Semuchim M'yad - Connecting Parshas Emor With the End of Kedoshim

Okay, good morning everyone. A freilichen a guten Pesach Sheni. Yud Daled Iyar, the outside of Reb Meir Baal Haness. In honor of Reb Meir Baal Haness and Pesach Sheni. So we have a new edition of the Sifrei Reb Meir. Aside from the edition in Lashon Hakodesh, we have a pocket edition. This way you could take Reb Meir with you wherever you go. You could be mekayem the encouragement of Reb Chaim Palagi never to be misyachetz from the Tanna Reb Meir Baal Haness. We're going to begin with Smuchim Miyad. Connecting Parshas Emor with last week's Parsha, Parshas Kedoshim. Let me take you to today's Marah Mekomos and today's email. Uh on that note, make sure you're subscribed to our uh make sure you're subscribed to our email. Go to [email protected]. Uh you could go on the site rabbidg.com and just subscribe. Okay, so let me get the Marah Mekomos up. And the first shiur Smuchim Miyad, connecting Parshas Emor to Parshas Kedoshim. The end of Kedoshim. The end of Kedoshim. Um It says as follows, "Vi'yisem li kedoshim ki kadosh ani Hashem." That is the end of Parshas Kedoshim. It talks about being holy, that you should be holy. Hashem says cuz I am holy. In the beginning of Emor, likewise it says "Kedoshim tiyu leiloy keichem." "Vekidashta yechi asher melech acher umakriv kodashim yelach." Fine. So that's one level of the connection between the end of Kedoshim and the beginning of Emor, namely the subject of Kedoshim tiyu. Another uh juxtaposition. I think this is very interesting. Parshas Kedoshim ends with the warning against ov veyidoni. "Ve'ish o isha ki yihyeh vahem ov o yidoni So the pasuk says that if you come if you take use of their services, the ov and the yidoni are ways of communing with the dead, then uh the the one that is punishable by death. That's the end of Parshas Kedoshim. The admonition, the warning to stay away from ov veyidoni, various ways of communing with the dead, using bones to be able to attain information from the other world. And then Parshas Emor talks about the kedusha that Kohanim have to maintain by not becoming contaminated to the dead. So I wanted to say as follows, that from the fact that the Torah says to stay away from the ov and the yidoni, not to commune, not to converse, not to utilize their services, we see how much impurity and contamination rests on the dead. Why does the Torah say don't commune with the dead? Cuz the Torah wants the living to stay away from the dead. The dead are tamei. The dead are so to speak off limits to us. That is very much connected to why the Kohanim are not allowed to be metamei lemeisim. Because of the Kohanim's higher degree of kedusha, they have to stay so far away from the meisim that they're not even allowed to go within their four cubits. I think that the juxtaposition of ov veyidoni with the admonition to the Kohanim, that reflects that's giving you the rationale. Why can't Kohanim come into contact with the dead? The dead are tamei. Where do we see the dead are tamei? That's seen from the warning against the ov veyidoni. So I think those topics are very much connected one with the other. Okay. Um let us go back to the Marah Mekomos. Let's see, how do we get that? Next piece. The next one is also um rather amazing. The Tzelem Hamar also discusses the Smichus Haparshios and in his second commentary, he brings a davar nifla. He brings an amazing idea from the Medrash Tanchuma. First the Tzelem Hamar says as follows. It says "Emor el Hakohanim It ends Parshas Kedoshim with the purity of Klal Yisrael and it juxtaposes in Emor the purity of the Kohanim. That they need to be more pure and more holy even more than the Yisrael. Because they're they're uh charged with the service of Hashem. The Medrash though, the Medrash Tanchuma offers another explanation. The Medrash says as follows as follows. What does it say at the end of Kedoshim? "Ve'ish o isha ki yihyeh vahem ov o yidoni What's the connection between ov veyidoni and Emor el Hakohanim?" Hakadosh Baruch Hu showed Moshe Rabbeinu every generation and its leaders. And Hashem showed Moshe Rabbeinu Shaul Hamelech how he fell by the sword of the Philistines. Moshe Rabbeinu said, "Ribbono Shel Olam, the first king of Yisrael is going to be pierced by the sword?" Hashem said, "Delei ata omer?" "Emor el Hakohanim benei Aharon." It's the reason is it's because of the Kohanim. Why? Cuz Shaul killed Noiv Ir Hakohanim. That's the juxtaposition. Okay, so Shaul killed Noiv Ir Hakohanim. And what else did Shaul do? Shaul Even though he removed the ov veyidoni, he went to seek the services of a baal ov, a baalas ov. Because he killed the Kohanim and he had no way to communicate through the Urim Vetumim, so therefore he communicated with the uh the ov veyidoni. Chazal say, So so what do we see from this Chazal? That Chazal are finding a connection between the Kohanim and ov veyidoni. Namely, the way the Tzelem Hamar says it, is that it's a response to when Moshe Rabbeinu asked Hakadosh Baruch Hu why Shaul was killed by the sword. And the answer is because he killed the Kohanim and now he has no choice, he had to communicate with the ov veyidoni. Um says the Tzelem Hamar that it had already said earlier in Parshas Kedoshim, "Al tifnu el ha'ovos al tifnu el ha'ovos ve'el hayidonim." So why does the Parsha end off again talking about ov veyidoni? You know why? It wants to juxtapose it to the inyan of Shaul dying because of the Kohanim. In other words, because Shaul was killed for two reasons. Number one, he solicited the services of the ov. And number two, because he killed out the Noiv Ir Hakohanim. Now the Baal Haturim um says the same idea just a bit differently. Look in the Baal Haturim. This is the next piece here. "Emor el Hakohanim." Says the Baal Haturim, it juxtaposes the azhara to the Kohanim to the lav of not to be metamei to the ov. Because that's that's also we're not allowed to be metamei to the ov veyidoni. That's also a form of tumah. Also, the Baal Haturim says, it's it's warning the kohen, "Don't since you're not allowed to become tamei, we're afraid if you solicit the services of an ov, you're going to become tamei through the materials that the ov veyidoni use." Or uh this is very nice. The Baal Haturim says, "You know why it says Emor el Hakohanim right after the Parsha of ov veyidoni? Cuz if you're going to say we can't solicit the services of an ov veyidoni, who are we going to seek out the future from?" We can't if we can't go to an ov veyidoni, how are we going to know what's going to be? So the answer is, "Don't worry, you don't need the ov veyidoni. Emor el Hakohanim. You could ask the Kohen Gadol to ask the Urim Vetumim." And the Baal Haturim quotes the Medrash Tanchuma that the Tzelem Hamar quoted, but he's saying it with a little bit of a different spin. That the Torah is warning us, "Stay away from the ov veyidoni because Shaul fell in to the ov veyidoni and instead seek out the advice of the coin through the Urim and Thummim. Reb Levi said and this is a quote from the Midrash Tanchuma, Shaul should have asked the Urim and Thummim and that is mentioned in Emor and not gone to the ov yedoni that's spoken about in parshas Kedoshim. Okay. Now, Reb Yonasan Eibeschutz also brings this along the same lines, but he has another spin. Reb Yonasan Eibeschutz Eibeschutz in the Tiferes Yonasan Vayomer El Moshe Emor El Hakohanim Bnei Aharon V'amarta Aleihem L'nefesh Lo Yitama B'amav. He says you could explain the smichas aparshiyos as follows. It ends with ov yedoni and then it begins with Emor El Hakohanim. It is the way of the nations of the world to seek out the future by their priests and their clergy. And the nations of the world, their derech is to go and seek out the dead. And therefore Hashem separated us and he gave the Cohen Gadol the Urim and Thummim to be able to relate future events. Ah, says Reb Yonasan Eibeschutz, but it looks a little suspicious. If you're going to go to the coin and you're going to ask him from the Urim and Thummim and he's going to tell you the future, you might suspect where's the coin getting his information from. He must be getting it from the dead. He must be going to the dead. So the Torah therefore distanced the Kohanim from the dead even more than anyone to be able to uphold the authenticity of the process of the Urim and Thummim so that when you go seek the advice of Urim and Thummim, it won't be suspect. People won't think, "Oh, they're it's probably through the channels of the dead." And it will be clear that this is the the the message of Hashem. This is no smichas aparshiyos. Okay, so that's Reb Yonasan Eibeschutz on the smichas aparshiyos. That is the smuchim miyad parshas Emor. That is offering number one for today. Reb Levi, what gives the dead coin? Sorry.