Morning Blessings-Vayikra-Ba’alei Tosafot-L’Olam Yehei Adam

The 29th of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of Rabbeinu Yitzchak of Speyer. Grandson of the Riva, he was murdered with numerous other Jews because of a blood libel. “Speak to the Children of Israel, saying; When a person will sin unintentionally from among all the commandments of God that may not be done, and he commits one of them (Vayikra 4:2).” The verse does not say when a person,  Adam or Ish, will sin; but, Nefesh, a soul that will sin, for indeed, it is the soul that sins, and the soul that deserves to die.

We can compare this to two people who sinned against the king. One is a stranger, a commoner with no special relationship with the king. The second is someone who works very closely with the king in his palace. The king allowed the commoner to go free without any punishment, but the man with whom he had been close received a terrible punishment: “It is our closeness that makes your sin against me worse and deserving of punishment.”

So too, the body is a commoner to the King, while the Soul is of high nobility. It is the Nefesh, the soul that deserves death (Ba’alei Tosafot).

iPray-iThank-Morning Blessings: “l’olam, y’hei adam”: “Except for the pure soul that is destined to give justification and reckoning before the throne of Your Glory.”