Parshiot Behar-Bechukotai Weekly Dvar Torah Reminders of True

Parshiot Behar-Bechukotai Shabbat Mevorchim Chodesh Sivan 27 Iyar 5775 /May 16, 2015 Daf Yomi: Kesuvos 103; Nach Yomi: Psalms 148 Weekly Dvar Torah A project of the NATIONAL COUNCIL OF YOUNG ISRAEL SPONSORED BY THE HENRY, BERTHA AND EDWARD ROTHMAN FOUNDATION ROCHESTER, NY,CLEVELAND, OHIO, CIRCLEVILLE, OHIO Reminders of True Freedom Rabbi Brahm Weinberg Mara D'atra, Young Israel of West Hartford, CT The Yovel or Jubilee year described in Parshat Behar, during which slaves are freed and land returns to its original owners, is unique. Rashi points out that an interesting feature of this special year is that it has a name! Rashi (Vayikra 25:10) says “Shana zot muvdelet mishar shanim b’nekivat shem lah levada” − no other year in the Jewish calendar has a specific name but this one. The name the Torah gives to the year has to teach us something about the symbolism of the year and about the themes it is meant to conjure up in the mind of those living through it. The Sefer HaChinuch notes that, in general, the Yovel year is meant to remind us that freedom and land are gifts from G- d. Ownership in this world is not only temporal but also somewhat out of our hands. This reminder can help to breed morality and G-dliness. First, a person may think that by having amassed great wealth he has done very well at mastering his world. He might even come to forsake the Divine, believing he’s doing well enough without G-d. The Yovel year reminds people with such beliefs that the reason they have any land or wealth was decided by G-d to begin with, and the land they amassed could easily fall out of their hands at anytime. Second, the realization that the earth belongs to G-d might also deter the person from stealing and cheating by their awareness that a Supreme Owner is above and beyond every human owner. In addition to this general message of the Yovel year, its name gives us even greater insight into what else people should be thinking about during that time. Rashi tells us that the name Yovel is meant to remind us of the ceremony that consecrates the year and initiates the process by which slaves are freed and the land returns to its owners. It does so because the main feature of that ceremony is the sounding of the shofar − a ram’s horn − and the word Yovel means ram. Why should we recall this specific detail of the ceremony and why should that detail define our thoughts about the year as a whole? The Kli Yakar says that the shofar of the Yovel year, and therefore the very name of the year, is supposed to remind us of the great shofar that was blown during the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Using the exact same words contained in our parsha, the pasuk in parshat Yitro says “bimshoch haYovel hema yaalu bahar” − upon the extended shofar blast they may ascend the mountain (Shmot 19:13). The reason we are meant to think about the giving of the Torah during the Yovel year is that, in a year of freedom, it is crucial to recall what true freedom really is and how it is achieved. We are taught that freedom is accomplished through the study and practice of the Torah. Freedom in the colloquial sense is often misunderstood to think it means a lack of hindrance and restraint. To the masses, freedom means being entirely unobstructed with no interference from rules or regulations. According to early political philosophers like Hobbes and Rousseau, this type of total freedom is reflected in a human being’s naïve, primal and free state. Viewing freedom in this way would mean that the acceptance of the Torah, with its imposition of commandments and religious doctrines, actually limits freedom. By stark contrast, however, we Jews recognize a different kind of freedom. We might call it moral or spiritual freedom. We know that our soul and spiritual side is locked in to a constant “battle” with our body and with our animalistic nature. When properly disciplined − when employed with balance and equilibrium − the passions, desires, and general aspirations of our material aspects, complement our soul by embellishing and enhancing our religious observance. But if left unrestrained, if left to be “free” in the colloquial sense, those physical desires and pursuits of our body could completely take over and actually imprison our soul and prevent it from pursuing its true spiritual and moral calling. Freeing the soul from these impulses by accepting the values, morals and dictates of the Torah and its mitzvot ensures that the individual is not swept away by every gust of passion and desire. This process confers the most genuine and precious form of freedom upon a human being. During the Yovel year people return to their land and their passions − to the physical world from which they may have been separated for many years. They run the risk of being swept up by that physicality, of feeling truly free because they are finally unfettered by their enslavement, by their debts, or by their personal exile from home. Thus, the Torah names the year “Yovel” reminding us of the blast of the shofar. The hope of the Torah is that the name of the year and the sound of the blast will conjure up the image of Mt Sinai and the giving of the Torah. This thought is designed to lead people to the realization that the path to true freedom is through the spiritual development, religious lifestyle, moral refinement and the closeness to G-d afforded to us by the study and practice of the Torah. Shabbat Shalom The Weekly Sidra "The Power of Torah Study" Rabbi Moshe Greebel Associate Member, Young Israel Council of Rabbis The second of our two weekly Sidros begins with the following Passuk (verse): “If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them.” (Vayikra 26:3) On this Passuk, Rashi regales us with this: “Be laborious in the study of Torah in order to keep and accomplish it….” The commentary of the M’lai Ha’Omer (Rav Aryeh Leib Zunz 1768- 1833 of blessed memory) instructs that when one labors and is indulged in the study of Torah, it becomes relatively simple for him to withstand the desire to violate prohibitions in the Torah. For, involvement in Torah study itself saves a man from the Yetzer Hora (evil inclination), as is discussed in the Gemarah of Sotah 21a: “An Avaira (transgression) nullifies (the merit of) a Mitzvah, but not of Torah (study); as it is said, “Many waters cannot quench love!” (Shir HaShirim 8:7) Said Rav Yosef, ‘A Mitzvah protects (from physical and mental suffering), and rescues (from the Yetzer Hora) while one is engaged in it. But, when one is no longer engaged in it, it protects, but does not rescue. As for Torah (study), whether while one is engaged in it or not, it protects and rescues.’” So great is Limud Torah (Torah study), that once it has been truly accomplished, its merit eternally protects and rescues a man, even at such times when he is not in the process of actually studying. The renown Admur (Chassidic master) Rav Moshe Leib Erblich of Sassov (1745- 1807) of blessed memory, made this observation. If one stands before a flesh and blood king in order to make a request, such a man must conduct himself with great fear and trepidation, and not be distracted by anything else. However, when a laborer enters the palace of a flesh and blood king to do physical work, acting with fear and trepidation will divert this laborer from the work at hand. Hence, as per the ways of the world, the laborer feels free and uninhibited to go about his industry. So too is it, taught the Sassover Rebbe, when a man labors in Limud Torah, he may assume an uninhibited and unconstrained attitude, for he literally labors in the work of HaKadosh Baruch, and such study instinctively guards him from the influence of the Yetzer Hora and other harmful factors. It is as the Mishna in Pirkei Avos 6-2 states: “You have no free man other than he who indulges himself in the study of Torah.” However, concluded the Rebbe, when one does not engage in Limud Torah, but rather in worldly affairs, even if those affairs be L’Shaim Shamayim (for the sake of heaven), he must at all times be heedful to do so with great concern and trepidation, fearing that he will never be distracted from this in any way. That is what Rashi meant when he stated, “Be laborious in the study of Torah.” That is, by literally working in the ‘King’s palace,’ all his attentions may be put into his scholarly labors, without the worry that he may be diverted by other factors. The Admur of Warka, Rav Yisroel Yitzchak Kalish (1779- 1848) of blessed memory, cited the following Midrash from Vayikra Rabbah 35-1, which expounds on this Passuk: “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet to Your testimonies.” (T’hillim 119:59) The Midrash instructs: “(King) Dovid said, ‘Sovereign of the Universe! Every day I used to plan and decide that I would go to a particular place or to a particular dwelling-house, but my feet always brought me to Batei K’nessios (synagogues) and to Batei Midrashim (houses of study).’” Rav Yisroel Yitzchak instructed that even when an individual is about to perform a Mitzvah, he must first consider if this Mitzvah is proper for him, and if he is accomplishing it in a timely manner.

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