בס''ד
Our memory can be a rather capricious tool, prone to moments of amnesia, distortion
and eventually the ravages of time. The
Parsha talks about two lapses of concentration through which one can become
liable, either by entering the Holy Sanctuary whilst forgetting that he is
impure or knowing that he is impure but being unaware at that moment that he is
in the Sanctuary. The former
transgression is one that we could possibly understand, but how could it ever
occur that a person would overlook the fact that he is standing within the
walls of the Beis Hamikdosh, the holiest place on earth. The preparations needed to enter, the
sanctity required, the splendour of the edifice and the holiness of the service
that was taking place would surely eliminate any possibility of not knowing
that one is in the Holy Temple!
Although it may be hard to fathom,
Reb Elyashiv zt’l explains that this could indeed happen as a consequence of
habit. A person can become so accustomed
to something, even as remarkable as entering the place of the Shechina, that
they can lose sight of where they are and what they are doing momentarily and thus
err in this manner. King David in
Tehillim, only too aware of this challenge, asks that he “should dwell in the
house of Hashem” and because it was “all the days of my life” required that it
be “to visit in his Sanctuary” i.e. each time with the feeling of visiting the
place with a fresh sense of its importance as if unacquainted as he was with
this holy place.
The sad truth is that a person can
go through their life, seemingly fulfilling all the requirements of a religious
Jew, and still be missing out to a great extent on their purpose and the true meaning
of their actions. If they are merely
going through the motions, without stopping once in a while to consider what
they are actually doing, the act can become perfunctory and devoid of true
depth. To pray each day without being cognizant of
the fact that one is actually communicating with our Creator, to learn Torah
without pausing to reflect on this being a way of learning the wisdom of the
Infinite and to do mitzvos without realising that by doing so one is connecting
with the Divine, is both a tragedy and a missed opportunity of vast
proportions. Whenever you can, stop and reflect
upon the true nature of the act that you are performing. It may transform that action from the mundane
to the sublime.
May we stop and consider the true profundity
of Shabbos this week.
לעילוי נשמת לאה
בת אברהם
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