Common Denominator

This Shabbos we have two parshios and we are in the midst of sefiras haomer.  What is the connection between all these things?

As mentioned before, based upon the Or HaChayim, the sin of Nadav and Avihu was that they felt such a yearning to come close to Hashem that there souls couldn't be contained in their bodies any more.  Nadav and Avihu were so holy that they wanted to jump out of the boundaries of גשמיות.just couldn't take any גשמיות.   The failure of Nadav and Avihu was that G-d doesn't want us to leave aside the גשמיות of this world and become complete angels.  The message is that yes, we should all strive very much to reach 'קרובה לפני ה, but there must be a way back into this world.   We must learn to control גשמי and use it for the better good.

Rashi at the beginning of Kedohim says דבר אל כל עדת בני ישראל – מלמד שנאמרה פרשה זו בהקהל.  Presumably all the laws of the Torah had to be told to everyone, so what is the emphasis here that this parsha was said before everyone?  The Maor V'shemesh explains that in order to separate from the incorrect, corrupt and evil ideas and actions that people have/do, one must  separate from society as the Rambam writes in Deot Ch. 6.  However, that is just a way of avoiding negatives influences but isn't a path to kedusha.  To be kadosh, one must be able to interact with other people and elevate the surrounding society.  In the words of the Mesillas Yesharim, the Rambam is referring to a פרוש, one who separates from עניני עולם הזה so that s/he is dragged down by the חומר/גשמי/חול that is present in this world.  The parsha of Kedoshim introduces us to a level where on is able to take the parts of this world that seem separate from kedusha and infuse them with kedusha.  Such an individual is a kadosh.  [This seems to contradict Rashi and Ramban's explanation of kedusha that it involves seperating from גשמי?  The Sifsay Chayim reconciles this with the view of Mesillas Yesharim that the yesod is to be in control of גשמי; the Rashi and Ramban are describing the first steps of kedusha, which involve פרישות, however, the ultimate kedusha is to evelate the גשמי as we say in birchas hamitzot, אשר קדשנו במצותיו, we take the גשמי and turn it into a מצוה; that is kedusha.]

Pesach is a time of breaking Mitzraim.  The טומאה of this world is smashed.  It is the time of running into the cave; running away from the evil.  We are not strong enough to take on Mitzraim head on; all we can do is run and let Hashem take care of them.  That is why even as Klal Yisroel were exiting Egypt, they still had to run, why did they need to run, Pharoh and Egypt were smashed and battered?  They were running from the Egyptians, they were running from the Egypt in their hearts.   As the Tanya writes in Ch. 31 - כי ברח העם דלכאור' הוא תמוה למה היתה כזאת וכי אילו אמרו לפרעה לשלחם חפשי לעולם לא היה מוכרח לשלחם אלא מפני שהרע שבנפשות ישראל עדיין היה בתקפו בחלל השמאלי כי לא פסקה זוהמתם עד מתן תורה רק מגמתם וחפצם היתה לצאת נפשם האלהית מגלות הס"א היא טומאת מצרים ולדבקה בו ית' וכדכתיב ה' עוזי ומעוזי ומנוסי ביום צרה וגו' משגבי ומנוסי וגו' והוא מנוס לי וגו.  It wasn't the יציאה ממצרים that demanded running, it was the יציאת מצרים, the removal of the remnants and hold of the tumah of Mitzraim on the mind , heart and soul.  [Possibly that is why at the Yam Suf, G-d said not to stand and pray for praying is a time when one subdues the רע שבנפש and that wasn't within the grasp of Klal Yisroel at that point in time.]

Sefira is the time when we work on removing the רע שבנפש and becoming קדוש.  As the Gemorah in Pesachim (68b) says: א"ר אלעזר הכל מודים בעצרת דבעינן נמי לכם.  On Shavout we reach the level of being able to be שולט on גשמי, to become קדוש.  On Pesach we eat matzah, bland bread.  We are not able to partake of גשמיות besides the bare minimum.  On Shavuot we are upgraded to חמץ, שתי הלחם.  We are able to to harness the טומאה that was introduced into us and use it to elevate our learning of Torah.