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Meaning in Mitzvot -
Lesson 107

Vayakhel Pekudei - Carrying And Washing Hands

21.09.2014

Our parasha describes the enthusiasm of the Jews in the desert to help provide for the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and its contents.  Their response was so overwhelming that Moshe soon had to broadcast the word that no more work was to be done, so that people would stop bringing their workmanship to the encampment of the Levi'im, where the Mishkan was located.  “And the call was broadcast in the camp, saying, no man or woman should do any more workmanship for the sanctified donations; then the people stopped bringing” (Shemot 36:6.)

 

The gemara explains that this announcement was made on Shabbat, and part of its purpose was to warn people not to carry the objects for the Mishkan from their private domains to the central encampment via the public thoroughfare.  And it is from this verse that we learn that carrying from one domain to another on Shabbat is a forbidden melakha (Shabbat 96b.)

 

The "labor" of moving an object from one domain to another, seems like the most insignificant of all the melachot.  Indeed, some early commentators call it an "inferior labor" (Tosafot Shabbat 2a).   After all, nothing is really done to the object - it merely changes location (See Be'ur Halakha 318.)

 

Yet this one “inferior” melakha seems to draw an inordinate amount of attention.  About a third of tractate Shabbat, and about a third of the laws of Shabbat in the Shulchan Arukh, deal primarily with the laws of hotza'a (lit. "transference" ie. carrying).  And Rav Nachman of Breslav teaches that this prohibition is so important that all of the 39 forbidden labors are included in the prohibition on carrying! (Likutei Halakhot Shabbat 7:30.)

 

DOMAIN OF THE ONE, DOMAIN OF THE MANY

 

The central prohibition of carrying is moving something between “reshut hayachid”, a private domain, and “reshut harabim” - a public domain.  (See Ba'al HaMe'or, Shabbat chapter 11.)  The literal translation of reshut hayachid, “the domain of the one”, naturally suggests the domain of the One, those aspects of the world which belong to holiness and God’s unity.  And the reshut harabim, “domain of the many”, naturally suggests the domain of division and separation, those aspects of life where God’s unifying influence is hidden (See Zohar Pinchas III:243b.)

 

The resemblance is not purely linguistic.  The home, the private domain, is a place we can shape and guard, and we can readily make it into an abode for the Divine Presence.  The street, the public domain, is a place we share with other people.  Even though most people we share the public domain with are worthy folk, the very fact that any person has the right and ability to enter there makes it a symbol for a place where evil has free reign.

 

An object we have placed in a private domain can symbolize an idea or value that we consider positive or holy; an object in the public domain symbolizes something evil or profane.  So carrying objects between these domains symbolizes the ongoing application of moral criteria to our life experience. 

 

Just as we may find something in our homes and decide it should be thrown out, so we may find something in our hearts which doesn’t belong in the character of a righteous person and work to get rid of it.  Conversely, just as we may find an object of value in the street and make it a valuable addition to our home, we may sometimes find an invaluable lesson or value in a seemingly God-forsaken place, and strive to internalize it.

 

Even in this symbolic understanding, there is a temptation to view carrying as an “inferior melakha”.  We tend to think that “real” avodat Hashem (service of God) is actually doing something positive, or fighting some negative temptation.  The fact that carrying is considered a melakha can teach us that sometimes our hardest job in working to improve the world is not to change things, but rather to evaluate them - to decide what is right and wrong in the first place.

 

 

PEKUDEI - WASHING HANDS FROM A VESSEL

 

Among the utensils sanctified in our parasha is the laver used by the Kohanim for washing their hands and feet before engaging in the Avoda – the priestly service in the Tabernacle or Temple (Shemot 39:39, 40:11.)  This washing can only be done from a vessel (Rambam Bi'at Mikdash 5:10).  Some halakhic sources liken washing for bread to the washing of the Kohanim from the kiyor (laver) (Chullin 106, Tosefta Yadayim 2:1).

 

Parashat “Para”, the parasha of the red heifer (para aduma) describes the preparation of the purifying “mei chatat” – "water of purification" made from the ashes of the red heifer.  This mixture too is prepared specifically in a vessel (Bemidbar 19:17), and hand-washing is likened also to the purification of the mei chatat (Yadayim 1:2.)  The Rishonim mention both the kiyor and the mei chatat as sources for the requirement to wash hands prior to eating bread specifically from a vessel (See MB 159:1.)

 

What is the meaning of this requirement to wash specifically from a vessel?  We will see that the laws of washing hint at a delicate balance between the Divine and human influences in our lives.

 

In each of these three cases - kiyor, mei chatat, and washing for bread - the source of the water symbolizes something which is completely natural, entirely from God.  The water for the kiyor must be fit for a ritual bath (mikveh), (Rambam Biat Mikdash 5:12); that for the mei chatat is limited further to "mayim chayim" – "live/fresh water" - from a spring (Bemidbar 19:17).  The water required for hand-washing needs to be similar in many ways to the water for a mikveh and for mei chatat (SA OC 160, MB 1 and 21.)

 

A vessel, on the other hand, implies human intervention.  We see from the beginning of SA OC 159 that the definition of a “kli” (vessel) for the purpose of washing is largely based on the characteristics that make a vessel susceptible to tum'a – ritual impurity.  Natural objects do not acquire tum'a; ritual impurity inheres only in objects and food which have been specially prepared for human use. 

 

And the list of vessels fit for washing is almost identical to those which are unfit for mikveh water, precisely because the human element of a vessel destroys the water’s natural character (Mikva'ot 4:1).  Immersing in a mikveh also has an element of human involvement because of the importance of intention in immersion (See SA YD 198:48, Beit Yosef end of YD 198).

 

The importance of human involvement in washing is further emphasized by the requirement that the water be poured from a vessel specifically through human effort (SA OC 159:7).

 

Both elements are essential in the process of purification: the pristine source, symbolized by the natural origin of the water, and the human involvement, symbolized by the need for a vessel and human effort.  The "spirit of purity," the "ru'ach tahara," does not originate with us; it is a spirit from on high, from a place with God where no impurity exists.   But God can not do our work for us; we can cleanse ourselves of our impurities only through our own participation.  “One who comes to purify himself is assisted” (Yoma 38b) - but the individual’s own initiative is essential.

 

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