Parashat VaYikra - Eli Lehman

Parashat VaYikra

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

 

Eli Lehman

 

            While Bnei Yisrael was in the Midbar, Hashem told Moshe to tell Bnei Yisrael that they could do Teshuva for committing a sin. The Rambam says the most important part of Teshuva is acknowledging the act that you did wrong. It is because it is so difficult to do that makes it basically the definition of Teshuva. The Torah mentions that the first person who will sin is the Kohen Gadol, and then the Sanhedrin, and then the Nasi will sin. Rabbi Riskin asks, why is it that the most important person and highest of power will sin first?

            This is a very good and interesting question because one might think that the highest would be the least to sin since he is on a higher level and is more responsible than everyone else.

            Rabbi Riskin answers by saying that the reason he will sin first is because he has to rely on others and he might fall into what the people want (not what they need) so he can keep their support. The Torah even says he is the most vulnerable. So the main part of Teshuva, the hardest and most difficult one, is being able to sacrifice your ego which, for a lot of people, is very difficult to do.

            This Divar Torah by Rabbi Riskin gives us a big message. He is telling us how the danger of sinning rises by how important and how powerful you are. And we need to be careful not to just do things based on what others want and need to make sure it’s what supposed to be done. And if we do sin, we have to be willing to sacrifice our self-image to do Teshuva which is extremely difficult, but something that must be done.

            This was a very good shiur because Rabbi Riskin gave us a very interesting question that made us want to read further and then he gave us a very interesting message that can relate to everyone.