Behar 5774:    A Double Message

By Rabbi Joshua (boundedly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

 

Parshas Behar deals mainly with the laws of shemittah, calling on us to leave the land fallow in the seventh year, and the laws of yovel, calling on us to leave the land fallow an additional year, the fiftieth, as well to restore the land to its original owners, and to free our slaves. A major message of these laws is to strengthen out trust in God, as the sovereign of the land, and as true provider. 

 

Interestingly, these laws are followed by laws regulating how to treat people in their time of need. We are told to strengthen the hand of someone who is slipping, offering him a loan, and not charging interest. Why do these laws follow those of shemittah and yovel? The Dubno Magid explains, that when we see someone in need we should not simply tell him to trust in God, but rather, help him out to the extent that we can. Trust in God is a personal matter, not something we tell others to do in order to avoid helping them. This explanation is in line with the teaching of Rav Yisroel Salanter, who said that we should worry about our own spirituality along with other people’s material needs, rather than the opposite (our own needs and the other's spirituality), which unfortunately is what many people do.

 

Actually, the message of shemittah and yovel entails both aspects of comportment. We must acknowledge God’s sovereignty over the land by keeping it fallow, and allow others to benefit from it by declaring its produce ownerless, and allowing others to partake of it.  In Parshas Bechukosai, the Torah declares the severe punishment that would come from neglecting the laws of shemittah, but more than simply failing to leave the land fallow is included in this punishment. The Torah says, “The land will be bereft of them, and it will be appeased for its shemittah year having become desolate of them, and they must gain appeasement for their iniquity, indeed, as retribution for having rejected My ordinances (mishpatim) and because their spirit rejected my statutes (chukosai) (Vayikra 26:43).  Rav Yechezkel Abramsky points out that both mishpatim and chukim are mentioned in this verse. He cites the prophet Yeshaya, who, in his message of comfort to the Jewish people after the exile tells them, “Be comforted, be comforted my people” (Yeshaya 40:6). The rabbis explain that the people sinned in a double way, were punished in a double way, and would be comforted in a double way.  Rav Abramsky explains that the double sin consisted, on the one hand, of a rejection of God’s command, not leaving the land fallow, and, on the other hand, in a lack of proper respect of, and conduct toward, other people.  Thus, even though the Torah describes our punishment as coming due to neglect of shemittah, this entails a double meaning, encompassing both the command to leave the land fallow, as well as the need to treat the people of the land properly. Punishment comes when both aspects of this double requirement are neglected.