March 5, 2021
An Extra Neshama
Ki Tisah/Parah, 5781
In 1793, a massive collection of previously unknown teshuvot of the great 13th scholar R. Asher b. Yechiel (better known as Rosh), were published in Berlin under the title Besamim Rosh.
This work contained some radical teshuvot. For example, responsum #257, states that one must study secular philosophy in order to truly appreciate the Torah. However, other teshuvot were written exactly in the style of Rosh and seemed to be directly from his pen.
Many scholars concluded that this work was a forgery and was really not from Rosh, but instead were written by the scholar who had “discovered” the teshuvot, Rabbi Saul Berlin. Indeed, the Sochatchover Rebbe, went so far as to say that one can even burn this work on Yom Kippur!
Nevertheless, Besamim Rosh continues to be cited to this day as an authoritative source by poskim. Rav Ovadia Yosef even wrote an approbation before a 1984 reprinting of the work.
As a result of the controversy surrounding Besamim Rosh, Rabbi Saul Berlin resigned his rabbinic position. When he died a letter was found in his pocket requesting that he be buried in solitude and not in a cemetery.
The term besamim rosh appears in our parasha: “Next take choice spices (besamim rosh): five hundred weight of solidified myrrh, half as much—two hundred and fifty—of fragrant cinnamon, two hundred and fifty of aromatic cane” (30:23).
The Jewish people are commanded to take “choice spices” in order to make anointing oil for the Mishkan. There is also a commandment in our portion to use spices to make ketoret which are offered on the altar every day (30:34-38). The Hebrew term for “choice spices” is besamim rosh.
Today, for the most part, spices (besamim) do not play a large part in Ashkenazi rituals except for when we use them during the Havdalah ceremony on motzei shabbat.
Here too, the phrase besamim rosh is used. As part of Havdalah we make blessings on wine, fire, and besamim. The correct way to perform the ritual is to recite the blessing on besamim prior to the blessing on fire. The reason for this is because the besamim relates to the Shabbat –we recite the blessing because we are losing the extra neshama which we are given on Shabbat --while the fire relates to the time after Shabbat. For this reason, we recite the blessing on besamim before the blessing on fire. The way to remember this is the phrase from our portion – besamim rosh (which can be translated as, spices come first).
The topic of besamim also appears in our daf yomi studies for this week. This year the first night of Pesach is on a Saturday night, and the Talmud discusses how one should make Havdalah in a situation like that. Abaye and Rava dispute the matter:
There is the case of the first Festival night that occurs after Shabbat -- Abaye said that the order of the blessings in this instance follows the Hebrew acronym yod, kuf, zayin, nun, heh: The blessing over wine [yayin]; kiddush; the blessing for time [zeman]; the blessing over the candle [ner]; and havdala. And Rava said that the order of the blessings is in accordance with the acronym yod, kuf, nun, heh, zayin: Wine [yayin]; kiddush; candle [ner]; havdala; and the blessing for zeman (Pesachim, 102b).
Our practice –and this is what we will do this year on Saturday night, the first night of Pesach--is to follow the position of Rava which we remember by using the acronym –yaknehaz.
How come there is no blessing on besamim in this situation?
The twelfth century commentator on the Talmud, Rashbam, explains that when we make Havdalah from Shabbat going into yontif, we do not make a blessing on spices. He writes: “we do not make a blessing on besamim on yontif because there is also an extra neshama on yontif” (Rashbam, s.v. u-shemuel, Pesachim, 102b).
The reason why generally we make a blessing on besamim on Saturday night is because every Shabbat we are given an extra neshama. (This is why say the prayer of nishmat on Shabbat morning.) On Saturday night that neshama leaves us and consequently we are we are sad. For this reason, we smell the besamim to lift our spirits. Rashbam therefore says we do not need to recite a blessing on besamim when Shabbat goes into yontif because we also have an extra neshama on yontif.
There is a difficulty with Rashbam’s approach. Tosafot points out that if we do have an extra neshama on yontif then how come we don’t recite a blessing on besamim when yontf ends. Therefore, Tosafot concludes that actually we do not have an extra neshama on yontif and the reason why we do not recite a blessing on besamim when Shabbat leads into yontif is because we don’t need besamim, since the joy of the holiday gladdens our heart and comforts us for the loss of our extra neshama (Pesachim, 102b, s.v. rav).
Sefas Emes takes a different approach. He argues that we actually do have an extra neshama on yontif, and this is the reason why we don’t use besamim when Shabbat leads into yontif. However, he adds, that there is a fundamental difference between the extra neshama of Shabbat and the extra neshama of yontif.
The idea that we are given an extra neshama on Shabbat is based on a verse from our portion. The Torah says about Shabbat: “it shall be a sign for all time between Me and the people of Israel. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and was refreshed” (31:17). The word for “refreshed” is vayinafash, which is related to nefesh, which means soul. Therefore, the Talmud writes:
As Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, gives a person an additional soul on Shabbat eve, and at the conclusion of Shabbat removes it from him, as it is stated: “He ceased from work and was refreshed [vayinafash]” (Exodus 31:17). Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish expounds the verse as follows: Since he ceased from work, and now Shabbat has concluded and his additional soul is removed from him, woe [vai] for the additional soul [nefesh] that is lost (Beitzah, 16a).
On this basis, Sefas Emes emphasizes that the extra neshama that we are given on Shabbat is something that we receive in a passive manner. Hashem makes the Shabbat and as part of that awesome day we are given an extra soul. However, the holidays are something that are dependent upon the calendar which is made by a Beit Din and therefore made by human involvement. Thus, the extra neshama we have on yontif is something that we acquire through our own actions. It is not passive, but active.
Sefas Emes explains that since the neshama on Shabbat is acquired passively it immediately leaves us once the Shabbat departs. However, the extra neshama that we get on yontif is acquired through our own efforts and therefore it lingers with us and it doesn’t leave us the moment that yontif is over. For this reason, we do not need besamim at the conclusion of yontif, because we have worked so hard to create the yontif the incredible spirit of the holiday lingers with us for a longer amount of time than the joy of Shabbat (Cited in Maayana Shel Torah (volume 2, 146).
The spiritual inspiration of yontif is something we desperately need in our lives. Our daily lives can sometimes feel like a grind and we can tragically lose our spiritual focus. Yontif arrives to boost our spirits and support us and help us connect to Hashem.
In the times of the Beit Hamikdash, in order to fully receive the spiritual benefits of the holiday we went through a spiritual renewal process by having the ashes of the red heifer sprinkled over us. This is the ceremony of the Parah Adumah, which is also called the mei chatat. In the weeks leading up to Pesach it is a custom to read this passage from the Torah—parashat parah, which we will do this Shabbat. (Bamidbar, 19:1-22).
Parashat Parah is about the purification process one needs to go through in order to shed the ritual impurity acquired via contact with a dead body. It is a complicated ceremony to allow people to reenter a community after they have been away because of mourning. However, more generally, what it is really about is about how we renew ourselves spiritually.
Maimonides tells us that there have been nine red heifers in history and that the tenth one will arrive with the mashiach:
Nine red heifers were offered from the time that they were commanded to fulfill this mitzvah until the time when the Temple was destroyed a second time. The first was brought by Moses our teacher. The second was brought by Ezra. Seven others were offered until the destruction of the Second Temple. And the tenth will be brought by the King Mashiach; may he speedily be revealed. Amen, so may it be G‑d’s will (Parah Adumah, 3:5)
Nowadays we no longer have the ashes of the parah adumah to help us prepare spiritually for the holiday. So how can we best renew ourselves and prepare ourselves for the holiday of Pesach?
The haftorah for parashat parah from the book of Yechezkel gives us the answer.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your fetishes. And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit into you: I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh; and I will put My spirit into you. Thus I will cause you to follow My laws and faithfully to observe My rules (36:25-27).
Hashem promises us that in messianic times, Hashem will be the one to sprinkle the clean water of purification upon us. Hashem will purify us and help us return spiritually so that we can perform the commandments.
But we are not yet in messianic times. Hashem has not yet sprinkled the clean water upon ourselves. What are we supposed to do?
Since Hashem has not yet purified us and caused us to follow all the mitzvot, we need to purify ourselves. We need to spend the month before Pesach in spiritual preparation for the holiday by performing the mitzvot with extra attention and intentionality. We need to spend the month before Pesach with extra Torah study, with extra charity, with extra spiritual focus. Without the magical waters being sprinkled upon us, we need to sprinkle them—so to speak—ourselves.
While we yearn every day for the mashiach to arrive, the absence of the mashiach is actually an opportunity for us to achieve even greater spiritual heights. Just as the extra neshama that we have on yontif is able to linger longer than the extra neshama of Shabbat and take us to greater spiritual heights, so too, by sprinkling the ashes ourselves we will work harder spiritually and bring about an even greater spiritual renewal.
We have less than one month to Pesach. We should take this month as an opportunity to refresh ourselves. The more we put into our spiritual preparation, the more the energy of the holiday will carry us for the whole year.
This is how the great Chassidic master, Rabbi Borukh of Medzhybizh (1753-1811), the grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, would prepare for Pesach.
He would burn the chametz on the eve of Pesach and scatter the ashes on the floor and say the following:
“Any kind of chametz which is in my possession –‘which I have seen or not seen’—even though I believe I have looked into myself thoroughly, I have probably not looked thoroughly at all; ‘which I have burned or not burned’—the Evil Urge within me tries to convince me that I have burned everything, but not until now do I see that I have not burned it, and so I beg of you, God, ‘it shall be null and accounted as the dust of the earth’” (Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, 88).
Shmuel Herzfeld
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You can now watch a Youtube recording of Rabbi Herzfeld’s D'var Torah:
https://youtu.be/zN7ELlT1KJY
