Bamidbar: The Mimic’s Misfortune

"And they shall not come and look inside at the holy, lest they die" (Numbers 4:20).

The task of the Cohanim was to cover the holy utensils and the Ark of the Covenant before each journey in the desert, and the task of the Levites from the clan of Kehat was to carry these covered holy vessels on their shoulders. The Torah warns the Levites not to look beneath the covers, directly at the holy vessels, for looking at what they're unauthorized to see is punishable by death.

Holiness is like enriched nuclear fuel – it's not something to play with.

Don't think that our passage at hand refers only to the ancient Tabernacle in the desert. Like everything else in the Torah, it has a message for posterity.

Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai in the holy Zohar defines what a true tzaddik is – man denatar brit, he says in Aramaic, a person who guards the covenant of personal holiness. As a guardian of personal holiness, the tzaddik himself is the embodiment of holiness, holiness itself. Anytime the Torah refers to holiness, it can likely be saying something about the tzaddik.

Rebbe Ephraim of Sidilkov osb"m, the "Degel Machane Ephraim", heard a story from his holy grandfather the Baal Shem Tov osb"m: a chassid once visited his rebbe, but the rebbe was ill and very weak. The Chassid saw his rebbe sip a cup of coffee while still donned in tallit and tefillin. The chassid went home and began doing the same thing, an act that is not in accordance with religious law[1].

When it comes to tzaddikim, we do what they tell us, but we don't mimic them. Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk osb"m writes[2], "Sometimes there are people who see the gestures of tzaddikim {during prayer] and like them, beginning to mimic the same movements and swaying like the trees in the field." He explains that such gestures are fine when done by a holy tzaddik who totally clings to Hashem, but ridiculous when done by a regular individual.

A bride's corsage looks ridiculous when it's worn by the cleaning lady.

The Gemara tells a few hair-raising anecdotes about the high price of mimicking, even if it is entirely for Hashem's sake:

Ben Azai, a student-colleague of Rebbe Akiva, followed him to the outhouse and spied on him while Rebbe Akiva was relieving himself. Rebbe Yehuda, another one of Rebbe Akiva's students, chastised Ben Azai. Ben Azai justified himself and said, "This too is Torah and I must learn it.[3]"

Many people don't connect the above anecdote to another story from the Gemara, when once more, Ben Azai followed Rebbe Akiva, but this time, lost his life. Four scholars entered the upper spiritual realm[4] – Rebbe Akiva entered in peace and exited in peace. In other words, Rebbe Akiva was on a level to contain such lofty holiness. But, "Ben Azai entered and died." Ben Azai should not have mimicked his Rebbe. He considered himself more of a colleague, but he should have considered himself more of a student, realizing that he had no concept of Rebbe Akiva's true level of holiness.

Rav Kahana made the same mistake. He once hid under Rav's bed when Rav was in the midst of intimacy with his wife.[5] On a later occasion, Rav Kahana looked at the holy Rebbe Yochanan directly in the face; he died suddenly and Rebbe Yochanan had to beg mercy on him to bring him back to life.[6]

The Gemara tells us that one's rabbi and spiritual guide should resemble an angel of Hashem; if not, he shouldn't be your rabbi and spiritual guide.[7] In that case, it's dangerous to mimic, for it's like mimicking an angel. Who can say that he is on such a level to do such a thing?

Understudy, yes – mimicking, no! We rarely understand what we are seeing when we look at a true tzaddik. We fulfill the tzaddik's advice that he gives us explicitly, but otherwise, we don't mimic. Our sages teach us that one of the 48 ways to Torah is to recognize our own spiritual level.[8] We can always strive for higher levels, but meanwhile, for our own safety – physical and spiritual – we should stay within the boundaries of our own level and not try to mimic those who are way above us. When we're ourselves, we're both happy and blessed.