Judaism
Parashah of the week: Shemini
“This is the law of the Torah: if a man dies in a tent, anyone entering the tent…shall be unclean” Numbers 19:14
March 25, 2022 09:51
“This is the law of the Torah: if a man dies in a tent, anyone entering the tent…shall be unclean” Numbers 19:14
March 25, 2022 09:51Before Pesach, we read as maftir the portion of the Torah that discusses the purification of a person who has been in close contact with a dead body. Historically, one had to be ritually pure to eat from the paschal lamb and we therefore read how to become ritually pure before Pesach.
Death is the most severe kind of impurity in Judaism because Judaism is a religion of life. While belief in the afterlife is axiomatic in Judaism, our ultimate concern is the world that we currently occupy.This is why there is no explicit mention of the afterlife or resurrection in the entire Tanach.
Our Hachamim, though, gave an intriguing homily on the first part of the aforementioned verse: “The Torah is only absorbed into one who kills himself in the tent of Torah”, ie only one who dedicates himself to the study of Torah is able to fully understand and appreciate it (Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 63b).
It does seem strange that a verse describing the impurity and contamination of death and seemingly promoting the importance of life is turned on its head to extol the merit of those who “kill” themselves in the pursuit of Torah!
The Hachamim here are teaching us the secret of the good life. We are indeed a religion of life. But to live the real life, we must be willing to deny ourselves certain pleasures and liberties. Satisfaction and achievement in all disciplines in life are only realised when a person is willing to “kill” themself, to reject the lazy path of no effort which can erroneously be considered as living the good life.
The same is true of Torah and Judaism. A Judaism that is spineless, that does not make rigorous demands of our lives and of our time, will not be something our children and future generations will want to take part of. We value in life the things that we sacrifice time, effort and money for. That is the real life: the one we are willing to take pains for.