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1) Drasha – The Power of Chazaras Hashatz
Chazaras HaShatz is, for many, the least engaging part of davening. The rhythm slows and personal connection fades. And yet it may be the most powerful moment in the entire tefillah. The Rav distinguishes in many places between a korban of shutafim, brought by partners each retaining a distinct share, and a korban tzibbur, which has only one owner: Klal Yisrael as a unified entity. Not a partnership, but a transformation where many become one and demand Hashem’s mercy.
This distinction sheds light on a formulation in the Rambam (Hilchos Tefillah 8:4), who contrasts tefillah b'tzibbur, praying alongside others, with tefillas hatzibbur, a prayer belonging to the community itself. Chazaras HaShatz, explains the Rav, is not a practical accommodation for those who couldn't daven on their own. The Yerushalmi rules that shomea k'oneh cannot fulfill the obligation of tefillah; it is too personal to be outsourced. Chazal created something categorically different in order to be able to include the eino baki: a tefillah belonging not to any individual but to the tzibbur as a single being.
The Shliach Tzibbur is not a proxy. He is the voice of Klal Yisrael. During the silent Shemoneh Esrei, each of us stands as an individual. During Chazaras HaShatz something shifts: we become part of a singular entity standing before HaKadosh Boruch Hu. That is the message to convey to our mispallelim. To listen attentively is to participate in something far greater than oneself. When Klal Yisrael stands unified, such a tefillah carries koach she'ein lo shiur.
2) Drasha - Bringing "Nachas"
In our parasha (1:9), the Torah describes a korban as a rei'ach nichoach, a “pleasing fragrance” to Hashem. Rashi quotes Chazal: nachas ruach lefanai, she'amarti v'na'aseh retzoni – "I have satisfaction that I spoke, and My will was fulfilled." But what kind of satisfaction are we talking about here? Is it a metaphor, or something real?
The Alter of Kelm builds his answer from an unexpected sugya in Megillah. A beis haknesses may be sold because its kedushah transfers onto the money. But it can’t be rented or pawned; the kedushah would have nothing to land on! So what about a gift? One opinion permits it, reasoning that the recipient must have derived some benefit from the giver – otherwise, why give? – so it functions like a sale.
The Alter presses: what if the gift is given purely out of love? Where is the tangible benefit? His answer is striking. The love itself is rooted in some quality the person possesses, and that quality is the benefit. We find the same principle in Kiddushin: when a woman gives money to an adam chashuv, she is mekudeshes, because his mere acceptance is itself a benefit to her.
The implications are enormous. A person gives others something simply by being who he is. We apply this to korbanos, too. The nachas ruach that Hashem derives from our avodah is not a poetic flourish. It is real enough that it generates its own reward, beyond the reward for the mitzvah itself. This, says the Alter, is the meaning of s'char mitzvah mitzvah: through performing a mitzvah, one becomes a person of greater stature – and that stature itself is a mitzvah, because it continuously brings nachas to the Creator. The korban on the mizbei'ach is just the beginning. The goal is to become a person whose very presence is a rei'ach nichoach la'Hashem.
3) Parparet - Charlie Kirk, Shabbos Kodesh, and a contrast of absurdity
Charlie Kirk's recent, posthumous book contains a passage that every Jew should read. In it, Kirk makes the case for Shabbos more powerfully than most of us ever do:
If you wonder what you worship, look at what you sacrifice for. Many sacrifice their Sabbath—that sacred day of rest and worship commanded by God—for an extra day of work, an extra shopping trip, an extra scroll through endless online sales. Many sacrifice time with their children to chase promotions, bigger homes, and higher status. Many sacrifice their financial peace to purchase things they don’t need to impress people they don’t even like. Materialism is not content to coexist quietly; it demands blood.
4) Parparet - When "Chance" Has a Small Aleph
The word Vayikra is written with a small aleph –– so small, say Chazal, that the word almost reads Vayikar, "and it happened", the language of chance. The Baal HaTurim famously attributes this to Moshe's humility: he wanted to describe Hashem's communication as mere happenstance.
Rav Yosef Weiss, zt”l, who for many decades taught YOreh Deah at RIETS (in the brand new sefer of his teachings highlighted below - U'LeYosef Amar) sees a deeper remez: The aleph is small, but it's still there. Vayikar – randomness – is never the full word. There is always an aleph hidden inside the "coincidence." Everything that appears to us as vayikar – accidental, circumstantial, a chance encounter or an unexpected turn – is in truth Vayikra: preceded by a calling and proclamation from Heaven.
(See the rest of the piece where he connects this idea to shidduchim.)
5) See last year's Chomer Here.
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