[Avodah] U'Mipnai Chatoeinu

[Rich, Joel]

One of my all time favorites from R' Sacks (although I always call it
Tzipita Lyeshua?)
May we speedily learn the lesson.
KT
Joel Rich
Rabbi Yonason Sacks 

U'Mipnai Chatoeinu


The three weeks from shiva asar b'Tamuz to Tisha B'Av mark an intense
period of universal mourning. During this time we face the difficult
challenge of aveilus commemorating the destruction of the Beis
Hamikdash. For many of us, however, this experience may seem somewhat
distant and remote. How do we internalize the loss of something that we
never witnessed and experienced. How do we, living in a blessed era or
religious freedom and growth, yearn for the building of the Beis
Hamikdash?

A profound lesson can be gleaned from the plight of the eved ivri, the
Jewish bondsman. The Torah (Shemos 21) allows the court to sell a thief
into slavery to raise funds to pay his victims. If after six years of
servitude he chooses to remain a slave his ear is bored. Rashi (21:6)
cites the Gemara (Kiddushin 22b) which states, "u'ma ra'ah ozen leiratza
mikol sha'ar eivarim shebaguf? Amar Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai, ozen
shesham'a al Har Sinai 'Lo Signov' v'halach v'ganav teiratze - and what
is it about the ear that it should be bored of all the organs of the
body? Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai said it was the ear that heard at Mt.
Sinai 'You shall not steal', and yet he went and stole, therefore let it
be bored."

The Maharal Diskin questions the timing of the boring of the ear. If the
purpose of retzia is to teach the eved the lesson of lo signov, why do
we pierce his ear now - wouldn't it be more fitting to pierce his ear at
the time that he stole? The Maharal Diskin explains that the true
punishment for stealing was his being sold as a slave. However, when his
years of servitude come to an end and he proclaims, "lo eitzei chofshi-
I shall not go free", it becomes clear that what was intended as a
punishment was perceived by the eved as an ideal. It now becomes
necessary to punish him again by boring his ear.

Golus is a punishment. Our challenge, especially during these three
weeks, is to realize that although b'chasdei Hashem we live in a time of
abundant beracha, nevertheless "U'Mipnai chatoeinu galinu meiartzeinu -
because of our sins we were exiled from our land."

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