Thursday, April 30, 2026

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Emor

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

The Torah states in Vayikra 22:32 וְלֹ֤א תְחַלְּלוּ֙ אֶת־שֵׁ֣ם קָדְשִׁ֔י וְנִ֨קְדַּשְׁתִּ֔י בְּת֖וֹךְ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה מְקַדִּשְׁכֶֽם. R' Frand remarked that these are two of the most important negative and positive commandments in the same pasuk - the concepts of Kiddush Hashem and the proscription of not making a Chillul Hashem. The mitzva of Kiddush Hashem at its pinnacle requires a person to give up their life, and to not commit one of the three cardinal sins. Over the centuries, Jews gave up their lives, rather than worship idolatry.

R' Frand quoted R' Nissim Alpert who was a talmid of R' Moshe Feinstein. R' Alpert asked about the words וְנִ֨קְדַּשְׁתִּ֔י בְּת֖וֹךְ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל - why is this passively stated? The Torah does not command a specific positive act and instead states that passively Hashem will be made holy.

R' Alpert explains that a person does not make Hashem Kodesh overnight. It only occurs if a person a daily basis lives a life of being careful about what comes into his mouth and what comes out of his mouth and everything that he does, it is almost automatic that when the moment comes, he will cause Hashem to become holy. If a person lives an entire life L'Shem Shamayim, then at the moment of the ultimate test, he will be MiKadesh L'Shem Shamayim.

He then connected this with the death of R' Akiva. The gemara in Berachos describes the death of R' Akiva. R' Akiva was not killed instantaneously, instead, his skin was raked with metal combs while he was reciting Krias Shema and his neshama left him when saying "Echad." His students asked him - is this how far one must go? He responded that all the days of his life he waited for this to occur. R' Alpert underscored the use of the words "all the days of his life" - R' Akiva lived his life and this resulted in a Kiddush Hashem.

R' Frand also referenced the story of the Mikallel at the end of the parsha. The Torah describes that the man was a Jew since his mother was Jewish and his father was a Mitzri. This man got into a fight and he blasphemed in that he cursed Hashem. They brought him to Moshe, but he did not know what to do with him, so they put him in jail. Rashi explains that he was put in jail alone. There was another person in jail as well - the Mikoshesh Eitzim, but they did not put them together. The Mikoshesh was incarcerated because they knew that he was to be killed, but they did not know which form of death would be imposed. Meanwhile, they did not know what the punishment would be for the Mikallel, so he was placed in jail, but away from the Mikoshesh.

R' Frand quoted the Sefer Ikrei Erev who explains that the reason they were in different cells is that the Mikoshesh was known to be on death row and they were not clear what would happen to the Mikallel. As an act of sensitivity, they kept the two apart, so that the Mikallel would not be concerned that he too could be facing death. 

But who are we talking about? The blasphemer! He did not act out of desire or due to his Yetzer Harah. So why is he kept apart? Because everyone, even if he did a horrible act, is entitled to our sensitivity. There is a concept of Inui HaDin - that we don't push off the punishment of a killer because we don't want him to feel anguish of the looming sentence. Similarly here, the men were kept apart so that the Mikallel would not feel scared that he could be facing a death sentence. R' Frand said that the lesson is that no matter what a person did wrong, we should treat him with sensitivity.

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