And G-d spoke to Moses: Speak to Aaron, your brother – he may not come at all times into the sanctuary… -Leviticus 16:2
“The reason that Aaron should not enter the sanctuary at will is because the Divine Presence dwells there.” –Rashi ibid
Why did G-d command a man as holy as Aaron the High Priest not to enter the sanctuary at will lest he become overly familiar with the Divine Presence? Wouldn’t you assume that Aaron was holy enough to bear the holiness?
Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz explains that the greatest enemy of holiness is familiarity. Even the saintly High Priest Aaron, who purified himself for seven days prior to entering the Holy of Holies, was in danger of falling prey to a sense of familiarity. In fact, pilgrims to the Temple were instructed to exit from a different gate than the one through which they entered. The commentary Chassid Yaavetz explains the rational as being a safeguard to ensure that the pilgrims will not gaze at the same gate, lest they come to compare the doorways and ornamentation in the Temple to those in their own homes. That slight danger of losing the sense of awe and reverence required drastic measures.
Even the Jews in the desert succumbed to the feelings of familiarity. After receiving daily rations of miraculous manna for years, they become disgusted with the same daily fare, and they demanded change. No matter that the manna was such a special gift from G-d, too much of a good thing proved deadly.
In our daily lives, the elusive dream of happiness is thwarted by our failure to appreciate the gifts that we already possess. Living in a disposal age in which perfect cars are traded in for a new model every year, computers are discarded as soon as the latest model that has features that will never be used come out, and many marriages are built on the premise that it’s a simple test drive; it’s no wonder that happiness is so hard to come by.
So what is the secret to achieving lasting happiness? The Torah informs us that we need moments of reflection in order to appreciate our gifts. In marriage those moments are created by the family purity laws. In the realm of gastronomy, we are blessed with the laws of kosher, and in regards to the blessings of technology and creativity, we are blessed with Shabbos. All of these blessings enable us to live life to its fullest.
In Judaism this danger especially holds true. The epidemic of talking in synagogue is a direct result of over familiarity with the holiness. In one-day-a-week congregations, talking is much less of a problem because people are not nearly as accustomed to the holiness! Unfortunately, this is also present in other areas. People grow up with childish notions about Torah and mitzvahs. They still pray the same way they did ten years ago or more, with no real growth. They still approach their relationship with G-d in the same stale way they have been doing for all the years. That must change. And the way to change that is by creating freshness in our relationship to G-d. At the same time let us reexamine our connection to Judaism and see if we have become too familiar. It just may be time to get that oil change to keep our engines running!
