An Enabler or Facilitator Gets Credit As if He Was the Doer
These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion: #1334 – I Never Thought There Could Be So Many Shailos About The Bracha On Water. Good Shabbos!
The pasuk in the beginning of Parshas Acharei Mos says, “From the assembly of the Children of Israel he shall take two he-goats for a sin-offering and one ram for a burnt-offering.” (Vayikra 16:5) The Kohen Gadol brought korbanos for himself, for the Kohanim and for all of Klal Yisrael. The two goats that the pasuk mentioned include one that was offered on the mizbayach (altar) and one that was sent to be thrown off the Azazel cliff.
I saw an interesting observation in the sefer Shemen HaTov. I was amazed that I never thought of this question myself: Why does the Torah say that two goats are taken for a chatas (sin-offering), when, in fact, only one of them is offered as a chatas? A chatas has very specific halachos. It needs to be shechted by a Kohen and it needs to be shechted in a very specific place. The second goat, the sair l’Azazel, even though it is called a “chatas,” was not really a “chatas.” It is not brought on the mizbayach, it is not shechted and the blood is not sprinkled. It is thrown down a mountainous cliff. It has few if any of the halachos of a chatas, and yet the Torah says “take two he-goats for a chatas“. Why is the sair l’Azazel called a Korban Chatas?
The Shemen HaTov suggests the following: The Gemara says that these two goats need to be identical – matching in value, in voice, and in appearance. Basically, they need to be twins. The Kohen Gadol drew lots between the two with the result being that one would go to Hashem and one would go to Azazel. This procedure of drawing lots to determine the fate of each was essential.
If both goats are not present, the one to be offered on the mizbayach cannot become a Korban Chatas either. The only way one of them becomes a Korban Chatas is by having the other one present and going through the lottery process so that the true Korban Chatas can be identified and designated. Since the sair l’Azazel causes, enables and facilitates the other goat becoming a Korban Chatas, it too is called a Korban Chatas.
When you are essential for something else happening then you receive the same status as that other thing. We can readily see the hashkafik implications of this in so many areas of life. If I enable someone else to sit and learn Torah, then it is as if I am sitting and learning Torah. This is not news to us: “…Rejoice Zevulun in your excursions, and Yissocher in your tents.” (Devarim 33:18). Chazal say that the Torah not only gave equal billing but actually gave primary billing to Zevulun because he enabled Yissocher to be able to sit and learn. The facilitator of something has the same halacha as the person who actually does it. So the sair l’Azazel, without whom you could not have a sair l’Hashem – that sair l’Azazel also has the status of a Korban Chatas.
Based on this idea, the Shemen HaTov answers a question. (Later on in our second piece, we will give a different answer to this question.) The Shemen HaTov’s answer may not be “p’shat” but it certainly has a homiletical message which should resonate with us.
The Gemara says that according to Rabbi Akiva, the pasuk “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Vayikra 19:18) is the “Klal gadol baTorah” (the “great rule” of Torah law). This was Rabbi Akiva’s mantra. However, there is another statement of Rabbi Akiva in Shas that appears to contradict this rule. The famous Gemara (Bava Metzia 62a) is about the case of two people walking in the desert with only one jug of water between them. If they share the jug, there will not be enough water for either, and they will both die. If the one holding onto the water drinks it all, he will live and the second person will die. What should be done? Ben Petura opines that they should share the jug even though neither person will then remain alive. Rabbi Akiva, who elsewhere famously says “Love your neighbor as yourself” says over here “Your life takes precedence” (i.e. – whoever is holding onto the water should drink it all himself).
We might ask, what happened to Rabbi Akiva’s mantra of “Love your neighbor like yourself?” Why did he now rule that a person should drink all the water himself, even though his companion will thereby die of thirst? On the surface, these appear to be diametrically opposed positions.
To answer this question, the Shemen HaTov cites a beautiful observation from the Chidushei Harim: There is no contradiction because one dictum applies to ruchniyus (spiritual matters) and the other dictum applies to gashmiyus (physical matters). By gashmiyus, a person’s own life takes precedence. My life takes precedence over yours and I have every right to drink those last drops of water myself. However, by ruchniyus “Love your neighbor like yourself” – we are both the same. The Shemen HaTov explains that by ruchniyus, when I enable you to sit and learn, it is like I am also learning. When I offer someone else the opportunity to achieve spiritual accomplishment, I will not lose as a result because someone who enables someone else to fulfill a mitzvah receives the same reward and status as someone who did the mitzvah.
The Shemen HaTov infers this distinction by taking careful note of Rabbi Akiva’s exact words: “‘And you shall love your neighbor as yourself’ – this is the great rule ba’Torah (by Torah)”. By learning Torah or by other matters of ruchniyus, the rule is ‘Love your neighbor like yourself.” This is because in ruchniyus, the facilitator or enabler gets credit as if he himself did it. The sair l’Azazel has a status of a Korban Chatas because it is a facilitator: Without it, the real chatas could not be offered!
The Ramban’s Definition of Loving One’s Neighbor Like Himself
The resolution of the apparent contradiction between the two statements of Rabbi Akiva shared above is al pi derush (homiletic). However, at least according to the Ramban, there is a more straightforward answer. In Parshas Kedoshim, there is a very important Ramban on the pasuk “And you shall love your neighbor like yourself. I am Hashem.” (Vayikra 19:18). The Ramban says something than only a rishon could say: “This statement of the Torah that someone should love his neighbor as himself is somewhat of an exaggeration!” It does not mean that I literally need to love you as I love myself. The Ramban says that such a mitzvah is not realistic. It is not possible for a person to love his fellow man as much as he loves himself. Perhaps I can aspire to love my wife as much as myself, perhaps my children, but not just any other Jew.
Furthermore, the Ramban cites Rabbi Akiva’s dispute with Ben Petura (cited above; Bava Metzia 62a) where he insists “Your life comes before the life of your friend.” What then does “V’ahavta l’rayacha kamocha” mean? The Ramban defines the mitzvah as follows: I should want good for you just as much as I want good for myself! Just like I want to make a good living, so too I want you to make a good living. Just as I want nachas from my children, so too, I want you to have nachas from your children.
The Ramban continues: There are people who say “Okay, you can be as rich as me, but you can’t be as smart as me.” Even if a person says “I want you to be as rich as me and as smart as me, and I want for you all those things that I want for myself – but I still want to be a little smarter, richer, etc.,” that attitude is precluded by the mitzvah of “V’ahavta l’rayacha kamocha” because it is a function of kinah (jealousy). The Torah is telling us to get rid of that midah (attribute) of kinah.
I will mention as an aside that I recently heard on the radio (NPR) of a very interesting study that was done at the Kolar School of Management in Tel Aviv University. The conclusion of this study was the following: “We find that Facebook usage increases users’ engagement in social comparison and consequently decreases their happiness.” On Facebook, everyone is noticing how great the next person has it, and they become jealous. Ironically, this social media where everyone shares what they are doing with everyone else creates the impression that everyone is having a great time, except me. This is because people don’t put on Facebook the times that they are in terrible moods or have tzores, etc., etc. Life appears to be all fun and games.
There was an example of a woman who spoke on the radio and she said that she lives in the Blueridge Mountains so she posted a picture of her house with the majestic Blueridge Mountains in the background. People think, “Beautiful, Look at that! I live across from an apartment building!” However, she admitted that the picture did not show the fact that she lives right next to a factory in the Blueridge Mountains. What she did post causes kinah.
Another woman said that she was invited to a wedding. Exactly that same day, her friends were making a beach party. She decided to go to the wedding, but during the entire wedding she kept looking on Facebook to see what was going on at the beach party so she couldn’t enjoy the wedding. That is the midah of kinah.
That is what this mitzvah is about – that you should want for your friend exactly what you want for yourself. The Ramban continues that the classic example in Tanach of appropriate fulfillment of the mitzvah of V’ahavta l’rayacha kamocha is the love of Yonosan to Dovid. Yonosan totally removed the midah of kinah from his personality and told Dovid “You will be King of Israel.” Yonosan son of Shaul, who was the heir to the throne, wanted his friend Dovid to become king. This is the gold standard, says the Ramban, of loving your neighbor as yourself. “I want you to have it just as good as me, and it does not matter whether you will be the king or I will be the king.”
In this connection, I would like to share what I think is a fantastic Targum Yonoson ben Uziel. Yonoson ben Shaul was killed and Dovid, his yedid-nefesh (soul-buddy) eulogized him. “I am distressed over you, my brother, Yonoson, you were so pleasant to me! Your love was more wondrous to me than the love of women!” (Shmuel II 1:26) The Metzudas there interprets the final phrase of this pasuk to mean that Dovid’s love for Yonoson was as strong and powerful as the desire men have for women whom they strongly desire. This is in fact the p’shuto shel mikra (the straightforward intent of Scripture).
But listen to how the Targum Yonoson ben Uziel interprets this phrase: “Your love to me is greater than the love of two women.” What does the Targum mean? The way the term “ahavas nashim” is translated literally is, as the Metzudas says, “the love of women.” What is the meaning of Targum Yonoson’s translation: “the love of two women”?
Someone quoted a vorte from the Bobover Rebbe: Apparently, the Targum Yonoson had something specific in mind when he said “two women.” He was speaking about two specific women – namely Rochel and Leah. Rochel was willing to give the ‘simanim‘ to her sister, Leah, so that Leah could marry Yaakov, leaving Rochel potentially stuck with marrying Eisav. These “two women” had a love that was so great that Rochel wanted for her sister the very thing that she wanted for herself. Just like Yonoson was willing to tell Dovid, “You will be king over Israel and I won’t,” so too Rochel was willing to tell Leah “You will marry Yaakov and I won’t”. Those are the “two women” to which the Targum is referring.
This, says the Ramban, is what the mitzvah of “V’ahavta l’rayacha kamocha” is all about. It is not so easy to accomplish.
Transcribed by David Twersky; Jerusalem [email protected]
Technical Assistance by Dovid Hoffman; Baltimore, MD [email protected]
This week’s write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochar Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly Torah portion. A listing of the halachic portions for Parshas Kedoshim is provided below:
- # 009 – Prohibition Against Using a Razor
- # 052 – Prohibition Against Revenge
- # 095 – The Mezonos Roll: Does it Exist?
- # 143 – Inviting the Non-Observant to Your Shabbos Table
- # 190 – The Prohibition of Negiah
- # 236 – The Do’s & Don’ts of Giving Tochacha
- # 280 – “Lo Sa’amod Al Dam Re’echa”
- # 326 – Mipnei Seiva Takum: Honoring the Elderly
- # 370 – Deserts — Do They Require a Brocha?
- # 414 – Giving an Injection to One’s Father
- # 458 – Giving Tochacha: Private or Public?
- # 502 – Kissui HaDam
- # 546 – Treating Mitzvos with Respect
- # 590 – Sofaik Be’racha
- # 634 – The Prohibition of Hating Another Jew
- # 678 – Tochacha: Is Ignorance Bliss?
- # 722 – Stealing as a Practical Joke
- # 766 – Making Shiduchim Among Non-Observant
- # 810 – The Prohibition of Hating Another Jew
- # 854 – Tatoos: Totally Taboo?
- # 898 – Paying the Plumber and the Babysitter
- # 943 – Oy! They Shaved My Payos
- # 985 – Giving the Benefit of the Doubt – Always?
- #1029 – Must a Person Eat Bread in Order to Bentch?
- #1074 – Paying for Someone’s Expensive Medical Treatment
- #1116 – Eating Before Davening
- #1158 – “I Don’t Want You Spending Time With So-and-so”-Must a child listen?
- #1202 – A Bracha On Tums? On Listerine Strips? And Other Brachos Issues
- #1247 – The Kiruv Workers Dilemma: Inviting Non Shomer Shabbos for a Shabbos Meal
- #1289 – Performing Mitvos During the Holocaust
- #1290 – “I Don’t Carry In the Eruv, You Do” – Can You Carry My Tallis For Me?
- #1334 – I Never Thought There Could Be So Many Shailos About The Bracha On Water
- #1422 – Giving Directions to a Jew Who Is Driving on Shabbos – Lifnei Ivair Shailos
- #1466 – Wearing Gloves While Performing a Mitzvah: Is There a Problem?
- #1509 – Does the Mitzvah of Tochacha Apply In Our Day?
- #1552 – Must You Always Say the Truth?
- #1594 – Netilas Yadayim – I Washed for Bread; Can I Change My Mind and Not Eat?
A complete catalogue can be ordered from the Yad Yechiel Institute, PO Box 511, Owings Mills MD 21117-0511. Call (410) 358-0416 or e-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.yadyechiel.org/ for further information.
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Date: May 9, 2025
