A Matter of Desire
By Rabbi Y. Serebrowski

This week’s Torah portion relates the episode of Pesach Sheini - the second Pesach offering. A group of people having been involved in the mitzvah of honoring the dead became contaminated; as a result they were deemed ineligible to bring the Pesach offering. Having an intense desire to participate in this great spiritual experience, coupled with the idea that the performance of one mitzvah should bring another mitzvah in its wake, they appealed to Moshe saying “Lama nigara” - “why should we be deprived?” In recognition of their nobility, Hashem assigned them as the agents through whom He revealed the new commandment of the second Pesach offering, which would be brought a month after the regularly appointed time for the Pesach offering.

The commentaries ask: Did these well-intentioned people not realize the consequences of their mitzvah-induced contamination? Did they truly expect Moshe to bypass a Torah law to satisfy their desire? Why did they feel the need to petition Moshe to include themselves in a mitzvah where they were clearly not obligated? Why were they not satisfied with being exempt from this mitzvah?

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein explains that this special group of people had an unusually strong desire to develop a powerful and intimate relationship with Hashem. To them, any and every opportunity to further that connection was to be relished and cherished; never to be missed. As a result of this devotion, as the time to offer the Pesach sacrifice slipped away, despite knowing full well that they didn’t have a legal leg to stand on, they desperately petitioned Moshe, “Lama nigara” - “why should we be deprived?” We know that you can’t rewrite the rules for us, but we desire so much. To these people, being exempt was the loss of a golden opportunity. In reward for this desire, Hashem indeed gave them another opportunity - Pesach Sheini - the second Pesach offering, to achieve closeness.

In sharing this story, the Torah teaches, “there is nothing that stands in the way of desire”. If you desire it enough, Hashem can make it happen.

There is a poignant story about a father who came to a Yeshiva seeking a suitable young Torah scholar to marry his daughter. Extolling the virtues of his prize students, the Rosh Yeshiva acknowledged; “The boy in the corner is the smartest, the one up front is the most knowledgeable, and the boy to the right is the sharpest”. “And which one for my daughter?” asked the father. The Rosh Yeshiva responded “The boy in the back - for he has the greatest desire!”

That young “boy in the back” with “the greatest desire” is known to us today as Rabbi Yisroel Yaakov Kanievski - the legendary “Steipler Gaon” who grew to become one of the leading Torah sages of his time.

May we all merit to desire what is truly important, and to have those wishes amply fulfilled.

Gut Shabbos.

Yisroel Tzvi Serebrowski

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