Bostoner Torah Insights: Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in Hebrew and English: Emor – 15 Iyar 5786
Bostoner Torah Insights - Yerushalayim
Bostoner Torah Insights
Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English
Emor – 15 Iyar 5786
Bostoner Rebbe shlit’a – Yerushalayim
Secretariat Email: bosto...@gmail.com
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The latter half of Parshas Emor features a discussion of the Jewish Festivals. "Speak to Bnei Yisroel and say to them: Hashem's appointed festivals which are to be called Mikra'ay Kodesh ['Calls to Holiness']. These are my festival days: For six days you may perform Melacha, and on the seventh day [shall be] Shabbat Shabbaton Mikra Kodesh, all Melacha shall not be performed, it is Shabbos for Hashem in all of your dwelling places" (Vayikra 23:2-3).
Rashi quoting the Sifra (Emor 9:7) asks, "Why is Shabbos included among the list of the festivals? In order to teach that all who profane the festivals are deemed as having profaned the Shabbos, and all those who preserve the festivals are deemed as having preserved the Shabbos.
The Torah Temima explains that one might have thought that since the dates of the festivals are determined by human Beis Din courts via the sanctification of the New Moon, that the sanctity of the festivals are inherently 'man-made' and on a lower level than the sanctity of the divine Shabbos. Thus, the Torah equates Shabbos with the other festivals to demonstrate that the sanctity of the festivals is equivalent to the sanctity of the Shabbos, and each requires the same level of honor.
While it may be true that the laws prohibiting Melacha may be slightly different, and the punishment for a violation on the Shabbos is more severe than a similar violation on Yom Kippur or Yom Tov, the qualitative Kedusha of these sanctified days are the same. This is because all sanctity of time is rooted in 'the seventh day', the original Shabbos that completed the six days of Creation, when Hashem endowed the world with the sanctity of time. All subsequent Kedusha of Zman is a manifestation of the sanctity of 'The Seventh'.
Even the seven days of Yom Tov in the Jewish calendar follow this pattern. Two Days of Pesach, Shavuos, Rosh Hashana, Succos and Shmini Atzeres can be referred to as Shabbos, as we find in Parshas Emor by the first day of Pesach in the context of Sefiras HaOmer, "You shall count for yourselves from the day after the Shabbos" (Vayikra 23:15). However, Yom Kippur is on a slightly higher plane and is called 'Shabbat Shabbaton' (23:3).
This is in fact how the Vilna Gaon explains the opening Pesukim to the section of festivals quoted above, "For six days you may perform Melacha" refers to the other days of Yom Tov where cooking and other Melacha for Ochel Nefesh is permitted. "On the seventh day [shall be] Shabbat Shabbaton Mikra Kodesh, all Melacha shall not be performed" refers to Yom Kippur, when even Melacha for Ochel Nefesh is prohibited"
The Shmitah year, another sanctified time that is discussed next week in Parshas Behar, runs on the same cycle of seven. "For six years you may sow your field and…prune your vineyard…but the seventh year shall be Shabbat Shabbaton for the land" (Vayikra 25:3-4). Looking at it from a different perspective, if there is an average of 52 Shabbos days in one year, then after six years, 312 Shabbos days have allowed the land is at rest. Thus, the 52 Shabbos days of the seventh year combine with the sanctity of the previous 312 Shabbos days from the prior six years to create one full Shmitah year of 354 Shabbos days.
The sanctity of Yovel can be explained in the same manner. "You shall count seven cycles of Shabbos…shall be for you forty-nine years. You shall sanctify the fiftieth year…"(Vayikra 25:8-10). In other words, each sanctified Shmitah year contains its own 52 Shabbos days. After seven years, 364 Shabbos days have accrued which in turn creates the next level of sanctity, the Yovel year.
In fact, on average, one-seventh of each 354-day lunar year are days of Mikra Kodesh or 'Shabbos'. The 52 weekly Shabbos days on average along with the 7 days of Yom Tov equals 59 days of 'Shabbos' rest.
Finally, we come to the period of Sefiras HaOmer, described in Parshas Emor. "You shall count for yourselves…there shall be seven complete [Shabbos] weeks. Until the day after the seventh Shabbos you shall count fifty days…" (Vayikra 23:15-16). These 50 days of Sefiras HaOmer and Shavuos are designed for us to refine our character and purify ourselves, each day climbing another level of purity, culminating in the receiving of the holy Torah. Is it any wonder that one-seventh of the year was set aside from the rest of the year and consecrated for this specific purpose.
May our comprehension and utilization of the sanctity of time, combine with a similar comprehension and utilization of the sanctity of space and the sanctity of man, so that we may speedily merit the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdash – where the Kohen Gadol will enter the Kodesh Kodashim on Yom Kippur, and "provide atonement" for all of us "before Hashem Elokeichem" (Vayikra 23:26).