Parshas
Metzora deals with the purification process of the person afflicted
with tzora’as. After the disease healed, the formerly afflicted person
is instructed to bring a sacrifice that includes two very diametrical
items. “And he shall take two birds, cedar wood, crimson thread and
hyssop (Leviticus 14:4).” The Torah details the offering and all of its
intricacies, leaving the commentaries to ponder the symbolism of the
wood of the tallest of trees bound together with the lowly moss of the
hyssop.
Rashi explains that, “the hyssop symbolizes the humility that the
metzora should have,” and the cedar,” he explains, “is a symbolic
reminder that he who holds himself as high as the cedar tree should
learn to lower himself like the hyssop.”
However, wouldn’t hyssop alone teach us this characteristic or at
least symbolize humility? What point is there in bringing cedar? And, in
fact, if bringing moss represents the need for humility couldn’t the
offering of cedar represent the need for pride? Perhaps there is another
explanation for the two attributes to be joined.
A few years after Rabbi Shneur Kotler succeeded his late father Reb
Ahron as the Rosh Yeshiva of the Lakewood Yeshiva, the Yeshiva’s
enrollment began to expand. No longer was Reb Shneur able to sit and
study in the large Yeshiva all day. He was suddenly forced to raise
funds day in and day out often leaving early in the morning and
returning home way past midnight.
A brief respite was the annual convention of Agudath Israel at which
nearly 1000 laymen and rabbinical leaders would gather for a long
weekend to discuss the state of Torah affairs.
My grandfather, Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky, the oldest member of the
Council of Torah Sages would often highlight the keynote session on
Saturday night. As the eldest of the world’s Torah sages, Reb Yaakov
would find a way to sneak up to the dais, usually through a back door,
to avoid having the entire crowd arise upon seeing his presence as is
required by Jewish Law. Yet this year things were different. Reb Yaakov
engaged the much younger, Reb Shneur in conversation outside the large
ballroom and waited until everyone took his or her seats. Then he took
Reb Shneur by the hand and said, “I think it is time we took our seats.”
He proudly held Reb Shneur by the arm and escorted him to the dais as
the throng of people rose in awe.
Reb Shneur, stunned by Reb Yaakov’s departure from his trademark
humility asked him why he did not go through the back as was his usual
custom.
“Reb Shneur,” he explained, “your Rebbitzen (rabbi’s wife) is sitting
in the auditorium . The entire year she sees you in a much-dishonored
light. You run from donor to donor in order to keep the Yeshiva open,
you have hardly any time to prepare your lectures, and all she sees are
people knocking on your door with their problems. Yet she stands beside
you faithful and unwavering. It is time that she sees that you get a
little kavod (honor).
Rabbi Yitzchak Meir of Gur (1799-1866) explains that sometimes people
become so humbled to the point of forgetting that they can actually
achieve wonderful accomplishments. Often, humility breeds
self-effacement that may lead to despair. Of course Rashi is correct in
explaining that those who are haughty as the cedar must humble
themselves as mass, but one must also bear in mind an equally important
fact – that at times after one has been humiliated as low as the hyssop
he must rise in his own eyes to the height of a cedar and proudly
exclaim that he can and will accomplish the lofty and far reaching goal
to which he or she aspires. And those are goals that only the cedar’s
limbs can touch.
So, perhaps the lowly hyssop must be bound with a seemingly
mismatched and more supercilious counterpart, the cedar. Because when
they are offered hand-in-hand, they may have a lot to learn from each
other.
Soon to be available: Parsha Parables — A collection of the best of
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Good Shabbos
Text Copyright © 1997 by Rabbi M. Kamenetzky and Project Genesis, Inc.
In memory of Joseph Fertig by Mr. and Mrs. Aaron FertigThe author is the Dean of the
Yeshiva of South Shore.
Drasha is the e-mail edition of FaxHomily, a weekly torah facsimile on the weekly portion
which is sponsored by The Henry and Myrtle Hirsch Foundation
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