Connecting to Eternity

Torah Thoughts on Parshas Shemini by Rabbi Yosef Polstein

"הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶה לָכֶם רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים רִאשׁוֹן הוּא לָכֶם לְחָדְשֵׁי הַשָׁנָה"  שְׁמוֹת י''ב:ב'

“This month shall be for you the beginning of the months; it shall be for you the first of the months of the year.”  Shemos 12:2 

Once a year, on Parashas HaCHodesh, Chazal saw fit that we reflect upon the meaning of time and its significance in our Avodas Hashem. Time is certainly a critical element throughout Pesach. We left Mitzrayim in a hurry (bechipazon). Chazal tell us that had we not left so swiftly, we would have descended to the 49th level of Egyptian impurity. Hashem manipulated the date of the Exodus so that this should not happen (chishav es hakeitz). Matzoh, the essence of Pesach, must be baked rapidly or it will turn into the prohibited chometz. Why does this Yom Tov, of all the others, revolve around time?

The one trait entrenched with managing time is the middah of zerizus. Could it be just a coincidence that this trait, of acting with alacrity, has its source in baking matzah and is found in the special parashah we read this Shabbos! “Ushemartem es hamatzos – And you shall guard the matzos.” (Shemos 12:17) Chazal read the word “matzos” as “mitzvos” and explain the intent of the pasuk to be: “A mitzvah that comes into your hand, do not allow it to turn to chometz – al tachmitzenu.” In other words, one should not ruin any mitzvah by delaying it and not performing it with zerizus.

Rav Yitzchok Hutner (Pachad Yitzchok, Pesach, 1:1) explains, quoting Maharal in Nesivos Olam, a profound insight into this middah (based on a shiur by Rav Yaakov Feitman). Without the drashah of Chazal, we would have thought that a mitzvah performed lazily, without zerizus, is still a fine mitzvah, but it is just missing an external quality of enthusiasm. However, by Chazal equating it to chometz, “al tachmitzenu”, they are indicating that now the mitzvah is intrinsically flawed. Why is this so?

Rav Hutner explains that aside from the simple meaning of doing mitzvos with alacrity and enthusiasm, there is a much higher level – zerizus – which applies only to Klal Yisrael when we are engaged in doing that which is holy. What exactly is this high level of zerizus? Rav Hutner explains, based upon the Maharal, that since Hashem is eternal and His mitzvos are eternal, our ultimate connection to also being eternal is only through His mitzvos. That connection is only established when we don’t allow the performance of a mitzvah to “fall under time” by delaying it, for this would sever its eternal connection. However, when we exert ourselves to preserve the “above time” aspect of a mitzvah, we connect with this eternity and with the Eternal One. That is the higher level of zerizus. It is the one we apply to each mitzvah when it is done with zerizus yearning to be freed from its physical limitations and connecting to its eternity. This is the message of Parashas HaChodesh, that as a people we strive to cast away the shackles of our corporal existence and to connect to the Eternal Jewish People, the Eternal Torah, and our Eternal Father.