Rabbi Simcha Hochbaum talks about the Torah portion of Vayikra and how God accepts us how we are, regardless.
Shalom my friends, Simcha Hochbaum of Hebron getting ready for Rosh Hodesh Nissan. Hodesh Aviv, the month of spring when the Jewish nation went out of Egypt all of nature also began to go free. Here in Hebron everything is blossoming, everything is growing. It’s the most beautiful time of the year.
At the same time we’re about to enter Pesach which is also known as the holiday of love, the holiday of freedom. A lot of times in life, Rav Shlomo Carlebach would explain we need to deserve our love, to earn our love. Sometimes with a boss and an employee or a tenant and landlord relationship, everything is reciprocated, everything is measured.
But with Pesach, God did us the greatest favor. God taught us, the holiday of Pesach is the holiday of Avraham Avinu, a holiday of love without borders, giving without borders, giving without condition, unconditional giving. And so too, when it came time to leave Egypt there were the voices that said, “Don’t redeem the Jewish people. They’ve sinned, they’ve messed up, they’re no better than the Egyptians.”
And Hashem passed over all our mistakes, all our shortcomings. And He took us out and He redeemed us. And there was this great awakening from above where Hashem said “I’m taking my people out. I’m taking my children out even if they don’t have the right, proper merits, even if they’re not yet worthy recipients, I love them for who they are.” We should be privileged this Shabbat Vayikra when God calls Moshe to the Ohel Moed, “Vayikra” Rashi says is a Lashon of Hibah, it’s an expression of love.
God should call us all back home to Eretz Yisrael, back home to the Holy Temple. You should hear it with an expression of love, and we should be privileged to the real ultimate freedom, the true eternal freedom in our personal life and in our national life. Shabbat shalom.
