chashmonai and his children, the offspring of Aharon the Cohen Godol."

But the basic difficulty remains. Why was even the kindling of the menorah at Chanukah time by the Chashmonaim, who were Cohanim, more significant than all the korbonos offered by the Cohanim and their performing of all of the other avodos in the Beis Hamikdosh?

"R' Yochonon said, His name was Palti but he was called Paltiel since Hashem had saved (polat) him from aveiroh. What did he do? He stuck a sword between him and [Michal, Dovid's rightful wife who was given to Palti by Shaul Hamelech] and proclaimed: `Whoever engages in [intimate relationships with her] will be stabbed by this sword!' R' Yochonon said, The beginning of the posuk (Mishlei 31:29): `Many daughters have done virtuously', refers to Yosef and Boaz, and the continuation: `but you excel them all,' refers to Palti ben Layish. R' Yonoson said, The beginning of the posuk (ibid., 30): `Grace is deceitful,' refers to Yosef, and its continuation: `and beauty is vain,' refers to Boaz, and its conclusion: `but a woman who fears Hashem, she shall be praised,' refers to Palti ben Layish' (Sanhedrin 19b)."

Yosef resisted succumbing to the licentious desires of Potifera's wife. Boaz too withstood temptation when he found Ruth lying next to him at night in a deserted field. Likewise, Palti ben Layish resisted yielding to his yetzer hora, but his degree of temptation cannot be compared to that of the other two. Yosef and Boaz proved their tzidkus once, but Palti was continually tested over several years while he lived with Michal the daughter of Shaul in the same house. Only the sword that Palti had stuck in the ground divided between them, something that could have been easily removed by Palti himself if he wished to do so.

From where did Palti draw this great strength? The posuk tells us that it derived from his middoh of yiras Shomayim. Palti realized that "Many daughters have done virtuously, but you excelled them all. Grace is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears Hashem, she shall be praised." The Midrash emphasizes that the quality of "who fears Hashem shall be praised" refers to Palti, and with its power he excelled over all others.

Avrohom Ovinu's ability to prove himself during the Divine test of Akeidas Yitzchok is attributed to the fervor of his yirah—"For now I know that you fear Elokim, seeing as you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me" (Bereishis 22:12). The akeidah was a tremendous test, and throughout history we have benefited from the zchus of Avrohom's success with it, an act that the Torah explicitly teaches us was caused by his intense yiras shomayim, his true fear of Hashem.

"`If you should sell to your neighbor' (Vayikra 25:14). R' Chiya, the son of R' Ada from Jaffa, said: `If you should sell'—in the future you will be sold to the nations of the world. Be partners with your Creator like Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya, who said to Nevuchadnetzar, `We have no need to answer you in this matter. Our G-d Whom we serve is able to deliver us; He can deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and out of your hand, O king' (Daniel 3:16-17) . . . Rabbonim said: [Nevuchadnetzar] told them: `Did not Yirmiyahu (Yirmiyahu 27:8) say, "And it will come to pass that the nation and kingdom which will not serve this Nevuchadnetzar king of Bovel and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Bovel, that nation will I punish, says Hashem, with sword and with famine and with pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand."' . . . Nevuchadnetzar said to them: `Either you fulfill the beginning of the posuk (to obey the king) or I will fulfill the end of the posuk (he will punish them with a sword).'

"`Shedrach, Meshakh, and Aved-nego (Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya, as they were called in Aramaic) answered and said to King Nevuchadnetzar, We have no need to answer you . . ..' If he was a king, why did they add Nevuchadnetzar (they should have only addressed him as "O King")? If he was Nevuchadnetzar, why did they add `King' (it would have been sufficient to address him as `Nevuchadnetzar,' without adding his title as king)? They were as if saying to him, You are only a king to impose various sorts of taxes on us. As for this thing that you are telling us (to worship avodoh zorah) you are [merely] Nevuchadnetzar — your name is Nevuchadnetzar. You and a dog are equal for us. Nevuchadnetzar [is an acronym that] means barking like a dog (novach), anger filling him like a swollen pitcher (kad), and chirping like a cricket (tzratzar). Immediately, Nevuchadnetzar barked like a dog, his anger filled him like a swollen pitcher, and he chirped like a cricket, as is written, `I counsel you to keep the king's commandment' (Koheles 8:2). R' Levi said: `I will obey the mouth of the King of Kings, HaKodosh Boruch Hu, the mouth that said to us on Sinai (Shemos 20:2) `I am Hashem your Elokim'" (Vayikra Rabbah 33:6).

The declaration of Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya to Nevuchadnetzar that "you and a dog are equal for us," meaning that he was totally unimportant to them, was an indispensable step in preparing Yochonon the Cohen Godol and his sons the Chashmonaim to defy the Greeks. Where did the Chashmonaim find such strength of spirit, to revolt against the all- powerful Greek Empire, whose immense and mighty army was well equipped with the latest deadly weapons? After all, the Chashmonaim were only a few persons and they were not prepared to wage war against the Greeks.

The Chashmonaim heard how Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya spoke to Nevuchadnetzar, telling him that he and a dog were equal, that although he was a powerful king he was actually worthless. When compared with HaKodosh Boruch Hu he was nothing. They learned from this example that when one is supporting the Torah one takes nothing else into consideration for nothing has any independent strength. The Chashmonaim initiated a war solely for the sake of the Torah, and therefore the whole Greek Empire was valueless and powerless. They did not even have to consider the enemy's strength, and accordingly waged war against them.

Throughout history, during the long golus in which we live, Jews always maintained the authority to control themselves. Kiddushin and gittin were under the strict auspices of the gedolei Yisroel, the leaders of the golus. Also litigation in financial matters was conducted by the botei din. Although the non-Jews also had their set of laws for their country, they allowed the Jews to rule themselves. This was true until contemporary times, when those influenced by the Enlightenment Movement ruined it. This conduct was made possible through what Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya said to Nevuchadnetzar, "You and a dog are equal," declaring that those who oppose the Torah are not to be taken into consideration.

End of Part I


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