5783/2023

The Pasuk in this week’s Parashah, Acharei Mot-Kedoshim, states: ַּד ֵּב ֙ר ֶאל־ ְּבֵ֣ני יִ ְׂשָר ֵ֔אל ְוָא ַמ ְרָּ֖ת ֲא ֵלֶ֑הם ֲא ִ֖ני הֹ ֱאֹליּקֶֹכֽם׃ ְּכ ַמֲע ֵׂ֧שה ֶאֶֽרץ־ ִמ ְצַ֛ריִם ֲא ֶׁ֥שר יְ ַׁש ְב ֶּתם־ָּ֖בּה ֹ֣לא ַתֲע ׂ֑שּו ּו ְכ ַמֲע ֵׂ֣שה ֶאֶֽרץ־ ְּכ֡נַ ַען ֲא ֶׁ֣שר ֲאנִ֩י ֵמ֨ ִביא ֶא ְתֶ֥כם ָׁ֙ש ָּמ ֙ה ֹ֣לא ַתֲע ׂ֔שּו ּו ְבֻחּקֵֹתיֶ֖הם ֹ֥לא ֵתֵלֽכּו׃ ) 3-2: 18 Vayikra) The Ohr HaChaim asks on this Pasuk, Why does the Torah need to explain the countries listed, “Like the actions that we’re done by the Egyptians, the place where you lived” and “Like the actions that are done by the Canaanites, the place where you going”, is there another Mitzrayim or Canaan that we may have gotten confused that we needed the Torah to explain where it is? And why as an introduction to these Pesukim does the Torah say “Ani Hashem Elokeichem”? The Ohr HaChaim explains that regarding all the Torah’s Mitzvot (both Aseh and Lo Ta’aseh) Hashem doesn’t demand from a person something they are unable to do. However, there are some Mitzvot that a person needs to prepare himself to be able to perform. Regarding refraining from getting involved, or swept up with the wrong crowd, Hashem asks us to make sure that we prepare by first controlling our vision (the Ohr HaChaim specifically addresses controlling our eye sight, but in the context of this essay we are broadening the concept of Shmirat Einayim to include controlling our vision of the world; are we here to only indulge in material things, or are we here to live a meaningful life of spirituality and growing beyond just trying to fulfill our most basic, biological desires?). Controlling these aspects of human life is a very difficult task. However the Ohr HaChaim tells us that we have one powertool, a superhuman tool in fact. This tool is called the Neshama. The Neshama that Hashem has breathed into us from Him gives us a supernatural power that can overcome anything that is thrown at us in this world, since it comes from a different world. As a Mashal: many houses are equipped with an external generator which could overcome powerful storms and electrical outages as it is not generating power from standard places. So too Yidden are equipped with a spiritual generator, which enables us to overcome the temptations and distractions of the world. The Ohr HaChaim concludes with answering our opening question. The Torah is not just telling us that we should avoid the physical and spiritually bad practices of these two countries, the Torah is telling us although you will be living amongst nations and it might be very difficult to live above and beyond their practices, culture, and ideology, we have the ability, through the Torah and our Neshama, to rise above it. The Torah long ago tells us that as long as we are in Galut and living constantly around the nations of the world, we will be challenged by their practices. We will witness things in the news or on social media and will try to convince ourselves to normalize things that are inherently twisted. This is why the Torah specifies not to perform the actions that were done in Mitzrayim and Cananan that we lived and will live in, we need to be very careful regarding the social norms specifically in the places that we live. But we are able to overcome these things because “Ani Hashem Elokeichem”, Hashem has given us the Torah, He has given us a Neshama, and with this we are able to know what is truly right and wrong. This insight also is important in our daily lives. Oftentimes we may get caught up in the crowd. The Torah isn’t just telling us that on a national level we need to be careful, we also need to be careful on an individual level. We need to make sure that we are making the right choices and not falling into peer pressure. The Torah is telling us that even in our schools, our homes and what we do on the weekends; we need to make sure that we are not involving ourselves in others’ bad practices. And remember - although it’s hard, we don’t receive a challenge we can’t pass. We have a supertool, the Neshama that enables us to live above our surroundings.