Two 5 Minute Obligations of the Chofetz Chaim

NEW YORK (VINnews/Rabbi Yair Hoffman)  Well, actually, they aren’t really five minutes – they are daily obligations, and the second one is actually only obligatory for Talmidei Chachomim.  Thge first one abpplies to everyone and it is to learn Mussar each day – the Chofetz Chaim writes it in Siman 1 of the Mishma Brurah sif kotton 12.  

The second obligation is written in the preface to his son-in-law’s sefer Avodas HaKorbanos.  The obligation is to learn about the Beis HaMikdash – every day. Yes, every day.  This is what he writes:

It is the duty of every Kohen to master the laws of the Beis HaMikdash — because when the moment we have all been waiting for arrives, they will immediately be called upon to perform.

This is exactly what happened at the start of the Second Temple era, when the Navi Chaggai declared (2:11): Ask now for a ruling from the Kohanim (see Pesachim 16b). 

The Obligation Extends to All Talmidei Chachomim

But this obligation does not stop with the Kohanim. It falls on every Torah scholar in Klal Yisroel — and here is why. I long wondered how, in the era of the Beis HaMikdash, all the Kohanim were permitted to perform the service. The Sages state in Koheles Rabbah (7:49): out of a thousand students who enter the study hall, a hundred go on to learn Mishnah; of those, ten advance to Gemara; and of those, only one will go on to rule on halacha. Now, to perform the Avodah properly, a person must be at least proficient in Gemara — which means only one in a hundred Kohanim had that knowledge. The other ninety-nine simply did not! [Someone who only learned Mishnayos cannot master the detailed laws of the Beis HaMikdash.]

So how did it ever function?

The answer, I eventually found, is in the Yerushalmi Shekalim (4:2): Rav Yehudah said in the name of Shmuel that Torah scholars were hired — paid from the funds of the chamber of shekalim — specifically to teach the Kohanim the laws of shechitah, receiving the blood, and sprinkling it. The Bavli (Kesubos 106a) mentions kemitzah and shechitah in particular — perhaps because kemitzah is one of the hardest Avodahs in the Beis HaMikdash, and shechitah involves five orally transmitted laws Halacha l’Moshe m’Sinai that can disqualify it: pausing, pressing, burrowing, cutting beyond, and tearing. These were not commonly known without dedicated instruction.

If that was true then — and our generation has not improved since — what good will the Kohanim of today be if Torah scholars have not mastered these laws and cannot teach them when the time comes?

The Obligation to Study the Beis HaMikdash Daily
It is therefore clear: every Talmid Chacham must set aside time each day to study the laws of the Beis HaMikdash. Because when Mashiach comes and every person rushes to get a kaparah — for Shabbos desecration, for aveiros with Karais committed by mistake, for the many positive commandments that require an olah — or to bring a todah for every member of Klal Yisroel who crossed the ocean on the way to Eretz Yisrael, or for anyone who recovered from illness — they will turn to the Kohanim and beg: “Please help me bring my Korban — I need to be free of this sin.” And the Kohanim will be forced to answer: “What can we do? In the house there is no bread and no cloak” (Yeshayah 3:7) — which Chazal (Chagigah 14a) explain to mean: I have no knowledge of Chumash or Mishnah — “go find a Talmid Chacham; he will teach us how to slaughter, how to receive and sprinkle the blood, and whether the animal has a blemish that would forbid us from offering it.”

The Problem of Ignorance Among the Kohanim
And if, chalilah, the Torah scholar must also admit he has no idea — the shame of that moment will be devastating. Not just for him personally, but for all of Klal Yisroel. Heaven forbid it should ever come to that.

The Call to Torah Study and Anticipation of Redemption
The time to act is now. Every one of us must genuinely long for Hashem’s Geulah and burn with anticipation for His Kingdom to be revealed. We must all fulfill what the Torah commands (Malachi 3:22): Remember the Torah of My servant Moshe that I commanded to him in Chorev for all of Israel; statutes and judgments — where Chazal (see Rambam Me’ilah 8:8) explain that statutes refers specifically to the korbanos. And then the very next pasuk will be fulfilled (ibid. v. 23): Behold I will send Eliyahu the prophet to you — may it be speedily, in our days. Amen!

So says one of the lowliest of the Kohanim,

Yisrael Meir HaKohen from the city of Radin,
author of Sefer Chafetz Chaim and Mishnah Berurah.

The author can be reached at [email protected]