Shalom Friends:
This week, our Parshat HaShavua, Behar/Bechukotai is being sponsored by Ron and Rena Rosenberg and family of Ramat Beit Shemesh dedicated Lilui Nishmas for the Yahrtzeit of Rena’s Father, Baruch Yecheskal ben Yaakov HaLevi and dedicated for the safety of the Chayalim, as well as for the good health and security of kol Am Yisrael. To the Rosenberg family, many thanks for your sponsorship and for your continued kindnesses.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShavua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShavua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
Subscribe to the Israel and the Sin of Expulsion blog, to ask questions or to sponsor a Parsha Vort at: olehchadash@yahoo.com
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Parshat Behar opens with the Torah stating:
“Hashem spoke to Moshe on Har Sinai, saying: ‘Speak to the B’nei Yisrael and say to them: When you come into the Land that I give you, the Land shall observe a Sabbath rest [Shmittah] for Hashem.'” [As rendered to English in “The Sapirstein Edition – The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary”, Sefer Vayikra, Perek 25, posukim 1 – 2]
Although Torah discusses details Shmittah Years and the Yovel Year, this vort deals with Shmittah and Har Sinai, and what the connection epitomizes for Jews and Judaism.
Rabbi Hershel Reichmann provides a commentary in his Sefer “Living the Chassidic Legacy: Lessons Based on Shem Mishmuel” (pages 469 – 472) :
Rashi… asks: We know that all of the Mitzvot were given to the Jews on Har Sinai. Why does the Torah emphasize that this specific Mitzvah of Shmittah was taught there?
Rashi answers that the intention of the posuk is that just as the Mitzvah of Shmittah was given in all of its details at Har Sinai, so too were all of the Mitzvot given at Har Sinai with all of their details, even though the specific laws weren’t stated as clearly and explicitly as the laws of Shmittah.
Certainly, Hashem explained the laws of Shmittah in detail to Moshe at Har Sinai during the first forty days that Moshe was on the mountain. Why is Shmittah the example par excellence of the Mitzvot whose details were explained at Har Sinai? There are many other Mitzvot that the Torah could have used to teach us this concept. There must be a deeper connection between the Mitzvah of Shmittah and Har Sinai.
The Shem Mishmuel explains a deep concept. There are several posukim in Tehillim that say that Hashem chose Har Sinai as the special place where He gave the Torah. One such posuk calls Har Sinai, “Hamar chamad KElokim l’shivto: the mountain that Hashem desired for His dwelling.” [Rabbi Reichmann cites Tehillim 68:17] Why did Hashem specifically desire Har Sinai?
The Gemara [Rabbi Reichmann cites Megillah 29a] poses a question. Why were the other mountains upset that Hashem chose Har Sinai? They were upset because they wanted to be the mountain upon which Hashem would give the Torah. But, in comparison to Sinai, these other mountains had a blemish. The great mountains of the world, like Mt. Hermon, the Alps of Switzerland, and Everest in the Himalayas, all had a blemish — they were proud of themselves.
These mountains are powerful. beautiful, and glorious. They deserve to be proud of that. But when it comes to giving the Torah, pride is a blemish. The Torah has a deep aversion to pride. Pride blinds a person. He cannot see any of his own faults. A proud person refuses to admit faults. How can we improve as a society if we don’t even recognize our mistakes?
[Rabbi Reichman expresses being] disturbed seeing politicians in various positions of leadership who won’t admit mistakes. If our leaders will not admit mistakes, how will we, as a society, improve ourselves? There is nothing wrong with admitting a mistake. On the contrary, it is a sign of greatness. [Remember Torah’s relating about Yehudah and Tamar! MB] Pride sometimes prevents us from admitting that we really made a mistake. Egotistical thinking allows pride to dominate, and that pride prevents improvement.
The Shem Mishmuel notes that, of course, we are not discussing the emotions… of physical mountains. Our Sages teach that every blade of grass has an angel in Shemayim. Certainly, each mountain does too. These angels talk in Shemayim, and they speak up about their respective places. Each angel wants its mountain to exist [with pride]. Sinai has an angel, but that angel is not so proud.
Overwhelming pride will block us from recognizing our mistakes. Pride, therefore, is the greatest obstacle to self-perfection. Seeking honor and bowing down to one’s self-aggrandizement deters us from personal and communal growth. The inability to be humble and to see our limitations prevents personal improvement.
Humility and modesty pervaded the very rocks and air of Sinai. It helped us be meek, recognize our limitations, and then change. Had the Am Yisrael been standing ar the foot of Mt. Everest, they would have felt a very different influence. They had to go to Sinai to receive the energy of humility.
The connection of Shmittah with Har Sinai seems to be the contrast, as with the contrast between Har Sinai vs the mountains with the world’s highest peaks, between pride and humility. This connection seems best expressed by Rabbi David Feinstein, z”l with his rendering to English of Sefer Vayikra, Perek 25, posukim 20 – 21 followed by his commentary in his Sefer “Kol Dodi on the Torah” (pages 199 -200) :
“If you will say: What will we eat in the seventh year? — Behold! We will not sow and not gather in our crops! I shall ordain My blessing for you in the sixth year and it will yield a crop sufficient for the three-year period.”
Rashi cites the teaching of the Sages that the Babylonian exile lasted for for seventy years in punishment for seventy Shmittah years which the Jews failed to observe when they were on their land. Our verse implies that the produce of the sixth year, the year before the Shmittah year was always exceptionally abundant. If this is so, why would anyone ever have reason to plant or harvest in the seventh year? With plenty of food in the storehouses, surely farmers would prefer to have a year’s vacation to sit and learn Torah.
In spite of the bountiful crops of the sixth year, however, it still required a high degree of faith to observe the restrictions of the Shmittah year. It would be very easy to be led astray into thinking that just as the sixth year was an exceptional one, perhaps the seventh would also be so and enable the farmer to advance from merely making a livelihood to being prosperous.
Thus it required even greater emunah to believe that in the long run disobeying Hashem’s commandments does pay off. However, the short-term gains may have appeared, temporary profits can disappear more quickly than they came, whereas the reward one receives for observing the commandments, even though it may sometimes seem slow in coming, lasts forever.
In other words, it would seem that the prideful — the seekers of prosperity and fortune seem as the other great mountains, or their Angels who were upset that Hashem chose Har Sinai for giving the Torah to An Yisrael, while those who kept the commandments of Shmittah could be equated with the humility of Har Sinai.
Having noted this, we return to Rabbi Reichman discussion of the fractiousness of Am Yisrael (Living the Chassidic Legacy: Lessons Based on Shem Mishmuel,” page 473) :
The Shem Mishmuel quotes a deep and profound statement from the Maharal, who explains a perplexing condition of the Jewish people. We have a tremendous gift that Hashem gave us — the Torah. Even with this wonderful gift in our possession, we suffer from internal strife. Why, for long, from the very beginning of our… birth of a nation until today, have we been plagued and crippled by internal strife? We have a sorry history of Jew vs Jew conflicts, including dictator kings, rebellious factions, and internal splits…. How can such a beautiful people be so splintered? It is very perplexing. This is an astoundingly self-destructive weakness.
It has often been said, “the worst enemy of the Jews, is the Jews themselves. There are politicos, professors, legal societies, media as well as factions of grassroots Jews who seem, in their arrogance and self-assurance, to foment (Verb – used with an object: to instigate or foster – discord, rebellion, etc; promote the growth or development of) discord among the Am Yisrael. Among the examples of fractiousness are former prime minister Ehud Barak’s arrogant lack of regret for ordering Israel’s withdrawal, in the dead of night, from South Lebanon and the resultant abandonment of Israel’s allies — the South Lebanese army, leaving Lebanon to Hezbollah and their Iranian benefactors; the unrepresentative legal societies in Israel who foster Israel’s high court judicial dictatorship; the ongoing friction between the IDF high command echelons, certain political factions and religious yeshiva students regarding the military draft; and these same IDF high command echelons who have, as yet, not expressed remorse (Noun: deep and painful regret for wrongdoing; compunction) for having intimidated and threatened, with court martial proceedings, their subordinates — the young border guard personnel who were repulsed (Verb- used with an object: to repel with denial, discourtesy, or the like; refuse or reject) when they repeatedly warned of Hamas-Islamic Jihad preparations for the War of Simchat Torah — 7 October, 2023.
May our government and military bring about the total and complete, Final and Decisive victory over Hamas, their 7 October so-called “civilians(sic)” collaborators, Iran and the entire terror cabal, B’Yad Hashem, and become Totally self-sufficient as to manufacture of military equipment and aircraft, weaponry, munitions — heavy munitions, as well as showing independence of actions responding to any threat, regardless of so-called “super powers.”
May we see, from here on, that border guard personnel at all points of possible danger are listened to and treated with respect and dignity. May we see, with Operation Roaring Lions — the joint action by our Chayalim and the United States against the Mullahs of what has been the Islamic Caliphate dictatorship controlling Iran, that Islam and its barbarous terrorist tentacles of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, as well as Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan and all who seek war against the Jews be totally eradicated, both in Israel’s neighborhood, as well as internationally, B’Ezrat Hashem. May we see a government of Israel secure in it’s foremost service of, and emunah in HaKadosh Borchu, B’Ezrat Hashem! And may we see the restoration of true unity within Am Yisrael. May these words come to fruition B’Ezrat Hashem.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently re-settled in Gush Katif, once the IDF, by the Yad Hashem, destructs and eradicates the wild beasts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, all other terror entities, and if necessary Iran, and that our brethren be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, as well as the buildings of Yishuv Elchanan, all at total government expense. May our Chayalim return from battle unharmed — physically, mentally and spiritually. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his sixth year at home in Eretz Yisrael and continues in a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, the recent recovery of the remains of Tzvi Feldman as well as the recoveries of the remains of Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin from the Gaza War of ten years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — 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.
Moshe is available for editing of English language documents, articles, manuscripts and more. Please be in contact with him at olehchadash@yahoo.com for your English language needs.
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