וזאת תורת זבח השלמים אשר יקריב לד': אם על תודה יקריבנו והקריב על זבח התודה חלות מצות בלולת בשמן ורקיקי מצות משחים בשמן וסלת מרבכת חלת בלולת בשמן: (“And this is the Torah of the shlamim sacrifice which one may bring to Ha-Shem. If as a thank-offering [toda] one brings it, one should bring with the toda sacrifice matza cakes mixed with oil and wafers of matza smeared with oil and fine flour mixed into cakes with oil;” VII, 11-12).
The cereal component of the toda is intriguing in that it combines matza and chamétz, not least because, a bit earlier in our parasha we read concerning the qorban mincha: לא תאפה חמץ חלקם נתתי אתה מאשי קדש קדשים הוא וגו' (“The portion [of the kohanim] should not be baked [as] chamétz; I have given it from My burnt offerings, it is the holiest of holy things;” VI, 10), to which Chazal add: לומר שאפילו חלקם לא תאפה חמץ (“[which is] to say that even their portion should not be baked [as] chamétz;” מנחות נ"ה.), implying that chamétz and sanctity are incompatible.
So why does the Torah specify it here?
B.
What, exactly, are shlamim?
When the category was introduced in last week’s parasha, Rashi noted, in his comment to III, 1, that they are so called שמטילים שלום בעולם. ד"א שלמים שיש בהם שלום למזבח שלום לכהנים ושלום לבעלים (“because they impose shalom - peace - in the world. Another thing: [They are called] shlamim because through them there is shalom for the altar, shalom for the kohanim, and shalom for the owners [of the sacrifice]”). The very root of the word, shin-lamed-mem, betrays the connection between the two words.
גדול השלום, Chazal tell us, שהוא שקול כנגד הכל. אנו אומרים "עושה שלום ובורא את הכל" (“Great is shalom, for it is equivalent to everything, as we say ‘Who makes shalom and is Creator of everything’ [cf. Isaiah XLV, 7]” במדבר רבה פי"א סי' ט"ז ). And again: גדול השלום שדרי עליונים צריכין שלום, שנאמר "עושה שלום במרומיו", והרי דברים ק"ו, ומה אם במקום שאין איבה ושנאה צריכין שלום ק"ו במקום שיש בו כל המדות הללו (“Great is shalom for even supernal beings need shalom, for it is said, ‘Who makes shalom in His heights’ [Job XXV, 20], and if in a place where there is no jealousy or hatred shalom is needed, how much more so in place where there are all these qualities?” שם, סי' י"ח). And yet again, they advise us: אם אין שלום אין כלום (“If there is no shalom there is nothing at all'” תורת כהנים פר' בחוקותי).
In short, shalom is that supreme quality through which all Creation is mushlam (completed, made whole, fulfilled).
C.
Now, the Torah tells us, concerning Creation: וירא אלקים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד (“And G-d saw everything that He had made and behold [it was] very good;” Genesis I, 31), prompting Chazal to ask: "והנה טוב מאד" זה יצה"ר. וכי יצה"ר טוב מאד? אתמהא. אלא שאילולי יצה"ר לא בנה שדם בית ולא נשא אשה ולא הוליד (“'And behold it was very good’ this [includes] the evil inclination [yétzer ha-ra].
Is the yétzer ha-ra then good? But, were it not for the yétzer ha-ra, the first man would not have built a household, would not have married a woman and sired children;” בראשית רבה פ"ט סי' ט').
In other words, major mitzvoth in the Torah are dependent upon the existence of physical urges, the yétzer ha-ra. Therefore it follows that as a component of a world containing human beings, in which those mitzvoth are to be observed, and which the Creator Himself called tov m’od, the yétzer ha-ra must be accounted good.
And yet, there can be no doubt that, in and of itself, the yétzer ha-ra is bad. As the Torah also says concerning the human being, וכי יצר מחשבות לבו רק רע כל היום (“...and the yétzer, the thoughts of [man’s] heart, is only bad all day long;” Genesis VI, 5).
So how does this work?
Chazal refer to the yétzer ha-ra metaphorically as השאור שבעיסה, “the leaven in the dough” (עיי' למשל ברכות י"ז.). I have never directly eaten yeast; I rather doubt that it would be very good. But mixed proportionately with the dough, the results are unquestionably very good (especially my kalla’s wonderful challa). Matza, made of the pure dough with no leaven in it, is representative of purest sanctity, purest good. But that is not the nature of the world in which we live, as we have already noted. It is the proper mixture and blending of the two, the yétzer ha-tov and the yétzer ha-ra, the sacred and the (advisedly) profane, which completes and fulfills this world, and restores its connection to its Source, from which it is otherwise so profoundly alienated.
And that is why the mincha accompanying the qorban shlamim consists appropriately of the mixture of matza and chamétz.
D.
That said, we can proceed to another question: A bit later in Leviticus, concerning the holiday of Shavu’ôth, which marks the giving of the Torah, we find that the sacrifice of the day is accompanied by לחם תנופה שתים שני עשרנים סלת תהיינה חמץ תאפינה (“...bread for waving, two; two ethrogim [a measure] of fine flour shall they be, chamétz shall they be baked....” XXIII, 17).
If the purpose of the shlamim is to reconcile and make shalom between incompatible opposites, the metaphysical yétzer ha-tov and the physical yétzer ha-ra, if chamétz is incompatible with the “holiest of holy things,” what is holier than the Torah? What are we to make of this sacrifice?
The answer, it seems to me, is that the Torah constitutes the means through which we can make the reconciliation of shalom and mix properly the correct proportion of the yétzer ha-ra into the yétzer ha-tov. Only through Torah can we navigate the shoals of this world and achieve the reconcilation embodied in the word shalom. As Chazal tell us, The Holy One has declared, בראתי יצר הרע, בראתי לו תורה תבלין (“I created the yétzer ha-ra and I created Torah, a condiment for it;” קדושין ל:).
Hence the sacrifice marking the advent of Torah into the world is appropriately accompanied by the chamétz which it is meant to tame.
No comments:
Post a Comment