At the end of this week’s Sedra Hashem commands Moshe Rabeinu ‘והזרתם מטמאתם” וכו.” Generally this would be translated as and “you should warn them (Klal-Yisroel) regarding their contaminations” etc. The Targumim and Mefarshim, however, explain otherwise. They translate it as: “and you should separate Klal-Yisroel from their contaminations” – in other words, Moshe Rabeinu is to instruct Klal-Yisroel to distance themselves from becoming Tamei. The Meforshim offer different explanations as to why it makes sense to translate the phrase in this manner, but they still seem far from the simple explanation.
The obvious question is: why do the Meforshim and Targumim find it necessary to depart from the usual and simple translation, especially as the simple translation seems to make sense?
The end of the aforementioned Passuk states “and they should not die through their contaminations by contaminating my Mishkan that is in their midst”. How does the end of the Passuk make sense according to the Meforshim? Moshe Rabeinu commanding Klal-Yisroel to distance themselves from becoming contaminated suggests that there is some sort of personal problem for the contaminated individual. Yet, the end of the Passuk implies that the problem is that the Mishkan may become Tamei?
The Torah has reiterated many times in these past two Parshios (Taazria and Metzora) the fact that when an individual becomes Tamei that person must distance himself from the Mishkan and the holy camps of Klal-Yisroel. When a person is Tamei there is a gap created between that individual and holy things. The person in question is so to speak held apart from Hashem.
Our Passuk is made up of two components: the underlying issue and the cause and effect – or put slightly differently, the consequences that can result from the underlying issue. Moshe Rabeinu is instructed to relay to Klal-Yisroel the need to distance oneself from Tumah. We must distance ourselves from that which keeps us apart from Hashem. Someone who doesn’t realize the importance of not becoming Tamei is lacking sensitivity to Tumah and the gap it forges between us and Hashem. Such a person is thus likely to actually contaminate the Mishkan by failing to realize the distance created by Tumah that sets him apart from Hashem.
A very warm Good Shabbos, Rabbi Y. Dov Krakowski
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One Response
I applaud YWN for its effort in publishing original Torah thoughts from aspiring talmidei chachamim and rabbanim, many of whom toil in obscurity for the sake of the klal. I must confess that I found this d’var torah a bit beyond my grasp, however. The shoresh for “warn” is זהר which would be rendered in this context והזהרתם with a “ה”. Far from being the “usual and simple translation”, “warn” is mentioned only by the Ibn Ezra as the mistaken translation of yesh mefarshim about which the Ibn Ezra concludes is “לא יתכן”. Even if we concede that some might translate the והזרתם as warn I was unable to see how it better connected the 2nd half of the pasuk to the first. How does warning the people about tumah as opposed to separating them from tumah explain the connection to mishkan? I could not make out what “cause” “effect” “consequences” and “underlying issues” had to do with the matter.
Perhaps future articles could be written in simpler English so that the average Yeshiva World News reader is not left unnecessarily confused.