Emor

The passuk states, “אמור אל הכהנים בני אהרן ואמרת אלהם…, say to the Kohanim the sons of Aharon, and you shall say to them…” Rashi writes that the two similar words, אמור and ואמרת teach to warn the gedolim over the ketanim, meaning for the adults to warn the minors. Adults must refrain from assisting minors in any way with transgressing the issur of becoming tamei to a dead person.

I heard an idea based on the words “to warn the gedolim over the ketanim” that big people should be careful with little things. No matter what level a person is, he should be careful how he interacts with others and must pay attention to the honor of his friend. So too, the Gemara writes that the cause for the catastrophe of so many Yidden dying during sefirah was because they didn’t honor each other.

There is a story related about an older couple who maintained a grocery store together for many years. They got older and unfortunately the man departed from the world. The woman was now left with all the responsibilities of the store and realized one hardship that she was faced with. Every morning there was a delivery of milk products that was dropped off at the side of the road which her husband would shlepp to the entrance of the store. Then, she would set up the dairy on the shelves where they belong. The schlepping was above her capabilities and was uncertain how to take care this issue.

The next day, the woman came to the store and noticed that the dairy shipment was placed right next to the door as her husband had done all his life. She assumed it must be the delivery man who realized that her husband had died and wanted to be kind gentleman and help continue the business so he put in the extra effort of carrying the boxes close to the store. At the end of the month the time came to pay for the shipment and the woman extensively thanked the delivery man. He was in shock with the woman’s comment and said he has been doing the same thing for the past twenty years and hasn’t changed. The woman was surprised and said to herself I wonder who this person really is, so she decided to wake up early to wait and see for herself. The following morning the woman woke up really early and came to the store and saw a man lifting up the boxes and bringing them to the store. She took a look and saw the man was none other than the great Talmid Chacham, HaRav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach the posek haDor.

May we think about the honor and needs of another person, and strive to improve our ahavas chinom!