This dvar Torah was adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochar Frand’s Parsha Perceptions Torah Tapes on the weekly Torah portion. Good Shabbos!
The pasuk says, “You should keep My statutes and My laws, which if a man obeys, (‘v’chai bahem’) he shall live through them, I am Hashem.” [Vayikra 18:5] The Gemara learns from this source that if a person is faced with the choice of committing a aveira [sin] or being murdered (or alternatively, neglecting a mitzva or being murdered), the halacha requires the person to commit the aveira or neglect the mitzva, and not die. However, there are three exceptions: avoda zarah [idol worship], shfichas damim [murder], and giluy arayus [illicit relations].
Barring these three exceptions, the halacha says that one should eat pork, violate the Shabbos, eat bread on Pesach, and do not die. Why? Because we learn from this pasuk: these are the mitzvos that I gave you, “v’chai bahem,” and you should live by them. The Gemara [Sanhedren 74a] interprets this to mean, “You should live by them, and not die by them.”
A cursory examination of this pasuk seems to indicate that the Torah is telling us that human life is more precious than keeping the mitzvos. Therefore, if you have a choice between observing Shabbos and staying alive, your life is more valuable than the mitzva. This is a general rule: life is more important than the mitzvos, with just three exceptions.
Rav Moshe Feinstein Zt”l, in his sefer “Igros Moshe,” says (in the course of answering a query on a different subject) that this common understanding of the pasuk is incorrect. That is not what the pasuk is saying, and this is as basic as a Targum Onkelos. [The Targum Onkelos is a nearly literal translation to Aramaic of the words in the Torah, with a minimum of interpolated commentary.]
The Targum Onkelos translates this pasuk as: “and you should live through them in the World to Come.” In other words, the pasuk is not telling us to stay alive and neglect the mitzvos, because life is more precious than mitzvos. The pasuk is telling us that the most precious thing in life is keeping mitzvos, because they bring us to olam haba, the World to Come.
Therefore, if I have a choice between observing the Shabbos or being murdered, the Torah says, “live!” Why? Not because life, for its own sake, is more precious than G-d’s Commandments. Rather, life is precious because you can do those Commandments! Therefore, do work on this Shabbos so you can keep so many more Shabbasos in the future. Eatchometz [leaven] on Pesach. Why? So you can go on and do more mitzvos, and be worthy of life in the world to come.
This is an entirely different perspective. Life is not valuable just for the sake of life itself, without a purpose. Life is not valuable simply in order for a person to work, do errands and go to ball games. That is not what makes life worth living! What does make life worth living? “V’chai bahem” – “l’chayei alma” [in the world to come]. This life leads to a goal.
The Torah is telling us to violate the Shabbos and to eat chometz on Pesach. Why? Because a human life is valuable because it can do so many more mitzvos in this world. Therefore, violate the Shabbos once so that you can observe Shabbos many more times.
Guest Transcribed by Aryeh Leib Freedman ; Baltimore, Maryland. Technical Assistance by Dovid Hoffman; Baltimore, Maryland.
This week’s write-up is adapted from the Rabbi Yissochar Frand’s Parsha Perceptions Torah Tapes on the weekly Torah portion. The halachic portions for Parshas Acharei Mos from the Commuter Chavrusah Series are:
- # 008 – Lifnei Ivair (Accessory to an Aveira)
- # 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 and Don’ts of Giving Tochacha
- # 280 – “Lo Sa’amod Al Dam Re’echa”
- # 326 – Mipnei Seiva Takum: Honoring the Elderly
- # 370 – Desserts — Do They Require a Bracha?
- # 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