๐พ Archived View for scholasticdiversity.us.to โบ scriptures โบ jewish โบ t โบ Or%20HaChaim%20on%20Levitiโฆ captured on 2024-05-10 at 12:14:55. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
4 โ[1] ** ืืช ืืฉืคืื ืชืขืฉื, "You shall carry out My ordinances, etc."** In view of the fact that the entire chapter deals only with regulations about forbidden sexual unions, what does the Torah mean by referring to "My statutes and My ordinances?" Besides, what does the Torah mean with the words ืืืืช ืืื, "to walk in them?"
โ[2] I believe we may explain this in connection with what we wrote that thinking about the subject of sex increases one's lust at the expense of the power of the will to dominate one's decision-making process. The Torah was afraid to tell us to distance ourselves from the subject of sex absolutely in order that we would not refrain from fulfilling the commandment to be fruitful and to multiply, or to marry the widow of a brother who died without children, and other related commandments. Taking the warnings of the Torah too much to heart would result in something counterproductive to G'd's "statutes and ordinances." Therefore the Torah introduced the subject by first repeating the need to carry out G'd's ordinances, i.e. ืืช ืืฉืคืื ืชืขืฉื, referring to the commandment to be fruitful and to multiply, before warning us to observe the prohibitions about to be legislated in that context, i.e. ืืืช ืืงืืชื ืชืฉืืจื. *Sukkah* 52 describes man as possessing a small organ which becomes more hungry in direct proportion to the amount of food it is provided with, whereas it feels satisfied with less and less if one starves it. The organ is, of course, man's reproductive organ. Therefore G'd had to tell us to walk in His ordinances, i.e. to perform the basic commandment of procreation, populating earth, etc.. At the same time, and while fulfilling those ordinances, we must be careful also to observe G'd's statutes, i.e. the limitations legislated in this chapter as to who we are allowed to mate with.
โ[3] Alternatively, we may view the entire legislation about forbidden sexual unions as a form of mental preparation for the performance of the positive commandment to procreate **in the proper spirit.** If the Torah had not introduced the whole subject matter by asking us to carry out the various positive ordinances and by refraining from the various statutes so that we would be mentally prepared to conform with G'd's wishes, we would have considered indulgence in the sexual act as something which contaminates the soul and body of the human being. We would have thought that it is so fraught with both spiritual and physical impurity that it contaminates each and every organ of a human being as well as all his faculties. As a result, we would have considered ourselves as unable to fulfil any of the Torah's positive commandments properly unless we abstained from **all sexual activity.** We would have considered ourselves as in the class of the wicked whose ืืฆืื-performance Assaph describes in Psalms 50,16 as: "who are you to recite My laws and to mouth the terms of My covenant?" Assaph implies that G'd is not interested in anyone performing His commandments unless such a person has attained a certain level of sanctity first.
โ[4] The Torah added the words ืืืืช ืืื as a reference to the raw material the human being represents when performing G'd's commandments. If man has performed the sexual act after proper spiritual and mental preparation he will be able to father children whose natural tendency it will be to observe G'd's commandments. David referred to something like this when he said in Psalms 119,59: "I have considered my ways and have turned back my feet to Your decrees." Our sages in *Vayikra Rabbah* 35,1 understand these words to mean that David had so trained himself that his feet automatically would walk towards the Torah Academy out of habit and out of a desire to study G'd's Torah. When the Torah asked us ืืืืช ืืื, it urged us to so relate to G'd's commandments that we would develop a "natural" tendency to walk in the paths of Torah.
โ[5] Another meaning of the words ืืืืช ืืื may be similar to the meaning of Ezekiel 33,12 who said: "the righteousness of the righteous one will not save him on the day of his iniquity." Ezekiel meant that even if a person had lived a perfectly righteous life all his years but turns to sin in the end he has lost the merits he accumulated during the years prior to his turning to sin. His merits will not accompany him on his way to judgment after death. [According to the Talmud this is so only if he **regrets** having lived a righteous life before he turned to sin. Ed.] When we consider the words of Ezekiel we must understand the words ืืืืช ืืื to mean that a person has to walk in the path of the Lord's commandments in order that his merits will accompany him on his most important journey, i.e. on the way to the last judgment.
โ[6] Another meaning of the Torah's admonition to walk in G'd's ordinances and statutes is to remind us not to perform them in order to receive our reward in this life. Our sages in *Eyruvin* 22 phrase the line in Deut. 7,11 ืืืื ืืขืฉืืชื as meaning "you are to perform the commandments this day (in this life) in order to receive your reward tomorrow, i.e. in the hereafter." It is a warning to us not to want to cash in all our rewards in this life.
โ[7] Another meaning of the expression ืืืืช ืืื may be related to the verse in Proverbs 6,23: ืื ื ืจ ืืฆืื ืืชืืจื ืืืจ, that a single commandment is like a lamp whereas the Torah in its entirety is compared to Light with a capital L. The celestial universe is distant and when the soul of man ascends from this world to the celestial regions he will find the road dark if he lived the life of a sinner. On the other hand, if a person lived a life filled with ืืฆืื- performance, the commandments he performed will light up the way between this world and the celestial regions. We have a verse in Psalms 119,105: "Your word is a lamp at my feet, a Light for my path," expressing a similar sentiment. What the Psalmist means is that both the lamp and the Light possess features not shared by the other. The advantage of a lamp is that its source of light is close to the person holding it, and this is why our sages in *Pessachim* 2 insist that the search for leavened things on the evening prior to Passover must be conducted in the presence of a lamp, i.e. at night when there is no light. A lamp's advantage is that it illuminates all the dark corners in the room, something the brightest natural daylight fails to do. On the other hand, Light possesses a great advantage compared to a lamp as it enables one to see for great distances. This is why David said that performance of G'd's commandments results in two benefits to the person performing them; 1) he will be able to see what is nearby, i.e. ื ืจ ืืจืืื; "they are a lamp at my feet," at the same time it also provides Light increasing the ability to see for long distances ahead. This is why David said ืืืืจ ืื ืชืืืชื. When the Torah said that the function of the ordinances and the statutes is ืืืืช ืืื, to walk by them, it referred to both the lamp and the Light which performance of the commandments secures for the people performing them.
โ[8] In the *Zohar* volume 1, page 170 Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai states that the 613 commandments which are divided into 248 positive commandments and 365 negative commandments, are symbolic of man's bones and sinews respectively. The performance of each commandment provides a positive momentum for the respective bone or sinew it represents. The words ืืืืช ืืื refer to the power of ืืฆืื-performance to move man's limbs. Performance of each ืืฆืื also results in G'd's name, or rather part of it, coming to rest on the limb or sinew which that ืืฆืื represents. The word ืืฆืื is equivalent to the 4-lettered name of G'd ืึพืึพืึพื, when one employs the system known as ืึพืช,ืึพืฉ,ืึพืจ i.e. that one reverses the sequence of the letters in the aleph-bet. Inasmuch as we subscribe to the principle of ืืณ ืืื ืืฉืื ืืื, that the unity of G'd is expressed also in His very name, this is the mystical dimension of Exodus 25,8: ืืฉืื ืชื ืืชืืื. "I will be present within them." In that verse G'd demonstrated that we, the Jewish people, have become the carriers of the ืืจืืื, the presence of G'd and His entourage. The same idea is also found in Leviticus 26,12 where G'd speaks of "walking" amongst us. All of this is provided we fulfil what is written in Deut. 4,4: "you who cleave to G'd are alive this day."
Version: Or Hachayim, trans. Eliyahu Munk
Source: http://www.urimpublications.com/or-hachayim-commentary-on-the-torah-5-vols.html
License: CC-BY