Parshas Devarim (Chazon) 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- Aug 1
- 2 min read
איכה ישבה בדד העיר רבתי עם היתה כאלמנה רבתי בגוים שרתי במדינות היתה למס (איכה א-א)
There are many things that the nations of the world do not consider sinful or inappropriate, yet by the Jewish people, they are considered terrible aveiros. This can be illustrated by means of the infamous episode of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza. The slighted Bar Kamtza went to the Roman ruler and told him that the Jews were in revolt. To prove this audacious claim, Bar Kamtza told the wary ruler to send a sacrifice to the Holy Temple and they will refuse to offer it! The Roman agreed to this idea and sent him back to Jerusalem with a choice calf from his herd to bring as a korban. On the way, the Gemara relates that Bar Kamtza made a blemish in the animal; either in its eye or on its lips, in a way that would render it invalid as an sacrificial offering, but would seem insignificant to a non-Jew. The sad ending of the story was that because of that blemish, the korban was rejected, the Romans were angered, they rose up and attacked Jerusalem, and the Churban ensued.
R’ Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld zt”l explains that these two injuries, which are considered a blemish for Jews but not for the other nations, typify what a Jew really is. Where were these blemishes? In the eye and on the lips. Shemiras einayim, to guard one’s eyes from spiritual blemishes, is something that doesn’t exist outside the Jewish world. To watch what one lets out of his lips - that too, is something relegated to pious Jews, certainly not a goyishe concept. Gossiping about the latest news is par for the course for the gentile world. These two things symbolize the kedushah, the elevated spiritual standing of the Jew. And as alluded to in the above story, davka these two blemishes, the lack of care in these two areas, is what separates the yid from the goy, and the blurring of the boundary between them that brought down the Bais HaMikdash. May we be zocheh to be mischazek in the recognition of our exalted status as the am hakadosh, to guard our eyes and lips from blemishes and, on the contrary, use them only for the service of Hashem and His Torah, and thus be zocheh to the geulah sheleimah bekarov!