Rashi tells us that קרח and his עדה came to משה רבינו with 2 taunting questions: Is a טלית made of תכלת required to have strings of ציצית? And is a house that has ספרי תורה in it required in מזוזה?
The response from משה רבינו to both questions was in the affirmative, to which they scoffed: “If 4 strings of תכלת are good for a regular טלית, certainly a טלית made entirely of תכלת is already good, without the need for strings of ציצית. And if 1 מזוזה is good for an entire house, even when there are no ספרים in the house, certainly when the house contains ספרי תורה in it, which have in them the פרשיות of the מזוזה it would not require a מזוזה. ”
What exactly were they trying to highlight in their questions, and why were they wrong?
Harav Yosef Ber Soliveichik explains: When fullfilling a מצוה one can have many כוונות. However, the most basic and fundamental כוונה, is to do the מצווה because Hashem told us to.
This is very important to recognize, as there are those who claim to serve Hashem based on their feelings. “I feel a certain way, and that’s how I connect to Him.” This is not the Torah approach. Certainly, having feelings of connection and דביקות are important. However, that is not the main part of the מצוה. We do what Hashem says because he told us to. And the feelings we have or don’t have, are only important once the מעשה המצווה was done.
And this understanding is crucial in the life of a Yid. Not always do we feel inspired and connected when performing מצוות, or when Davening and learning. Nonetheless, we are still obligated to carry out the מצווה to the best of our abilities, with the hope that eventually, we will begin to experience a גישמאק in our עבודה השם. But till that happens, we carry on, with the knowledge that this is exactly what הקב”ה wants from us at this time.
We can now understand the debate קרח had with משה, and the response he was given. קרח approached the מצוות with the understanding that it’s a means of feeling connected to Hashem and inspired. As such, if he’s wearing a טלית of תכלת he already feels that strong inspiration even without putting on the strings of ציצית. Likewise, if he has ספרי תורה in his house, he already feels the presence of Hashem, so why bother with a מזוזה. However, he failed to recognize that while feelings are important, it’s doing the act itself which is the main part of the מצווה. And as such, regardless of our feelings, we always need to perform the מצוה as commanded by Hashem.
We’ll conclude with a story that highlights this point. A young American woman attended Neve Yerushalayim, a Kiruv seminary in Israel where she became a Baalas Teshuva. The lady had a younger sister who was also a spiritual seeker, and had an interest in exploring religions of the Far East. Wanting to be מקרב her younger sister, she invited her to join the Neve Seminary. As the sister was planning a trip to India, she agreed to a short stopover in Israel and to sit through 1 class at the seminary. As it was, the class was on the topic of השבת אבידה, with a discussion of the various applicable הלכות. The spiritual seeking sister was greatly disappointed. ” What’s spiritual in these boring laws?” And with that, gave her fairwells and traveled off to India. Yet, just a few short months later, the בעלת תשובה sister was surprised to receive a message that her sister is returning to the seminary in Isreal.
She explained: ” I began learning the secretes of spirituality from an Indian guru. On one of our strolls, while deep in an esoteric conversation, the guru spotted a wallet on the floor. It turned out to be full of cash and personal information. The guru quickly pocketed the cash and threw the wallet back on the floor. Surprised, I said to him ” Obviously, we can identify the owner. Why don’t you return the money to him?” To which the man replied.”He’ll be using the money for material matters while I will use it for spirituality.” Concluded the sister “I recalled the lecture on השבת אבידה, and realized that real spirituality is found in the laws of the Torah, not by supposed mystics elsewhere.”
Have a Good Shabbos
Weekly Parsha Shiur 