Transcript
Good morning boker tov and a very happy Lag BaOmer. Welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. This week we have the privilege of reading and learning not only one Parsha, if you love one Parsha, you're really going to love two. We're on our streak of two parshios last couple of weeks, last few weeks, Behar and Bechukosai. Parsha series is generously sponsored by Becca and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father, our learning is l'ilui nishmas David Grossman, דוד בן מנחם מאנש. Very grateful to the Katz family and our series is also sponsored by the Dyckman family in memory of their daughter and sister, דניאלה רחבה שלום עזרא, who left this world tragically way too soon and young. Her neshama should have an aliya. Shiur sponsored anonymously in the merit of אבנר בן אברהם הכהן, שיינדל בת דוד משולם, Dovid Meshulam, Dovid Meshulam, Nissan ben Shimon, רפאל חיים בן דוד, אסתר רחל בת יוסף הלוי. May their neshamos have an aliya. One scheduling note, next week im yirtzeh Hashem I'm traveling for two weddings, so unable to do the class on Tuesday, we're going to do the class on Sunday, Sunday evening before Mincha, whoever can make it will make it, whoever can't make it you can listen later online, pay attention in the WhatsApp group, we'll announce exactly the time, but the Parsha shiur next week will take place on Sunday. And with that we begin, Parshas Behar. We'll try to take a look at some divrei Torah and insights from each of the parshios. Behar is on page 696 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash. וידבר השם אל משה בהר סיני לאמר. God spoke to Moshe and here the Torah gives us the topography, the climate, it gives us the geography, it tells us not just that Hashem spoke to Moshe, but it tells us where, where he spoke to him, and where did he speak to him? beHar Sinai. And Rashi famously comments מה ענין שמיטה אצל הר סיני. The opening laws of our Parsha are the laws of Shmita, of the sabbatical year in the seventh year. What does that have to do with Sinai? Why is it introduced by telling us where that halacha was given? Hashem spoke to Moshe where? Wasn't in the city, wasn't in the country, it was in the desert, at Har Sinai. Why? מה ענין שמיטה אצל הר סיני והלא כל המצוות נאמרו מסיני. What's special about Shmita? All mitzvos originated, all mitzvos were given at Har Sinai. So why single out Shmita? אלא מה שמיטה נאמרו כללותיה ופרטותיה ודקדוקיה מסיני אף כולן נאמרו כללותיהן ודקדוקיהן מסיני. כך שנו בתורת כוהנים. So Rashi says, Shmita is the example. Shmita is the paradigm, the prototype. Just like Shmita, generally and specifically everything, the theme and the deeper meaning as well as all the halachic details, it was all given at Har Sinai, the same is true for all, all mitzvos. Asks Rav Shmuel Borenstein, the Shem MiShmuel, למה יש הדגשה דוקא מצוות שמיטה שהיא נאמרה בהר סיני עם כל כלליה. Rashi supposedly asked a question and gave an answer, but the answer, in case you didn't notice, the answer doesn't really answer the question. The question was of all the 613 mitzvos you could have given as an example or connected to Sinai, why Shmita? And the answer is, just like Shmita, the general rules and specifics were given at Sinai, so too all mitzvos. Okay, Shabbos, kashrus, Yom Kippur, everything, the general rules and the specific details were given at Sinai. So Rashi asked a question, ostensibly gave an answer, but the answer doesn't answer the question and we're left with the question. So you could do your Shnayim Mikra, you could learn the Parsha and keep going, check I read Rashi, or you could turn on your brain and think and ask, but Rashi didn't really answer his question. We've investigated this in the past and we've quoted answers previously, but I want to share with you the insight of Rav Shmuel Borenstein, the Shem MiShmuel. Od tzrichin. But first he asks another question, like a good Rosh Yeshiva, he builds a series of questions and gives one answer. למה לא מספיק לומר וידבר השם אל משה לאמור שמיטה זו ציווי של הקב\"ה. מה לימוד לנו שנאמר בהר סיני. Altogether why do we need any introduction? One question is why was Shmita chosen as opposed to other mitzvos, but more directly, why do we have to give Har Sinai as the introduction at all? Why not just say Hashem spoke to Moshe and he commanded as follows? Where, when, what was the climate, what was the environment, it was the desert, Har Sinai, it was a mountain. ויש לומר דכיון שבציווי זה התורה אסרה על האדם לעבוד בשדהו במשך שנה שלימה. What is this mitzvah of Shmita? The whole first part of our Parsha, of our first Parsha, what is this mitzvah of Shmita? The mitzvah of Shmita obligates the farmer, we don't relate to it or identify so much with it because most of us, all of us are not farmers, we don't rely on working our field and the rain and the weather and the hashgacha and the providence of Hashem, we go to the supermarket and we buy our ingredients and we make our food. But we're not farmers and we're not asked to take off a year. Lawyers and accountants and doctors and rabbis are not told take a sabbatical. So this farmer is told once every seven years a year with no income. What does that look like a year with no income? הרי בזה התורה נוטלת ממנו כל הבעלות על שדותיו שהם גם ה business שלו. Torah says your income, your business, where you generate your money to support your life and your lifestyle comes to a screeching halt. Stop. It has to lay fallow. You can't work. Imagine the doctor, the lawyer, the rabbi, close your office, close your office, turn off your website. No clients, no customers, no patients, no business, no income, no salary, no compensation, no way to pay your bills. בשלימא בשאר הלכות איסורין של תורה כגון הלכות שבת הלכות כשרות הכל מבינים שהם דעת השם מה הוא אסור ומה הוא מותר. So when it comes to religious obligations, when it comes to mitzvos that I never otherwise would have thought about, when it comes to things that are purely spiritual, I understand God calls the shots. When it comes to Shabbos God says what's permissible what's forbidden. U’may simanei kashrus when it comes to kosher God says good and no good. וכיון שאין לנו שום מושג מעצמנו בדברים אלו כגון אם לעשות השחיטה מהצוואר או מהעורף הוא פשוט שאנחנו צריכים להלכות התורה. So things that we have no idea about. We have no baalus, no ownership over. Exactly how do you shecht? Exactly how do you do? We just started in Daf Yomi Chullin, Tractate Chullin. Exactly how do you do the ritual slaughter? The front or in the back of the neck? How much do you have to cut? What are the five prohibitions with the knife? So we surrender to Hashem. We know that's not our domain. מה שאין כן בענייני ממונות. But when it comes to money, we're almost tempted to say, God, fall back, I got this. When it comes to knowing how to run our business, how to make money, how to advertise and market, how to manage our clients, God, you stay in your lane, I got this, I'm the business person. ובפרט מצוות שמיטה שהתורה אוסרת לאדם לעבוד את אדמתו שנה שלימה ויש מפרשים הטעם מצוות שמיטה כי זה בריא עבור הקרקע להניחה ריק מעבודה שנה אחת ולא להשתמש בה כסדר בלי הפסקה. Some think that the reason for the mitzva of shmita is environmental. It's a love of the land. The land needs to rejuvenate, the land needs to rest. Show some respect and love to the land. You're going to overwork it, it's not going to produce for you. So treat the land with respect. והאדם יכול לחשוב שהוא יודע בעצמו מה יתן מנוחה לקרקעו ולכמה זמן. And a person might think, I tell you, I know my land. I know how much it needs to rest, I know how much it needs to be off. כעין זה מצינו בריש פרשת משפטים אלה המשפטים כל מקום שנאמר אלה פסל את הראשונים ואלה מוסיף על הראשונים מה ראשונים מסיני אף אלה מסיני. Similarly Parshas Mishpatim, v’eileh hamishpatim. The vov hachibur, the and that begins that parsha is telling us that all those laws, civil, tort, criminal, interpersonal, all those laws that govern business, how we interact with each other, they come from Sinai. צריכים לפרש למה מדגיש הכתוב משפטים מסיני דאף על פי שאדם יכול לחשוב שמבין מעצמו איך לנהל ה business שלו לפיכך באה התורה להודיע שגם ענייני ממונות תלויים לגמרי בהלכות התורה ואינו תלוי בהסכמת בני אדם כלל. We need to know. People mistakenly think God is in shul, God is in the beis medrash, God maybe is even in my home. But at work, God, wait outside for me. Wait outside for me. How I conduct myself, the business I do, how I market, how I relate, what I promise, do I deliver, what's my integrity? God, you wait outside for me. I got this business, that's my domain, that I know how to do. Comes along the Torah and says, specifically in the area that you might make that mistake, in the area of business, in the area of money, in the area of gaining material, in the area of this fly, this gilgul. Wow. Okay. So in that area you might think God, you wait outside, the Torah says God's coming in. God is in. He doesn't need your invitation because it's God's business, it's not your business. אינו תלוי בהסכמת בני אדם כלל כשאר דיני התורה. Just like the rules of kashrus, the rules of Shabbos don't get your input, you don't get to vote, it's not a democracy. Hakadosh Baruch Hu the Almighty is the one who gave us the rules, they're all for our own benefit, they're good for what's good for us and right for us, but He gave us the prescription and formula. The same is true when it comes to work and business. Kegon issur ribbis. Similarly we see in our parsha the prohibition of interest. You're not allowed to, a Jew can't charge a fellow Jew interest. שהלווה מסכים לשלם הריבית. Even when the borrower is willing and agrees to pay the interest. V’chen be’issur ona’ah or the prohibition of unfair inflation. over for the product, they just want it so badly. והיה מקום לחשוב שדברים כאלו תלויים בהסכמת בני אדם. You might say God, mind your business. This is between us. The lender and the borrower, they both agree for *ribbis*, God stay in your lane. You might think oh no, the purchaser and the seller, they both agree on this price even though it's inflated, even though it's exorbitant, even though it's not usury, but extortion, whatever price. No, if they both agree you might say God, stay in your lane. לפיכך הוצרך מיוחד התורה להודיע שפרטיהם ודקדוקיהם נאמרו בסיני. It's not just the detailed intricate laws of *Shabbos*, how to use a warming drawer, how to separate the jelly beans, the ones you like, how to make tea. It's not only those details God gave us, God also gave us how to relate business. What are the moral and ethical business practices? What's right and what's righteous? Not only the big themes. How many people think that they're honest and moral in business? But if you break it down to what they do, maybe they cut corners, maybe they bend the truth, maybe they market unfairly, maybe they compete ruthlessly, maybe they're using the copy machine and bring home school supplies for their family. So even those who say of course I have integrity in business, but how do you know if you don't get into the minutiae and the details of how God defines integrity in business? That too comes from the Almighty, that too comes from *Hashem*. גם פרטים האלו אינם תלויים כלל בהסכמת בני אדם. And that, says Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, is why *Shmita* was chosen as out of the 613 the *mitzva* where the Torah says it came from Sinai like all others. Why? Because *Shmita* is all about the person who says, this is my business, God, what are you doing up in my business? Get out of my business, this is my business, the field, the farmer, this is my income, God, fall back, get out of my business. God says, your business is my business, you have no business without my being in the business. And the details of how you run it, you've got to be moral and ethical, you've got to be loyal, you've got to follow, you've got to follow me. ומה שיש הדגשה מיוחדת שנאמרו דברים אלו בסיני כשיש יזכור אדם מעמד הר סיני. And then Rav Shmuel Berenbaum takes it a step further and he says, maybe the reason that this is connected to Sinai is because it's the same experience. After all, when we stood at *Har Sinai*, what was transformational? What was so impactful? What was that moment of revelation? אז נזכר מה ששמע אנכי ה׳ אלקיך. At *Har Sinai*, we heard directly from God Himself, and the Almighty said I am the Lord your God who took you out of Egypt, I created the world and everything in it, I am in charge. מה שכתוב וגם בך יאמינו לעולם אף בשאדם קרוב אצל ממונו בפרט לשדות שגל פרנסתו אף על פי כן נזכר שמעמד הר סיני שורש אמונתנו. Because what does it take in order to be resilient, in order to have the resolve to observe *Shmita*? Not so simple. We had a friend who came here during the last *Shmita*, Ilana, she came for a *Shabbos*, she and her husband Doron run a field and they chose to observe *Shmita*. On one of our missions to Israel, we actually visited her field. And that's a huge statement, an incredible expression of *emuna*. Imagine an unpaid sabbatical that you take, I would say voluntarily, but it's not voluntarily, the Torah demands it, some rely on *heter mechira*, and you have farmers who say, we don't want to, we no longer rely on the *heter mechira*, we are willing and ready to have an unpaid sabbatical. Why? Because we have faith in *Hashem*. Because *Hashem* told us to. Because *Hashem* said that's what's right for us. Because instead of waking up before the crack of dawn and having no time to learn or grow, for one year, we have a sabbatical and we're able to spend time that the other six years we say and we claim we don't. And by the way, that's exactly what she said they do during that year, they took upon themselves all kinds of areas of Torah learning. Beautiful, beautiful. So where does it come from, that resolve? Why should we have faith that even if we take an unpaid sabbatical, we're still going to be able to feed our family, keep a roof over our head, not lose our farm? Why? *Har Sinai*. Because the same *Hashem* who spoke to us at *Har Sinai* and said *Anochi Hashem Elokecha*, I am the Lord your God, stick with me, I've got your back, I'll be with you and I'll take care of you, that's the same same *Hashem* who said, observe *Shmita* and I've got your and I've got your back. And that, says Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, that is the connection between *Shmita* and *Har Sinai*. *Pasuk bais*. *Pasuk bais*. דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם כי תבואו אל הארץ אשר אני נותן לכם ושבתה הארץ שבת לה׳. When you come into the land that I give you, the land should observe *Shabbos*. Why? *V'shavta ha'aretz*, the land is observing *Shabbos*, *Shabbos l'Hashem*. The land is observing *Shabbos*, and for whom is the *Shabbos*? Shabbos for Shabbos for Hashem. Says the Menachem Tzion, Rav Menachem Tzion zogt we're learning the new edition, גם בשבת כתיב שבת היא לה'. That language, the land is observing Shabbos why? Shabbos for Hashem. And similarly our Shabbos, the land's Shabbos is once every seven years. Our Shabbos is how often? Once every seven days. שתי שבתות במטרתן ובתכליתן. Says the Menachem Tzion, both the Shabbos of the land and our Shabbos, both are similar, they're the same when it comes to their goal and their tachlis, their purpose. על שומריהם להקדיש לה' את חופש מן העבודה. The purpose and the reason that we rest is not a rest of shluff. It's not a competition how many hours can we sleep. The rest is not so that we can define rest: I go to the beach, I binge watch Netflix, I do this. What's the purpose of the rest? What's the ultimate rest? What's a real rest? להתעסק בתורה ובמצוות לפטם את הנפש ברוחניות ולהבריא את הנשמה. What's the shabbos ha'aretz? Shabbos l'Hashem. Similarly for us shabbos hi la'Hashem, Shabbos, shabbos hi la'Hashem. Shabbos is la'Hashem. The whole reason I'm off is to be with Hashem. It's like the person who took off from work on the family vacation but then they keep leaving their family to go play golf, they keep leaving their family to go indulge in the things that they want to do on vacation. Their family says: this was a family trip, the whole purpose was to spend time together and to build memories and to connect. And you keep disappearing, you're missing the whole point of why you took off. So God says: hi, over here! The whole reason that I told you to take off once a week is so we can spend time together, you with your family and Me. Us together, in song and in laughter and in learning and also in rest. Get a good shluff, nothing wrong with that, enjoy your meal. But a person should know that whether it comes to shemittah for the land or Shabbos for us, it's always connected to shabbos hi la'Hashem. Don't ever lose sight on the purpose and the reason. Don't take a vacation and then not spend the time with Hashem which was the whole purpose and reason for it from the beginning, אזוי זאגט דער מנחם ציון. The Otzar HaParsha has a different interpretation. Otzar HaParsha says the following: הסדר לכאורה צריך להיות הפוך. He says the pesukim seem to be backwards here. If you look at the end of posuk bais it says ושבתה הארץ שבת לה'. When you enter the land, observe a shemittah. Then the next posuk says שש שנים תזרע שדך ושש שנים תזמר כרמך, v'asafta es tevuasah, and harvest what you grow, and then the seventh year שבת שבתון יהיה לארץ, shabbos l'Hashem. So but first the end of posuk bais was shabbos ha'aretz, then posuk gimmel sheish shanim. Why would you begin with the seventh year? Start, introduce it with: six years work the land and the seventh year rest. Why do we start the section, the Torah, the halacha with: in the seventh year rest, six years work your field? We get it backwards. צריך היה להיות הפוך קודם שש שנים תזרע ואחר כך ושבתה הארץ. אלא יש לבאר כשמקיים שש שנים תזרע שדך צריכה להיות מוטלת על לבו של הזורע הידיעה שסופה לקיים ושבתה הארץ שבת לה'. ואז מקדש את שש שנות הזריעה במצוות שמיטה ובמצוות שביעית. על כן נאמר קודם ושבתה הארץ לה'. Such a beautiful insight. True, you need to work six years before you get the seventh year. True, you need to work six days before you get the seventh day of Shabbos. So why introduce it out of order? Shemittah then six years of work, Shabbos then six days of work? You know why? Because it's telling us the tachlis, the payday, the payoff, the purpose. Even before you get started know the essence, know the reason, know the goal. Such a beautiful insight. So before the farmer starts working the six years, the farmer should be inspired. He or she should know why am I plowing and planting and harvesting and baking and toiling? Why am I working in the sun, breaking my back on this labor? You know why? To get to a seventh year where I could take off, a sabbatical. I'm going to grow and work and condition and cultivate my emunah. I'm gonna have time to learn and rest and restore and rejuvenate, not only the land, more importantly myself. So what inspires all the work of the six years? The knowledge of the seventh year. Similarly, what inspires all six days of the week? The knowledge of the payoff of Shabbos. I say this all the time, we have a shiur, it's five to ten minutes on Fridays called \"Turn Friday into Erev Shabbos\". And I've repeated this countless times. People mistakenly think what's Shabbos about? Shabbos I rest so I can go back to work the week. I need Shabbos cause I'll burn out. So Shabbos I sleep, I play games, I laugh, I enjoy, I eat, I take off, I disconnect from technology. Why? So that I can be ready so that Motzai... back at work, back in the office. I need Shabbos in order to go back to work. It's backwards, it's the opposite. We work six days why? So we could have Shabbos. The goal, the destination is not work. It's not that I rest on Shabbos to get back to work, it's I work all week so that I have Shabbos. Don't believe me? We say it in our davening. Shabbos we describe as tachlis maaseh bereshis. It's the tachlis. What's tachlis? Tachlis is the goal, it's the purpose, it's the essence. It's the tachlis. The tachlis of working all week is Shabbos. So nebach there are people who work all week and then they don't even experience and tap into and enjoy the beauty of Shabbos. They miss the payoff, they miss the reward, they miss the goal, they miss what it's all about. Shabbos is incredible, Shabbos is the best, Shabbos is transformational. The world is first coming to appreciate Shabbos. With all the addiction and technology problems the world is coming to promote a Sabbath. You need a technology Sabbath. We're like, duh, we've only been doing it for almost 6,000 years, doing it for thousands of years since before Har Sinai. This was given in שם שם לו חוק ומשפט ושם נסהו. Shabbos was already given in Arvos Moav. Shabbos was given to us even earlier than Har Sinai. Shabbos was given, there's evidence in Mitzrayim, when Moshe complained to Pharaoh, you're going to kill them, they need one day off a week, and they got Shabbos already in Mitzrayim. From our very inception we knew we needed Shabbos. As has been said, more than the Jews kept Shabbos, Shabbos has kept the Jew. This is my little editorial, sorry about Shabbos, I just am in love with it, I can't help but talk about it. I just love Shabbos so much. And by the way, in this room I'm the only one who works on Shabbos. And it doesn't matter, even though I work on Shabbos, I love Shabbos. And frankly when I'm not working on Shabbos, I don't love it as much because when I'm not sitting fabrenging at a Shalosh Seudos at an Ra'ava d'Ra'avin, it's not as good. And not darshening and there's no shiur. I love it, I love it. So we have to know, the Torah introduces the seventh year before the first six, the seventh day before the first six. Why? It should guide and inspire and motivate all six days you work. It's not just, I need Shabbos so I can get back to work to make more. No, the whole reason I'm working all these days is to be able to be family and friends and enjoy the beauty of a heilig and a holy Shabbos. He has more, but we are, we have a lot more to cover. The Abarbanel also has something to say here. Says Don Yitzchak Abarbanel, עיקר מצוות שמיטה להזכיר אדם לחוס על אבדת זמנו. He says the whole reason for shmitta is to remember that the most precious commodity you have is, what's the most precious commodity you have? It's not the shekel, which is now so much stronger than the dollar. What's the most precious commodity you have? I'll give you a hint: it's finite, you can't get more of it, when you waste it you can't bring it back, you can't expand it, you can't slow it down and you can't make it go any faster. What's the most precious commodity you have? If you're rich you don't have more of it, if you're poor you don't have less of it. Most precious commodity we all have is time. It's time. It's the most precious and therefore the most holy, and therefore can never be squandered. And we believe that killing it is an act of murder. Killing time, people say 'yeah I had to kill some time, I was stuck, I was where I was, I had to kill some time'. You killed time? I'm arresting you, first degree murder. You kill time? We don't kill time, chas v'shalom. You kill time? If we knew how precious time was, if we felt we were running out of it, what would we give for some more? Killing time is an act of murder. יותר מאבדת כל ממונו ונכסיו, says the Abarbanel, more than the loss of all our money and all our assets and all our property is the loss of time. ולפי שימי אדם ושנות חייו מעט מזער בערך השלמות שצריך לקנות לכן ראוי שלא יאבד אדם את הזמן. Our time is so limited. Even if we merit, even if we're privileged, we had the zchus to celebrate 102nd birthday this Shabbos. Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable. Kenaina hara, many more years to come. But all of our lives in the span of eternity are but a blip, it's next to nothing. And how long is the average life? What did Dovid Hamelech say? Seventy years. Shivim shana. Shivim shana. Says the Abarbanel, that's what the Torah here is trying to remind us. כדי להזכיר בראו הקדוש ברוך הוא לשבעת ימים. God created the world in seven days. וכל עניין השביעיות אות לדעת. Every unit of seven is a reminder that we're likely only going to make it 70 years. Dovid Hamelech said if you made it 70 years, you're better than most, how grateful you should be. Beyond your 70 years, you are incredibly blessed. שיזכור שימי חייו שבעים שנה לא יבזבזם לריק. Don't waste them and squander them. אז ביום השביעי ינוח וישבות בעולם הנשמות. So it's the seventh, the 70th year, you'll rest and go to the world of truth. לכן ציווה השם יתברך. לכן צוה השם יתברך שש שנים יעבוד את האדמה ובשנה השביעית שבת שבתון. Hashem said work six years, the seventh year you're going to rest. That was His way of saying in the 70th year you might come to rest, work those six years, work those sixty plus years, work. Adam le'amal yulad, we were meant to work. Lubavitcher Rebbe said there's no such thing as retirement. Retirement is not part of the Jewish vocabulary. You could retire from your profession. You could retire from your avocation but not your vocation. You could retire from your career, but you don't retire from your life, from your meaning, from your purpose. As I often point out, in fact, it's often only when you retire from your career that you can start working. Start working on what matters, start working on finishing Shas, start working on volunteering, start working on philanthropy, start working on leadership, start working on your book or your memoirs or who knows what. Start working, start working on being the husband or wife or father or mother or grandfather, grandmother you always promised you would be. It's sometimes when you retire from your career and profession, now you can finally start working. But we don't ever retire, we're never done, we don't retire. There's nothing wrong, I don't need to get any emails, there's nothing wrong with Mahjong or shuffleboard or tennis or pickleball or golf, nothing wrong with it. But nebach sometimes I meet Jews in our holy capital of retirement, Boca Raton. And you talk about what their week looks like and they say I play golf five days a week and Mahjong six days a week and pickleball 400 times a week and then I go to the clubhouse and I do that and I say okay but where's your life? That's like recreation, that's what you do for fun a little bit each day. Come on, fill out your day. I go to this shiur, I volunteer in that place, I donate my time in this, I go visit that one, I check... come on, fill it out. Get to work, get to work with life. Says the Abarbanel, that's the message of sevens. The message of sevens, be it the seven days of the week or be it the seven years of Shemittah, is that we will likely be here 70 years. And just like you work six before the rest of the seven, we work all our life until Hashem decides our time has come and it's time to rest. פרק כה פסוק כ. Pasuk we've examined before. Page 700. In Shemittah, understandably, the farmer might ask: וכי תאמרו מה נאכל בשנה השביעית. What if the farmer says: Hashem, unpaid sabbatical? Nice idea, I'm all in, but I got a simple question: what am I going to eat in the seventh year? What am I going to eat in the seventh year? It's reasonable, it's only understandable, a person's going to go hungry. Hashem says take an unpaid sabbatical in the seventh year, it's natural and normal for a person to say, okay, but what am I going to eat? What am I going to eat? Ve-chi tomru, and when you'll say, ma nochal, what will I eat in the seventh year? הן לא נזרע ולא נאסוף את תבואתנו. So Pasuk Kaf Aleph: וצויתי את ברכתי לכם. So I will renew, I will command my blessing in the sixth year, ועשת את התבואה לשלוש השנים. Don't worry, have no fear. In the sixth year, the farm will produce three times the crop, so you have enough for the sixth year, seventh year, and eighth year. So you have nothing to worry about in that seventh year, in that seventh year. We've mentioned in the past Rav Bender in his sefer Al HaChumash quotes that ve-chi tomru. It doesn't say if you'll ask, it says when you'll ask. And Rav Bender says this is a very, very validating pasuk. The Torah here is not coming to be critical of the person who asks what will we eat. The Torah here is trying to validate that it's very human, it's very normal, and the Torah wants us to be human and normal. And it's okay, a little bit of worry, a little bit of anxiety, that's normal, that's worry. Don't beat yourself up, even if you go to the Living with Emunah, you're the .01 listener on Spotify, don't beat yourself up if in life every now and then you get a little worried because that's normal, that's human. However, the Torah says once you ask it, ve-chi tomru, it's normal, it's natural you're going to ask, no, Hashem's got your back. Put your faith in Him, let go, let G-d, embrace your place, v'chulu v'chulu v'chulu. That's his interpretation. But the Noam Elimelech, the heiligeh Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk, quotes his brother Reb Zusha. And Reb Zusha said בשם אחיו החסיד המפורסם, he quotes my famous brother the chasid, Reb Zusha: יש לדקדק היכן שהתורה יצא בכאן מדרכה שהדרך הכלל לכתוב איזה יתר לשון. The Torah deviates from normal to add something which shouldn't be here. Ve-chi tomru, ובידו מתורץ כמה קושיות. And here we're going to answer several questions. Why does the Torah say ve-chi tomru? Wouldn't it be better if you don't ask? You put your faith in Hashem and you're never bothered, you never hesitated, you never asked. And what is ve-tziviti et birchati? G-d says I will command my brachas. Since when does G-d command a bracha? Just give the bracha, just bless the people with enough food in the sixth year for 6, 7 and 8. What's Vetzivisi Es Birchosi? I'll command my blessing. Said the Rebbe Reb Zusha, quoted by his brother the Noam Elimelech. נראה שהשם יתברך כשברא את העולם השפיע מטובו צינורות מושכים שפע לצורכי בני אדם. Hashem created a world where there are channels in which blessings flow to his children. ודרך השפע שלא להפסיק כלל, and once Hashem creates the pipeline for blessing, the blessing flows uninterrupted. Uninterrupted unless we interrupt it. And how do we interrupt it? When we doubt, when we question, when we're uncertain, say Hashem I'm going to go hungry, how can I count on you? How do I know it's going to really work out? How do I know where you're going to be? When we can challenge and we question, we express doubt, pshhh, all of a sudden the pipe breaks. All of a sudden the pipe is divided, is interrupted, the flow ends. אין לו בטחון בבורא ברוך הוא המשפיע אמיתי הזן ומפרנס בריותיו בלי הפסק כלל, אזי עושה אדם במחשבתו אשר לא טובה פגם חלילה בעולמות עליונים. We add a pegam in the upper worlds. ומתיש את כוח הפמליא של מעלה, we weaken the power of this bracha. Venifsak shefa chalila, and we stop this flow of blessing. So what does Hashem have to do? צריך השם יתברך הוא לצוות מחדש השפע שתהיה כמו בתחילת הבריאה. So Hashem has to renew the blessing and that's why the pasuk says Vetzivisi Es Birchosi. I have to command the flow start again. I have to fix the pipe. I have to start the flow of blessing again. So the Rebbe Reb Zusha saw this as a criticism. Torah is warning us and cautioning us that the ideal is have such a beautiful faith in Hashem that you don't worry. Hashem you said unpaid sabbatical? No problem, I'm on unpaid sabbatical. Ay, where will I eat? I don't have that question. If he told me to do it, I know he's going to take care of me. But if you don't know and if you question, then he needs to Vetzivisi Es Birchosi. He's going to have to command in order to renew and restore that blessing because otherwise it's not it's not automatic. So here the Torah, unlike Sforno who said the Torah is validating a person, be normal, be human, it's okay and understandable to ask, here he is saying, the Rebbe Reb Zusha is saying exactly the opposite, that a person should try not to be in that place of asking Vechi Somru, Vechi Somru. R' Shlomo Birnbaum also discusses this, but I wanted to share with you from the Leiv Eliyahu, Rav Eliyahu Lopian. He has a beautiful interpretation and I have this somewhere here, unless I wasn't meant to share it with you. Oh, here it is, right in front of me, sorry. I have the whole from Leiv Eliyahu, Rav Eliyahu Lopian, and I'll just tell it to you outside because I want to get to Parshas Bechukosai as well. The Kli Yakar brings numerous opinions for the reason of this Mitzvah Shmita, and he says the Mitzvah is a reminder of creation. The fact that it's the seventh year is a reminder that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, and that we too are recreating that cycle just like we do every week, we also do in years in order to internalize this concept that Hashem is the creator and that he's in charge and that whatever income, whatever harvest we bring in, whenever it rains in our lives, it's all from above. And how do you demonstrate you believe that? Because Hashem says jump. Shmita, the farmer's jumping. How do you know I'm going to catch you? Hashem says show me the faith that you're going to jump anyway, that you're going to jump anyway. Vechi Somru and if you'll ask what are we going to eat? The Sforno says that means a visible blessing that will quantitatively suffice for three years. Rashi explains, the Sforno elaborates, the fruit of the—what does it mean that there'll be enough in the sixth year for the six, seven and eight? So Rashi and the Sforno elaborate says it doesn't mean that in your storehouse you'll actually have more, what it means is the small amount will satiate you more. The produce of the sixth year will be quantitatively equal to that of other years, it'll be the same amount, but it will fill you up more. You'll need less of it to feel full. In other words, in the sixth year I'll give you Ozempic. In the sixth year I'll give you something that will take less to feel just as full as if you had more. I thought I'd get a little bit more for that but I might have touched a nerve. Okay, so the Sforno says, Leiv Eliyahu explains as follows: if you have the proper faith in Hashem and you don't ask what you're going to eat, then the amount grown will be the usual amount, no additional harvest or storage. You'll eat a small amount and you'll be fully satisfied. But if you have doubts about what you're going to eat in the seventh year, if your level of faith will be low, then Hashem will be forced to send enough in the sixth year for the six, seven and eight. Either way you'll have enough to eat. Will it happen in a miraculous fashion that even with less you'll feel just as full, or will he need to actually provide quantitatively more? So you can see it and know it's there. That will all depend on the attitude that you bring. And Lev Elyahu goes on and he says there are lessons in Emunah and Bitachon that come from here, from Shmita. Baal Shem Tov taught השם צלך על יד ימינך. Hashem is our shadow. And that means Hashem is the mirror. He reciprocates the attitude that we bring towards Him. When we demonstrate tremendous faith in Him, then He is there and brings miracles for us. But if we struggle and we don't show that faith in Him, then we don't merit and receive those miracles. If we think, you know what, I operate in the natural order and naturally I need to work in order to have food to eat, then God says, you operate in the natural order? Good luck. Good luck. You contend with nature. But if a person says, I'm not subject to nature, I operate under different rules. Hashem is in charge, Hashem is in control, I put myself in His hands. Yes, I take my initiative. Yes, I have to do what's asked of me. But when He tells me in the seventh year, stop working, I put my trust in Him, then He says, I got your back. So Emunah and Hishtadlus are reciprocal. We get out what we put in and that's what Hashem is waiting for from us. פרק כה פסוק כג, last inside in Behar, we'll move over to Bechukosai. כה כג, page 700, still page 700. וזרעתם את השנה השמינית ואכלתם מן התבואה ישן עד השנה התשיעית עד בוא תבואתה תאכלו ישן. Sorry, כה כג. Yeah. כי גרים ותושבים אתם עמדי. Ki Geirim. והארץ לא תמכר לצמיתות כי לי הארץ כי גרים ותושבים אתם עמדי. Torah says the land should not be sold to perpetuity, for the land is mine. You are Geirim VeToshavim. You're sojourners and residents with me. Here the Torah is getting into the laws of redemption of the land. When you sell land, when do you get it back? How do you redeem it? A walled city, an unwalled city, relative to Yovel and so on. Says the Menachem Tzion, כי גרים ותושבים אתם עמדי. Is that a familiar phrase? Who identified and introduced himself that way? כי גר ותושב אנכי עמכם. Avraham Avinu when with Bnei Cheis, when he is negotiating Maaras Hamachpela. He turns to the Bnei Cheis and he says, I am a stranger and a citizen together with you. Here again Hashem says כי גרים ותושבים אתם עמדי. And says the Menachem Tzion, הקדוש ברוך הוא אמר לישראל, God says to the Jewish people, כי בין שנינו האחד יהיה גר והשני יהיה תושב. כי בשעה שיהודי מביט על עצמו כגר בעולם ומאמין שהוא רק בפרוזדור לפני הטרקלין אז אהיה אני תושב בתוכו. אם יאמין שהוא תושב שכחו ועוצם ידו עשו את החיל הזה אז אני גר בקרבו. Beautiful insight. Says the Menachem Tzion, God says to the Jewish people, one of us is a stranger, one of us is a resident. If you see yourself as just passing through this world and you know that life is about eternity, it's about the world to come, it's about the afterlife, then I will be a resident with you on this journey. But if you think you're a resident, if you live for the here and now, if you think this is all that there is, then I'm going to be a Ger, I'm only going to come in and out of your life. So there's the inverse. God says there's both, whichever one you take, I'm going to be the opposite. You want me to be a Toshav in your life, then be a Ger in this world. Be a Ger in this world. Rabbi Soloveitchik back with Avraham Avinu saw this as the calling card of the Jew. Our attitude must be, particularly in Galus among foreign countries and nations, we're residents, we're patriots, we're full citizens, and we contribute and we take. But simultaneously we're foreigners. On the other hand, we're outsiders. We need to know that we are both at the same time and we can't and shouldn't make the mistake of being one more or only instead of the other. Okay, moving over to Parshas Bechukosai. Page 708. פרק כו פסוק ג, the beginning of the parsha. אם בחקתי תלכו ואת מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם אתם. If you follow my Chukim, my decrees, and you observe my commandments and you perform them, ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם ונתנה הארץ יבולה ועץ השדה יתן פריו. Torah now goes on to list all kinds of promises. I'm going to make it rain and your field will produce and your children will multiply and you're going to have peace in your country, all kinds of reward if we observe, if we embrace, if we keep, if we follow. Says the Menachem Tzion, again this beautiful new addition, אם תטעימו את הליכותיכם בחייכם אל חוקותי. If you cultivate and condition your travels through this world according to, God says, to my prescription, אז תאכלנה עליכם כל הברכות האמורות להלן. Hatana mesayem bemaamar כל השונה הלכות בכל יום מובטח לו שהוא בן עולם הבא. The Gemara at the end of Nida tells us כל השונה הלכות בכל יום, whoever reviews Halacha every day is promised that they are a Ben Olam Haba. They merit the world to come. to come. *Halichos olam lo*, אל תקרא הליכות אלא הלכות. A *pasuk* in *Chabakuk*: *Halichos olam lo*, don't read it are journeys, read it *halachos*, *halacha*. היינו להתאים את הליכות עולם על פי הלכות, בכל דרכיך דעהו והוא יישר אורחותיך, *pasuk* in *Mishlei*. A Jew can go through this world and this life, a Jew can go through their day saying, \"I got it, God, I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out, I'll experiment, I'll do it the way I want, I'll do it the way it feels good, I'll do it the way that makes sense to me.\" Or, a Jew can go through this world and say, *Hashem*, what's the *halacha*? What are you asking of me? How do I eat, how do I sleep, how do I speak, how do I do business, how do I operate with time, how do I operate in relationships, how do I operate in interpersonal? What does the *halacha* tell me? The word *halacha*, which we translate as law, doesn't mean law. *Halacha* is *milashon halicha*. What is *halacha*? It's the way I walk through life. It's telling me the prescription, the formula of how to walk through life. *Rashi* says בחוקותיי תלכו שתהיו עמלים בתורה. It means that a person needs to toil in *Torah*. הרי זה צו עליהם לכוחם הפועל בעל הבית החנווני והפקיד החרשתן והמדען כל עמליכם יהיו מכווננים לתורה. All of our effort and all of our toil in whatever area we work, whatever's our profession, whatever's our career, wherever we live, whatever stage of life we're up to. והתאמה גמורה לברכך להציב גם בחיי החול את עקרונות התורה להאדירם. Our whole mission, our whole purpose of life is to live *Torah*, is to manifest *Torah*, is to fulfill *Torah*. In how we eat, in what we do, in where we go, in what we spend, *Torah* has something to say. *Torah* is the ultimate platform for life, for meaning, and for purpose, and for life, and for life. You see the benefits and the reward. Jonathan Haidt, the social scientist, recently spoke about how religious children, children who are grown, brought up in religious homes, are happier and healthier, more well-adjusted. It's not the reason that we do it, but it affirms what the *Torah* here is promising us. A life of *halacha*, a life in which we're not trying to figure it out on ourselves, we're not guessing, we're not so arrogant to say we're in charge, but a life in which it's directed. *Hashem*, you are our creator. *Hashem*, you programmed us. You know what's best for us, what's right for us. You know what brings the greatest fulfillment and satisfaction. And so our commitment is *halacha*, to walk through life with you. What does the *halacha* say? How what comes in my mouth, what goes out of my mouth, where I go, how do I connect with time, everything. ויש לאמר עוד שהמילה עמלים מכוונת למה שנאמר את עמלנו אלו הבנים. In the *Haggadah* of *Pesach*, you may remember, when we *darshan*, when we learn the word את עמלנו אלו הבנים. Our toil, our effort, that is the children. כל עמל האבות צריך המשכה ממנה למען בניהם. All of our effort is for the future. Whether it means biological children or just means the future of the Jewish people, we don't live for today. We listen to today, we learn from yesterday, but we live for tomorrow, for a future, for a continuity, to pass it and pay it forward. ועל עמל זה להיות כולו קודש לתורה אין לחנך את הבנים באורחי התורה. That's why את עמלנו אלו הבנים, *elu habanim*. One of the 48 ways that *Torah* is acquired, the *Mishnah* in *Avos*, *rubom amal viyegia*, אדם מקבל שכר מיוחד על עמל בתורה, that we don't just learn *Torah* in a way that's easy, we don't just have it spoon-fed, we work, we toil. I love that you come to the *Parsha shiur*. It's so meaningful to me, and it's so important, and it's so beautiful, and I'm enriched by it, and I thank you. But it's not the highest level of learning. Highest level of learning is what you do not when you're passively listening, but when you're actively engaged. Open a *Chumash*, read it, learn it, ask questions, study it, analyze it, challenge it, think critically about it. That active engagement, that toil, that *ameilus*, שתהיו עמלים, *shvitz* over it, break your teeth over it, work hard on it. Learn, learn the language, learn the commentaries, learn the rhythm. *Ameilus*, גדולי ישראל זכו לכתר תורה בפני שעמלו בו יומם ולילה מדי הערב. Our greatest leaders were great not only because they were born with brilliant minds often, but because they worked tirelessly, they toiled over it. That's the value, the Jewish value of work, but directed work, to remember what it's all about. *Halicha*, *halacha*, *halichos olam*. *Rav* Schorr in his new *sefer* *Nezer HaParsha* also has a beautiful insight along these lines. There's a *Midrash* in the beginning of *Parshas Bechukosai* on the *pasuk* *Im bechukosai telechu*. Here's the *Midrash*: אמר דוד לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא. *David Hamelech*, King David, said to God, ריבונו של עולם מעידי בכל יום ויום הייתי מחשב אומר למקום פלוני אני הולך. Every day I think where I'm going. מחשב למקום פלוני אני הולך לבית דירה פלונית אני הולך. I'm going to this home. ורגלי מביאות אותי לבתי כנסיות ולבתי מדרשות. I intended to go elsewhere, but Hashem, my feet they kept taking me to shul. No matter where my mind was, no matter what coordinates I put in Waze or Google Maps, it didn't matter. My feet kept taking me to shul to the beis medrash. יש להבין הקשר לפרשת בחוקותי. A beautiful image of Dovid Hamelech who says his very feet were programmed. His very feet intuitively took him to the shul to the beis medrash. But what does that have to do with Parshas Bechukosai? Why is that Medrash at the beginning of our parsha? מבואר בכמה ספרים על פי מה שאמר הרב הקדוש רב מנחם מנדל מרימנוב בפירוש הפסוק וישלח אברהם את ידו שהיה צריך ללחום עם היד ובעל כורחה של היד עשה מעשה ושחטה היד הייתה דבוקה כל כך בכוחות פנימיות הרמ\"ח מצוות עם רמ\"ח איברים עד שעשה רק רצון הבורא וכיוון שלא היה רצון הבורא שישחט את יצחק לא רצתה היד להישחט. Because God did not want Avraham's hand to ultimately slaughter Yitzchak, his hand didn't listen. His hand was programmed, it intuited, it followed the will of Hashem. שמע מינה מזה כי אדם השלם שתיקן כל איבריו שתהיה חיותן על פי תורה. A Jew, a Jew who's whole, a Jew who's living at the highest level. Mind you this is difficult, it's not expected of each and every one of us, but it's something to aspire to. The complete, the sholem Jew who's living at the highest level, their body is not in tension, in conflict with their soul. Their body is in consonance with their soul. The body is carrying out the will of the soul. The body intuits and instinctively goes to what the soul wants. וזה פירוש המדרש היו רגלי מוליכות אותי שהרגל עשתה רצון השם יתברך מאליה וזה יכול להיות פירוש הפסוק שאדם נעשה בחינת חוק שעושה רצון השם יתברך בלי טעם ובלי שכל רק בחוקותי תלכו. Says Rav Shore, maybe that's why the posuk, the Medrash is on our parsha. Maybe that's the teitch, that's the meaning of im bechukosai telechu. Hashem, I don't ask, I don't question, I don't demand or feel entitled to understand. Bechukosai, like a chok, telechu, I just go. When You tell me go, eat, do, give, that's what my body is programmed to do. תלכו שילכו מאליהן לעשות רצון השם. That's the goal. The goal is to get to a place where when it's time to daven Shacharis, I wake up and jump out of bed. There's no snooze button. There's no procrastination, there's no laziness, there's no conflict between my body and my soul. Whatever's right and righteous to do in that moment is exactly what I've trained and conditioned my very instinct to be. חוקותי בגימטריא ברוך כבוד השם ממקומו כי זו היא תכלית האדם שישפיע כבודו יתברך למטה בעולם הזה. Because how do we honor God mimkomo from His place? If we live such a life, halacha, bechukosai telechu, that I do the right thing. There's no tension, there's no hesitation, there's no negotiation. I simply am programmed to instinctively and intuitively do the right thing. That's the goal. ובשבת קודש נזכה להגלה לו כי בשבת יש לאדם נשמה יתירה הנשמה יתרה על הגוף ולכן נתגלה יותר מלכות הבורא בשבת קודש ישמחו במלכותך במלכותך בגימטריא חוקותי על ידי דרגת חוקותי נעשה גילוי מלכותו יתברך בעולם. He has many more gematria. Ayin is chukosai, ozen, chosem, peh, these using our senses for our senses again not to be in tension or conflict with Hashem. That's the goal, that's the mission of a Jew to get to such a level, to get to such a place where I'm not struggling, I'm not negotiating, I'm not debating, I'm not hesitating. I'm in consonance, I'm in complete sync, there's a perfect synergy between the halacha and the halicha. What Hashem wants and what I do. And maybe all that is in the opening words, im bechukosai. With your chukim, whether I understand, don't understand, I am the chok, telechu, I walk, I go in those ways, that's who I am. That's who I am. פרק כו פסוק ג. One of the promises Hashem says if I do this right is, sorry, not gimmel, yud gimmel. Sorry, let's first Chof Vov Hey, vishavtem lavetach. Venasati shalom ba'aretz. If we observe, if we keep, then Hashem says I will give peace in the land. ושכבתם ואין מחריד והשבתי חיה רעה מן הארץ and so on, says the Menachem Tzion. Posuk Hey and Posuk Vov. וישבתם לבטח בארצכם ונתתי שלום בארץ. These two brochos. Vishavtem lavetach, what's the word vetach mean? Bitachon is security. You will dwell with security in your land and I will... And so relevant, truly a parsha perspective for today. The second bracha v'nasati shalom ba'aretz, I'll give you peace in your land, completes the first bracha of Viyishavtem Lavetach. Why? כי בזמן שמצב הביטחון בארץ עומד בסימן שאלה ואימת מלחמה עם האויב מחוץ מאיימת עליה אז הארץ נהנית משלום בית מבפנים. הסכנה המשותפת לכל תושביה מבלי להבחין לאיזה מפלגה הם מתייחסים משתפת ומלכדת את כל אזרחי הארץ להתייצב כאיש אחד נגד האויב שבחוץ. You know right now again we don't know what's going to be. Ben-Gurion's on high alert, Israel's on high alert. Will the war with Iran renew? We don't know what's going to be. You know what happens when there's an enemy from without? When ballistic missiles are flying through the air and Jews are running into bomb shelters, the fact that there's an enemy on the outside unites us on the inside. October 8th was perhaps the greatest Jewish unity, unfortunately it dissolved and dissipated way too quickly. But October 8th and 9th were the greatest Jewish unity in my lifetime. And even again now in the Iran war, those fights, those debates, even those important conversations and differences, they're set aside when there's an enemy on attack, we find a way to come together. כאשר האיומים של מלחמה מחוץ חדלים והארץ נמצאת במצב של שקט. However, when the enemy's on the outside, it's quiet. It's quiet, there's a ceasefire, there's a peace treaty, there's an Abraham Accords. All quiet on the outside. אז פורצות מלחמות ותיגרות בקרב המפלגות השונות מבפנים. All of a sudden, the factions and the different groups and the different coalitions and their different communities now battle on the inside. האוכלת כל חלקה טובה בארץ. לפיכך מבטיחה התורה לעם ישראל. And therefore, the ultimate promise is this: אם בחוקותיי תלכו ואת מצוותיי תשמרו ועשיתם אותם. If you're guided by Torah, Torah principles, Torah life, Torah lifestyle. אז התורה והמצוות תאחדנה את כולכם לגוי אחד בארץ. ושתי הברכות גם יחד תחולנה. וישבתם לבטח בארצכם ונתתי שלום בארץ. You'll fulfill, you'll be blessed, you'll merit to get both halves of the promise. Because if we're not doing it right, we only get one half. And is this not exactly what we've seen? Is this not exactly what we've lived through? Exactly what we lived through. On October 6th, we were killing each other in Israel. We heard again this past Shabbos from one of our visitors. On October 6th on Yom Kippur, before October 7th, on Yom Kippur a week before, Jews in Tel Aviv attacking each other, going after each other, fighting with each other. Judicial reform, the brink of a civil war. So what happens? Then we get attacked on the outside. That unites us on the inside. Then we get a ceasefire on the outside, we go back to killing each other on the inside. Why can't we have both? Can't we have peace both on the outside and the inside? Says the Torah, im chukosai telechu, then you get both. Viyishavtem Lavetach, you'll have bitachon, no ballistic missiles, v'nasati shalom ba'aretz, and peace on the inside. That's our hope, that's our wish, that's our greatest dream is to be able to get both. Because until now it seems like it's either or. When it's quiet on the outside, we find a way to kill each other on the inside. And when it's fighting on the outside, that's what unites us on the inside. Can't we just have both? Peace from without and peace from within? And in order to merit that, we have to have bechukosai telechu, we have to come from a place of מצוותיי תשמרו ועשיתם אותם. Azoy zogt der Minchas Tzion, that is the beautiful insight of Rav Menachem Ben Tzion Zack. Pasuk Yud Gimmel, turn the page. Now in this promise, vihis-halachti besochechem, God says, I'll walk among you, vihayisi lachem lelohim, you'll be for me like a God, I will be for you like a God, ואתם תהיו לי לעם. Ani Hashem, I am God, אשר הוצאתי אתכם מארץ מצרים, I took you out of Egypt, miheyos lahem avadim, no longer slaves, v'eshbor motos ulchem, I will break the yoke, va-oleh eschem komemiyus, and I will lead you komemiyus. What's meant by komemiyus? I will lead you komemiyus. What is komemiyus? What is komemiyus that I'll lead you? Says the Tiferes Shmuel on Bechukosai, I will lead you komemiyus. V'yesh lefareish. Rashi says, b'koma zkufa. You're going to stand upright. Upright. You know the image of the Jew for too much of our last 2,000 years of history is slumped over, weak and frail and slumped over, apologetic and defensive. Hashem says Live the life I'm asking you to live, meet the expectations, and I will walk you into my land kommemiyut. You will stand bekoma zekufa. You will stand upright. You will stand tall. What is the source of being upright? What is that source of being tall? יש לפרש עניין הליכה, says the Tiferes Shmuel. בקומה זקופה מפני שפסוקים אלו הקדוש ברוך הוא מבטיח לעמלי התורה כל הני ברכות וממילא זה נותן להם האומץ לעמוד כנגד כל המפריעים העומדים לנגדם ולעלות בעמילות התורה. You know what is the source of your standing up straight? Not a chiropractor, not yoga, not stretching, not Pilates, not because you wear some device. You know what's going to make you stand up tall? The amailus batorah. Im bechukosai taylaychu. If you're amel batorah, if you walk around like a proud Jew, you wear a yarmulka on your head, you observe Torah and mitzvos, that will give you the courage and the conviction and the pride and the power. I've said many times, this is our answer to antisemitism. Stop pouring millions of dollars into organizations that have given a negative return on stopping antisemitism. Put it into Jewish education, put it into Jewish outreach, put it into Jewish community, put it into Jewish practice, put it into giving us a backbone again, put it into giving us a spine, putting into giving us kommemiyut for us to stand tall and proud, unembarrassed, unashamed, unapologetic. What gives us that courage and that conviction? Because we know who we are and where we come from, because we have faith and confidence in Hashem and where we're going, because nobody's going to knock us down, nobody's going to take us out, nobody's going to make us take off our yarmulka or our Jewish symbol or sign. Take that money and stop putting commercials that make us look like a victim that we need people to stand up to the bullies for us. Instead, any Jew who's willing to put a mezuzah on their door at college, we'll send you a mezuzah. Any Jew willing to wear a magen david, any Jew putting on a yarmulka, any Jew who will wear a pair of tefillin every day. Let's take that same money and put it into being a koma zekufa, how to stand tall and proud and have a spine, and have a spine. Says the Tiferes Shmuel, that's where the koma zekufa is coming from. That koma zekufa, standing upright and tall, is coming from knowing who we are, where we come from, where we're going, what we're about, who we're the children of, who has our back, what our life is really all about, what our life is really all about. There's a moshav in Israel called Moshav Kommemiyut. Got its name in 1952. The shemittah year drew a close. It's observant of shemittah. It's a whole story, not for now. But it appears exactly one time in all of tanakh, and that is our parsha. Our parsha. So what does it mean exactly? Rashi quotes bekoma zekufa, upright. Onkelos translates it as vadabares yas'hon lachayru, freedom. When do you stand up? When you're not a slave, when you're not in fear, when you're free. גמרא בבא בתרא דף ע\"ה, v'olech es'chem kommemiyut, רבי מאיר אומר מאתיים אמה כשתי קומות של אדם הראשון. You know how tall we stand? Two stories tall. Very tall, like adam harishon. We use this in our davening. When do we say it in our davening? In the beracha before shema. In the beracha before—so the—you're going to take us kommemiyut l'artzeinu. Chatam Sofer in a תשובה יורה דעה שלב explains, תקנו בברכת אהבה רבה לומר ותוליכנו קוממיות לארצנו. What do we mean? We say it every day. We're invoking it from our pasuk, our parsha. God, soliheinu kommemiyut l'artzeinu. Take us kommemiyut to our land. It's a little bonus siddur snippet for you here. What does it mean when we say take us kommemiyut to our land? Says the Chatam Sofer in that teshuva, לאפוקי לאחר מיתה על ידי גלגול אלא בחיים קוממיות. You could go to Israel one of two ways: lying down in a box or standing upright and tall. You could go after you're dead to be buried there, or you could go while you're alive to live there. Of course, all of us should not wait to be buried there. Aliyah is not a question of if but when. You know I'm not shy to encourage, to promote, to motivate, to inspire. Baruch Hashem, we have more than a dozen families from our community making aliyah this summer. Next week we have a beautiful event, Yom Yerushalayim, to celebrate the concert, their aliyah. And that's the Chatam Sofer. Chatam Sofer. Soliheinu kommemiyut l'artzeinu, that our tefilla every day when we daven before shema is: let us not go lying down in a box, let us go standing up alive. In the essay Kol Dodi Dofek, Rav Soloveitchik explains, he writes forth, the Beloved knocks in the heart of the youth which is assimilated and perplexed. The period of hester panim in the 1940s brought confusion among Jewish masses. A seemingly unstoppable tidal wave stood over us and threatened to destroy us. Suddenly the beloved began to beckon to the hearts of the perplexed and his beckoning the establishment of the State of Israel slowed the process of flight. Many who were once alienated are now bound to the Jewish state with ties of pride in its mighty accomplishments. Indeed many Israelis call the 1948 war of independence, they call it Milchemet Hakomemiyut. It is the war of standing upright. It was the war of standing tall. If 1948 brought pride after 1967 and the Six-Day War like the Gemara explains komemiyus, Jews walked around and felt like they were ten feet tall, ten feet tall. After October 7th we were knocked down several stories. We lost that sense of komemiyus. I would argue almost eight months later we're standing tall again, of course disturbed and bothered by how many enemies we have but incredibly proud, proud of how the world has come if not to love and respect us but to fear us. To fear us, komemiyus, to know who we are and what we're made of and what we can do. Do you know that the other day the United Arab Emirates, the UAE, the other day yesterday, thirty rockets. There's still a ceasefire between Iran, the US, and Israel. Nebach, the UAE we visited last year. Incredible people, really sincere in their open-mindedness, welcoming, love of Jews. I felt safer walking the streets of Dubai and Abu Dhabi than of New York. And nebach they've taken four times as many rockets as Israel from Iran, as has other Gulf countries. Do you know what the UAE did to knock those rockets out of the sky yesterday? They used the Iron Dome batteries that they got from Israel. Do you know who manned those Iron Dome batteries that knocked those rockets out of the sky to defend the UAE? It was members of the IDF. It was members of Israel's Defense Force who operated the Iron Dome in the UAE, in an Arab country in the Middle East, Jewish members of the IDF helped protect this wealthy country who didn't have access to this technology. That's komemiyus. That's komemiyus. That's standing tall. First to just to properly understand komemiyus, the end of the pasuk, you have to look at the pasuk that came before. והתהלכתי בתוככם והייתי לכם לאלוקים ואתם תהיו לי לעם. I'll be ever present in your midst and you'll be My people. We don't walk tall upright with a sense of pride because of our own power. It's when we know V'hishalachti b'sochechem. When a Yid lives and knows Who enabled. We had here one of the scientists who invented the Iron Dome and he spent that Shabbos talking about how it was Divine Providence, it was Divine breakthrough. He contrasted it was a Yaakov not a, it was not a Yisrael but it was Yaakov if you remember that talk. But that's Hashem. A person has to know V'hishalachti b'sochechem. Our head is high not from our own arrogance or accomplishment or pride, our head is high because we know Hashem dwells and walks within us. Komemiyus is confidence and courage to wear our yarmulke or put that flag or magnet on your car even if it's unpopular, to go and to do what we know we need to do. The Minchas Elazar, the Minchas Elazar, this has been our dream of 2,000 years. The Minchas Elazar, not a Zionist, not a religious Zionist, an anti-Zionist, perhaps among the greatest, the Minchas Elazar, the Munkatcher, signs off teshuvos Chelek Gimmel, Siman Samech Vav and others, ויוליכנו קוממיות לארצנו במהרה בימינו. The end of his teshuva was the hope and the wish that we can go komemiyus to our land. The Seridei Eish, רב יחיאל יעקב ויינברג signs off a teshuva השם יתברך ירחם שארית נחלתו ויבטל מעלינו כל גזירות קשות ורעות ויוליכנו מהרה קוממיות לארצנו. All we want is to walk upright and proud, to be independent and strong, to be able to defend ourselves and we are zocheh, we are meriting to live in that time. But it's fragile and it's vulnerable and it can disappear. The fulfillment of that berachah of komemiyus if we don't with it recognize that Hashem, it's only, it's only V'hishalachti b'sochechem. It is only when we know that Hashem is walking with us, when He is with us, when He is with us. To be blessed with komemiyus is to drop the mentality of fear, of being enslaved, of needing and relying only on the approval of others. Komemiyus is not just a moshav, it's a mindset. It's the fulfillment of this berachah of this promise. It's one of the things that we have to be so incredibly grateful to Hashem for, to be living it in our time, but to also double down on remembering that it only comes when V'hishalachti b'sochechem, when we credit Hashem with emunah and bitachon and berachah. We barely got to anything I wanted to talk about in Bechukosai. Im yirtzeh Hashem we'll pick up with it next time again, next week Sunday instead of Tuesday, pay attention for the timing. Please stay to complete all of Sefer Tehillim and have a wonderful, happy Lag BaOmer.
