Shabbos Parashas Yisro - 5775

Shabbos Parashas Yisro - 5775

Rabbi Hal Miller

You shall not ascend My altar on steps so that your nakedness will not be

uncovered upon it. [Shemos 20:23]

Does the altar take offense when someone walks up stairs in a manner that might give an immodest view to the stone below a person? What is the Torah teaching us here?

Sefer HaChinuch lists this as one of the 613 mitzvos of the Torah. We are prohibited

to take "wide steps" when ascending to the altar to perform sacrifices. He takes it a little further and days, "Instead, when one goes up there, he is to walk in tranquility and reverent awe, heel next to toe." Rashi explains our verse in the practical sense. He writes, "When you build a ramp for the altar do not make it of ascending levels. Rather it should be smooth and inclined."

Now we know how to do it, but we are still left with questions. For example, how is

walking up steps a display of 'nakedness'? Rashi addresses this question, "this is not actual exposure of nakedness, for it is written, 'And make for them linen pants' [Shemos 28:42]". He concludes that even though nothing actually untoward occurs, "taking wide steps is close to exposing nakedness, and you are treating the altar in a humiliating manner." In other words, even though the Kohanim were fully dressed in pants, even though nothing was exposed, even though it was only the stone that would have been exposed, we are still enjoined from doing this.

But why? It's only stone, and nothing happened anyway. Sforno gives us a tip here.

What if instead of stone, it was a high-valued material, or even a holy object? Sforno

says, "Although I will not impose upon you to fashion fancy structures to bring Me to dwell in your midst, nonetheless be careful not to treat My altar disrespectfully."

G-d has decided that His altar has a value much greater than we might have assigned to plain stone. This is not something we would have known on our own, so the Torah must be specific. But is that all the reasoning for this verse? Rashi continues, "These words imply a kal vachomer. Now if about these stones which do not have the perception to care about their humiliation, the Torah says, 'Since there is need for them, do not treat them in a humiliating manner', then in the case of your fellow man, who is in the image of your Creator and cares about his humiliation, how much more so."

Sefer HaChinuch adds that "the purpose (of the command is) to set firmly in our minds a reverent awe for the place and its eminence."

If we combine these two thoughts we have the answer to our question. If we are to apply

this level of respect both to places, which have no feelings, and to our fellow man, who we may or may not even know, then our command is about reverence and respect in general. The altar is a particularly holy place for G-d. People are also a particularly holy

entity for G-d. Service to G-d includes humbling ourselves, thinking of others instead of only ourselves, ensuring proper treatment of His possessions and creations, at all times, regardless of whether we think it relevant in any given situation or not. By this interpretation we can see also that the command to humble ourselves in this way does not just apply to Kohanim as we might have thought from its context, but to all of us. As King David wrote, (Tehillim 37:11) "And the humble will inherit the earth."