Kedoshim 5782

Rabbi Reisman – Parshas Kedoshim 5782

1 – Topic – Two Basic Dinim in Harkovas Ha’ilan

As we prepare for Shabbos Parshas Kedoshim. A Parsha that has many Mitzvos in it and a Parsha which we can spend quite a bit of time and I am sure we will. I hope we will in learning just the Pesukim and the different Mitzvos of the Parsha. I would like to talk today about the Issur of Kilayim which is in this week’s Parsha which is as it says in 19:19 (שָׂדְךָ לֹא-תִזְרַע כִּלְאָיִם) the Issur to plant Kilayim in a field.

I would like to share with you a few points that are not well-known. The best way to illustrate is to share with you a Shaila that somebody in Shul asked me a number of years ago. This individual had a small orange tree growing out of a large pot which was in the corner of his living room. He decided to decorate it. What he did was he went to the earth from which it was growing, and he planted a bunch of tomato seedlings in a circle around the orange tree, and it gave it some really nice color and added to the orange tree. It was a decoration in his living room.

He had a guest and the guest told him it is Kilayim and you are being Over an Issur D’oraissa. You are planting tomatoes and the oranges one next to the other. Therefore, it should be a problem. So the question is, is he right. The answer is that there are two known points which are simple and basic but Frum Yidden don’t know because we are not farmers and we are very distant from the Halachos of farming. The Shaila being asked shows a lack of knowledge of two basic fundamental ideas.

One is that the Issur of Kilayim does not apply in Chutz L’aretz. In Yoreh Dai’a Siman (רצ"ז סיף ב') it says (ומותר לישראל לזרוע כלאי זראים בידו בחו"ל ואפילו לערב הזרים לכתכילה ולזרעם בחו"ל מותר ודברים אלו דברי קבלה). That there is no Issur of planting things together in Chutz L’aretz. What do you know? That means that in Brooklyn where many people have backyards with a piece of earth where there is no concrete which is about 7 or 8 feet long and about 4 feet across, I am not sure if any sunlight ever gets there but if you want to plant you can plant things and there is no Issur Kilayim. The Issur does not apply to Chutz L’aretz. I imagine that if you tell this to people they will say what? You would have to pull out a Shulchan Aruch in Yoreh Dai’a Siman (רצ"ז סיף ב')

There is an even more fundamental piece of knowledge that is missing and that is that even in Eretz Yisrael there is no Issur to plant things, things meaning anything next to trees. There is an Issur of (כלאי זרעים) planting things next to each other if they are vegetables or grains, and there is an Issur of (כלאי הכרם) which is planting things together with a vineyard, but there is no Issur of Kal’ei Ilan. That is not 100% true as there is an Issur but the Issur of Kal’ei Ilan has nothing to do with planting next to each other.

Again, open up a Shulchan Aruch in (סימן רצ"ה) (הלכות כלאי אילן) and it says the following, the Posuk from our Parsha (כלאי האילנות הרי הם בכלל מה שנאמר שדך לא תזרע כלאים). Trees are included in the Posuk of (שדך לא תזרע כלאים). (כיצד)? What is the case of Kal’ei Ilan? (המרכיב אילן באילן). Grafting one tree into another tree. (וכן המרכיב ירק באילן). Any type of grafting. You are not allowed to graft your trees. But planting things next to each other, that is not included in (כלאי אילן). How do you like that?

(רצ"ה סיף ג'). (מותר לזרוע זראים), you are allowed to plant seeds (וזרע אילן) and tree seeds (כאחד) next to each other. (וכן מותר לערב זרעי אילנות ולזרעם כאחת). You can mix different trees and plant them next to each other. (שאין לך כלאים באילנות אלא הרכבה בלבד). The only Kilayim by Ilanos is grafting. And so, the first Dvar Torah on the Parsha is not from any Acharon. It is two S’ifim in Shulchan Aruch. Two basic Halachos in Kilayim.

As a matter of fact, if you want to add a little bit of Gan Eden in this world, if you want a little Geshmak in this world, tonight when you finish Mishmar and you have a few minutes, open up a Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Dai’a to Siman Reish Tzaddik Hei. It is one page the whole Dinnim on Kalei Ilan. You can learn it and have a Geshmak.

If you want to have a super Geshmak go to www.MP3Shiur.com and look under Rabbi Yisroel Reisman and look for Yoreh Dai’a 295 (Hilchos Kalei Elanos - Shiur 1 Yoreh Deah 295 1:7 by Rav Yisroel Reisman :: mp3 available online for free download (mp3shiur.com)) and you can listen to the Shiur on this and you can listen to the Shiurim and learn the S’if with the Shiur, IY”H you can Daven Vasikin and be ready for a Geshmake Erev Shabbos.

2 – Topic – The importance of being Mekabeil on ourselves the Mitzvah of (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ) before Davening and an appreciation of (עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ).

We have in this week’s Parsha the Mitzvah that is found in 19:18 of (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ). Love you friend as you love yourself. There is a Minhag Arizal that before Davening a person should say Hareini Mekabeil Atzmi Mitzvos (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ). That a person should be Mekabeil this Mitzvah before Davening. The Kasha is why before Davening. I would think you should say be Mekabeil (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ) before you leave Shul and you are going out among people. During Davening you are sitting as an individual Davening to the Ribbono Shel Olam. What has that got to do with being Mekabeil (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ). What does one thing have to do with the other? What does that have to do with Davening?

I once heard a beautiful Bi’ur based on the Derashos of the Chasam Sofer. The Derashos of the Chasam Sofer says how does it help if one Jew Davens for another? He explains that all of Klal Yisrael are one Guf. What does it mean when one Jew Davens for another? We are all one Guf and since we are all one so it is like different parts of the body Davening for each other. He says you go to a Gadol B’yisrael for a Beracha. What is a Beracha? A Tefila. When the Gadol B’yisrael Davens for you it is the head of the Guf of Klal Yisrael. It is a much more significant Tefila. Therefore, you are Mekabeil (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ) that you should be all one Guf, you should feel one Guf and in that way your Tefila will help for Klal Yisrael and Klal Yisrael’s Tefila will help for you. To the degree that you feel one with Klal Yisrael you are Zoche and you have a Zechus to be a piece of Klal Yisrael. Then the Tefilos of Klal Yisrael help for you.

What do we say before we go out? We say (עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ לַאֲדון הַכּל). Aleinu was written by Yehoshua when Klal Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael. Why does this Tefila get put at the end of Davening? Why does it get put right before you leave when people are running out? Aleinu that Yehoshua wrote came before Dovid Hamelech. Why isn’t Yehoshua’s Tefila given more respect? You say it on the way out?

The answer is you have to know what (עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ) is. When did Yehoshua write (עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ) when Klal Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael. What does it have to do with Eretz Yisrael, where does it talk about Eretz Yisrael in Aleinu? The answer is this generation grew up in the Midbar and they never saw the nations of the world. They lived isolated, from the day they were born they saw only other Jews. Now they are going into a world where they are going to be exposed to the nations of the world and the nations of the world have very different values then us. Yehoshua said every day you should Daven and praise Hashem (עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ לַאֲדון הַכּל). (שֶׁלּא עָשנוּ כְּגויֵי הָאֲרָצות. וְלא שמָנוּ כְּמִשְׁפְּחות הָאֲדָמָה). Every human being has to appreciate the gift that he has. While we need to be respectful to everybody, we need to recognize the gift that Klal Yisrael has. (וַאֲנַחְנוּ כּורְעִים וּמִשְׁתַּחֲוִים וּמודִים לִפְנֵי מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדושׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא). Our recognition of HKB”H.

When do we say that? When Yehoshua goes into Eretz Yisrael among the nations of the world. That is why we say it at the end of Davening. You are in a Shul that is (כֻּלָּם אֲהוּבִים. כֻּלָּם בְּרוּרִים) all of Klal Yisrael. You are going out among the nations of the world, stop a minute. (עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ לַאֲדון הַכּל). It is a moment to fortify yourself for the exposure to the nations of the world.

This explains why we say Aleinu after Kiddush Levana. People think that we say Aleinu after Kiddush Levana because we don’t say it at the end of Maariv and we run out. That is not true at all. We say Aleinu by Maariv and then we go out to Kiddush Levana and we say it again. Why do we say Aleinu a second time? The answer is that when we say Kiddush Levana we recognize that Klal Yisrael is compared to the Levana and the nations of the world are compared to the sun. The Levana waxes and wanes and has times of maximum light and times of minimum light like Klal Yisrael in the Galus. Different time periods. L’asid Lavo when the moon will have the full light back like the sun, the Jewish people are Nimshal to the Levana. At that moment you say (עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ לַאֲדון הַכּל). (שֶׁלּא עָשנוּ כְּגויֵי הָאֲרָצות) which is very appropriate.

Another place, after a Bris Milah they say Aleinu. People think that you didn’t say Aleinu after Davening you say it after the Bris. It is not true. You said Aleinu after Davening. We always say Aleinu after Davening. Then there is a Bris and they say Aleinu again. The answer is what is a Bris? A Bris is a Bris between Klal Yisrael and the Ribbono Shel Olam. (שֶׁלּא עָשנוּ כְּגויֵי הָאֲרָצות. וְלא שמָנוּ כְּמִשְׁפְּחות הָאֲדָמָה). So that, Aleinu if you understand what it is, is a different Aleinu. It is a Tefila, a preparation for going out into the world. An appreciation of (עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ לַאֲדון הַכּל).

So in our 15 minutes or less we have learned two S’ifim of Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Dai’a and getting prepared to learn Siman Reish Tzaddik Hei IY”H later tonight after Mishmar, and we understand the importance of being Mekabeil on ourselves the Mitzvah of (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ) before Davening. We also appreciate (עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ). 15 minutes well used. Whether you are listening or not at least I should be listening. I hope that my next (עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ) will be meaningful with a lot of Kavana with Shvach and praise to HKB”H. With that I wish you all (קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ). Be Kodesh. How are you Kodesh? Go to Mishmar and say (עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ) properly and (וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ). A Gutten Shabbos to one and all!