.
Rashi asks a critical question on the very first posuk of our Parsha;
“Hashem spoke to Moshe on Har Sinai, saying.” (Parsha Behar, Vayikra Perek 25, posuk 1) He asks why the laws of Shemittoh are singled out as having been given at Sinai. Were not all of the Mitzvot said at Sinai?” He answers that just as all of the Mitzvot; their general rules and their specifics were taught at Sinai, so too were the general rules and specifics regarding Shemittoh taught at Sinai. Rashi then reasons that the posuk comes to teach us that every utterance said to Moshe, they were all from Sinai.
The Hatam Sofer reiterates and expands on Rashi’s explanation. He asks;
“Why did the Torah list all of the specific rules of Shemittoh rather than doing so with any other commandment? The reason for doing this is because the laws of Shemittoh prove that the Torah was given in Shemayim (heaven). Had the Torah been of mortal origin, how could any human promise, ‘I will command My blessing during the sixth year and it will provide produce for three years’? — something which is beyond the realm of the natural, and a way to test whether Torah is genuine.” (Torah Gems, Aharon Yaakov Greenberg, Parsha Behar, page 331)
When contemplating this posuk, I can’t help but recall, my first
introduction to observance some 19 years ago in East Windsor, NJ. As
vivid as day, I recall Rav Motti Berger at an Aish HaTorah Shabbaton,
giving his analogy on Shemittoh.
Rav Berger, in endeavoring to prove that Torah was real, genuine and
from Shemayim, would ask how, if Torah was merely a nice document which a group of guys once got together in one guy’s basement to write as a set of guidelines for how men should properly live, how could mortal man make such a fantastic promise as Shemittoh? How could man promise that if we refrain from working the land in the seventh year, we would be provided for during the sixth year to sufficiently cover needs for the sixth, seventh and eighth years? People who were not previously knowledgeable in Shemittoh and who held that Torah was man-made were hard-pressed to disprove the fact that Torah was given to Moshe from Shemayim.
But alas, we have many of our generation living in Israel and in Chutz
L’Aretz, including a hard-hearted, dictatorial leadership, whose blind, causeless hatred for Jewishness, observance, for Torah has blinded them to the divine, inseparable link between a Jew and His Land — Eretz Yisrael. And so, their so-called courts of “justice” offer up rulings; that Hametz is permitted to be sold in the “private” domain during Pesach, that “yushka missionaries” are permitted the right of return if their fathers were Jewish — both rulings conceived and designed, as with recent court rulings regarding gay parades, by an anti-Torah government with the purpose of “watering down” Torah such that they hope that it would be chas v’chalila rendered meaningless (sic).
For us, the Land of Israel is a one-of-a-kind, exclusive, prime piece
of real estate to be loved, embraced, possessed, tended and cared for.
We see this precious, beautiful land, from Gush Katif to Chevron to
the Banias, as a precious gift from G’d to his special bride, his
unique people. We thank Hashem at every opportunity for giving us
this glorious land and for the fact that we live here; in Jerusalem,
in Chevron, in Tel Aviv, in S’fat, in Yehuda, the Shomron, the Golan and, of course in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
But there are others, the haters of anything Jewish, the hard-hearted, the superficial among us, including another heartless, hateful, vindictive, self-interested, self-serving, corrupt, graft-ridden dictator Olmert, and his despicable circle of friends like Peretz, Livni, Barak, Beilin, Sarid, Peres, Ramon, Snei and others, who have lost touch with how they got here, why they are here and view Eretz Yisrael as merely another common piece of real estate, kinda like Las Vegas.
Just another piece of real estate to be swapped because they hide their self-hatred for who and what they are behind the bogus demographic dud that they try to promulgate as the reason that we must “converge”, or “consolidate.” They pull out their bogus “pa (sic)” statistics, or whatever other bogus, contrived statistics to cover up their self-enrichment schemes and bow down to them as they bow down to the nations in their blind hate of their Jewishness. All the while, Kassams continue to fall in Sderot, Carmiya and Ashkelon. And eventually, if the trend is not reversed and the haters not cast out, the Kassams and Katyushas will chas v’chalila inevitably fall in Ashdod, Rechovot, Tel Aviv and maybe even Beit Shemesh.
And we ask the haters, what is so special, so Kadosh about the so-called “Greenline?” What makes Ramat Aviv or Haifa or Netanya more Kaddosh, more special, more valuable than the rest of The Land? Isn’t all of Eretz Yisrael imbued with the connection, the inseparable link with thousands of years of Jewish heritage, history, service to Hashem and great Tzadikkim? And, if by leftist, politically correct rules, that which is beyond their “holy greenline” is not the sovereign property of Medinat Yisrael, tben how could one then cogently argue that Ramat Aviv or Haifa or Netanya, or any part of the Land is sovereign property of the Jews, of Medinat Yisrael? And with Arabs and their illegal brothers walking loose inside the co-called “Greenline”, how can the Olmerts, the effete Leftist politico look straight-faced and directly, eye-to-eye at the populace which they neglect and continue to promulgate the absurd concept of “separation”, expulsion, consolidation or whatever misleading title is assigned it at any given time?
And there are still others, the Gimmel Hareidim who claim to cleave to Torah but who silently, sheepishly waited for their leaders regarding the expulsion of their fellow Jews. Their leaders didn’t lead, said nothing and were by their silence complicit with offering up their brothers as korbonot for monies for their institutions. These same Hareidim go through the Shemittah year buying their fruit and vegetable products from the Arabs; the same Pa/Hamas Arabs who buy more weapons and ammunition, make or smuggle more Kassams and Molotov cocktails and who launch Kassam rocket attacks, commit drive-by shootings, rock and Molotov cocktail attacks in effort to shed more Jewish blood. They will probably buy from Arabs despite workable halachic alternatives being developed by organizations such as Otzar HaAretz.
May we be zocha in this coming year that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently settled and be made totally whole, that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard and the 3 captive Chayalim and the other MIAs be liberated and returned to us and that we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Yom Hashem V’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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