Acharei-Kedoshim - Leadership and Responsibility

You're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari Goldwag, recorded with Hashem's never-ending assistance in Aram B'nai Yisrael 5781 2021. This week's parshas parshas Acharei Mos and Kedoshim back-to-back parshios. The beginning of our parsha speaks about the avodah of the Kohen Gadol, the high priest's service in the temple on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. The Torah prefaces the commandment of Hakadosh Baruchu of God speaking to Moshe Rabbenu commanding him to tell Aaron his brother about the entire avodah, all of the intricate details of that service. And the introduction is Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe acharei mos shnei bnei Aharon b'korvam lifnei Hashem vayimusu. God spoke to Moshe Rabbenu. It was immediately after the death of the two sons of Aaron the Kohen of Nadav and Avihu. They had died bringing a foreign fire coming in front of Hashem b'korvam lifnei Hashem vayimusu. They came and they died. And he goes on to describe in detail the avodah as we said. And the obvious question everyone asks this question, it's an important question to understand. Why is it indeed that the Torah prefaces the avodah of the Kohen Gadol in the avodah in the in the entire course of things that he did and in the fact that he went into the Kodesh Hakodashim, the Holy of Holies, one time a year on Yom Kippur for this special service. Why is it prefaced by the fact that this was said immediately after the death of Nadav and Avihu or said differently, Nadav and Avihu died in Nissan, right? The dedication of the temple, the dedication of the Mishkan, of the Tabernacle, was in Nissan. When is the avodah of Yom Kippur? It's going to be 6 months later in Tishrei. Why is this command being stated now? Something that's not nogea. It's not something that is actually going to be put into practice for another 6 months. Why does the Torah indeed why does Hakadosh Baruchu uh give this command at this time immediately after the death of Nadav and Avihu? Another question I'd like to understand is if we look at the series of parshios starting with Vayikra, Tzav, Shmini, Tazria, Metzora, Acharei Mos, Kedoshim, those are the parshios that we've had so far from this book of Leviticus. So, the first three parshios, Vayikra, Tzav, Shmini, are talking about the korbanos and they're talking about the order of what occurred in the Mishkan at the very beginning, the miluim, the dedication of the Mishkan. And then we stop. We have two parshios, we have a pause in the narrative of what was going on at that time. And we have two full parshios that speak about Tazria and Metzora that speak about the metzora, a leprous person. And then we pick back up and we talk we it's like we made a pause in the story, made a pause in the series of events, and we spoke about metzora and then we come back and now we're talking about back to our regularly scheduled program, back to our story. Now we're talking again about Nadav and Avihu who just passed away and Hakadosh Baruchu gave this command at that moment for Yom Kippur of the seder avodah, the order of the service on Yom Kippur. And the question is why? What is the concept here? What is the Torah coming to teach us by placing the mitzvah and and the the involved ceremony that the Kohen had to come and determine obviously it has to do with Kohanim, it has to do with the priests, right? That's l'chora on the surface, why it's here. All right, this is Leviticus. We're talking about at least until the end of our parsha, until the end of Acharei Mos and going on into Kedoshim, it kind of slips away from this topic, but until now we've been speaking about the avodah of Kohanim, the special job that the priests have. Why why was it indeed placed here, the concept of metzora? Why when Hakadosh Baruchu wrote the Torah, Moshe Rabbenu wrote down the Torah that Hashem commanded him, why was this parsha placed here? That's the question I'd like to understand. So, to understand this, I want to point out a few things in regards to the what happens what's the Kohen's job? I once saw it brought down. I believe that it's Rav Avigdor Miller who says that what does the word Kohen mean? The word Kohen, which we know means a priest, what does the word Kohen mean, the Hebrew word? Ko means like so. Ko amar Hashem, this is what God said. Kohen, whenever you have the nun at the end of a word, it like makes the it almost makes the verb into a noun or or it makes it into a kind of rounds off the word, let's say it like that, okay? So, Kohen means a person who says ko. Person who says do this or like so. A Kohen is an instructor. A Kohen is a guide. A Kohen acts on our behalf in the Beit Hamikdash in the high the holy day of the year. We can't bring those korbanos, he has to bring those sacrifices for us. The Kohen is the teacher. The Kohen is the one who arrives at the house of the metzora and he says to him, you're tamei, you're impure. You've contracted a spiritual disease called leprosy, called metzora'as, spiritual leprosy called tzara'as. And you need to do teshuvah, you need to repent. And he shows all of the different levels and the different things that need to be gone through, all the steps that need to be traversed in order to receive his kaparah, his atonement. And indeed the Kohen, the high priest in the Beit Hamikdash in the high the holiest day of the year, he goes through that ultimate cleansing process for the Jewish people as a whole. The Kohen is the leader. The Kohen, he has the high priest has on his chest 12 stones that say on them each of the different names of the tribes of the Jewish people. He's the person who contains within him all of the Jewish people. He's the leader. He's in a certain sense he's a king. He's a king of the Jewish people, but for spiritual matters. In a spiritual sense, he's the king, he's the leader. That's the high priest, but each Kohen also has that ability to be a leader, to be a Right, Hakadosh Baruchu refers to us as a mamleches Kohanim v'goi kadosh. The Jewish people are referred to as a kingdom of priests, which means that our unique job in the world is to be leaders and guides to the entire world, a light unto the nations. But the Kohen has that job within the Jewish people. That's who the Kohen is. Now, here's my theory, okay? I believe this to be the p'shat why the Torah ordered these parshios in this way. When a person is a leader, when a person is a Kohen, a person is a leader, there are certain benefits of the job. He gets honor. He might make money. Kohanim get gifts. They get terumah. They get certain parts of the animal. They get to eat from the korbanos, the sacrifices. There are benefits to being a leader. You know, when someone becomes the president of the synagogue, he sits up there in the front with the rabbi. A person knows that he's a he has a responsibility to the congregation now that he's the president. A person has a position of leadership, it comes along with honor and it comes along with responsibility. Now, I want to try to understand I want to try to understand what were Nadav and Avihu what were they doing when they went into the Kodesh Hakodashim? They went into the Holy of Holies, they brought a foreign fire. What were they trying to do? So, this is something I've spoken about in the past and I'm kind of going to touch on a bit of what I said in the past. The the Chazal tell us the Medrash tells us that they didn't get advice from each other. They didn't get advice from Moshe and Aaron. Medrash tells us that they said one of these old ones that previous generation Moshes and the Aarons going to move off the scene so that we can take over as leaders. It seems to me, and this is my own thought, it seems to me that while Nadav and Avihu were indeed great and they were destined for leadership for the Jewish people, there was something a little funny there was something a little funny about their approach. There's something a little bit imbalanced, let us say. It was more important for them to be a leader, perhaps we could say, to be to be in that position of power than it was their concern for those who they were leading. I would like to posit that the very fact that they went into lifnai v'lifnim, what was their goal there? What were they trying to accomplish there? It's not so clear. But the Torah does tell us that Aaron the Kohen is allowed to go into the Kodesh Hakodashim, the Holy of Holies, one day a year and for one purpose. And that is to provide atonement for the Jewish people. Bringing in that special ketores, that special incense, placing it down in front of the Aron Hakodesh, in front of the holy ark, it accomplished an atonement for the Jewish people. If the focus of the leader is on his people, that's that's good. That's good. If the focus of the leader, perhaps Nadav and Avihu, why did they go go in there? They weren't coming to atone for the Jewish people. Perhaps we could say that they they were they wanted to have a spiritual experience. They wanted to come close to Hakadosh Baruchu. You know, the holiest place in the world is the Kodesh Hakodashim, the Holy of Holies. In fact, the Gemara tells us, it's Gomorrah Brochus that Rebbi Shimon Cohen Godol he went in Lifnei Lifnei Lifnei on Yom Kippur and he had an awesome experience. God himself revealed himself to you Rebbi Shimon Cohen Godol. Rebbi Shimon uh Rebbi Shimon ben Elisha, right? And he and he uh Hakadosh Baruch Hu asked him for a brocha. Interestingly, what did What was the brocha so to speak that Rebbi Shimon ben Elisha said to Hakadosh Baruch Hu? He said have I bless you Hakadosh Baruch Hu you should have mercy on your people. He prayed on behalf of the Jewish people. He didn't ask for anything for himself. That's a Cohen Godol. That's a high priest. If a person is going in there to just have a spiritual experience there's a big problem. That's not the That's not the way in. That's not the way into the Kodesh Hakodashim to the Holy of Holies. A true leader is not concerned about himself. Now let's take a look for a moment. You know Korbanos the the Kohanim get something from it. They get to eat from the Korbanos and even a Korban Olah which is completely burnt on the on the altar in the Beis Hamikdash in the Mishkan the the Kohanim get the the skin of the animal. They have a benefit from it. Now let's take a look at at Metzora for a moment. You know, oh no, the Cohen is coming. He's going to make our house tamei. Quick, get everything out of the house. He's like the ref. Everyone hates the ref cuz the ref he's got to say it like it is. You You're out. Right? What do you mean I was out? I was safe. Everybody hates the ref. Cohen comes in. It's a thankless job. He comes in and he's he pronounces the person has has tzaraas. He's got leprosy or on his walls, whatever on his body. It's a thankless job. So the Cohen has to do something. He has to be a Cohen. This is the way to go. Cohen. He's the person who tells you how to go. He comes in and he tells you you have tzaraas cuz you got to know cuz you got to fix yourself. You got to be a better person. You got to do teshuvah. You have to go through a whole process of teshuvah. The Cohen says this is what you do. You know, it's not fun. It's not fun to be the guy who tells somebody else what to do. But that's his job. He's got to do it. The Torah assigns it to him. I think I think that the Torah places the parshas of Metzora of Tazria Metzora right after the death of of Nadav and Avihu who's Nadav and Avihu Aaron's sons Nadav Nadav and Avihu in order for us to understand their mistake. And it segues it segues right into the avoid of the Cohen Godol on Yom Kippur because that is the proper use of the achrayis of the leadership capacity of the Kohanim of the priests. By the Metzora we see the Cohen he's a leader thanklessly. He has no benefit from it. He has no personal benefit. That's what a real Cohen is. That's what a real leader is. A true leader of course, you know, there's always going to be a balance but what do you focus on? What is the main point of me being in this position of leadership? I remember so clearly it was the late 90s Rav Moshe Sherer the leader of Agudah had just passed away. And the Novominsk Rebbi zichro tzaddik livrocha just passed away a year ago. The Novominsk Rebbi was placed into the position that Rav Moshe Sherer had had as the leader of Agudah. And everyone was congratulating the Novominsk Rebbi and my Rosh Yeshiva Rav Perr said everyone's busy congratulating him but what a tremendous achrayis he now has. What a tremendous responsibility he now has. He bears the weight of Klal Yisrael now on his shoulders. Leadership. Oh wow, you became the president of Yeshiva. It's it's a mazel tov but you've got a lot of phone calls to make. You've got a lot of reaching out to people and saying hey you've got to fulfill your pledge. The leadership comes with honor but it also comes not also mainly it comes with responsibility. And the question is what is the focus of the leader? What is the focus of the Cohen? Is the focus of the Cohen wow, I can walk into the the Kodesh Hakodashim and now I can have a spiritual experience Hashem's going to talk to me. I can ask for anything I want. Is that the focus? That's the mistake. Immediately after that the Torah has to tell us this is what a Cohen is. The Cohen is responsibility and by Metzora it's pure responsibility no benefits. That's the thankless part of it. You need to know that that's what you're in for as a Cohen. Cuz you need to have the proper balance if you are a leader. You need to have the proper perspective. Once you have that perspective, once you've heard about the side of Kehuna that doesn't involve any benefit any personal gain for the Cohen now we can come back and say Rav Moshe Sherer and Rav Perr and Rav Aaron and we can we can understand what the mistake what the problem was what the what the what Nadav and Avihu did wrong with their focus on being the leader or perhaps trying to have a spiritual experience that was just theirs and didn't involve those who they were meant to lead. And now once we have a clarity about that the Cohen Godol can walk into the Kodesh Hakodashim the Holy of Holies where he's going to have an awesome experience. You know, if you were in the Beis Hamikdash in the first Beis Hamikdash there were 10 miracles that occurred every single day. Every single day you would walk in there and you would be seeing miracles. That's all That's awesome, man. Anytime I want I can go and I can see Hakadosh Baruch Hu openly manifesting in the world. Just walk into the Beis Hamikdash. You know, if when you would eat the Korbanos when you eat the sacrifices so you wouldn't have to use the bathroom. Cuz your body would take in all of the food not just the good nutrients and it they wouldn't make a person sick. The body would take it all in miraculously just like with the mon with the manna. So the Kohanim were seeing that all day long. You know, wow, it's such a spiritual awesome thing. But is that what they're focusing on? It can't be what they're focusing on. It has to be that what they're focusing on is their constituency. The people who they represent. The people who they need to guide. They're a Cohen. This is how you do it. They're a Cohen. Their job is to help the Jewish people to to repent. You know the story it's in it's in Shmuel talks about Eli Hakoyen his sons Eli Hakoyen was the priest his sons Chofni and Pinchas had done great sins. They had taken the food. They'd taken the basar of the Korbanos. It became more important than taking care of getting a kapara for the people getting an atonement for the people who brought their sacrifices. They were too busy eating. They were getting fat. What was the result? The result was a terrible curse came upon them. That they and their grandchildren on through the generations would live short lives. They would die by the age of 20. Except for unusual exceptions. So what do you see? You see what's the mistake of the What's the What was the mis- their mistake? Their mistake was an imbalance in their sense of responsibility versus their privilege as a result of the responsibility. The Torah says what is a Cohen? How can he walk in and and have that awesome experience? How can he be that leader? How can he be that high priest? How can he have the experience Lifnei Lifnei in the Holy of Holies? It's only by atoning. It's only by recognizing that what is the purpose of my leadership? What is the purpose of me being able to have the spiritual experience is so that I can lead others. So that I can be responsible for others guiding them helping them atoning for them. It's such an important deep lesson. It's a lesson not just for people who are big leaders or Yeshivas and and uh communal leaders etc. It's It's a lesson for each one of us because each one of us is a is a leader also. Might be I'm a leader in my home. Might be I'm a leader in my synagogue. Might be I'm a leader amongst my friends. Might be just what I do. I'm just an example for others. The question is what do I do with that leadership? Do I take the the kavod the honor for myself? Or am I am I focused in on my responsibility for others? I think it's also important I was talking to a young person who's learning in Yeshiva and I was explaining how, you know, you're learning in Yeshiva right now. But what is your focus? Like what Just to build yourself? Is that what you're thinking about? Just building yourself to become the best you that you can be? That's good. It's important but why? Ultimately it's not enough to just build yourself. I'm building myself to become a great person in order to be able to help others. In order to be a Cohen in my capacity of being a Cohen. Cohen. This is how to go. Like I said it could be I'm serving as an example for others. It could be in my family. It could be in my shul my synagogue. But each and every one of us has that ability and each and every one of us each and every one of us has the responsibility to have the proper balance wherever we are. If I'm a parent and I have power over my kids right? I have a certain level of power. I have to I have to give them the right way to go. I have to guide them I have to direct them. I have to be careful that it doesn't become something in and of itself. You You honor me because I am the father. The Torah says you must honor me. Well, they don't have an obligation to honor if I tell them to do something against the Torah. They're not allowed to tell me. They're not allowed to rat on their on their sibling. It's lashon hara. Right? So, I need to be careful that my leadership doesn't become something in and of itself. That perhaps the fame that I've achieved doesn't become something in and of itself, but rather the focus is continuously coming back to how can I lead? How can I teach better? How can I become a better person so I can teach better? How can I become a better person so I'm a better example? How can I use my leadership ability to guide others and not for my own grandiosity, my own guy, for my own ego. I want to bless you and ask you to bless me. Hashem should help us to indeed be able to recognize that we are all leaders and to be able to use our leadership properly in the right balance. Sometimes it's going to be thankless. Hashem should help us that we should be able to be that leader even in those thankless moments. And Hashem should help us to always have that balance and to be the best leaders we can possibly be. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabbos. This podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you. For more podcasts like this, please visit www.arigoldwieg.com or search on iTunes Ari Goldwieg.