Miller's Musings Parshas Achrei Mos-Kedoshim: Newness to our Jewness

בס''ד

Coming close to G-d is surely what it is all about.  If we were to succinctly summarise our life’s goal as a Jew, it would be to develop our relationship with Hashem and cleave as much as possible to His perfection.  In view of this it is rather perplexing that Aharon is instructed not to come whenever he wanted to the Holy of Holies, this unique place in all of creation where a person could connect with Hashem at the highest level.  Clearly he would need suitable preparation to do so, and only a man of Aharon’s stature would have this access, but why would he be limited in something that is our prime objective in this world?

Entering the holiest place on Earth was something the Kohen Godol was only able to do once a year.  It necessitated comprehensive and intense preparation.  He was required to spend seven days detached from anything other than an absolute focus on what lay ahead and the day itself included many offerings that preceded such a momentous step into the divine.  And yet despite all of this, there was still a concern that if this were repeated too often, there would be a certain lacking in terms of the experiential element of this service due to habituation were it to be a recurring experience.  If Aharon were to enter this place more often than proscribed he would have lacked some feeling of the awesomeness and supreme gift that it was to be allowed to enter there.  This, says the Sichos Mussar was the basis for the prohibition. This familiarisation could not be permitted to happen, despite its possible gains.

There are numerous tools that the Yetzer Horah employs to make us veer from our path.  One of its most potent weapons is our becoming too accustomed to what we do.  This may be a particular mitzvah that we perform regularly or our Judaism as a whole that has become stagnant and lacking passion. But whatever the context, the lack of enthusiasm will surely impact on the quality of our service of G-d, if not obstruct it completely.  The means to circumventing this problem is only through renewal and revitalisation.  We have to find new ways of performing Mitzvos, new methods to reviving what we have done so many times before and new untapped elements to our Judaism that have previously been left untouched.  How can we do it better and what can we do that we have never done before?  Without tampering with the eternal truths of the Torah, it is incumbent on us to ensure we live its values and teachings with excitement, love and joy.

*May we feel this Shabbos’s beauty like never before*

לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם 

לעילוי נשמת שרה יעל בת גרשון

לרפואת אלימלך יהושע אהרון בן דבורה רבקה