BS”D
JUDICIOUS JOURNEYS: PARSHAT BECHUKOTAI
Shira Smiles shiur 2020/5780
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Parshat Bechukotai
begins with the promise of blessings; “If you telechu/will walk, follow
My commandments and perform them, then I will provide your rains in their
time.. va’olich/and I will lead/walk with you [in/to]
uprightness/permanence.” Rashi explains this as a threefold process. First, if
you toil in the Torah, you will observe My mitzvoth, and then I will also walk
with you.
Rebbetzin Smiles
points out that these parshiot of Behar and Bechukotai form the
conclusion and summation of the Sefer Vayikra, the Book of the Torah
dedicated to sanctity. As such, they must contain some elements we can
incorporate to sanctify our own lives.
Rabbi Belsky asks
how Rashi deduces toiling in Torah study from the term telechu/will
walk. Granted that the next phrase, “Follow My commandments,” refers to mitzvah
observance, but how does telechu refer specifically to toiling in Torah?
A verse in Iyov/Job states, “Man was born to toil.” After some
discussion, here too our Sages conclude that toil refers to Torah study. They
cite the conversation between Rabbi Akiva and Pappus ben Yehudah, both
sentenced to death for violating Roam decrees. In a conversation between the
two, Pappus laments that he was arrested for a minor offense, but he praises
Akiva for defying the Romans to teach Torah. At least Akiva would die for a
worthwhile cause while his own death would be meaningless. Rabbi Akiva made his
choice in spite of the challenges he knew he would face.
We too choose our
path in life, and the choice we make will direct where we put our effort. Rabbi
Moshe Feinstein extends this lesson not only to Torah study and teaching, but
to every mitzvah. We must include intention and effort in its performance. Do
every mitzvah with alacrity, whether it is an easy mitzvah or a hard one,
whether we consider it an important mitzvah or a minor one. As the Oshover
Rebbe writes in Be’er Moshe, quench my thirst for Hashem through Torah
and mitzvah observance, sincerely and without question whether I understand
them or not, for they are all like chukim to me.. As the verse in
Tehillim says, “Praiseworthy are those whose way is perfect, haholchim/who
walk with the Torah of Hashem.”
Our attitude in
approaching a mitzvah will set the tone for its ultimate performance and
perfection, writes Rabbi Yaakov Hillel in Ascending the Path. We should
approach every mitzvah as if we were receiving a large check, with joy and a
spring in our step. We should ratz/run to them with our full ratzon/desire.
Unfortunately, we value money much more than Torah and mitzvah performance, for
we do not realize the mitzvah’s true, eternal value. Choose to dedicate your
life to kedushah/sanctity, not just lishmor/to observe passively,
but telechu/to go quickly, actively. When we do the mitzvah with
alacrity, adds Rabbi Wolbe, Hashem is joining us and leading us; if we
procrastinate, we will still be rewarded for mitzvah observance, but we would
have lost the opportunity of Hashem’s “company” on the journey.
Human beings are
different from angels, explains Rabbi Kushevelsky in Toras Zvi. Angels
are created as omdim/stationary, unmoving beings. They are forever ready
to do God’s will, not by choice but by their essence. They face no challenges.
They can never strive and grow in sanctity. Human beings, on the other hand,
are holchim/walkers and movers. People are never static. If they are not
moving forward, they are moving backward. Therefore they must strive and toil
to reach an ever higher rung on the ladder that connects us to Hashem. Therefor
the one who encounters difficulties in his Torah study and nevertheless toils
and struggles to overcome them reaches a higher level than the one who faces no
challenges in his Torah study. As Rabbi Frand notes, citing the Alter of
Slabodka, man is called Adam, from the adamah/earth from which he was
created, for, like the earth, man also needs to be worked on, planted, pruned
of the negatives, to bear fruit, harvested, and then begin the cycle again.
The Jewish
imperative to go, to walk, to strive traces back to our ancestor Avraham. Three
times Hashem commanded Avraham Avinu lech/go, each time bringing him to
a higher spiritual level, writes the Netivot Shalom, the Slonimer Rebbe.
The first time Hashem told Avraham lech lecha/ go [for you] from his
land; the second time Hashem him to him to “Hishalech lefoni veheyei toim/go
before Me and be perfect,” with the covenant of circumcision; the final time
was Avraham’s final test, “Lech lecha/Go [for you] to the land of
Moriah” and bring up Yitzchak as an offering. It is only after that third
“going” that Hashem tells Avraham, “Now I know that you are truly a yirei Elokhim/a
God fearing man, a man who truly has awe for God. This was the ultimate test
because there was no way Avraham could be doing this for personal motivation of
any kind. Yet he arose early in the morning, with alacrity, to do God’s will.
In the physical
world, one can remain in rote mode, idling, neither moving forward or back. But
in the spiritual world, one is always in motion. If one is not moving forward
and ascending, he is retreating and descending. In fact, adds Rav Moshe
Feinstein zt”l, this attitude of always striving should infuse not just Torah
study, but all our actions, wherever we go, wherever we walk. Rabbi Belsky
explains more fully how every area of life is a mini beis medrash. In business
and in the marketplace one must apply the laws he learned in Masechet Yoma.
When buying food, he must remember the laws of kashrut. When eating, he must
practice self control and recite the appropriate brachah.
In truth, any
action we do, whether mundane or for ritual observance, can be infused with spirituality
or remain routine. Rabbi Gedalyah Schorr takes the verse from Mishlei,
that “they be an adornment for your head…,” that they go with you wherever you
go. [Today’s image might be a halo. CKS] When you build your home, put up the
mezuzot and toivel your dishes, for example. When you shop for clothes, picture
yourself in modest clothing. [I find myself shopping racks by scanning for
sleeves hanging down. Unfortunately, when I then look at the whole dress or
blouse, the neckline is usually inappropriate. CKS] On the other hand, even
mitzvoth, like charity, can be done with personal motives such as garnering
honor or respect, rather than for the sake of Heaven. The mitzvoth are not just
a chain around your neck, but a means of keeping us focused and connected to
Hakodosh Boruch Hu wherever we go. We must consider ourselves a walking Beit
Hamikdosh, dedicated to the higher reality, with Hashem walking with us, writes
the Seforno.
On the other hand,
even practical deeds that seem to be done for the common good may actually be
self serving. Such was the case with the Romans. Rabbi Yehudah praised the
Romans for having built roads, bridges and marketplaces. Rabbi Shimon bar
Yochai, however, criticized this view. He understood that all these
improvements were for the benefit of the Romans themselves, for their profits
in collecting taxes. For this crime of criticizing the state, Rabbi Shimon was
sentenced to death. This is when he and his on Elazar fled to a cave where they
remained for twelve years plus an additional year.
Rabbi Eisenberger
cites this incident in explaining how the nations will tell Hashem that they
did so much for the Jews, when in fact it was generally done for their own
aggrandizement. Rebbetzin Smiles here notes that this may well be an argument
that technology pioneers and masters put forth. Look at how much Torah is
disseminated through the internet, and now through ZOOM. But was the motivation
to spread Torah, to improve mankind, or to make a huge profit? Only God knows
for sure.
We will also be
judged based on our motivation. Are we participating in a wedding to give joy
to the bride and groom, or am I looking forward to the prospect of a good meal?
Is Shabbat about reconnecting the Ribbono shel Olam, or about the nap after the
cholent? What are we doing strictly for ourselves, and what are we doing for
Hakodosh Boruch Hu?
A Jew by nature
looks for the spiritual component in everything. When a Jew gives charity in
the hope for a cure for himself or a loved one, he still considers it money
well spent on a mitzvah rather than wasted even if his prayer does not seem to
be answered. A Jew’s focus, even if he is unaware, is on the next world rather
than on this physical world.
Esau and Yaakov
perfectly demonstrated these two mindsets. Esau came home famished from his day
of hunting and demanded the soup Yaakov was cooking be poured into him
immediately. He willingly and easily sold his birthright, his potential in the
next world, for that soup. He feels he’s about to die of hunger, an obvious
exaggeration, and he certainly has no belief in and no need for the next world.
A Jew, on the other hand, when he contemplates his death, thinks of the next
world. He understands that this world is the journey to the next world.
Rabbi Eisenberger
in Mesillot Bilvovom suggests that this Jewish mindset is subconsciously
at the root of much antisemitism. After all, if Jews are only interested in the
next world, what right do they have for money in this world? But while we have
a right to the money, we are also accountable for how we use it, and for our
motivation and dedication to the higher purpose.
The legend of
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai continues. We learn that Rabbi Shimon and his son
subsisted on the fruit of a carob tree that grew outside their cave. For six
days they ate carobs, but for Shabbat, the tree was transformed into a date
tree. Rabbi Eisenberger offers a beautiful homiletic interpretation of the
symbolism in these trees based on the Maharsha. A carob tree takes seventy
years from when it is first planted until it bears fruit. Traditionally, a
man’s lifespan is also seventy years during which time he toils, and if he was
successful in doing the work properly, he reaps his reward in the world to
come. Shabbat is a semblance of the world to come which we experience every
week in this world. A verse in Tehillim says that a tzadik/righteous
person will grow like a date tree. Rashb”i, the consummate tzadik who
did everything for Heaven, merited eating of the date tree on Shabbat merited
this miracle during his lifetime.
[Rabbi Shimon bar
Yochai died on Lag B’Omer. His yahrtzeit, the day he merited receiving his true
reward in the world to come, is celebrated every year with bonfires that reflect
the fire of Torah and the light he brought to the world with the Zohar.
(Unfortunately, this year these festivities are canceled, but in Meron at Rabbi
Shimon’s tomb, the Israeli government has still sanctioned a bonfire, bands
playing the traditional songs, with limited crowds attending wearing masks.)
CKS]
If we understand
the purpose of our journey on earth, of the constant walking and going, then we
will merit Hashem alongside us on this journey until we reach the ultimate
destination of Gan Eden. If we go in the chukim and mitzvoth in this world with
the attitude of a Yaakov and not of an Esau, if we willingly put in the work
necessary for our “carob tree” to grow, we will merit experiencing the date
tree in the world to come, and perhaps even somewhat in this world.