Parshas Ki Sisa (Parah) 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- 18 hours ago
- 1 min read
וקדשתי את שמי הגדול המחלל בגוים ... (יחזקאל לו-כג)
In the Haftorah for Parashas Parah, Yechezkel HaNavi berated the people for defiling the honor of Hashem. The Navi explains that Hashem was concerned with the reputation of His name and demanded that His great name be sanctified, “So that the nations shall know that I am the Lord.” In addition, Hashem added, “I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you back to your own land.”
Immediately thereafter, Hashem declared,“I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean.” Being that the whole desecration of Hashem’s Name stems from the Jewish people being dispersed among the nations, wouldn’t it seem enough for Hashem to just bring back the Jewish Nation and His name will be sanctified automatically?
R’ Yechiya Tuvul shlita (Ma’aros Yesharim) explains that the Jewish people are called a "ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש" - kingdom of priests and a holy nation - primarily because of their status as pure children of Hashem. The greatness of Hashem’s name is safeguarded by G-d-fearing Jews who will go to great lengths to protect it.
Therefore, without purifying the Jewish Nation first, Hashem’s name has no standing in the eyes of the nations of the world and will be desecrated even more. Thus, the purification of the Jewish people is an intrinsic part of protecting the greatness of Hashem’s name and to simply redeem them without cleansing them first would be pointless.