From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 3:02 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Bechukosai, 5765



                                               
                                                
                                                  Taking Stock
           
                        By Joshua (worthily known as The Hoffer) Hoffman



 This week's parsha, Bechukosai, begins with a section containing berachos and kelalos, or blessings and curses. There are two such sections in the Torah, the other one being in parshas Ki Savo. In these sections, the nation is told of rewards it will receive if it complies with God's will and observes His mitzvos, and the punishment it will receive, including exile from its land and the perils which come as a result of that exile, if it does not comply. Unlike the section of berachos and kelalos in parshas Ki Savo, which ends abruptly without assuring the people that God will eventually be reconciled with His people,  the section in Bechukosai does end with such an assurance, as we read," I will remember for them the covenant of the forefathers, those whom I have taken out of the land of Egypt before the eyes of the nations, to be God unto them…" (Vayikra, 26:45).

 After the reassuring climax of the section of tochacha, or rebuke, the Torah presents us with a series of laws that are generated by vows people make, beginning with the section of 'arachin,' or evaluations, in which a person donates the 'erech, or evaluated worth of a person, for use in the mishkan. As part of this section, the Torah lists the varying evaluations for males and females at different periods in their lives. Why was this section chosen to be placed immediately after the tochacha? Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Lunshitz, in his commentary Keli Yakar, says that this is because people often will make vows in times of distress, just as Ya'akov did when he was fleeing from Eisav. However, unlike Ya'akov, who eventually fulfilled his vow, after his distress passed, members of his nation, are apt to fail in fulfilling their pledges. It is difficult to understand why, according to the Keli Yakar, that this point should be made after the reassuring ending of the tochacha. Rabbi Hillel Lieberman, Hy"d (may God avenge his blood) writes, in his Ahavas HaAretz, that these vows constitute charitable donations, and, as the prophet Yeshayahu tells us (1:27), charity is one of the means through which the exile will come to an end. However, this does not explain why specifically this form of charity is the one that is mentioned in the aftermath of the section of tochacha, as an example of a means of bringing the exile to an end. However, Rabbi Don Yitzchak Abarbanel, in his commentary to Bechukosai, offers an explanation for the nature of the laws of 'arachin' that can help us understand why they were placed after the tochacha, and give us an insight into the root causes behind the exile and how we can bring it to an end.

Abarbanel writes that the varying valuations given males and females in their respective age groups are uniform for all members of those age groups. Thus, for example, every male between the ages of twenty and fifty is given the value of fifty silver shekels. The reason for this, explains Abarbanel, is to avoid disgracing any person within the nation, and to remove any kind of jealousy among them. Rabbi Aharon Dovid Goldberg, in his commentary Shiras Dovid, cites this explanation of Abarbanel and says that based on it, we can understand an otherwise enigmatic midrash with regard to arachin. The midrash in Vayikra Rabbah (37:2), says that when Moshe, while still living in Pharaoh's palace, went out to his brethren to observe their burdens (Shemos 2:11), he saw the burden of a man placed upon a woman and the burden of a woman placed upon a man, and the burden of an adult placed upon a child and the burden of a youth placed upon an elderly man. Seeing this, he went and rearranged the burdens so that everyone's load was age - and gender - appropriate, whether it was the load of a man, a woman, a young man or an elderly person. God then said that as a reward for doing this, Moshe would, in the future, explain to the people the laws of vows that are appropriate for each age and gender, or, in other words, the laws of arachin. Rabbi Goldberg explains that God was thereby acting in accordance with his principle of 'measure for measure.' Just as Moshe took the trouble to treat each person in a way that was compatible with his age and gender, so too did the laws of vows which he gave through Moshe deal with each person in a manner that preserved his or her human dignity. Based on Rabbi Goldberg' explanation of the midrash in the footprints of the Abarbanel, we can now understand the connection between the laws of arachin and the section of the tochacha.


At the beginning of parshas Bechukosai, God tells the people, "If you will go in My statutes and observe My commandments and perform them, then I will provide your rains in their time… "(Vayikra 26:3-4). Rashi, citing the Toras Kohanim, explains that the phrase 'walk in My statutes' cannot mean to observe the commandments, because that is mentioned in the subsequent phrase. Rather, it refers to laboring in Torah, meaning, studying torah in an intense way. Rabbi Nissan Alpert zt"l, in his Limudei Nissan, explains that when one labors in Torah properly, he delves into it to the point that he understands how the laws of the Torah apply to them on an individual plane, and internalizes that understanding. Following this approach, when the Torah then tells us that a failure to walk in God's statutes eventually leads to destruction and exile, it means that a failure to internalize the teachings of the Torah in a way that conforms to our inner selves is the root cause that triggers off this tragic process. This being so, the parsha of arachin, as explained by Rabbi Goldberg based on the Abarbanel, can be seen in its proper context. The parsha of' 'arachin' teaches us the importance of dealing with people in accordance with the stage of life that they are in. A person who is not attuned to his own inner needs will find it difficult to deal with others in a way appropriate for them, as well. When the root cause of the exile, the lack of laboring in Torah, has been eliminated with the end of the exile, it is once again possible to relate to others in a way that reflects a basic respect for their human dignity, as demanded by the laws of arachin.     



 Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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