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BEGIN WITH A GRIN

A man goes into a diner and says, “I want to order breakfast. Give me a cold coffee, a salty salad, a too-oily fried egg and last week’s bread.”

The waiter says, “Sir, I can’t give you a meal like that!”

The man says, “Why not? You were able to yesterday …”

RECIPE FOR PEACE – OPEN BORDERS OR BORDER GUARDS?

Parshas Shelach contains a very important mitzva which is special particularly for women and girls, and that is the mitzva of challa. (15:20), “The first portion of your dough, you shall separate a loaf for a gift.” The question is, what makes this mitzva particularly for women? Are women the only ones who eat bread?

We find an interesting answer in Yalkut Shimoni which says that all the mitzvos particular to women – challa, nida, hadlakas neir – are a rectification for the first sin in history, the sin of the Eitz HaDaas in which Chava, the first woman, was complicit. “She extinguished the light of the world… therefore, she will keep the mitzva of light. She contaminated the challa of the world, i.e. Adam, therefore, she will keep the mitzva of challa.”

We know that man’s service on earth is to bring about a complete rectification for the sin of the Eitz HaDaas, because by completing this rectification, we bring the world to its ultimate rectification with the coming of Moshiach. According to this, by fulfilling the mitzva of challa which rectifies the sin of the Eitz HaDaas, we hasten the Geula. And who knows, maybe this is the reason that recently we see a strengthening of this mitzva among women and girls, because by fulfilling it, we will bring the Geula!

There is an interesting gematriya from the Tzemach Tzedek about the special connection between the mitzva of challa and the Geula which explains how the word “challa” hints to the Geula. “Chal” is 38 and the “hei” is 5. When you multiply them, you get 190 and this is the gematriya of the word “keitz.”

But what about the men? What lesson is there for everyone to learn from the mitzva of challa? What is each person’s personal connection to this mitzva, even if he doesn’t bake challos at home?

As mentioned before, the mitzva of challa rectifies the sin of the Eitz HaDaas, a sin which came about through adding to what G-d said. G-d said to Adam not to eat, while Adam decided to be smarter and added, “Don’t touch it.”

The question is, doesn’t the Torah tell us to put up safeguards to the Torah? Didn’t the Sages add hundreds of not thousands of fences, decrees and edicts in halacha so that we won’t trip up and transgress a Torah prohibition? Doesn’t it say in Pirkei Avos (1:1), “Make a fence for the Torah?” Which is it, should we stick to what G-d said or add to it?

The Rebbe’s amazing approach is to analyze the core premise of each case. According to the Rebbe, we need to discern in every situation who made the decree, what it was meant to address and where it was instituted.

When we are in Gan Eden, a place with no connection to evil, there is no reason to add to a mitzva. On the contrary, any addition is unnecessary and causes destructive results. Decrees such as these only inhibit the refinement of permissible things. We find an example in the Gemara (Yerushalmi, end of Kiddushin) of a certain Amora who had to give an accounting for a food item he could have eaten and didn’t, because excessive refraining on the part of a holy man such as he, means that the physical thing in question wouldn’t reach its ultimate refinement.

On the other hand, when we are in a low spiritual situation or in an environment of negative and corrupt inclinations, a person needs to protect himself so that he doesn’t sin, G-d forbid. Rabeinu Yonah says that a person must be careful with a hundred gates of the permitted in order not to stumble in one gate of prohibition.

When a fence is needed, it’s great; when it’s not needed, it’s destructive. According to this, the basis for sin (any sin, particularly the sin of Eitz HaDaas) lies in man’s improper use of something which, in and of itself, is good. Fences are good when you know when to use them. When they are improperly used, they only cause sins.

SEPARATE A PIECE FOR PEACE

The tikkun then is the mtizva of challa. How so? How does the mitzva of challa rectify this warped attitude?

The Torah commands us to separate challa, to take a piece of the dough, thus transforming it into something holy. Some might say, why separate it? Why differentiate when divisiveness is the root of all evil and the source of all impurity according to Chassidus? If that is so, then why does separating challa become a mitzva?

Sometimes though, true unity is through separation! The division of our nation into Kohanim, Leviyim, Yisraelim, doesn’t constitute divisiveness. On the contrary, it symbolizes true unity. If everyone wanted to be the Kohen Gadol, all we’d end up with is another Korach… (If you forgot, wait till next week…) There is only one Kohel Gadol and only he is allowed to enter the Holy of Holies.

Another example is when people ask, why separate between Jews and other nations? It’s better to connect than to divide, unity is better than fragmentation, and therefore, anyone who wants to, can and should be able to become a Jew overnight…

Regarding this, the Prophet says (Yeshaya 8:12), “You shall not call a band everything that this people calls a band.” We should not be receptive to and align with ideas such as these, because we need to known when to use the tool of unity and when to employ the rules of separation; when to connect and when to disconnect, when to join hands and when to cut ties, and this is the real tikkun for the basis and root of sin, using the right tool in the right place! The mitzva of separating challa teaches us that sometimes we need to know that separation is also a mitzva.

The Navi Yechezkel (44:30) says in reward for fulfilling the mitzva of separating challa, we will merit “to bring enduring blessing into your home.” Conversely, the Mishna says that “the Holy One, Blessed be He, did not find a vessel that can contain blessing except for peace. At first glance, these seem to be polar opposite ideas. On one side, we have the mitzva of challa which represents separation and fragmentation and brings blessing, and on the other side, it’s specifically shalom/peace which represents unity and harmony that is the best vessel for blessing. How can this be?

The answer is as stated above; we need to know what is the right tool at when and how to put it to use. In certain situations, it’s specifically maintaining boundaries that leads to true unity and eternal peace, while excessive use of the concepts of peace and harmony lead to devastation and destruction.

In conclusion, regarding current events (in this author’s view), the excessive use of calls for global peace in the last three decades has led to current war. That beautiful word, “peace,” has led to more spilling of Jewish blood in recent years than any other in our lexicon. Judaism is oriented towards peace and peace is a supreme value in Torah, as cited above from the Mishna. However, and this a big however, you need to know how to make peace, with whom to make peace and when to make peace. The improper use of this word only leads to destructive results and only leads to… war!

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY

Let’s end with a story about separation, not of dough from a larger batch, but the separation between Jews and those of other religions, specifically the religion of Islam.

Shmuel, a businessman from England, would frequently travel to Eastern countries on business. From time to time, he would fly to Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim majority population in the world. The main synagogue in Surabaya, the second largest city in the country, was slated for demolition by the city government which wanted to build a huge city park. On one of his visits to the city, Shmuel decided to visit the synagogue and see what he could to help.

When he got there, he was told that the key was held by a woman who lived next door to the building. She was a Jewess, the daughter of the gabbai who had passed away, but she was married to a Muslim. They led a fully Islamic life together and the key to the shul was her only connection to her Jewishness. Shmuel knocked on the door to the house in order to ask for the key, when a young lad named Manam came running, and said, “Mama, you see? This rabbi will make a bar mitzva for me.”

The mother told Shmuel that a few weeks prior she had approached the aron kodesh and said, “G-d, my son is soon going to be thirteen. Who will make a bar mitzva for him? And now, Hashem sent a rabbi to make him a bar mitzva.” The shocked Shmuel hurried to connect the family with the Chabad shliach in Bangkok, Rabbi Nechemia Wilhelm, who happily agreed to arrange the bar mitzva by him. Shmuel taught the boy a few mitzvos and the significance of being a Jew and a member of the chosen people.

The bar mitzva was held together with a bris for Manam, who became “Menachem.”

It’s all because the only thing needed to “separate challa” is one Jew who cares!

Good Shabbos!

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