It is no secret that on Shabbos, I walk several miles to shul. When people discover this about they ask me two questions. Since this is Toronto and not San Diego, the first question usually includes something about the weather. “How do you manage to walk four miles in winter?” When I answer them that I grew up in Rochester, NY, they give offer me a look of pity and say that Toronto winter’s aren’t as bad. However it is the second question which is far more interesting. “Rabbi” they ask, “what do you think about for four miles while walking on Shabbat?” I think about a lot of things: the shiur that I am giving that Shabbos morning, or, if I am giving the Shabbos Drash, I go through the talk in my head a few times. If the weather is nice, I think about the change of seasons, nature, and the passage of time. I think about my life, the various turns it is taken, the path that my wife and I have chosen. While I would love to say that I only think about these very deep, spiritual and profound thoughts, every so often my thoughts turn to the mundane. When the Lotto 649 and Lotto Max hit about 30 million, I start thinking about buying a ticket. I think about winning. I think about allocating the money to my family and to charities. When the Mega million Lottery exceeds $100 million in the States, I have the fleeting thought of purchasing a ticket, getting the winning number and allocating funds to my family and to Charities. By the time I am finished investing, saving, and donating whatever is left over after my lottery winnings are taxed, I miraculously arrive at the shul. What makes this thought, or this daydream so powerful is that I only buy one ticket. After I am done explaining about all the things that I think about, there is usually one follow up question. “You only buy one ticket?”
This week we read from Parsha Behar, the second to last Parsha of the Sefer VaYikrah, (The Book of Leviticus). Except for the very beginning of Sefer Vayikra, when God “Karah” called out to Moshe, every time God spoke to Moshe or Aharon and Moshe it was with the phrase, Vayidaber Hashem El Moshe Leimor (And God Spoke to Moshe saying:”. Now, the second to last Parsha of VaYikra begins with Vayidaber Hashem El Moshe B’Har Sinai Leimor: (Hashem Spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai saying :”). Obviously the words Behar Sinai has been added to this very standard phrase. So far, we have read how to elevate our lives with holiness. We elevate our lives by thanking God and atoning to God, through a variety of Korbonot. We elevate our lives by avoiding behavior that defiles us; we don’t marry our sisters. We elevate our lives in everyday physical behaviors; we only eat certain types of food. We elevate our lives by consciously setting aside holy times throughout the day, week, and season. Until now, the focus of holiness has been relationship specific, time specific, location (as in Mishkan) specific. Now for the first time the focus is upon the covenantal land specific, Eretz Yisroel. In Parsha Behar we elevate our lives and our land with holiness by setting aside another type of sacred time, Shmitta (the seventh year.) Just like the seventh day (Shabbat) is a day of rest. Shmitta is a year of rest. Every seventh year, all outstanding debts are cancelled. The land lies fallow. Slaves and servants are set free. Agriculturally speaking, there is a benefit. Resting the soil for a year allows for replenishment of nutrients. Rabbinically speaking, less time devoted to agricultural concerns, to mundane concerns, meant more time devoted to Torah study!
Behar, we may consider this notion of Shmitta to be quite nice. All debts are cancelled. On the other hand, if the land is to lie fallow, what would people eat? We are urged to trust God. Just like we stood at Sinai and entered into a covenant with God, that covenant had to be based upon trust. Ultimately, that was a covenant is based upon - trust between two parties. Here again, the notion of Shmitta is based upon Bitachon, - Trust in God. How much trust do we need in God in order to fulfill the laws of Shmitta? At the end of the 6th year, the harvest must be bountiful enough to cover the Shmitta year, (7th year) and the end of the planting and harvesting of the first year of the next cycle. V’Chi Tomru Ma Nochal BaShana HaShviit Hein Lo Nizrah V’Lo Ne’esof et Tevu’ateinu And if you will say: What will we eat in the seventh year: Behold we will not sow and not gather in our crops! V’Tsiviti et Birchati Lachem BaShanah H’Shishit V’Asat et Hatvu’ah Lishlosh HaShanim I will command my blessing upon the sixth year and it will bring forth (enough) produce for three years (Lev. 25:20-21). Just like God provided a double portion of Manna on Friday and thereby guarantee enough food for Shabbat, so too God will “guarantee” enough produce in the sixth year. B’nai Yisroel won’t starve in the seventh (Shmitta) year. Instead, we are going to Acknowledge God’s presence in our lives, in the land, and that God is the Primary Force not nature.
We understand that we cannot teach trust nor can we teach faith. Trust and Faith are functions of experience. A Child trusts the parent to return to his/her room only after the parent has left and returned enough times for the baby to learn it. Our trust in God is a direct function of our ability to reach various levels of Kedusha. We learn that every rung climbed towards Kedusha, we have the opportunity to engage in a more intimate relationship with God. That intimacy helps us confirm our trust in God. We trust that God is Holy; otherwise we would have no need to be holy. We trust that everything pure and good is attributable to God. Otherwise, we would constantly defile ourselves. We trust that we are created in God’s image. Otherwise, there is no reason to treat people with kindness first. Trust in God, in a sense, is a spiritually individualized Mishkan. The Mishkan was built so that God would dwell among us. Similarly, if our purpose is to attain higher and higher levels of Kedusha, we trust that the end result is God’s dwelling within us.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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