Bulletin04.02.2011 - Tazriah

10
Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall
By Mordechai Wollenberg
T
his week's Torah portion speaks about various physical
blemishes and conditions which can afflict a person.
The Talmud, in the tractate Negaim which deals with these
types of blemishes and conditions, notes that "a person sees all
kinds of blemishes except for their own."
The story is told of a prominent doctor who was known for his
generosity but was also prone to blowing his own trumpet.
One day he was traveling when he saw the local rabbi walking. He
stopped to offer the rabbi a ride. As they traveled together, the
doctor, as was his wont, began to speak about his achievements.
"You know, Rabbi, I get a lot of patients who can't afford to pay but
I never turn them away. I treat them exactly the same as my
wealthier patients."
"I also do that," replied the rabbi.
The doctor figured that perhaps the rabbi was referring to the
spiritual counsel he gave his spiritual "patients." "Also," he
continued, "a lot of times patients need expensive drugs. If they
can't afford it, I provide them for free."
"I also do that," rejoined the rabbi.
Maybe he means that sometimes he gives people material help
also, the doctor thought. "Sometimes people need days of postoperative
care. I give it to them voluntarily, even though I have so
little time."
"I also do that."
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So it went, the doctor continuing to lavish praise on himself while
the rabbi answered each time, "I also do that."
Eventually the doctor couldn't take it anymore and he asked the
rabbi: "Rabbi, I don't understand. You're not a doctor, how can you
do all these things?"
"No, all I meant was I also do that - I also only talk about my own
good qualities!"
The Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Chassidic movement, taught us
that another person is like a mirror--if we find ourselves noticing
faults in others, it is because they exist within ourselves. This is not
such a foreign concept--it is common in psychological terms to
speak of one person "projecting" their own faults onto another. It is
incumbent upon us to realize that when we see a fault in
somebody else, it is only because we need to work on that very
fault within ourselves. As the Talmud and the above story illustrate,
we tend not to notice our own faults except in others!
The whole world is a mirror designed to show us how we can work
on ourselves and our own deficiencies. Once we realize this, and we
understand that the fault we see in another person is just the way
in which Divine Providence shows us our own shortcomings, it
becomes a lot easier to be tolerant and understanding of others.
Parsha Messages
Night Shining Like Day
www.sichosinenglish.org
O ur
sages deduce from the words "On the eighth day the
flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised," that
circumcision, milah, is to be performed only during the day
and not at night.
Since this statement only came after the Torah was given, the law
prohibiting milah during the night[355] began as well only after the
Torah was given; prior to G-d's giving the Torah to the Jewish people,
milah could be performed not only during the day, but at night as
well.
Thus the Midrash relates that while the Jews were still in Egypt, just
prior to the Exodus, many of them had yet to be circumcised. After
G-d made the aroma of the Paschal offering waft over the entire
land of Egypt, Jews came to Moshe and asked to partake of his
Paschal offering. Moshe told them that they could only partake if
they were circumcised. Upon hearing this, those Jews who were as
yet uncircumcised readily agreed to circumcise themselves.
We see from this Midrash that many Jews circumcised themselves
on the night of Pesach. This requires further clarification. While it is
true that prior to Mattan Torah milah was permissible at night, why,
however didn't G-d bring about circumstances that would motivate
those Jews who were as yet uncircumcised to perform the
circumcision during the daylight hours -- wouldn't it even then have
been better to perform milah during the day?
There are those who respond to this question by stating that since
the night of the Exodus was on a plane of "night shone like the day,"
therefore it was considered as if their circumcision had actually
taken place during the daytime.
But why the necessity of having "night shine like day" with regard to
the circumcision at the time of the Exodus, when the Jewish people
could have just as easily circumcised themselves during the day?
The exodus from Egypt was entirely in a manner of "Pesach" --
"leaping," above and beyond the physical confines of nature. For in
the natural order of things it was absolutely impossible for the
Jewish people to escape from Egypt.
This was so both on a physical plane -- Egypt was so mighty that not
even a single slave could escape, let alone an entire nation, as well
as on a spiritual plane -- the Jews were so mired in the morass of
Egyptian depravity and unholiness that on their own they could not
extricate themselves from this muck.
Only by dint of a Divine illumination that completely transcended
the order of nature -- where light and darkness, day and night, were
truly as one -- were all the material and spiritual straits and
limitations of Egypt abolished, and the Jews were able to leave the
land of Egypt as a free people, free in body and free in spirit.
This is why the preparation to leave Egypt consisted of the Pesach
offering and circumcision, for both these commandments are
indicative of spiritual services that transcend limitation:
Pesach, as mentioned earlier, denotes "leaping," while milah is an
eternal covenant with G-d -- an everlasting bond that knows no
boundaries and limitations.
This also explains why both Pesach and milah are novel in that
failure to perform these positive commandments results in the
punishment of Kares, excision of the soul's connection with
G-d, something not found with regard to other positive