Shemini - Purity and Impurity

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari goldwag recorded with's never ending assistance in R 5779 2019 this week's para is par and in our para at the very end of the para we have different different laws that are related to the concept of T and tahara impurity and Purity and I'd like to share with you a piece freedlander it's not a long piece but it's a beautiful piece interesting piece and uh that has to do with this topic from the concept of the laws of Purity and impurity and generally speaking in regards to the concept of the mikah which is a special body of water into which one immerses if they are impure we can learn about the greatness of the human being and from the other side of it from the other perspective his loneliness and the concept that anything that is connected to something which is pure it itself is pure okay when we speak about the concept of Purity and impurity it's only we only discuss this concept in regards to the people of Israel to the Jewish people only a Jew can become impure and only a Jew can become purified but a non-jew so for such a person we can't really speak about the concept of purity so therefore we can speak about concept of impurity as well we find that there's many different types of T our par actually speaks mainly about Tuma for example of touching a sherit a bug a certain dead dead dead bug other things that cause Tuma other things that cause impurity but the highest level of impurity is a dead body a dead human being and the question is why is it that a human being's impurity is when a person has died why is it that it's the highest level of impurity every single Israelite every single member of the Jewish people has a a lofty Soul has a piece of God embedded inside of him the soul of the Jewish person is heun out from the from the bottom of the Throne of God's glory as it were which is the source of Holiness which is the good the good inclination within the person excuse me where is the source of impurity where does it come from it comes from the physical body which contains the inclination towards e evil the evil inclination and that's the aspect of the person which is physical which is dark which is made out of Earth that's the source of impurity now Harish he speaks about the fact that where did this start where did this all come from where did this begin amazing thing the verse tells us verse in Genesis 2:s 25 tells us that Adam and Eve they were not clothed and yet despite the fact that they were not clothed they weren't embarrassed what is the reason why indeed what's the understanding what's the depth of the concept that only after their sin was it necessary for them to wear clothing amazing thing the physical body was so Buttle was so nullified in relationship to the soul of and the for their sin that because of that so when they served God before the sin so the way the things were was it was absolutely clear what is the purpose of a human being why am I in this world I'm here only to serve Hashem in order to serve God and therefore everything that they did was subservient their physical body was completely subservient to their soul which was completely clear both on a intellectual level and on an emotional level that that's all there is is serving God there is no real desire or inordinate desire for anything physical for any bodily needs there was no necessity to cover up any parts of the body since the body was completely Buttle was completely nullified to the soul completely subservient to the soul so the physical body was only there never to take over and to assert its own needs its needs were only completely subservient to the needs of the soul to serve God like thean says in Genesis 2:9 when it came to them having relations together it wasn't like it is today where there's a there's like a an inordinate amount of desire in regards to that that TAA regards to that desire came since explains fer that their entire desire was to serve God that was their only focus so the the ti of the body that it was just something that happened just like someone takes a drink someone takes a drink it's not unless a person has an inordinate desire in regards to food and drink but an ordinary person so there's nothing special about it's nothing out out uh outstanding about that desire says that therefore right when we see the the face uncovered or or a hand uncovered so it doesn't arouse any desire why why because there's there's no there's no there's nothing intrinsically that that awakens a person there's no uh energy around that thing right and therefore so the the parts of the human being that were involved in or that are involved in the relations between a man and a woman between a man and his wife so those aspects they were no different than a hand or a face because there was no extreme energy around them and therefore it wasn't necessary they weren't embarrassed wasn't necessary to cover them when the when the level of Adam and Eve was on a level of Enlightenment everything was so clear it was all about doing God's Wills the the Fulfillment of God's uh will that's all that there was it's all that that's all there was that they were interested in T at this level there was no concept of impurity right there was no death there was no death cuz death is associated with Aon after the sin after they've fallen from Grace after they've fallen from the level where their entire Essence their entire desire their entire will is only to do God's will only then does impurity come onto the scene when they when their physical bodies completely subservient to their soul so there's no Tuma there's no impurity the that state is one where the soul actually purifies the body the body has nothing of its own it's not interest in anything there's no inordinate desire but after the sin there was a certain disconnect between the soul and the physical body the person's experience of himself no longer is completely spiritual but rather person sees himself more more as a physical being than as a spiritual being often right it became its own thing in and of itself the physical body so then there was something that it fell down in its relationship between the the there was a fall in the relationship between the physical body and the Soul since what happened through the sin so it strengthened the power of evil in the creation in the physical body the power of physical desires and enjoyments so the way it is now we we're very aware of how it is now where there's a physical desire for things so an amazing thing happens because now we have a combination of opposite forces of of two different desires within human being the the the mind of a person knows that the the right thing to do is God's will right but on the other side pulling him in the other direction is the the feeling that one wishes to have enjoyments of this world to have the imaginary desires he thinks that he's going to to feel good by having those desires that which is sweet and an enjoyment for people that was the level that they reached as they came down from their exalted level into the level where we find them ourselves so they realize that they were naked what is idea when a person has cognitive dissonance there's a dissonance between what I know is right and what part of me wants my physical reality desires my my inclination wants that's what causes a person to have embarrassment as a result of the contradiction between his actions between a person's actions or I would extend it to say even a person's physical desires or his actions based on those desires the physical desires when it's compared the distance between that and and what a person knows to be right with his with his conscience the will of God is what what a person ultimately wants on on the highest level therefore they saw the need to cover up the body because and to to hide it and as a result like we said as a result of this disconnect between the physical body and the spiritual aspect of the human being the result was that death Came Upon the human being Tuma the result was impurity T also the impurity of uh when a woman is menstruating so all these things are a result because Eve originally was always fertile was always able to give birth in fact it didn't take nine months it was instantaneous right only after the fall from grace only after they fell and that exalted state did they experience impurity now T is not like we said the is a concept of T of impurity it's it's a disconnect of the body from being subservient to the soul as long as a person is alive as long as the soul is attached because we need to understand this is what he's going to come to explain why is it that impurity comes on the person when either the person dies or when someone comes in contact with the dead what is the idea that the impurity comes when a person is dead so he says like this an amazing thing as long as a person is still alive as long as the soul is within his body so there is no intrinsic impurity that comes on oil it can come through touching and that can be removed through the through the AER para through the ashes of the red cat the red heer but the physical body of a person as long as he's alive as long as his soul is inside of his body so that impurity is not like the impurity that occurs when a person dies he calls man as long as the human body is still attached to the soul within it so then the physical body is affected by the soul There's an opportunity for the human being to or for the soul of the human being to use the body in its service of God and even someone who's evil who's not serving God as long as he's still alive there's still a possibility of a person doing CH you can do the he can fix himself through his soul what happens when a person dies and the Soul leaves the human body the impurity comes down onto that physical body when there's the lack of the Holiness of the Soul when the soul has left the lack of Holiness allows for there's a vacuum a spiritual vacuum which allows impurity to come in and this impurity is so heavy is so stringent to the point where even if someone doesn't actually come into contact with the dead body but if one comes into a a tent or a house under within which a dead body is located so the person can become impure the live person a person touches the the dead body even the surroundings of the dead person also can cause impurity what is the concept of Purity Purity means returning to the state where one is one is subservient to the will of God to extent that a person uh makes himself subservient to God so to the extent that he does that he understands the truth and the purpose of creation so to the to the extent that a person uh makes himself subservient to the will of God so then the physical body also becomes subservient the the tus of the human being the desires of the person become less and less they become minimized we find an amazing concept anything that's attached to Purity anything that's physically attached to Purity becomes pure that's the concept of the Mikvah we're going to see soon concept of dipping in the special Waters of the M what is the idea what is the concept the concept is that when a person attaches himself to something to Pure it means that he's attaching himself to the will of God and in such a way a person draws down the the effects of Holiness and by the way this isn't written here but Torah is called m t is called water why is it called water because the the effect of Torah is just like we're going to see that hasem is called a Mikvah God is called the one who purifies the people of Israel the t is that which allows us to connect ourselves to God it's the pure purifying Waters which teach us what is the will of God and when we make ourselves subservient to the Torah in essence we are making ourselves subservient to God okay now what is the unique characteristic of the water in which we dip when it comes to going in the mikah what is the concept of it the concept of going into a Mikvah which is a a collection of waters what is the idea so it can be a collection of waters it has to be under certain in order for it to be a collection it has to be under certain circumstances under certain conditions or it could also be like a river or a lake a natural body of water the common denominator of a Mikvah of any kind of Mikvah is that it has to be something which man has not affected the water this is what the says that the mikah purifies someone who's impure cuz she what does a person do he takes off all of his clothing interestingly this is my comment but he becomes like he he takes off all the embarrassment from himself why because he's coming back into a relationship with God he comes into the water there's no part of his body that can that that can be separate every part of his body has to be touching the water can be covered with clothes can't be covered with anything because the concept of the is a body of water that you can't speak about impurity why because it is it is the hands of man have not touched it so to speak on a on a level so when a person attaches himself to this Purity the purity of the water of the Mikvah so then he's attaching himself to the will of God and detaching himself from the impurity according to this General principle anything which is connected to Purity is pure so if you want to use water which was drawn like say somebody takes a bucket and wants to fill up the mville with with buckets of water you can't do that that's something which was affected by man it has to be something which arrive there naturally be a natural rainwater Etc because the human being has had to do with it it's specifically the water of a of a spring or the water of the rain which purifies a person why because a human being has not done anything to it the the water has not been affected by a human being what happens with the human being the human being can cause destruction within nature when he wants to do his own will when he wants to do the will of the human being so what which are drawn by a person who has impure intent can't be used for because of person has touched them so there's a mixture of the human desire the desire of the physical body which is mixed up with which is which is an anti-force if there is such a word which is a force against the soul as long as a person hasn't been involved with it with the waters so then it's not impure but as soon as a person is touching it it can it can receive impurity because this is the hand of a human being that is involved with physicality and which is involved with the evil inclination this is also true when it comes to pieces of wood pieces of wood that have not been fashioned into a vessel not a bowl not a chair Etc that what's the they don't they don't have the potential to become impure right we we find that if some if there if there's a CLE a vessel which has been made by a person once it's turned into a vessel it can contract impurity the moment that vessels are made out of them which serve the human being which serve the human need the physical needs of the person so then we're already in a state that's possible to contract impurity this is also the concept that anything that's attached to Purity is pure one of the extensions of this idea is the concept of M as we explained if you have food which had become impure which gets reattached to the ground so it goes back to a state of Purity it's now attached to the physical land which hasn't been affected by human hands and then the impurity is gone mik what is the concept of mikah it's where a person goes in completely his entire body into natural Waters what is the concept what is the idea what is what what is the kavana that we have when we enter into a Mikvah what is the intent that we're meant to have it's that we're completely making ourselves subservient to God's will that's how we take away the Toma of nid the impurity of a menstruating woman that's how a man takes off the Tuma of carry when a person has had a seminal ad mission that impurity which comes as a result of the sin ofish of the of Adam and Eve is taken off through the Mikvah because in so doing the person goes back to his state of subservience to hem subservience to the soul subservience to the spiritual doing God's will praiseworthy are you oh people of Israel before whom are you purifying yourselves who purifies you brings down that who is the the the mikah of the Jewish people the purifying Waters of the Jewish people is God what is the concept of this the the mikah of the people of Israel's God through attaching ourselves completely to God's will like the says so so to God purifies the people of Israel through our attachment to completely without any separation at all of course God is completely disconnected from any sins and therefore to you the people of Israel you have that purification through God by attaching ourselves to God when we attach ourselves to the Torah which is God's will when we attach ourselves to try to understand what is it that God wants from us when we try when we when we go through the waters of the Mikvah all these things serve to remind us us that what is our purpose here on this Earth our purpose is to serve God I want to bless you and ask you to bless me back should help us to incorporate this idea understand this idea of T and Tara try to purify ourselves purify our intentions try with all of our might to serve God properly thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shabas this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.ar goldw .c or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]