Parshas Acharei Mos-Kedoshim 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- May 8
- 2 min read
דבר אל כל עדת בני ישראל ואמרת אלהם קדשים תהיו כי קדוש אני ה' אלקיכם ... (יט-ב)
In this week’s parsha, the Torah tells us "קדשים תהיו" - that we should be a holy people. The Ramban famously explains that this means "פרושים תהיו" - a new understanding of the posuk that we must separate ourselves as much as possible from the material pleasures of this world. One who indulges in his base desires, even when technically permitted to according to halacha, is called, in the words of the Ramban, a "נבל ברשות התורה" - a religiously observant “degenerate.”
It seems that today, this charge has been all but forgotten, as the rampant materialism in our society just gets worse and worse. R’ Moshe Feinstein zt”l once said that every country has its own special yetzer hara, an evil inclination, and the yetzer hara of America is taavos, indulgence in material pleasures. Indeed, we see that in recent times every pleasure imaginable is now available in a glatt-kosher version. This is so that we should have the ability to experience every taavah in the world (as quoted by R’ Chaim Mintz shlita). This is the nisayon of our generation.
And perhaps the saddest part of this culture is that everything is camouflaged under the veneer of a mitzvah. We must have a meat-board the size of a small table at a kiddush. Why? Oneg Shabbos, of course! A simple piece of kugel doesn’t do it for us anymore. Twenty-piece bands and celebrity singers at weddings are necessary. Why? Simchas chosson v’kallah, of course! Luxury tours of Iceland because ... witnessing Niflaos HaBorei, of course! And the list goes on and on.
This is not to say that one has to be an ascetic. It’s not a sin to enjoy a good steak. But to make an inyan out of it? The posuk is telling us that the focus of a Yid’s life has to be his avodas Hashem, his ruchniyus, not on making sure he hits every restaurant in Manhattan before he dies. Rabbosai, we can’t fix the entire world, but we can work on ourselves!
Hashem should grant us the wisdom and siyata dishmaya to reclaim our status as the Mamleches Kohanim and Goy Kadosh!