Today's Learning: Temurah 2:3-3:1 Sponsored by O.C. 531:2-4 the Vogel family Kereitot 9 in memory of mother and grandmother Bluma bat Shabtai Hakohen (Blanche Vogel) Hamaayan / The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz Behar Vol. XI, No. 32 (515) 17 Iyar 5757, May 24, 1997 This parashah opens: "Hashem spoke to Moshe on Har Sinai, saying, '. . . When you come into the land that I give to you, the land shall observe a Sabbath rest for Hashem. For six years you shall sow your field . . .'" Chazal (quoted by Rashi) ask: Why does the Torah mention that the laws of shemittah were given at Sinai? To teach that just as every detail of shemittah's laws was given at Sinai, so every detail of the Torah was given at Sinai. Rav Pinchas Menachem Alter (the immediately past Gerrer Rebbe) z"l observed that Sinai is mentioned in connection with a number of other mitzvot. What, then, is unique about the shemittah? The gemara (Sanhedrin 39a) asks: What is the reason for shemittah? It answers: "The Torah says, 'Plant for six years and rest in the seventh year, so that you will know that the land is Mine'." It appears from here [says Rav Alter] that planting during the six years also is a mitzvah, provided that it is done with the same faith in Hashem with which one rests in the seventh year. (This is why, says Rav Alter's grandfather, the Sefat Emet, the consequence of not keeping the shemittah is exile. If we lack the faith in G-d to keep the shemittah, then we also will not plant with faith. In that case, we have no business being on the land.) The whole world was created so that we could keep the Torah; when we observe the Torah, we testify that Hashem created the world. We bear the same testimony when we live a life which is imbued with the message of shemittah. This is why it is appropriate to compare the entire Torah to shemittah, as in the Rashi quoted above. (Pnei Menachem) ****************** "If you will say, 'What will we eat in the seventh year? Behold! We will not sow and not gather in our crops.' I will direct My blessing for you in the sixth year, and it will yield sufficient crops for the three year period." (25:20-21) If the fields are to lie fallow every seventh year (the shemittah), then the produce of the sixth year must be sufficient to sustain the 6th, 7th and 8th years. Yet this verse implies that Hashem will increase the sixth year's crop only if we worry: 'What will we eat in the seventh year? Ba'alei Mussar explain that there are two ways that Hashem can provide for the 7th and 8th years: He can give us a larger crop in the sixth year or he can help us be satisfied with less so that the sixth year's yields will last for three years. Which is a greater blessing? The latter solution is, for if the sixth year produces threefold, we will have to work three times as hard to harvest and process the produce. This the meaning of our verses: "In any case, I will provide for you in the shemittah year. However, if you will worry about what you will eat in the seventh year, then I will punish you by directing My 'blessing' in the sixth year so as to increase the crop (and your work) threefold." ****************** Rav Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezeritch, z"l observes: When the Jewish people keep the Torah and mitzvot, they cause Hashem's blessings to be drawn down to this world. There also is another way to accomplish this, and that is through emunah/faith. Observing the mitzvah of shemittah (the subject of much of our parashah) is itself an expression of faith, for it requires a farmer to leave his fields fallow for a year. Thus, Hashem promises to direct His blessings to us if we keep the shemittah. Nevertheless, the question in the above verse also indicates a failure of faith. This is why Hashem will have to affirmatively direct His blessings to us. When we serve Hashem with true faith, His blessings flow to us automatically. (Quoted in Torat Hamaggid) ****************** Parashat Behar in Halachah * This parashah contains 24 of the Torah's 613 mitzvot. (Sefer Hachinuch) * "You shall sound a teruah/broken blast on the shofar in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month; on Yom Kippur you shall sound the shofar throughout the land." (25:9) How many shofar blasts must a person hear on Rosh Hashanah? Nine. This is learned as follows: The Oral Law teaches that all of the shofar sounds of the month of Tishrei are equated to each other, i.e., whatever sounds we blow on an ordinary Rosh Hashanah we also blow on Yom Kippur of the Yovel/jubilee year. The word "teruah" appears in connection with the Yovel [in the quoted verse] and in connection with Rosh Hashanah a total of three times. Every teruah must be preceded and followed by an unbroken sound [i.e., a tekiah], yielding nine sounds. (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 590:1) * "If your brother is impoverished and is sold to you . . . you shall not subjugate him through hard labor; you shall fear your G-d." (25:39-43) What is "hard labor"? It is work which has no defined end. Also, it is work which serves no constructive purpose and is given to the slave as busy work. For example, a master may not tell his eved ivri/Jewish slave, "Hoe under the grape vines until I come to meet you," for this is work which has no defined end. Even though this mitzvah does not, strictly speaking, apply today (because all of the laws of eved ivri apply only when the Yovel is observed, i.e., when most Jews live in Eretz Yisrael), nevertheless, a person should observe the spirit of this law with regard to the paupers who are members of his household. One should keep in mind the wheel of wealth and poverty which constantly turns, and that wealth comes from G-d. No matter how much a person accumulates and stores away, he can lose it all because of his sins to G-d. (Sefer Hachinuch, mitzvah 346) ****************** From the Humor of Our Sages . . . The wife of Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev z"l complained to her husband that there was never enough food to put on the table. "It's true," he said. "I have failed to keep the promise in your ketubah that I will support you 'as is the custom of Jewish men'." "Nevertheless," he added, "Your ketubah continues, '. . .who feed and support their wives honestly.' You should know that earning a living honestly is not an easy undertaking." ****************** Rav Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudlikov z"l (The "Degel Machaneh Ephraim") born approximately 5508 (1748) - died 17 Iyar 5560 (1800) Rav Moshe Chaim Ephraim was a grandson of the "Ba'al Shem Tov," and the brother of Rav Baruch of Medzhibozh. The Ba'al Shem Tov himself taught young Moshe Chaim Ephraim, and found him to be "an extraordinary genius in learning." After the Ba'al Shem Tov's passing in 1760, his grandson became a disciple of Rav Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye (known as the "Toldos") and Rav Dov Ber, the "Maggid of Mezeritch." As an adult, Rav Moshe Chaim Ephraim served as rabbi and maggid (preacher) in Sudlikov. Shortly before his death, he returned to his birthplace in Medzhibozh, and he is buried next to his illustrious grandfather. Rav Moshe Chaim Ephraim is known for his work Degel Machaneh Ephraim, which is considered to be one of the basic works of chassidic philosophy. (An excerpt appears below.) ****************** "For you are sojourners/gerim and residents with Me." (25:23) Rav Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudlikov writes: David Hamelech says (Tehilim 119:19), "I am a sojourner in the land; do not hide Your laws from me." The nature of a sojourner is to feel all alone, for he has no one in whom to confide. Only when he meets another ger does he open up and talk about his feelings and experiences. Hashem is a ger in this world, for there is no one like Him here. David said (in the above verse from Tehilim), "I, too, do not feel at home in this world; therefore, Hashem, You should confide in me." And, this is the meaning of our verse: If you are as sojourners in this world, then you will be residents with Me. (Degel Machaneh Ephraim) ****************** Donations to Hamaayan are tax-deductible