I Hope You Will Believe What I Say Is True (Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia - "They Love Each Other")

It has been and continues to be a very exciting time to be a basketball fan in Toronto. Yes, you heard me: a basketball fan in Toronto. Make no mistake, this is still a hockey crazed city; cable TV is televising minor league hockey playoffs. In America, I think 14 people might watch minor league hockey playoffs. Spring has belonged to the Toronto Raptors. Indeed they have captured the hearts of the city, people walk around town wearing Toronto Raptors jerseys and hats. Even though the Raptors  won one seven game series earlier in the month; Toronto fans still carry decade’s worth of numerous heartbreaks in its professional sports teams. As a result of all this heartbreak; Toronto fans lack faith. When the Raptors had lost the first two games to the Cavaliers in Cleveland, I heard people say things like, “well they had a really good season, we should be happy about that”, or “there is no way they can come back against Cleveland, we are proud that the Raptors got this far.” Those are some of the things I hears from die-hard fans. I think about a high school friend of mine growing up in the 80’s who was a die-hard Celtic fan; when the Celtics had Larry Bird. The Celtics could have lost by fifty point in each of the first two road games, been completely out played, out hustled and out coached. Of course I would have been mocking him, suggesting that he could forget the NBA playoffs and focus on baseball. He would always tell me two things. First, losing the two road games of a seven game series means nothing. It only means that “Home court” advantage is just that, a home court advantage. Second, he reminded me that he had complete faith in his Celtics winning at the Boston Garden. So with Toronto down 0-2; I have been telling my worried congregant to have faith, have faith in the team, have faith in the home court, have faith in what is known in Toronto as “Jurassic Park”. So the Raptors have now won their two games. The snake-bit Toronto faithful now need to have faith that “Home Court” will prevail until game 7 returns to Cleveland. Then Raptors fans should pray for a miracle.

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 land  of Eretz Yisroel as a part of the covenant. 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 6^th year, the harvest must be bountiful enough to cover the Shmitta year, (7^th 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. When a team wins enough game 7’s, or wins close games in a consistent manner, or when an organization has won many championships; the fans will have learned faith in that team’s inevitable success.  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. For Toronto Raptor fans, hopefully God will be dwelling on the Toronto side of the bench.

Peace,

Rav Yitz