Notes from the Underground - Mothers Day, Lag baOmer, etc

1) Baba Basra 80 - "ima a'barta mitzavta."  Mothers take comfort in their children being there.  It doesn't matter if it's birds (the context in the sugya) or people.  So happy mothers day to all the mothers who are always there for their children and whose greatest nachas comes from their children.  (Though to be honest, unlike the birds in the sugya, it would be nice if some of my kids managed to get out of the house already, but that's another story.)

2) I guess if there are no bonfires allowed for Lag BaOmer we will have to celebrate by just learning Torah or something.  I have a hunch Rashi would approve, at least b'dieved : )

3) Remember why Rashbi ended up in the cave?  Why he was stuck in a bunker for 13 years?  My wife quotes the whole gemara in her Lag BaOmer post.  Rashbi was forced into hiding because he was brave enough to speak out against the Roman government.  Rashbi would not sit back in silence if the state were to shut schools to schoolchildren who are largely immune from the worst dangers of a virus but force nursing homes filled with  vulnerable elderly to accept patients that are still infectious.  He would cry out in protest.  Or maybe that's just my imagination.  

4) My wife asked why he is called Bar Yochai and not Ben Yochai.  The Lev Simcha explained that bar is like the word milbar vs milgav -- outside, as opposed to inside.  When a kid becomes bar mitzvah it means he comes out of his domain of pratiyus and becomes part of the klal, part of the community.  So too, Rashbi stepped outside himself and gave himself up completely to the klal.  

Parshas Emor tells us that a regular kohen can become tamei to his attend the funeral of his closest relatives, but not so the kohen gadol.  Why the difference?  The Kotzker explains that the kohen gadol gives himself over to the klal.  We are all his relatives.  He has to love every Jew like a brother, like a mother or father.  That's the spirit of R' Shimon bar Yochai -- giving everything over to the klal.  

5)  A very powerful Ishbitzer (end of P' Emor) to keep in mind when you are in the bunker:

  כי איש ישראל אחר שלבו דבוק בהש"י וכוונתו לש"ש, אף אם הש"י ידחה אותו מאיזה טובה, בזה עצמו יקרא עובד ה' במה שמרחיק עצמו על פי רצון הש"י ויזכה לטובה גדולה, כגון בעל מום מזרע אהרן, בזה עצמו היה זוכה לטובה גדולה במה שהרחיק עצמו מהעבודה, אך מי שאין שורשו וגזעו מישראל באם ירוחק מטובה אז לא יוכל עצור רוחו ויבעט

The proof that the mekalel's desire to have a place in machaneh yisrael was not truly lshem shamayim was the fact that when his dream could not be realized he rebelled.  True avodas Hashem means being willing to give up what you desire and accepting the task Hashem desires of you instead. 

 

Why does the Torah tell us the whole story of the mekalel?  Why not just give us the din of "nokeiv shel Hashem mos yumas" without the story?

The Torah wants to show us the exception that proves the rule (see Seforno).  It's only this individual who came from a Mitzri, who mother was not-so- good either, who could be nokeiv shem Hashem.  The same story could never happen to a person m'zera Yisrael, raised in a home in Klal Yisrael.  It's in our DNA not to behave this way.  The parsha is not just telling us a din, it's telling us something about the character of a Jew.  Klal Yisrael's greatness is that we accept the gzar din of shamayim without a rebellion.