In America, this coming weekend is the unofficial beginning of summer: Memorial Day weekend. Millions of Americans will pack their bags and travel to the beach to celebrate our fallen military heroes (which is an interesting way to remember these people, but we’ll leave that for a different time). Barbeques will be fired up and beers will be drunk as Americans excitedly welcome warmer weather. As these people party, does it enter anyone’s mind that they would rather be at work? Is anyone bothered because they are given a day off and can’t go to the office? No one is! Actually, I am hoping I get an email from my boss on this Friday saying I can leave early to have even a longer weekend and probably many other workers are hoping the same. If people are given time off from work, they do not think twice about it and run for the door.

With this in mind, something in this week’s parsha makes no sense at all, and this thing is Pesach Sheni. After the first year the Jews traveled in the desert, the month of Nissan arrived again and it was time to bring the Karbon Pesach, the Paschal offering. Many excitedly took part in this mitzvah, but there was a group of people that were not allowed to take part in it. This was because they carried the bones of Yosef and his brothers back to Eretz Yisrael and were therefore spiritually impure. One of the requirements to be eligible to bring and eat the Karbon Pesach was the person needed to be in a state of purity, which these people lacked. These people came to Moshe and argued they wanted the opportunity to perform this mitzvah. But why did they do this? The Ultimate Boss, G-d, clearly stated they could have the “day off” – they were exempt from the mitzvah of bringing the Karbon Pesach. These people that were spiritually impure (for a valid reason) did not have to do the mitzvah, therefore, why did they argue?

These people taught us a great lesson. Even when a person is exempt from a mitzvah and legally told to “take the day off”, the person still should not want to miss out on the mitzvah. It is true the person does not have the mitzvah, but a person should not be jumping for joy about this. A person who truly loves doing mitzvos will not want to miss out on a chance to perform one, even if he does not have to do it. These great tzaddikim taught us to have a desire for a mitzvah even if we cannot perform it.

A person’s attitude towards things shows how much he loves them. Most people are excited when they are given time off from work, because work is not something they love. Towards mitzvos, though, this should not be our attitude. We should train ourselves to have a love and desire for mitzvos. If we come into a situation when we can be exempt from a mitzvah, we should not grab for it immediately. If there is any possibility we can perform the mitzvah, we should grab it, because this will show our true love is for G-d and His mitzvos.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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