Today's Learning Sanhedrin 10:4-5 O.C. 325:14-16 Menachot 7 Yerushalmi-- Kiddushin 38 Hamaayan/The Torah Spring edited by Shlomo Katz Behar-Bechukotai Vol. X, No. 29 (466), 22 Iyar 5756, May 11, 1996 Siddur Avodat Yisrael writes that there is a chapter of Tehilim which corresponds to each parashah--this week Psalms 112 (for Parashat Behar) and 105 (for Bechukotai). The former is the same chapter associated with Parashat Vayeshev. Psalm 112 speaks of the rewards awaiting one who does kindness with his money, including making loans to those in need (verse 5). Parashat Behar teaches the mitzvah of shemittah, when loans must be forgiven. This parashah also contains the prohibition on taking interest from a borrower (Vayikra 25:35-38). Psalm 105 chronicles the early history of the Jewish people. (With only slight differences, it is the same as chapter 16 of Divrei Hayamim I, which is part of the morning prayers.) Verses 44 and 45 state: "He gave them the lands of peoples and they inherited the toils of nations so that they might safeguard His statutes and observe His teachings." This week's parashah contains the tochachah/rebuke which teaches us what will happen when the condition under which the land was given is not fulfilled. Midrash Seder Olam relates that this psalm was sung every morning throughout the 43 years between the Holy Ark's arrival in Yerushalayim and the construction of the Bet Hamikdash. This may explain the Sephardic custom of reciting the parallel section of Divrei Hayamim immediately after the korbanot section of shacharit (Rav Moshe Eisemann shlita). (Ashkenazim recite it later in the service.) ************************************ The verses and commentaries on this page relate to the chapters of Tehilim associated with our parashot (see page 1). "Praiseworthy is the man who fears Hashem, who greatly desires His commandments. Mighty in the land will his offspring be, a generation of the upright who shall be blessed." (112:1-2) The gemara (Avodah Zarah 19a) comments, "'He greatly desires the commandments,' not the reward for the commandments." Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik z"l explains that there are spiritual genetics, just as there are physical genetics. Thus, a person's accomplishments and priorities are passed down to his descendants. However, the fact that a person inherits his father's strength, for example, doesn't necessarily use that strength in the same way that the father did; so, too, a person may inherit his parents' spiritual qualities, but use them in the wrong way. For example, Chazal offer qualified praise for one who studies Torah with the intent of receiving reward. However, who is to say that his son will inherit the desire to study Torah? Maybe the son will inherit only the love for reward, and maybe he will become a bank robber. Therefore, paraphrasing the above verse, "Praiseworthy is the man who greatly desires His commandments -- not the reward for the commandments. Only he can be sure that "mighty in the land will his offspring be, a generation of the upright who shall be blessed." (Bet Halevi) ************************************ "And He took them out with kessef v'zahav/silver and gold, and among His tribes there was none who stumbled." (105:37) Rav Zvi Elimelech of Dinov (the "Bnei Yissaschar") z"l observes that the gematria of "kessef" and "zahav" is 174, the number of hours which chametz is prohibited according to Torah law (i.e., 7 days times 24 hours, plus six hours on Erev Pesach). Today we stop eating chametz two hours before noon on Erev Pesach in order to ensure that no one transgresses inadvertently, but at the time of the Exodus "there was none who stumbled." Rav Yekutiel Yehuda Halberstam (the "Klausenberger Rebbe") z"l offers a slightly different explanation: We know that the Patriarchs kept the Torah before it was given, and surely the generation of the exile did the same. This verse tells us that Hashem protected the Jews lest they inadvertently transgress something which later would become prohibited. We read in Parashat Bo (12:39), "They baked the dough which they had taken out of Egypt into cakes of matzah, for it did not become chametz." Commentaries say that this is referring to the matzah which they ate on the morning of Pesach. Even though the law that chametz was prohibited for seven days did not yet apply that first year, Hashem protected them so that their "bread" for seven days "did not become chametz." (Shefa Chaim 6:446) ************************************ "When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall observe a Sabbath rest for Hashem." (25:2) Rav Aharon Bakst ("Reb Archik") observed: This parashah contains the answer to those who claim that the Torah developed in response to certain conditions at a certain time and place, and now needs to be updated. The Torah was given in a barren desert, a desolate wasteland, a place that saw no agriculture. There was no trade and there were no merchants, buyers or sellers. Despite this, the Torah taught the laws of shemittah, and ordered that plowing or planting not be done and that no trade be conducted with the fruits of shemittah. Moreover, what rationale society would develop a law that requires two consecutive years without planting, i.e., the shemittah and then the yovel (the 49th and 50th years in the cycle)? The Torah itself acknowledges that this is difficult to fathom, for the Torah (25:20) states: "If you will say: 'What will we eat in the seventh year? - - behold! we will not sow and we will not gather in our crops'." The Torah promises, however, that Hashem will provide, a promise which no society can make of its own. (Lev Aharon) ************************************ "If you will follow My decrees and observe My commandments and perform them -- then I will provide your rains in their time and the land will give its produce. . ." (26:3-4) Rashi comments: "If you will follow My decrees" -- I might think that this refers to the observance of the commandments, but this cannot be, for the next phrase says, ". . . and observe My commandments and perform them." What then is the meaning of "If you will follow My decrees"? That you should toil in Torah study. Rav Eliezer Zusia Portugal (the "Skulener Rebbe") z"l adds: Studying Torah is like planting seeds, and observing the mitzvot is like harvesting the grain. One who studies but doesn't do is like one plants and does not harvest. In light of this, says Rav Portugal, we can understand the middah- kenneged-middah (measure-for-measure) nature of the reward expressed above. If you toil in Torah and observe the commandments, you will be like one who plants and harvests. Accordingly, Hashem "will provide your rains in their time and the land will give its produce. . ." (Noam Eliezer) ************************************ Rav Binyomin Mendelsohn z"l died 24 Iyar 5739 (1979) Rav Mendelsohn was a rabbi in his native Plock, Poland, and in Kiryat Atta and Kommemiut, Israel. He is best-known for his tireless, and very successful, efforts to revive the observance of shemittah. Rav Mendelsohn's whole life was dedicated to Hashem. Indeed, after being saved miraculously from a car accident he wrote: We can learn from this that, as far as nature is concerned, I am no longer here. My very presence in this world is supernatural. Therefore, I must not make calculations, rather whatever [mitzvah] comes before me I must do. When the baker in Kommemiut told Rav Mendelsohn that his losses were forcing him out of business, Rav Mendelsohn told the baker to think of all of the surrounding communities that were eating kosher bread because of him. When the baker threatened to close nevertheless, Rav Mendelsohn said, "I will give you my reward for the ten best Torah lectures I ever gave if you will just keep the bakery open." Rav Mendelsohn's first position was as rosh yeshiva in Bodzhanov, Poland, his wife's native town. In 1933, he settled in Eretz Yisrael, becoming rabbi of Kfar Atta (today, Kiryat Atta). He achieved immense popularity as an adviser and judge, but also made many enemies for his uncompromising stand on then-contemporary issues. In 1951, he became rabbi of Kommemiut, a new agricultural settlement in the Negev desert. Fittingly, that year (5712) was a shemittah year, for many credit Rav Mendelsohn more than any other individual with making shemittah observance a viable option for Israel's farmers. He successfully negotiated with the government to allow religious farmers to distribute their produce in a manner permitted by the laws of shemittah. Not only did Rav Mendelsohn teach that the agricultural laws of the Torah apply in full force today, so, he taught, does the mitzvah of settling Eretz Yisrael. Thus, when Arab terrorists threatened the fields of Kommemiut, Rav Mendelsohn ordered his congregants to arm to protect their land holdings. Rav Mendelsohn also played an active role in Agudat Yisrael and other national Torah organizations. ************************************ http://www.acoast.com/pub/sehc/hamaayan/ send mail to: ajb@acm.org Donations to Hamaayan are tax-deductible.