The Paschal Offering

by Rav Moshe Leib HaCohen Halbershtadt, Founder and Director of YORU Jewish Leadership, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

When the Children of Israel left Egypt, G-d commanded them to take lambs, one for each household, on the 10^th day of the month of Nissan, and slaughter them for the Paschal sacrifice. (See Sh'mot 12). Specifically, Moshe told the elders of Israel, "Pull forth or buy for yourselves sheep for your families and slaughter the Passover sacrifice" (verse 21).

Elaborating on the word Mish'chu, "Pull forth," the Medrash (Sh'mot Rabba 16,3) states:

When the Holy One, Blessed be He, told Moshe to slaughter the Passover lamb, Moshe said: "Master of the world, how can I do this thing? Do You not know that the sheep is Egypt's god [and they will stone us; see Sh'mot 8,22]?!"

G-d answered: "By your life that Israel will not leave Egypt before they slaughter the gods of the Egyptians' before their very eyes, and thus I will show them that their gods are worthless.”

And in fact that very night He smote the firstborns of Egypt, and that night Israel slaughtered their Passover lambs and consumed them. And the Egyptians saw their firstborns killed and their gods slaughtered and they could do nothing, as is written, "And the Egyptians were burying all their firstborns that G-d had smitten, and G-d had destroyed their idols" (Bamidbar 33,4). This is a fulfillment of the verse, "All worshippers of graven images will be humiliated" (Psalms 97,7).

Why did G-d test Israel with such a difficult test? Why did He command them to do something that was liable to provoke the Egyptians to stone them? Why did G-d not simply continue to smite the Egyptians with miraculous plagues?

Israel's Idol Worship

Sh'mot 12 also tells us that Israel was commanded to take the lambs on the 10^th of the month, and to hold them in safekeeping until the 14^th of the month, when they were to perform the slaughter. The Medrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Sh'mot 195) asks why Israel was told to take the lambs such a long time before they were to be slaughtered. It answers:

Israel was awash with idol-worship – a sin that we are commanded against in a mitzvah that is equivalent to all the mitzvot of the Torah … If one violates just the one mitzvah of idol-worship, he is like one who violates all the mitzvot of the Torah, throws off the yoke of Torah, and comes out brazenly and mockingly against the words of Torah… Therefore G-d commanded us here to "pull out" – mishchu u'kchu – and draw away from idol worship, and adhere to the mitzvot.

As the Zayit Raanan (a commentary on the Yalkut Shimoni by the famed Magen Avraham) explained, the Israelites also fulfilled other mitzvot at the time, but by killing the gods of the Egyptians – and the object of their own idolatry as well – they were truly abolishing idol worship.

How to Escape the Deep Pit of Egyptian Impurity

It appears that the message of the holy Torah here is how to avoid impurity. It was telling the Hebrews who left Egypt how they could climb the stairs of spirituality all the way to the summit: the acceptance of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. The way to do this is firstly to totally leave all evil. As written in Psalms, "Forsake evil and do good" - precisely in that order. The first prerequisite before quitting Egypt was to "leave all sin." They must depart from the gods of Egypt by slaughtering them before their eyes, and only afterwards would they be able to begin the process of "do good," of leaving Egypt and its impurities, and then climbing the spiritual ladder, step by step until they receive the Torah.

For a person cannot become ritually clean when immersing in a ritual bath if he is holding a reptile in his hand… They could not have left Egypt and expected to become pure if they were still involved in idol worship; they had to first destroy all vestiges thereof, with great sacrifice and at significant risk to themselves – and only then could they begin the climb upwards to the greatest spiritual revelation in history: the Giving of the Torah by the Holy One, Blessed be He.

The Recipe for Spiritual Ascent

This is in fact a very fundamental principle in the service of G-d: One cannot climb the ladder of spirituality merely by doing good deeds, without first ridding himself of corrupt ideology. To try to improve spirituality while still holding on to bad deeds is a contradiction in terms. First the Paschal lamb must be destroyed and slaughtered, the ideological reptile must be cast aside - and only then can we embark upon a journey of spiritual ascent, of "do good," of mikveh, purification, of rising spiritually, and coming close to G-d.

May it be G-d's will that we merit to see His return to Zion, and the reestablishment of His Temple on the Mount, to where we will go up and bring the Pesach offering at its right time!

Vayikra: The Sacrificial Service: Coming Close

by Rav Moshe Leib HaCohen Halbershtadt, Founder and Director of YORU Jewish Leadership, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

The word for sacrifices is korbanot, from the Hebrew root k.r.v., meaning "to come close"

This week's Torah reading begins the Book of Vayikra, Leviticus, which is practically all about sacrifices and the sacrificial service. The second verse posits that when a person brings a sacrifice, it is mikem, "from you." Let us seek to understand this.

Last week, we concluded the Book of Sh'mot, Exodus, in which we learned of the construction of the Mishkan, Tabernacle; the utensils inside, such as the Ark and the Menorah; and the priestly garments worn by Aharon the High Priest and his sons, who were the other priests. The Mishkan was to be the place in which Israel would come close to G-d on the highest level possible on earth, as is written, "They shall make Me a tabernacle and I will dwell in their midst" (Sh'mot 25,8).

The Torah now begins Vayikra by pouring content into the physical house, namely, the sacrificial service. The principle purpose of the sacrifices is to bring the Children of Israel closer to their Father in Heaven; the Hebrew word for sacrifices is korbanot, from the root meaning "to come close." As Nachmanides explains: "Every korban refers to coming close and unity."

In the beginning of the second chapter of Vayikra, we read of the mincha offering: "A soul who offers up a korban mincha to G-d – the offering shall be of milled flour." This is the only offering that refers to a person as a "soul." Rashi says: "Who is accustomed to donate a mincha? A poor person; G-d says, 'I consider him as if he offered up his soul.'"

Who is more highly regarded: a poor person who tries hard and gives a small sum  - the most he has - to charity, or a wealthy person who gives a large sum, even though he could easily afford much more? The answer clearly is that in our world of deception, the wealthy man is more admired, because the bottom line is that he gave more.

However, in the world of truth, the Sages tell us that "G-d desires the heart," He wants to know what is in our heart, and the reward He gives is commensurate with our effort, toil, and hardship. The poor man who essentially gives his soul has done a greater act than the rich person, and thus coming much closer to G-d with what he did. He offered his soul, which is a higher level than offering one's money or even one's body; he thus "came close to G-d" with kirvat nefesh on the highest possible level.

There are roughly three levels in human relationships: There is a superficial acquaintance that causes people to like each other; there are acts of giving that bring about love; and there is the highest degree of love, soul love, that is the result of a series of little acts of giving, or of major acts that are actually sacrifices. Our forefather Yaakov gave over to his son Yosef everything he learned from Shem and Ever (see Rashi to B'reshit 37,3); he gave him his all – and this led to, in the words of Yehuda, "his [Yaakov's] soul is bound up with his [Yosef's] soul" (B'reshit 44,30).

In another example, we know that King Sha'ul's son Yehonatan gave up any possibility of succeeding his father as the monarch, and even risked his life – all for the sake of his love for David. Their love was certainly a soul love, as we read: "… Yehonatan's soul was bound up with David's soul, and Yehonatan loved him as his own soul... and Yehonatan made a covenant with David, loving him as his own soul" (Samuel I 18,1-3).

The Sefer HaChinukh beautifully explains one of the rationales for the sacrifices:

"G-d commanded us to always sacrifice from that which the heart of man covets, such as meat and wine and bread, so that the heart will be more aroused to it. A poor person is similarly obligated to bring [not from animals, but] from the small amount of flour that his eyes and heart are constantly set upon.

"And there is yet another aspect of arousal of the heart with animal sacrifices, in that human and animal bodies are nearly the same; they are differentiated only in that a feeling heart and mind was given to humans and not animals.

"And when the human body "takes leave" of his mind when he sins, he must know that he has entered the realm of animals, as he has abandoned the only thing that differentiates him from them. He must therefore take a body of flesh like him and bring it to the place chosen for the raising of the intellect and burn it there, so that it is completely incinerated, in order to form a strong picture in his heart that a body without intellect is lost and null… And by fixing this image in his soul, he will be very careful not to sin…"

The purpose of the sacrifices is that we should give up some things that he greatly love, to remind us not to sink into the mire of materialism, but rather to come close to G-d – which is the ultimate goal of man in this world.

Prayer Instead of Sacrifices
The Medrash Tanchuma teaches: "Look how G-d forgives the sins of Israel. Whoever has a bull should offer up a bull, whoever has a ram should bring a ram… a lamb… a dove… even just milled flour… And whoever doesn't even have flour, should bring words [of prayer], as is written, 'Take with you words and return to G-d' (Hoshea 14,3)."

Our prayer service was instituted to correspond to the sacrifices, because when the Holy Temple was destroyed, we had no way to come close to G-d other than via the words of our prayers, as is written, "We will pay bulls with our lips" (ibid.).

And as with sacrifices, we can choose the level on which we wish to pray and come close to G-d: like "a man who sacrifices from you an offering to G-d," or on the higher level of "a soul who brings a mincha offering to G-d," as if he is giving his soul.

Given that prayer takes the place of sacrifices, it is appropriate and worthy that we pray in the way we would offer sacrifices: with great devotion, without foreign thoughts, in a permanent place, and even, if possible, with special clothing for prayer; see Shulchan Arukh Orach Chaim 98,4.

The more we implement these laws of the Shulchan Arukh, the more we will merit to reach a higher level of closeness to our Father in Heaven – "as if we had sacrificed our souls."

The Positive Side of Pesach Preparations

by Rav Netanel Yosifun, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshivat Orot Netanya, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

I once invited over some people for a Tu B'Shvat seder, exactly two months before Passover. One of the women said she couldn't make it: "I'm too busy cleaning for Pesach…"

Fulfilling the Torah's mitzvot often takes time – some more, some less. But for Pesach, we all expend much effort and time in preparations. We clean, scrub, search and destroy every crumb of chametz (and even some that are not chametz…) that we can find. Not everyone starts quite as early as Tu B'shvat, but the idea is clear.

There are Halakhic sources for the manifold preparations for Pesach. The Gemara (Megillah 4a) tells us: "Moshe instituted that Israel should ask and study about the [current] festival: the laws of Pesach on Pesach, of Shavuot on Shavuot, and of Sukkot on Sukkot." That is, the time for this study is on the holiday itself.

But we learn in another Gemara (Pesachim 6a) that for Pesach, the time for asking and studying is 30 days before the holiday! Why is this night of Pesach different than all others?

The Beit Yosef, author of the Shulchan Arukh, answers that the laws of Pesach are very many and detailed, more than the other holidays. He also notes that many of the laws must be fulfilled even before Pesach, such as burning the chametz and the like.

In the times of the Holy Temple, the Paschal sacrifice was offered, as the Torah mandates, on the day before the holiday, and could then be eaten that night, again as the Torah mandates, at what we now call the Passover Seder. In fact, sometimes the Bible itself uses the word "Pesach" to refer to "Passover eve," the time of the sacrifice (see Rosh HaShanah 13a, Tosafot s.v. d'akrivu). Here again, we see an emphasis on the time before Pesach, the time of preparation for the holiday.

Let us delve further into the nature and importance of these preparations. To this end, let us ask the following: We know that there is a mitzvah to tell and retell the story of the Exodus on Passover. In the Haggadah we see that it must be told beginning with the g'nut, the difficult and painful parts, and ending with the shevach, the positive parts of the Redemption from the house of bondage. Why must we tell about the "preparatory" stage of the subjugation and the hardships, instead of sufficing with the happy ending?

The answer, of course, is that the difficult period during which we were enslaved in Egypt has great importance. G-d specifically, in the Covenant Between the Pieces that He forged with Avraham Avinu, assigned us to a torturous period of enslavement – and He had good reason. The purpose was that we experience the crucible of Egypt, which would strengthen and forge us into a great nation of G-d, and would also leave us with r'chush gadol, massive material possessions. In short, we would become a nation wealthy both materially and spiritually.

The emerging nation of Israel in Egypt can be likened to a fetus in its mother's womb. The fetus grows there in a phenomenal manner – proportionately much more than it will develop at any time after its birth. It begins as a solitary cell, weighing nothing, and ends up being born with a weight of several pounds! Israel, too, began in Egypt with 70 souls, and ended up numbering a few million (over 600,000 men aged 20-60, plus the other males, and women and children). This is a huge population growth, and it took place precisely during their period of subjugation. In fact, the members of the Tribe of Levy, which did not experience slavery in Egypt, multiplied less than the other tribes!

Egypt in Hebrew is Mitzrayim, similar to the word meitzarim, "narrow straits." It is thus like a pressure cooker, which amasses more and more steam inside until it finally bursts forth with tremendous power. The same happened with Israel: Its strengths and abilities increasingly grew in Egypt, finally bursting forth with tremendous power.

This is what is meant by "beginning with g'nut" – and is also the idea of the days of hard preparations before Pesach. The very engagement with Pesach and its preparations forms within us an inner process of filling ourselves with the ideas and lessons of the holiday, which, with G-d's help, will burst forth with great vigor at the Seder table and in the festival days afterwards.

And perhaps this is yet another explanation for the name of the Sabbath before Pesach, which is known as Shabbat HaGadol – because on these days we "grow" (from the root ligdol).

May we merit this year to commemorate Pesach with gadlut (greatness), in our glorious and holy Beit Mikdash!

Pikudei: The Significance of Completing the Mishkan

by Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaLevy Kilav, Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

The Medrash Tanchuma to this week's Torah portion of Pekudei (the end of Sh'mot) likens the Tabernacle (Mishkan) to the seven days of creation. It cites verses showing that the various elements of the Mishkan correspond to that which was created on each day. For instance, man was created on the sixth day, parallel to the High Priest anointed to serve in the Mishkan before G-d.

The deeper understanding of this comparison can be formulated as follows.

The world was created in a gradual manner, day by day, until it finally reached the creation of man – the ultimate purpose of creation – and the creation of the Sabbath, which signaled the completion of the material works. And the Tabernacle is the next step: the continuation of the creation of this world. Not only does the Mishkan sustain the world and give it the power of its existence; it itself is also another stage in the purpose of creation, embodied in the High Priest offering sacrifices in the Tabernacle to the Creator.

Permanent Mikdash and Temporary Mishkan

And for this King David says in Psalms (26,8) the words that form the basis of this Medrash: "O Lord, I love the habitation of Your house, and the dwelling place [Mishkan, in Hebrew] of Your glory." This verse has two parts, in which the first refers to the Beit HaMikdash in Jerusalem – a fully-built structure – and the second refers to the Mishkan, which is more temporary, roofed with animal skins, yeriot. The Mishkan started off in the desert, serving the nation for its 40-year journey, and was then relocated to Shilo. This is why the verse states "dwelling place" regarding it, because the place of the Mishkan is sacred only when it actually houses it – as opposed to Jerusalem, which is holy even when the Temple is not there.

However, it is precisely the yeriot that stand for the heavens [in the comparison cited in the above Medrash], and they are very connected with the creation of heaven and earth. How so? Because the Tabernacle was the spiritual completion of creation, in being the place where the Divine Presence dwelled within the camp of Israel. Thus, via the Tabernacle, the world became not only a physical place, but a place for the service of G-d.

…

Sabbath Overrides Mishkan Construction

We mentioned that the Sabbath signals the completion of physical creation, and this is linked to the Mishkan and Mikdash as well. For we know that when Moshe Rabbeinu descended from Mt. Sinai after receiving the Torah, he gathered all of Israel together (Sh'mot 35,1) to hear the Divine command to build the Mishkan – which he preceded with the mitzvah of keeping the Sabbath! The lesson was that building the Mishkan does not override the Sabbath – and in fact, every activity that was done in the process of building the Mishkan is precisely the work that is forbidden on the Sabbath. 

In any event, we see that there is a deep connection between the Sabbath and the dwelling of the Divine Presence in Israel via the Mishkan. As David writes in Psalm 92: "A song for the Sabbath day, it is good to thank G-d and to sing praise to Your name, O exalted One… For You have gladdened me with Your deeds; at Your handiwork I sing with joy." The Medrash Tanchuma at the end of Parashat Pekudei explains that these "deeds" and "handiwork" refer, respectively, to the Mishkan and to the Holy Temple. The Medrash also relates other verses there to the Mishkan, as explained below. 

The Patriarch Yitzchak and our Teacher Moshe 

The Medrash also teaches that the date chosen to commemorate the construction of the Mishkan was Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the date on which Yitzchak Avinu was born. In addition, no one was able to actually erect the Mishkan; it kept falling down – because G-d wanted to credit Moshe with the actual construction, as is written: "Moshe put up the Mishkan" (Sh'mot 40,18).

The Sages explain that actually, even Moshe was unable to put up the Mishkan – and G-d finally told him to act as if he was building it, but that He Himself would actually cause it to be built by itself. For as we have explained, the Mishkan is a continuation of Creation, connecting the world to its Creator, and serving as the source of life. And just like Creation is only of G-d, so too is the construction of the Mishkan. The more "physical" parts of the Mishkan – its various utensils – were dealt with by the Israelites and not Moshe; but the exalted Mishkan itself, which is "closer" to G-d, was the domain of Moshe, for it enabled the Divine to dwell within Israel. Only Moshe, whom the Torah terms "the man of G-d," and who received the Torah on high and brought it down to earth, can actually be involved in the Mishkan and its final construction.

Why was the Mishkan built specifically on the birthdate of Yitzchak? Because he was to G-d an "unblemished sacrifice" – the term used by the Medrash to explain why G-d told him to never leave the Land of Israel. His birthday, therefore, is the most appropriate for the establishment of G-d's presence in the world. Yitzchak was the first to offer himself up to G-d, at the famous Binding of Yitzchak, and therefore he is the source for Israel's ability to totally cleave to G-d – the very strength of the Mikdash.

The Wicked Ones Don't Get It

Psalm 92 continues with the idea that "a fool cannot understand [that] when the wicked blossom… it is to destroy them for eternity." The Medrash explains that when the Israelites failed at first in building the Mishkan, the wicked of the generation mocked and scorned Moshe - but they did not understand G-d's ways; they did not know that when wickedness abounds, there can be no perfect dwelling of the Divine Presence on earth. Only when "Your enemies shall perish" and "a righteous man flourishes like a palm tree… planted in the House of G-d, flourishing in the courtyards of our G-d…"

And just like the Mishkan in the desert, so too with the Beit HaMikdash in the future. Just as the Mishkan had to wait until Yitzchak's birthdate, and for G-d to build it Himself, so too in the future when evil is broken, the House of G-d will be established by G-d Himself – and will then last forever, never to be destroyed. Its sanctity will be unique, and will itself guarantee the permanence of the final Beit Mikdash.

The Sabbath and the Holy Temple

Both the Sabbath and the holy Temple service have elements of the World to Come, each one on its own level. This is why Moshe spoke of the Sabbath even before the Mishkan, in order to say that the actions of one should not nullify the sanctity of the other. And the Sages added that the "partner" of the Sabbath is Torah study. They cited the verse, "For from Zion shall go forth Torah, and G-d's word from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2,3); the deepest expression of Jerusalem and the Temple is G-d's word, the Torah that comes forth from Jerusalem. These three – Shabbat, Mikdash, and Torah – are the "triple strand" that will never unravel.

The Message of the Red Cow, Despite All

by Rav Chaim Navon, rabbi, philosopher, writer, and publicist, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

Rabban Yochanan's explanation of an incomprehensible statute – and the students' response

Our Torah reading this week includes the section called Parashat Parah. It deals with the laws of the Red Heifer (Parah Adumah), via which one who has been defiled by contact with a corpse can be purified (when the Holy Temple in Jerusalem stood and functioned). The laws of the Red Heifer are the archetype of laws that cannot be explained with mortal logic.

A woman who was in the process of becoming religiously observant once approached our late saintly Rosh Yeshiva [of Yeshivat Har Etzion], Rabbi Yehuda Amital, with a question. She said she would like to be able to observe all the commandments, but it would be hard for her to accept all of them all at once. Her question was: "What mitzvot should I start with?"

Rabbi Amital opened a book and showed her the following Midrashic teaching of our Sages. In Marah, somewhere in the Sinai Desert, the newly-freed Children of Israel accepted upon themselves, even before receiving the Torah at Sinai, three individual mitzvot. Rashi to Sh'mot 15,25 says that the three were Shabbat, the Red Heifer, and monetary laws.

Rav Amital added that what makes this set of mitzvot unique is that one of the three, Shabbat, is "between man and G-d;" another one, monetary law, is "between man and man;" and the third, the Red Heifer, has no rational explanation. "And you, too," Rav Amital said to the woman, "should take upon yourself three mitzvot: one between man and G-d, one between man and man, and one that you don't understand and don't expect to understand – and in this way you will learn from the get-go that Judaism demands both understanding and obedience."

In the eyes of our Sages, the passage of the Parah Adumah is the classic representative of all mitzvot that we cannot comprehend. Even King Solomon, the wisest of man, gave up trying to understand it: "Shlomo said, I left no teaching in the world not-understood, but when I got to Parah Adumah – I said, 'I will become wise, but it was too far from me'" (Proverbs 7,23).

The Ramban [to D'varim 22,6] emphasizes, however, that this does not mean that the mitzvah of Parah Adumah has no justification or explanation at all, and that it is simply arbitrary and exists just for the sake of blind obedience. Heaven forbid to even say such a possibility. Rather, every mitzvah has both rhyme and reason – even if they are sometimes not accessible to us.

The Talmud tells of a gentile who once challenged Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai regarding the illogic in the mitzvah of Parah Adumah. He claimed that mixing the cow's ashes with hyssop and the like in order to purify people was mere superstition. Rabban Yochanan countered by asking him, "Have you ever seen a man possessed by an evil spirit?" The gentile said yes. "What do you do in such circumstances?" The gentile replied, "We perform an exorcism. We light a fire, bring roots, make smoke, sprinkle water on the affected person, and the spirit flees." "Let your ears hear what you are saying!" exclaimed Rabban Yochanan. "Our Red Heifer ceremony is also a form of exorcism for one possessed by an unclean spirit."

The gentile accepted the answer, but Rabban Yocḥanan’s students did not: "You drove him away with mere straw,” they said, “but what will you answer us?” That is, they knew that this was not the true answer. They wanted to know the logic of the ceremony in terms of Judaism itself!

R. Yocḥanan answered directly: “By your lives! A dead body does not defile, and the waters of the Red Heifer do not purify. Rather, G-d simply says: 'I have ordained a decree, I have issued a statute, and you have no permission to transgress it. As is written, This is the statute of the Torah.'" (Medrash Badmidbar Rabba 19,8)

Contrary to what some academic circles believe, this Medrash is not saying that there is actually no logic at all to the Torah's commands. Rather, when Rabban Yochanan says that a corpse does not defile, he means that impurity and purity do not reflect reality as we perceive it. These states are rather a halakhic abstraction. It could be, for example, that G-d wants us to stay away from the dead, and therefore decreed that one who touches a corpse becomes halakhically tamei, impure – just as on the Sabbath, certain items are muktzeh and may not be moved. Neither the tamei person nor the muktzeh item has changed in any real way; only their halakhic status has changed.

There are those who lean towards explaining the Torah's mitzvot in "realistic" terms: Unkosher meat is "not healthful," impurity is "transparent dirt," and the like. The danger in this approach is that the Torah becomes merely a tool to serve us, and then leads us to think in terms of black magic and the like. To counter this, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai states clearly: Parah Adumah is not a "real" phenomenon, but rather represents G-d's infinite and eternal wisdom.

This can be proven from the Torah's command regarding "leprosy of a house" (Vayikra 14,36). When the priest comes to possibly declare a house "impure," he first orders the house cleared of all items – just in case he will have to declare the house impure, which would then render everything in it impure as well. If we view impurity as some kind of metaphysical dirt in the real world, what good does it do to remove the items from the house after they were already "infected?"

Rather, as we said: Impurity is not physically real, but rather Halakhic; the Torah does not come to tell us the reality, but rather comes to shape it.

What primarily amazes me in this Medrash is the reaction of the students. They catch on right away that the "magic" answer has nothing to it; what satisfies them is rather the idea that we cannot understand G-d's ways. It appears to me, unfortunately, that today's students would respond the opposite. The mature, developed answer regarding the limitations of mortal logic would appear to them to be a weak, "straw" answer, while the "magical" explanation would appeal to today's generation. And I fear that this slightly childish approach attracts not only our younger students.

This is another proof that the spiritual world of our Sages of blessed memory, 2,000 years ago, was richer and more mature than ours today.