Joseph

The subject of Parah Adumah which begins this week’s Parsha is based on the concept of the Tum’ah of a dead body, which is the most severe form of spiritual uncleanliness and is called the אבי אבות הטומאה – the father of the fathers of all Tum’ah.

As we learn about the function of the פרה אדומה in removing this highest form of טומאה, it behooves us to understand the reason why a dead body should be considered so impure. And there is another Halacha that requires an explanation. We are commanded to bury the dead body as soon as possible. Why do we have to remove the corpse from before our eyes so quickly. Once we begin to understand the laws pertaining to the dead body, we will be able to use these lessons to reach greater heights in our service of Hashem.

One important explanation for the severity of טומאה and the sight of the dead body is as follows: The חובות הלבבות in שער יחוד המעשה declares that the first and most prevalent doubt of all the important Torah principles is the doubt in the truth of life after death. Of course, you’re an Orthodox Jew and you undoubtedly believe in life after death. But because it is something that you have never seen, and never experienced, it is really far away from being something you perceive as real.

Now, we can readily understand the reason for the persistence of such a doubt, in the fact of death itself. When confronted by the catastrophic phenomenon of death, it requires strength of character, and strength of intelligence to overcome the powerful impression that it causes. The dead body, which is perceived by the weak mind as the end, the final chapter of a person, seems to be a contradiction to the truth of the Afterlife. An object which is capable of defiling your mind, by impinging on the great truth of life after death, is a dangerous object and must be avoided. Death is actually the greatest falsehood in the Universe, for the fact of death causes men to weaken in their belief in this most important truth of the Universe – which is the belief in our being greeted by Hashem after we take our last breath. The sight of a dead body, appears to be so much of a cessation, so final, that it impresses upon the mind that it truly is all over. Something that can contaminate the mind, something that can defile this important principle of life after death, is labeled with the highest form of טומאה, defilement, and should be removed from our sight as quickly as possible.

And don’t tell me that it’s not so. It could be that you never think about Olam Habah. And maybe real thoughts of Gehenim barely cross your mind. The whole concept of the Next World is so very weak in your mind, so you don’t even recognize that the image of death weakens it even more.

This enormous and dangerous impression created by a dead body is especially powerful on the minds of those who are in the same tent as the deceased. If life ends so completely, with such abrupt finality, it appears to lose its value.

<ZAP>

Very long posts are hard to moderate.

violation of ethics rules or workplace issues such as threats of violence, theft, etc. are easily fireable offenses since they are clearly wrongdoing.

OTOH, slacking off and barely doing adequate work, as long as you physically show up and leave on time, are far harder to prove and fire for than theft or violence. And as Avram in MD pointed out, it is difficult to fire a government employee, and as a result many managers are loath to undertake the documentation necessary to do so. (Especially if a hiring freeze may result in no replacement.)

Q:
How can I learn to concentrate when I’m learning Gemara? I find myself not remembering what I learn.

A:
You can learn to concentrate by practice, and you practice as follows: When you learn something, have in mind that you have a responsibility to repeat it, to repeat it out loud when you finish that piece. If you’re just learning in order to get through the words, you’ll gallop right through, without any feeling of responsibility. That’s not going to work at all. But when you know that you have to say it over to yourself; as you’re learning, your mind is concentrating on, “What am I saying right now? What am I saying, because I’ll soon want to say it over to myself.”

Whether it’s a piece of Gemara or a piece of Rashi or a Tosfos, while you’re learning it, think, “I’m soon going to repeat this to myself without looking in the Gemara, and in order to do that, I must understand what I’m saying.”

And this applies to women as well. When you’re learning a Mussar sefer, a hashkafa sefer or anything, don’t just say the words superficially. You have to make it part of yourself. You have to assimilate the Torah ideas into your mind. When you read words of Torah, don’t read it like you read the newspaper. Read it to know it.

So, always study with this idea in your mind, that you’re going to have to repeat it as soon as you finish. And then do it – repeat it out loud. What I’m telling you now is a segulah, a very important piece of advice. And it’s not patented; everybody can use it.
TAPE # 490

Is it fair to say that in many government jobs, once you’re past your probationary period, as long as you physically show up to sign in and sign out on time you can otherwise slack off on the job barely doing adequate work and have little worry about being fired?

blubluh: “In Kiddushin 41b, the conduct of eating in public is likened to that of a dog.”

That would include eating in a restaurant with windows visible for the public in the street to see people eating inside. Let alone sitting outside the restaurant or outside the home for a barbeque. They all wouldn’t be exempt from Chazal’s comparison.

Q: Should I try to get a job that involves chesed, like a grocer or baker, someone who is involved in feeding the Jewish nation, rather than another job, where no chesed is involved?

A: You should get a job that pays the most money. That’s your job – to earn money. You’ll be doing the biggest chesed by bringing home a decent paycheck for your family.

Now, if you happen to be a baker or a grocer, it’s not a bad idea that when you hand the bread over to the customer, you should be thinking, נותן לחם לכל בשר כי לעולם חסדו (Tehillim 136-25). Nothing wrong. Nothing wrong at all. You’re a שליח, a messenger of Hashem, feeding His people. Nothing wrong with thinking that. On the contrary, why not utilize the opportunity? You can achieve greatness if you apply your mind and use your thoughts in the right way.

And so too, the mother who is serving food at the table, should think that she is נותן לחם לכל בשר. She is doing it as a שליח of הקדוש ברוך הוא. If you think that way, it will transform your actions. You have to train yourself to transform the actions that you already are doing, by putting the right thoughts into them.

So make sure to get a job that pays the most money, and while you’re working in that place, use whatever opportunities you can find, to think about Hashem and to become great. You don’t have to be a baker or a butcher or a grocer to serve Hashem at work. The opportunities for greatness are endless at any job you have; only that it will take some effort on your part.

TAPE # 645

aishet, are whites fired much more often in government jobs?