From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2005 2:37 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Behar, 5765




                                                  

                                             Run Silent, Run Deep

                     By Rabbi Joshua (inwardly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


 This week's parsha, Behar, begins with the mitzvos of shemittah, the seventh year in a recurring cycle, during which it is prohibited to work the fields in Eretz Yisroel, and of yovel, which occurs on the fiftieth year, after the completion of seven cycles of shemittah, and, among other things, also prohibits working those fields. After these laws, the Torah presents us with a series of laws regarding the selling of one's ancestral field, of his house, and, eventually, of himself as a slave. Rashi, toward the end of the parsha (Vayikra 26:1), citing the Talmud (Kiddushin, 20a), writes that the laws recorded in our parsha follow a sequential order. First, we are informed of the prohibitions of shemittah. If someone desired money and did business with shemittah produce, he will eventually need to sell his movable property. If he repents, the cycle stops there. However, if he persists in his halachic violations, he will need to sell his land, and then his house, and then he will find a need to borrow on interest - another Torah prohibition - and then sell himself to a Jew as a slave, and eventually, sell himself to a non-Jew as a slave. All of these laws, then, seem to fit into the context of the shemittah and yovel laws. However, it is interesting to note that the Torah here mentions another law that, ostensibly, is not inherently connected to the laws of shemittah. The Torah tells us," If your brother becomes impoverished and his hand falters 'with you' (imach), you shall hold on to him… Do not take from him interest and increase' (Vayikra 25:35-36). Although, in context, we are being told to make an interest-free loan to the person who has encountered hard times, and these verses thus fit into the pattern that Rashi mentions later, the midrash sees verse 35 in a wider context as referring to the wider mitzvoh of tzedokoh, or 'charity,' as it is usually translated. I believe that a deeper understanding of the mitzvoh of shemittah will help us see a dimension of tzedokoh that we would not have appreciated if it had not appeared in this context.

 The Midrash Rabbah in the beginning of Vayikra (1:1) cites Rav Yitzchok, who likens those people who observe the laws of shemittah to angels and warriors of great strength. Rabbi Yitzchok explains that the verse in Tehillim (103:20) , "…His (God's) angels, the strong warriors who do His bidding, to obey the voice of His word…" refers to those who keep the shemittah. He goes on to explain why those who keep the shemittah are referred to as angels and strong warriors : "Usually when a person fulfills a mitzvoh, it is for a short period of time, sometimes for a day, or maybe a month, but does he do so for the rest of the days of the year ? This person sees his field wasted ; his vineyard wasted ; still he has to pay taxes, nevertheless he is silent. Is there a stronger man than this ? " Rabbi Chaim Ya'akov Goldvicht, zt"l, founding Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Kerem B'Yavneh in Israel, noted that the focus in this midrash seems to be on the silence of the shemittah observers, in the face of the condition of their untilled fields. This silence, he says, echoes the reaction of the Jewish nation at Mt. Sinai, when they were told that God would be giving them the Torah. They responded, 'we will do (the mitzvos) and we will listen.'  When God heard these words, he asked,' "who revealed the secret of the angels to my children?'  Rav Goldvicht explains that angels, by their very nature, do God's will in silence, without question. This is why the verse in Tehillim cited by the midrash refers to angels as those who do God's bidding. Human beings, however, are accustomed to examine a matter with their own intellect before accepting it.The Jewish nation, however, reacted to the giving of the Torah with complete acceptance and willingness to do God's will, thus resembling the angels who do God's bidding. This reaction bespoke an understanding of the nature of the Torah. The midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 1:2) tells us that God looked into the Torah and created the world. The meaning behind this is that the laws of nature were made in conformity with the laws of the Torah. When people observe the mitzvos of the Torah, the natural world responds in a way that facilitates this observance. Thus, when the Jewish nation observes the laws of shemittah, the land responds by yielding enough produce for three years.

 The silence of the heroic shemittah observers that is praised in the midrash, continues Rav Goldvicht, should be seen in contrast to those who the Torah visualizes as voicing their apprehension, as the shemittah year approaches, that they will have no produce to live on because of their observance of the applicable laws. To calm these fears, the Torah assures them that the land will produce, in the sixth year, enough for three years (Vayikra 25:20-22). Rav Goldvicht explains that those who are silent when facing the shemittah year are on a higher level than the people referred to directly in the Torah, because they understand that the Torah is the blueprint of the world, and it was created in a way that would make it possible for them to observe the laws of shemittah, letting their land lay fallow and still producing all that they need to subsist. They thus retain their silence in face of the approaching sabbatical year, firm in their belief that they will not go lacking (see Ohr Gedalyohu by Rav Gedalyohu Schorr, for a somewhat different approach to the significance of the silence referred to in the midrash).  

 There is, actually a deeper dimension of Rav Goldvicht's explanation of the midrash in Bereishis Rabbah which he does not point out, but which is developed by Rav Avrohom Yitzchok Bloch, who was the Rosh HaYeshivah of the Telshe Yeshivah in pre-war Lithuania. Rabbi Bloch wrote that when the midrash tells us that God looked into the Torah and created the world, it is saying that the personality of the Jew was created in conformity with the laws of the Torah. Thus, when a Jew observes the laws of the Torah, he is really actualizing his inner self. Based on this analysis of Rabbi Bloch, we can explain the silence of the Jewish people when they were given the Torah at Mt. Sinai as being reflective of an inner awareness that by observing the mitzvos of the Torah, they were all bringing out their true, inner personalities, and, as a result, they fell silent, overtaken by the feeling of tranquility and inner peace that comes when one is being true to himself. This is also the reason that the people who observe shemittah remain silent as they see their land going unworked for an entire year. Since this is what the Torah commands them to do, they understand that it is exactly what they need for their own personal fulfillment, and their feeling of inner peace says all that needs to be said. Based on this understanding, I believe that we can now return to the mitzvoh of tzedokoh, as presented in parshas Behar, and understand why it is mentioned within the context of the laws of shemittah.

 As we have seen, the mitzvoh of tzedokoh in parshas Behar is phrased," If your brother becomes impoverished and his hand falters 'with you' (imach), you shall hold on to him." The word 'imach' - with you - needs to be understood. In what way is this man's financial failure considered as being 'with you?' Rav Eliyohu Meir Bloch, brother of Rav Avrohom Yitzchok Bloch, and one of the two leaders who brought the Telshe Yeshivah to Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1940s, explained, based on various midrashim, that the mitzvoh of giving tzedokoh is really more for the benefit of the giver than of the receiver. The primary character trait that typifies the Jewish people, he says, is that of chesed, of doing acts of loving-kindness. This trait was given over to us from our forefather Avrohom, and is part of our inner personality. The essence of this trait is a need to give to others. Avrohom felt a need to give even when there weren't any needy people in sight, and, so, God sent him angels in the guise of nomadic travelers so that he would be able to actualize this inner need. Avrohom, in this way, was emulating God, whose nature is to give, and he gave this trait over to the nation that he engendered. Thus, when a Jew gives tzedokoh, he is bringing out part of his inner self, as inherited from his forefather Avrohom. In this way, the mitzvoh of tzedokoh is appropriately placed in parshas Behar, which teaches us how to bring out our inner nature in a very stark form, by leaving our land fallow during shemittah and yovel with a sense of inner peace.



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

To subscribe to Netvort, send a message with subject line subscribe, to Netvort@aol.com. To unsubscribe, send message with subject line unsubscribe, to the same address.