It’s What You Make of Yourself

We had all these Gemaras over here. These braces and mashnais regarding the Kedusha. Right, Cohen is Kodesh l'Levi, Levi l'Yisrael, Yisrael l'Mamzer, Mamzer l'Natin, Natin l'Ger, Ger l'Eved Meshuchrar. Obey must I said the Mishnah Mashchulin Shavim. This is all true if all things are equal. Aval Hoya Mamzer Talmid Chacham. If you had a Mamzer but has a Talmid Chacham and you have a Cohen Gadol who's an Am Ha'aretz, Mamzer Talmid Chacham Kodesh l'Cohen Gadol Am Ha'aretz. And this is an often quoted Chazar. That Mamzer Talmid Chacham is Kodesh to a Cohen Gadol Am Ha'aretz. Now let's just think about this for a second. What Chazar was saying is is that the Ma'aleh of a Talmid Chacham over an Am Ha'aretz is so stark that if the Talmid Chacham is a Mamzer and the Cohen Gadol is an Am Ha'aretz, still the Talmid Chacham is going to come before the Am Ha'aretz, right? In other words, Chazar wanted to bring out the point that the Talmid Chacham is greater than the Am Ha'aretz. So how do you bring out this point? How do you test something? At the extremes. So he said let's take the most extreme case. The Spitz Kodesh K'ilu is the Cohen Gadol. AND THE SPITZ Nidrige Mensch is the Mamzer. Okay, well what would be if the Mamzer who is Mamish Mata Mata is the Talmid Chacham and the Cohen Gadol who's Ma'aleh Ma'aleh would be the Am Ha'aretz. You know who would be Odef? The Mamzer would come before the Cohen Gadol. Because at the end of the day the Talmid Chacham comes before the Am Ha'aretz and even if it means Mamzer Talmid Chacham coming before the Cohen Gadol Am Ha'aretz. We mentioned many times over the years that why did Chazar use this contrast to bring out the difference between the Talmid Chacham and Am Ha'aretz as the Cohen Gadol and the Mamzer to prove my goal. He says it right here in the Tosefta on Horiyos Dof Yud Gimel. We mentioned in the past from Margolios Ha'Yam in Sanhedrin Dof Yud Ches Mem Alef. He said that could be the Pshat is because there's an Obvious Rabbeinu Nosson where Obvious Rabbeinu Nosson said that a Mamzer was not allowed to enter Yerushalayim. It's an Obvious Rabbeinu Nosson in Perek Yud Beis. The Mamzer was not allowed in Yerushalayim. As it relates to the Cohen Gadol, the Rambam in Hilchos Klei Hamikdash Perek Hey says that the Kohanim Gadol was never allowed to leave Jerusalem. The mamzer is never allowed to enter Jerusalem. The Kohanim Gadol was never allowed to leave Jerusalem. So you see that there may cut off as it relates to being allowed to be in Jerusalem. Say Chazal that I don't care. If you have a mamzer who's never allowed to enter Jerusalem over here to Talmud Chacham and you have a Kohanim Gadol who's never allowed to leave Jerusalem over here to am ha'aretz. The mamzer Talmud Chacham is going to be Kohanim Gadol over here. This is something that we've mentioned many times. But I want to offer up Shmuel Yankiv. He said a dover nifla and we're going to be mesayem with this. And that is Shmuel Yankiv said that where did a Kohanim Gadol come from? As everyone knows, the Gemara says in Maseches Yoma daf mem zayin that there was a woman, her name was Kimchis. Daf mem zayin, her name was Kimchis. And Kimchis was she had seven sons that were talmidei chachamim. Amulah chachamim. Mah osis she has zochis l'kach? What did you do to be zocheh to this? Amulahm she said me my lero kol beis kilai sari. She said the walls of my house never saw my hair. She was an incredible incredible tznuah. And because of her tznius she merited that she had seven sons that were Kohanim Gedolim. Where does a Kohanim Gadol come from? A Kohanim Gadol comes from the spitz tznius. Shmuel Yankiv said where did the mamzer come from? The mamzer comes from the spitz tumah. A mamzer comes from an illicit relationship. But not just an illicit relationship. From a highly decreased us. The Kohanim Gadol comes from the spitz of the spitz. From the tznius of tznius. From the highest level of kedusha. The mamzer comes from the lowest place in the world. Comes from the deepest ruchanius. Over stating that say Chazal that mamzer Talmud Chacham is Kohanim Gadol over here. You know why? Because really it doesn't matter where you come from. What matters is what you make from yourself. You could be a mamzer where you come from nothing, but you become a talmud chacham, you're going to be ordered from the cohen gadol. That comes from the spits, comes from the most pristine makor of the eretz hamarot. Because again, what matters is not so much where you come from. What matters is what you make for yourself. That's the That's the contrast between the cohen gadol and the mamzer, and that's the oimek in mamzer talmud chacham is kodesh min kodesh hamarot.