In this week’s Parsha, the pasuk says, u’fashat es begadav, the Kohen, the priest, divests himself of his holy priestly clothing, velavash begadim acherim, he puts on ordinary simple clothing, vehotzi es hadeshin, in order to remove the ashes, to dispose of the ashes. The question is why necessitate, why require the holy Kohen to do a menial chore of disposing the ashes? Why not allow it to be someone else’s responsibility? I’d like to share with you a beautiful idea based on Rav Bunim of Pshischa that I heard from my father, Rav Yitzchok Fingerer shlita: Rav Bunim says that it is precisely the holy person who engages in the most exalted of services, who understands that it is not beneath his dignity to remove the ashes. That, that too, can be holy.
Perhaps we can all relate to this in a conventional sense, without belittling the greatness of the Kohen, but applying it to our own lives. Sometimes we are asked to take out the garbage or to clean up a mess. If you understand that you can consecrate, that you can sanctify even a mundane task, even a menial chore because you’re doing it out of service to Hashem and service for his people, that too is holy!
One day, a newly married couple had a dispute, so they consulted Rav Mordechai Gifter zt”l. The husband, a budding Torah scholar, considered that it was belittling and beneath his dignity to fulfill the lowly task of taking out the nightly garbage. His wife on the other hand disagreed and felt that it was his job. Rav Gifter decided that if the young man thought he was too important to do such a menial task of taking out the garbage, he should not have to do it.
That night there was a knock on this young couple’s door. To their astonishment, it was the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Gifter. Rav Gifter said that he came to take out the garbage. Noticing the dismay on the woman’s face he explained, “We decided that your husband was too important to take out the garbage. Somebody must do it and it surely should not be you, so I am here to do the job.” What greatness! We must remember that we can consecrate, that we can sanctify even a mundane task, even a menial chore. By doing that it contributes to our holiness!
