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Parsha and Chagim ideas from the rabbis of Kerem B'Yavneh
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Approaching יום כיפור,
and I wanted to learn together a מהרש״א on the גמרא in יומא from
a fascinating story which will teach us a lesson about how to approach יום
כיפור from a deeper perspective.
The גמרא in יומא on דף פ״ב tells the following story:
There's a הלכה,
a woman who's pregnant,
and on יום כיפור she has a craving that she wants to eat a
particular food,
so she's allowed to eat that food.
And this is the story the גמרא tells:
There was a particular woman who was pregnant who had a smell,
she smelled food that she wanted to eat.
They came before רבי to ask him what to do,
and רבי said,
"Whisper to her that today is יום כיפור." They whispered to her,
and the craving went away.
When they told רבי the story,
רבי said,
בטרם אצרך בבטן ידעתיך.
He said about this baby the פסוק that this child is already knowing הקדוש
ברוך הוא in the womb.
And when that child was born,
he went on to become רבי יוחנן.
The גמרא then tells another story of another woman who also was pregnant and
had a craving for a particular food.
They went to רבי חנינא,
and they told רבי חנינא,
"This woman has a craving,
it's יום כיפור,
can she eat?" And he also said,
"Whisper to her and tell her that today is יום כיפור." They whispered to
her and it did not help,
the craving still persisted.
The הלכה is she's allowed to eat.
And רבי חנינא said about this baby,
זרו רשעים מרחם.
And this child became someone called שבתאי,
who was אוצר פירות,
and he acted inappropriately when it came to the prices of food.
So,
the מהרש״א writes that there's a difference between one's sense of smell and one's
sense of taste.
The sense of taste is a taste is a sense that we have which
is taste leads to desire.
A person is looking for physical pleasure in this world.
When a person enjoys the scent,
the sense of smell,
that the גמרא says in ברכות is food for the נשמה,
like we have on מוצאי שבת where we have the בשמים that we smell
in order to give כח to the נשמה.
So food gives כח to the body,
and smell gives כח,
strength,
to the נשמה.
So here's the מהרש״א's take on this story:
When a person smells something on ראש השנה,
and they smell food and they have a craving for food,
then what's happening is that today is יום כיפור,
יום כיפור,
they're desiring something physical.
The rabbi comes and says,
whisper that today is יום כיפור,
and in a sense saying,
yes,
you do have a desire right now,
but that desire isn't for food.
That desire that you're sensing through your smell is really a desire for something
higher.
Right now you want to eat something sweet,
there's something in you that desires sweet,
it's not really the calling of your body,
it's the calling of the נשמה.
They whisper to the first woman and they say to her,
"Today is יום כיפור.
What you're smelling isn't actually the smell of the food that's causing you physical
desire,
it's actually the desire of the נשמה to come close to הקדוש ברוך הוא.
The reason why you have the desire isn't to be eating.
The reason you have the desire is to channel that desire into עבודת השם."
The first woman was able to hear that.
They whispered to her that today is יום כיפור,
and she said,
"That's why I have the craving?
That's what the desire is?" And she was able to channel that desire into
what it really was,
the sense of smell,
into the נשמה,
and she fulfilled that craving through closeness to השם.
The second woman wasn't able to interpret the craving and the desire for what
it really was,
something spiritual,
and she said,
"No,
I still want food." So even though there was a craving,
that craving for her was expressed in wanting to eat.
We go through our lives and we have cravings.
Some cravings are of a lower order:
for honor,
for money.
Some cravings are of a higher order:
to do the will of השם,
to bring נחת רוח to הקדוש ברוך הוא in the world.
Ultimately,
we have to take care of our body,
of course,
but the goal of the cravings that הקדוש ברוך הוא gives us,
the goal of the desire,
is in order to channel that desire into spirituality.
There's a desire of the mouth,
there's a desire of the nose.
יום כיפור is teaching us that we have to channel all the desires that
we have in order to make them desires for הקדוש ברוך הוא,
to raise ourselves,
raise our children,
to bring נחת רוח to הקדוש ברוך הוא.
And if we can do that,
we're elevating the day of יום כיפור from being one in which we're chasing
after food to one which chasing after הקדוש ברוך הוא,
elevating our desires for רוחניות.
May we be זוכה this year to dedicate our lives to הקדוש ברוך הוא,
show הקדוש ברוך הוא that even though externally there's many things that we've done
that are not in line with the will of השם,
but that our inner will and our inner desire is only to be doing
the will of הקדוש ברוך הוא,
and השם will help us that throughout the course of the year that inner
will will be expressed,
that we'll be able to do the will of הקדוש ברוך הוא not only
in רצון,
but also in action.
Wishing everyone a גמר חתימה טובה.