From: JoshHoff@aol.com
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 3:25 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort:parshas Behar,5768
The Equalizer
By
Rabbi Joshua ( egalitarianly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
In this week's parsha we
are presented with the laws of shemittah, the seventh and last year of a
recurring cycle, in which we must leave the land fallow, and of yovel, the
fiftieth year, following immediately after shemittah, in which, again, , the
land must remain fallow, and a number of additional laws are commanded , as well.
After the laws of shemittah and yovel, and some additional laws of land sale
and depend on which year in the cycle the lands are sold, the Torah precedes
tells us, " if your brother becomes impoverished and his hand falters,in
your proximity, you shall hold on to him, proselyte and resident, so that he
can live with you" ( Vayikra, 28: 35). Why is this law of helping our poor
brother brought here, after all of the laws of shemittah and yovel, in which
the land must lay fallow? What is the connection between these laws?
Rabbi Moshe Sterrnbuch, in his Ta'am Veda'as, suggests that there is a
danger looming in the wake of leaving the land fallow for a year or two in
keeping with God's command, and thereby developing a sense of belief and trust
in Him. People who follow these laws may develop such a strong trust in God
that they will begin to feel that everyone must feel this way, and if someone
becomes impoverished he, too, should not worry, and simply rely on God to help
him out. Thus, the person who has just displayed such great fealty to God's
laws in regard to how he manages his land, may now display a measure of cruelty
to his suffering brother. To avoid this from happening, the Torah tells us,
immediately after the laws of shemittah and yovel, that while it is important f
for us to trust in God to provide us with our needs, when it comes to our
friend who is suffering, we have to help him ourselves, and not simply rely on
God to help him.
Although Rabbi Sternbuch does not mention this, his explanation is
reminiscent of the teaching of Rav Yisroel Salanter, the great founder of the
mussar movement, that people misplace their priorities. While the proper
approach to life is to worry about one's own spirituality and about his
friend's physical needs, most people do the opposite, and care about their own
physical needs and their friend's spirituality. There is also a storytold
of the Chassidic Rebbe,Rav Moshe Leib of Sassov, who was
asked that if, as he taught,every trait and attitude in the world has its
place and can be used for good, what is then is the positive aspect of
agnosticism? He answered that agnosticism has its place when it comes to
helping a poor person. When someone asks you for help, he said, you shouldn't
tell him to rely on God for help and that everything will be fine. Rather, you
should act as if you didn't know if God exists to help this person, and take
care of his needs yourself. Similarly, according to Rabbi Sternbuch, although
one has strengthened his relationship with God over the shemitah and yovel
years, he should not transfer that reliance which he has developed over to his
needy friend and rely on God to help him. Instead, he should 'hold on to him,'
provide him with the help he needs, and make sure that he does not fall any
further. While this explanation of Rabbi Sternbuch is very inspiring, it
emphasizes a more negative aspect of the effect of shemittah and yovel on
people. I would lie to present a different explanation, which focuses on the
positive effects that shemittah and yovel can have.
The Kesav Sofer, in his
commentary to parshas Behar writes that the reason the Torah mentions that the
laws of shemittah were given at Mt. Sinai is to teach us that it was the
message of shemittah that enabled the Jews to receive the Torah. during
shemittah, all Jews are on the same level, since landowners must leave their
land fallow and declare whatever grows in their land to be ownerless and free
for everyone to take. In this way, just as on Shabbos, when no one engages in
his usual labor and everyone congregates in their synagogues to pray and learn
together, so, too, during the years of shemittah and yovel, rich and poor are
treated alike, thus creating a feeling of brotherhood and oneness, which
is necessary for the Torah to be fulfilled. Rashi in parshas Yisro, citing the
midrash, tells us that the Jews encamped before Mt.Sinai as one person,
with one heart. Without this sense of oneness, the Torah could not have
been given to the Jewish people, because , by its nature, no one person
can fulfill all of the laws of the Torah. Not every person is a kohein so that
he can fulfill the mitzvos that pertain to the kohein, and so on down the line.
It is only through the collective of the Jewish nation that all of the laws of
the Torah can be fulfilled, and , therefore, there needed to be a sense of
oneness among the Jewish people when they were given the Torah so that their
commitment to observe all of its precepts would have meaning. The
shemittah year, then, teaches us this important message of unity and equality
among all sectors of Jewry. After the year ends, when we are encountered with a
Jew who has become impoverished , we will understand that he is part of
us, and that we must help provide for his needs. That is,therefore,an
additional message that can be learned from the fact that
the law regarding our impoverished brother follows the
laws of shemittah and yovel in our parsha.
Netvort archives are temporarily available at http://www.yucs.org/heights/torah/bysubject/
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.
Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new
twists on family favorites at AOL Food.