Our parsha concludes with Hashem commanding Moshe: "do not let the tribe of the Kehatim families be cut off from among the Levites" (Bamidbar 4:18), which Rashi interprets to mean "do not cause them to die". Why should we fear for the lives of the family of Kehat?  Why should Moshe and Aharon cause them to die?   Has their love for the Jewish people ever been questioned?   How much more so when we are speaking of the family of Kehat - their own family! 

They were given the holy task of transporting the Aron, the Shulchan, and other vessels and there was the concern that those not transporting the Aron may come too close.  Why did Hashem fear this happening?  After all, we are not speaking of children here, these were adults of thirty years and more! If these were minefields they would understand very well that they must keep their distance.  Can't they control themselves and keep their distance?

The answer is that they are unable to control themselves.  The nature of the Jewish people is to constantly strive for higher and higher kedusha.  By attempting to come as close as possible to the Aron they risk coming too close. Hashem feared that their love of Hashem was so great that they may inadvertently trespass beyond the boundaries set for them. Aharon and his sons were then appointed to the role of mashgiach - supervisor - to make sure that Am Yisrael do not go too far: "Aharon and his sons shall come and assign them, every man to his work and his burden" (Bamidbar 4:19). To prevent any unnecessary deaths, Aharon and his sons were given the task of allotting to each person the particular objects that he had to transport in order to avoid everyone making a run for the Aron and thereby risking coming too close.

This desire for increased kedusha is not limited to Leviim.  Following the incident involving Korach, we read: "The Children of Israel said to Moshe, saying: 'behold! We perish, we are lost, we are all lost.  Everyone who approaches closer to the Tabernacle of Hashem will die, will we ever stop perishing?" (Bamidbar 17:27-28).   Why should they all perish?  Because they all wish to come as close as possible to the mishkan, risking coming too close.  We can ask once again, if you really that you may come too close, so keep your distance - is that so hard to understand?  Why must they perish?  Once again the answer is that they have this innate desire to come as close to Hashem as possible.  Clear boundaries must be set, and they must be prevented from coming too close.

A non-Jew does not understand this yearning for holiness, on the contrary they flee from it.  We know that Hashem wished to give them the Torah and they immediately asked what was written there.  When told "do not kill", "do not steal", they responded "these chumros are too difficult for us to handle".  They were not even interested in coming to Har Sinai and would not have come no matter how much persuasion was used. 

They would not come to Har Sinai even if they would have been told to come.  The Jewish people, on the other hand, yearn for holiness, they wish to come to Har Sinai to receive the Torah.  This yearning is so strong that Hashem feels He must command Moshe to make clear boundaries which they will not be able to cross.  At Har Sinai, Hashem instructed Moshe Rabenu to warn the Jewish nation to be careful not to come too close to the mountain.  When Moshe responds that he has already warned them of such, Hashem does not accept this and instructs Moshe to warn them a second time.  Once again, their yearning for kedusha is so great that there is great danger that they will trespass beyond their limits causing many to die.

The Torah describes Yaakov's asking Esav to sell him the birthright: "Yaakov said: 'sell, as this day, your birthright to me'" (Bereishit 25:31). What does it mean to sell the birthright?  Why did Yaakov want it so badly? Yaakov was interested in attaining the Kehuna and prior to Matan Torah the Kehuna was given to the firstborn but it appears they had the right to transfer it to others. Yaakov was interested in serving Hashem and bringing Him offerings.   Shem, as we know was a "a priest of G-d, the Most High" (Bereishit 14:18).

Chazal tell us that Hashem took the Kehuna from Shem and passed it down to Avraham Avinu, who then gave it to Yitzchak. Now Yaakov wished to continue the tradition and play the role of Kohen. Esav's response to Yaakov's request for the birthright was "Look I am going to die, so of what use to me is a birthright?" (Bereishit 25:32). Rashi elaborates on this conversation: "Esav said: 'what is the nature of this service?'   Yaakov said to him: 'several prohibitions, and punishments, and death penalties are associated with it, such as that which we have learned: 'the following are included in the death penalty: those who have performed the service after having drunk wine, and those who perform the service having long hair'; Esav said: 'I am going to die through the birthright, if so, what is there in it that I would want?'" (Rashi Bereishit 25:32).

It was Esav's high level of yirat Shamayim which prevented him from keeping the Kehuna "why should I risk violating these sins and therefore dying, who needs to be a Kohen? I will be happy with 'maftir' or 'shlishi'!" Conversely, does this imply that by accepting the task, Yaakov has shown that he is not a yarei Shamayim?

Yaakov has far more yirat Shamayim than Esav, as we see from his reaction upon arriving at Mount Moriah: "and he became frightened and said, 'how awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of G-d and this is the gate of the heavens'" (Bereishit 28:10). In addition, we recite in our Tefillot "G-d of Avraham, G-d of Yitzchak, and G-d of Yaakov the great, mighty, and awesome G-d". "Great" represents how Avraham Avinu related to Hashem, "mighty" is for Yitzchak, while "awesome" represents Yaakov. Esav, however, does not really possess yirat Shamayim, he only gives the external appearance of having it, but in fact Yaakov is the true yarei Shamayim. Yaakov not only fears heaven but he is also an ohev

Shamayim.  He longs to come close to Hashem and is willing to perform the Mitzvot of the Kehuna even if this places him in great danger - if I cannot serve Hashem and drink wine, so I will live without the wine.

Esav, on the other hand cannot survive without his wine. Yaakov will find some way to fulfill the Mitzvot of Kiddush and the four cups of wine as presumably the Kohanim in the Beit HaMikdash did.

It is told that Rav Shmuel M'Salant, the Rav of Yerushalayim, used to complete his Pesach Seder very quickly, go to sleep, and then stay up to learn. Why did he feel the need to rush through his Seder? Because, as any other night of the year, people would come to his house with pressing halachic questions and he felt that he was forbidden to pasken after drinking four cups of wine. He would therefore sleep off their influence and then be able to answer the people's question.

Presumably Esav knew that he would be unable to survive without his wine.  At first glance we can conclude that Esav's statement was commendable - he knows that he cannot withstand the demands of the job and because of his "yirat Hashem" he is forced to hand it over to Yaakov.  The Torah, however, informs us of Esav's true attitude - it was not his great yirat Hashem but his lack of ahavat Hashem elicited his reaction - "Esav belittled the birthright" (Bereishit 25:34) - his claim of awe was simply an excuse to avoid the obligations associated with the Kehuna.  Did he have any regret, do we read later of him saying to himself: "what have I done, I soled the precious birthright!"  However, the moment Esav hears of the blessings related to it, he immediately accuses Yaakov of swindling him out of the birthright "he outwitted me these two times" (Bereishit 27:36) - obligations are one thing, but blessings are something else entirely.

Chazal teach us another way in which Esav belittled the birthright - after having sold it to Yaakov for bread and lentils, he called his friends over and mocked Yaakov for having sold something as insignificant as the birthright for the exorbitant price of bread and lentils.  We all know of course that it was Yaakov who got the better end of the deal.

Chazal teach us that Yaakov and Esav in fact divided two worlds - Esav took this world while Yaakov took the Next World.   Esav only cares for things to be good for him in this world.  Yaakov understood that our stay in this world is only temporary, true satisfaction and happiness can only be attained in the Next World.  The other nations want only this world.

In just a short time we will be celebrating the Yom Tov of Shavuot - zman Matan Toratenu.  We must understand that the Torah is a precious gift which Hashem as given us, it is not a hardship with many chumros such as lo tirtzach and lo tignov.   Shabbat is full of mitzvoth - asei and lo taasei and the Gemara refers to it as a matana tova.  We are happy to have Shabbat, just as we are happy to have the entire Torah.  We thank Hashem daily for the Torah: "asher bachar banu mikol haamim venatan lanu et Torato" "Who selected us from all the peoples and gave us His Torah".  We thank Hashem for the ability to perform mitzvoth - asher kideshanu bemitzvotav vetzivanu - Who has sanctified us with His mitzvoth and commanded us ..."  Torah and mitzvoth are not a hardship!  They are a precious gift.

When we left Egypt we attained our freedom.  Although we left the servitude of Pharaoh and are now serving Hashem, this is freedom for we are doing what our soul wants to do.  Our soul wants to learn Torah and perform mitzvoth.   Hashem has given us the opportunity to follow the will of our soul and not of others.  Rav Yehuda HaLevi is known to have said that a servant of Hashem is the only one who is truly free.

There is a dispute in the Gemara with regard to how one should conduct himself on Yom Tov.  R' Eliezer is of the opinion that a person may spend his time either eating or drinking or he may spend his entire day learning, davening, and involved in other spiritual pursuits.  R' Yehoshua, on the other, is of the opinion that Yom Tov should be divided into two parts - half for spiritual pursuits and half for more physical pursuits.  The Gemara however says: "all are in agreement that on Shavuot we required 'lachem' for you".  This means that even R' Eliezer, who on other Yom Tovim permits spending the entire day in spiritual pursuits, requires some sort of physical pursuits on Shavuot.  Why?  The Gemara explains because this was the day the Torah was given to the Jewish people.

Would we not have expected the opposite?  Should the fact that the Torah was given on this day, not be a reason to sit and learn the Torah rather than eat and drink?  One possible explanation is that if we were to sit and learn the entire day, it may appear as if Hashem is coercing us to learn.  We must understand that the Torah is not a hardship, it is a precious gift.  Many have the custom of eating dairy products on Shavuot because the Torah is likened to milk - we eat dairy products to show that we are happy to have the Torah.

The Torah is everlasting - it is eternal life which Hashem has given us.  The other nations are not interested in this.  We are so happy to have received the Torah that we rejoice by eating and drinking.  Another reason offered for having milk products on Shavuot is based on the pasuk describing the musaf offering of Shavuot: uvyom haBikkurim behakrivem mincha chadasha laHashem beshavuoteichem - the first letters of the last four words cited here spells "mechalav" - from milk.

These letters also stand for the two things required to learn Torah - moach (mem, chet) referring to the mind, and lev (lamed, bet) - a heart.  We must apply our mind and our heart to receive and then learn the Torah.

We spend seven weeks prior to Shavuot counting the Sefirat HaOmer.  Perhaps one reason we are required to do so is to teach us the value of time.  The outside world is fond of saying "time is money", to us "time is life".  Only one whose life is money can say time is money.  We must appreciate every moment and every opportunity we have to learn Torah.  If we could, we would count the minutes until Matan Torah but given that this is impossible, we at least must count the days.  Time is precious and should not be wasted, it should be used for learning Torah and keeping mitzvoth.  We are only human and need to eat and sleep, but time should not be wasted on nonsense.

The Jewish people are above time, as we see from the opening Rashi in the Torah asking why the Torah did not begin with hachodesh hazeh lachem.   The Sanhedrin determines when Rosh Chodesh is and whether this year will be twelve or thirteen months.  Time should not be wasted.

On Rosh Hashana we asked Hashem to remember us for life.  Hashem may then ask us: "what did you do this past year, did you utilize it the way you should have?"  When we make the days and years count, when we understand what time is then He will remember us for life.  Let us come to Shavuot full of simcha and joy at being given the Torah and this special Yom Tov.  Let us pray with a full heart for the opportunity to have total simcha with the building of the Beit HaMikdash when we will be able to offer the korbanot of the day.  Speedily in our day. Amen.