Achrei Mos - Kedoshim 5786

Parsons acharei mot Parsons acharei mot begins with the avodas Yom Kippurim which what time of year as we all know call Israel on a national basis and an individual basis receives kapara and Parsons acharei mot begins with the whole seder avodas Yom Kippurim that Aaron Aaron and the Kohanim the Kohanim Gadol would perform and which we reenact today on a smaller scale which means uh rather we we can't have the korbanos that he brought but at least we go through the words of the avodah and that's how Parsons acharei mot begins and the Torah defines this is the day that we Hashem gives us that we can let our us him to purify ourselves it's the day that we can go out and cleanse ourselves of our aveiros which are spiritual which is spiritual uncleanliness and and dirt etc. etc. and this is the day we can wash ourselves and purify ourselves and I don't know how each of you feel but um everybody I think has a favorite Yom Tov for some people it's Pesach for some it's Sukkos my favorite Yom Tov is Yom Kippur it's the only time of year that I I think I'm 100% sure I was mikayem the mitzvah um you know what I'm saying to honor with your saychel we have to fast. You just don't eat, you don't drink, and you are becoming the mitzvah. But more importantly, it's the time of year, the day of the one year of year, I don't have to worry about anything else other than doing chuva, which is a burden. But after that, you come out, you're pure again, you're purified again. This in fact was expressed by the tana Rabbi Akiva at the very end of the Seder Yoma. When Rabbi Akiva writes, "How are Rabbi Akiva Ashrechem Yisrael?" You are so fortunate, call Yisrael. Lifnei mi atem tahorim? In front of whom do you become pure? Umi metaherchem? And who purifies you? Avichem shebashamayim. Your father in heaven, shenemar, vezarakti aleichem mayim tehorim utihartem. Umer mikve Yisrael Hashem, ma mikve metaher et metaher Yisrael. The Kavyochol, the Rebono shel Olam himself bathes us, and purifies us, and cleanses us, and cleanses us. And for that, Rabbi Akiva says, "Ashrechem Yisrael." You're so fortunate that you have this. So, I once heard a question in the name of Rav Ahron Kotler, zichrono tzaddik livracha. You know, the Rebono shel Olam is the Melech Malchei Hamlachim, Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We We appear him before on Yom Kippur all dirty and so so spoiled and soiled. And the Rebono shel Olam comes here and cleans us, washes us. You know, that's very good, but on the other hand, this is the Melech that has to go and into do this. Isn't it embarrassing that the Melech Malchei Hamlachim Hakadosh Baruchu has to clean us up from what we have defiled and and made ourselves dirty? So, what's the Ashreichem Yisrael? Where's the happiness? Is it embarrassing that we have to have the Ribono shel Olam do this for us? So, the answer to that question, I think, is that this is what Rabbi Akiva tells us. Ashreichem Yisrael, lifnei mi metaharechem? Avichem shebashamayim. Yes, it's embarrassing and humiliating to have to be cleaned up by the Melech. But no father is repulsed by cleaning up a child, and no child feels embarrassed by the fact that his father or his mother cleans them up. What Rabbi Akiva is telling us over here is, yes, the Ribono shel Olam is the Melech Malchei Hamlachim Hakadosh Baruchu. He's the King of Kings. But he's also your father. And may you be embarrassed from a king, but you're not embarrassed for your own father. And this is Rabbi Akiva leshitasei. This is Rabbi Akiva's shita in in many places throughout Shas. In the Gemara says in Maseches Taanis, chof heh amud beis, shuv maaseh Rabbi Eliezer sheyarad v'im ha'aretz was a drought and there's a whole seder of how to go ahead and to bring rain and we say it's fearless we have and a long yes way that has 24 brokers. This was the time you know maybe maybe some dishes etc. So we have Rabbi Rabbi Lazar got up and he went for the almond he done when he said the 24 brokers you're at a volume honor and he wasn't answered. You're a big kiva akiva then stepped in Lamar of you know Malkenu ain't one of Malik El Alto of you know Malkenu the man rocking Molina the yard of shaman. What Rabbi kiva did differently from Rabbi Eliezer is Rabbi Eliezer appeared appealed to the milk market for the spark of Rabbi Akiva said of you know Malkenu yes you are our Malik but number one you are you are you are our father and that was his path to the Lebanese one not to appeal to the Malik but to to appeal to the oven or to the oven to the top to him all the garden shamaya. And in fact this sentence of you know Malkenu ain't one of Malik El Alto this is this is borrowed this we what we say in in in our oven or Malkenu I don't know where the source of the others once are but this comes from Rabbi Akiva this is Rabbi Akiva shita he's the father first and foremost he's the father. And therefore, it is Rabbi Akiva that goes ahead and says, "Ashreichem Yisrael, how glücklich you are, how lucky you are, how fortunate you are. And the mem metahareschem avichem shebashamayim. And this Mishnah of Ashreichem Yisrael speaks to another shita, philosophy, life motif of Rabbi Akiva. You know, Rabbi Akiva lived a long life, and he lived at the time of the Beit Hamikdash, and he lived after the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed. Now, can you imagine someone who was alive when the Beit Hamikdash was was around and went through a Yom Kippur in the Beit Hamikdash, and all that the all that meant, and had the lashon shel zaharis, the crimson ribbon, turn white, an instant kapara. Oh, how beautiful it was. This is what we say on Yom Kippur, "Ashrei ayin ra'asah." Happy is the eye that saw that. Rabbi Akiva was around after the churban, where there was no Beit Hamikdash, and there was no sa'ir hamishtale'ach, and there was no the the crimson ribbon turning white. This is a Yom Kippur. What are you talking about? This is a Yom Kippur. This is Rabbi Akiva's shita in life, always to look at the positive, and to see that saltave. And Rabbi Akiva, who saw a very same Kippur in the Beit Hamikdash, was able to say afterwards, still Ashreichem Yisrael. You're so lucky that it's the Rebono shel Olam is pure frank you. You know, many of you are familiar with the Gemara at the end of Maseches Makos in which the Tana'im went after the Churban, they saw a fox running out of the Beis Kodesh Hakodashim. And the other Tana'im, the Sages of the Talmud, looked at it and said, here where a kind God alone was allowed to go in on Yom Kippur once a year, and now Shualim Hilchusa. And now foxes are running in and out. To which Rabbi Akiva responded and said, there were two Nevuos. There was a Nevuah about the Churban Habayis. There was a Nevuah about the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash and Shibas Tzion, going back to Yerushalayim. So, Rabbi Akiva said, yeah, I didn't know whether both would happen, but once I saw that one of them happened, the Churban happened, I'm con- I'm confident that the other Nevuah about the rebuilding would also happen. That was Rabbi Akiva. The ability to look at the tzara tov, to see the light amongst the cloud the clouds. Which perhaps explains another thing. We are now in the Yemei Hasfira, the days of mourning, which we commemorate the death of the Talmidim of Rabbi Akiva, where the Gemara says they they they had 12,000 pairs of Talmidim that all died because of a Mageifa. And that's what we mourn. Now, can you imagine having a Yeshiva with 24,000 Talmidim? I I can't I can't imagine it. I mean, Beis Medrash Govoha, Lakewood, probably the biggest Yeshiva in the world today. That's 10,000 Talmidim. They said 24,000 Talmidim. But can you imagine how Rabbi Akiva would go ahead and feel if all his Talmidim died? What am I doing wrong? Most people would not recover from that. Rabbi Akiva went and did. And he got up and he dusted himself off. And he went ahead and started a new Yeshiva with five Talmidim. Who became the the sages of the Talmud. That's Rabbi Akiva. The ability to take tragedy but somehow go ahead and recover. Be resilient. See what's not saved. That's Rabbi Akiva that says, "Ashreichem Yisrael." So happy. Hashem Hashem Shamayim goes ahead and purifies you every Yom Kippur.