[ Coming Attractions A future issue of HaMaayan will explain one of the greatest mysteries of all time. Namely, Rashi's commentary on the Talmud has long been considered the indispensible guide to understanding the Talmud. The future issue of HaMaayan will explain what generations preceding Rashi used to aide them in learning the Talmud. New Feature Beginning this week, you will find at the end of HaMaayan learning schedules for the worldwide study of the daily Mishnah, daily Halacha, Daf Yomi and Pirkei Avot. ] HaMaayan/The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz Parashat Behar-Bechukotai Volume V, Number 29 (215) 27 Iyar 5751/May 11, 1991 Parasha Overview The Book of Vayikra closes with laws pertaining to the land of Israel, most notably, the commandment to observe sabbatical years in which the land lies fallow. During the "Shemittah" - as the sabbatical year is called - those who live off the land have the opportunity to engage in purely spiritual pursuits, while also demonstrating their faith that Hashem will provide for them. The Torah foresees a time when the Shemittah will not be properly observed, and it therefore warns, in Parashat Bechukotai, of the dire punishment that will befall Bnei Yisrael for this sin. Although the commentaries write that the warnings in this Parasha refer particularly to the generations of the first Temple period, we nevertheless feel the effects of the "Tochachah" (rebuke) today as well. The three essays in this issue relate the verses of this Parasha to the events of our day. The first was written in Budapest in 1943, not long before its author was murdered by the Nazis; the second in 1967, shortly after the Six Day War; the third in 1910, in an article encouraging Jews to study the neglected laws of Shemittah in the hope that they would soon find practical application as Jews returned to their land. Rav Kook, its author, was, together with the "Chazon Ish", directly responsible for the fact that one can once again find numerous Jewish settlements in Israel carefully observing the laws of Shemittah. *********************************** "And you will plant your seeds for naught, for your enemies will eat them." (Vayikra 26:16) G-d told the prophet Yechezkel: "I passed by you, and I saw you wallowing in your blood, and I said to you, 'With your blood you shall live.' I said to you, 'With your blood you shall live'." Yechezkel, in this prophecy, foresaw our condition in exile - especially in Europe - where we toiled with our blood and sweat in all walks of life for the betterment of the societies in which we lived. In the end, we saw fulfilled the words of the verse: "And you will plant your seeds for naught, for your enemies will eat them." The prophet calls to us in G-d's name: "I said to you, 'With your blood you shall live.' I said to you, 'With your blood you shall live'." All of the energies that you have previously devoted to building other societies, you should devote to building your own land and people. (R' Yissachar Shlomo Teichtel, HY"D: Eim HaBanim Smeichah, p.219) ************************************ "And I will turn my anger towards you, and you will be smitten before your enemies, and your enemies will subjugate you [literally: "among you"]..." (Vayikra 26:17) On the phrase, "your enemies...among you," Rashi comments, "Your enemies will come from among you. When the gentile nations rise up against the Jews, they seek to deprive the Jews only of their visible [i.e. material] riches, but when the enemies come from among you, they seek to deprive you of that which is hidden." "That which is hidden" refers to that which is within our hearts, i.e. our desire to serve Hashem faithfully. When we see our enemies attacking in this manner, we may be sure that the "War of Gog and Magog," the precursor to the redemption, is rapidly approaching. The Midrash says that Haman considered Pharaoh to be a fool, for Pharaoh sought to kill only Jewish boys, thus leaving the girls to marry and have children. Haman said, "I will kill them all." In the future, Gog and Magog will say, Haman was a fool, for he attacked the Jews who are protected by G-d. We, Gog and Magog will say, will attack Hashem himself. How can this be?! If Gog and Magog recognize Hashem's existence, don't they realize that they can't fight Him? If they don't acknowledge Him, why bother fighting Him? The answer is that Gog and Magog do recognize Hashem and they acknowledge His special relationship with us. When they plan to fight Him, they really mean that they will attack our relationship with Him. How? By attacking the Torah and Mitzvot that tie us to Hashem and cause Him to protect us. Hashem has given great powers to Gog and Magog and to their partner, the "Yetzer Hara". It is not surprising, therefore, that in their last desperate effort to defeat us, they are able to attract and mislead allies from "among us," and turn them into our enemies. ((R' Yoel Teitlbaum, the "Satmar Rav": Al HaGeulah V'Al HaTemurah, ch.63) ************************************* "I will make the land desolate...And you I will scatter among the nations...During all the days of her desolation, the land will rest; those sabbaticals that it did not observe while you were on the land, it will observe now." (paraphrased from Vayikra 26:32- 35) Upon being exiled, the Jewish people were freed of any national concerns; they rather turned their eyes and hearts heavenward. Jews were no longer preoccupied with the same concerns that draw the attention of the other nations, and at the same time, Jews ceased to chase after the idols [literal and figurative] of the nations. The spirit of Hashem prompted the Jew to recognize the value of every soul, and particularly, the spiritual worth of the Jewish nation. The Torah was appreciated more than fine gold and silver, just as in the nation's youth. Because of their holy faith, the Jews in exile went to martyrdom with love and happiness. The Jew in exile always turned towards his land [Israel], but not as one who yearns for his home because it satisfies his hunger and his other physical needs. The Jew looked towards his land with a gaze filled with holiness; he looked towards its inner nature as the land that complements his yearning for G-d. The time of the redemption is hidden. Who is privy to G-d's secret, knowing when the land and the nation will have been completely purified, that beloved time when the land and the nation will be reunited? Our sages have said that there is no greater sign of the onset of the redemption than the fulfillment of the verses: "And you, mountains of Israel, give forth your branches, present your fruits to my nation, Yisrael, for they are near to arrive." "And the cities will be settled and ruins will be rebuilt, and I will increase men and animals on the land and they will multiply..." (R' Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook: Introduction to Shabbat HaAretz) ********************************** For many weeks, our examination of the history of Torah study was confined to developments in Bavel. However, notes R' Yitzchak HaLevi in Dorot HaRishonim, long before the Geonic period closed in the year 1038, Torah academies existed in Italy, France, and Germany. It was in these Yeshivot that scholarship in the period of the Rishonim - the 10th - 15th centuries - finds its roots. The Geonim possessed oral commentaries on the Talmud that had been passed down in unbroken chains of tradition since the time of the Amoraim. Based on this knowledge, the Geonim were able to answer Halachic questions that were sent to them from Jewish communities the world over. Most of these questions came from Spain and North Africa, areas which, like Bavel, were part of the Moslem Empire. These areas had few scholars of their own and were completely dependent on the traditions of the Geonim for Halachic guidance. The other major Jewish community in the 7th and 8th centuries, that of Italy, had less contact with the Geonim, for Italy was under Christian rule. Rather, the sages of Italy, according to Dorot HaRishonim, possessed copies of both the Babylonian and Yerushalmi Talmuds, and based on their own incisive analysis of the texts, coupled with whatever teachings they had received from centuries of sages in Eretz Yisrael and Bavel, they studied Torah and answered their own Halachic questions. As we will see in future weeks, these historical differences left their imprint on the way Torah was studied in different countries. Sephardi countries generally followed the Babylonian mold of composing Halachic works that report well known traditions and which are only incidentally Talmud commentaries (e.g. "Rif" and "Rambam"). The Italian school, on the other hand, fathered the Ashkenzi academies of Rashi and the "Tosafists" in which analysis and explanation of the Talmud were major components of Torah study, separate from the derivation of practical Halacha. ************************************ Schedule for Shabbat May 11, 1991 Daily Mishnah Menachot 12:4-5 (Learn two Mishnayot every day) Daily Halacha Orach Chaimm (Mishnah Berura) 263:2-4 (Learn three paragraphs each day) Daf Yomi Pesachim 57 (Learn two sides of a page each day) Pirkei Avot Chapter 5 (Learn one chapter each Shabbat afternoon during the summer) ******************** Posted by Alan Broder, ajb@grebyn.com (uunet!grebyn!ajb), who should be contacted to request back issues of HaMaayan or to get on or off the direct email mailing list. Shlomo Katz can not receive EMAIL, however I will pass on any comment forwarded to me, or alternately, send your comments care of yehuda@gwuvm.bitnet