Bostoner Torah Insights: Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English and Hebrew: Parshas Behar Bechukosai – 26 Iyar 5785
Bostoner Torah Insights - Yerushalayim
Bostoner Torah Insights
Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English
Parshas Behar Bechukosai – 26 Iyar 5785
Bostoner Rebbe shlit”a – Yerushalayim
Secretariat Email: bosto...@gmail.com
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“Hashem spoke to Moshe on Har Sinai saying” (Vayikra 25:1). Rashi quotes the well-known expression מה ענין שמיטה אצל הר סיני, ‘What does Shmitah have to do with Har Sinai?’, which today has become a universally used expression in modern Hebrew, even by secular Israelis, in response to a non-sequitur.
As quoted by Rashi, the Midrash in Toras Kohanim explains that just as all of the general principles as well as the minute details of the laws of Shmitah were given to Moshe on Har Sinai, so too were all of the principles and details of all the Mitzvos transmitted to Moshe in their entirety on Har Sinai. Notwithstanding the explanation of the Midrash, one could continue the line of questioning, as the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh does, as to why Shmitah was chosen as the paradigm to teach this lesson as opposed to any other Mitzvah.
The Ohr HaChaim suggests that the Mitzvah of Shmitah was used because within its presentation, the status of Eretz Yisroel as a ‘gift’ received from Hashem is mentioned. As the adjacent Pasuk states, “…when you will enter the Land that I will give you and settle it there will be a Shabbos for Hashem” (Vayikra 25:2). Shabbos here referring to the land ‘resting’ during the Shmitah year.
The ‘gift’ of Eretz Yisroel is juxtaposed to the ‘gift’ of Torah given on Har Sinai to make a clear correlation between the two. Hashem’s ‘gift’ of Eretz Yisroel is inherently interconnected to the ‘gift’ of Torah. As Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai states, “Three wonderful gifts HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave to Yisroel…and they are Torah, Eretz Yisroel and Olam HaBah…” (Brachos 5a)
Only by accepted the gift of Torah did Klal Yisroel merit to receive the complementary ‘gift’ of Eretz Yisroel. Eretz Yisroel was designed for the Torah observant, and ideally, Hashem only wants Eretz Yisroel inhabited by those who keep the laws of the Torah. Accordingly, if Chas V’Shalom the Jewish People neglect the ‘gift’ of Torah they may be forcibly removed from Eretz Yisroel, as is inscribed in the Mezuzah that we affix to our door and the Tefillin we affix next to our heart and our mind, and which we recite twice daily in the Kriyas Shema, “Beware, lest your heart be seduced an you turn astray…you will be swiftly banished from the goodly Land that Hashem gives you” (Devarim 11:16-17)
The Ohr HaChaim further explains that receiving the Torah was actually a prerequisite for receiving Eretz Yisroel based on Avodah Zara 20a, which states that it is forbidden to give a ‘unilateral gift’ to a non-Jew. Although there is a disagreement in the Gemara on this point, the Rambam codifies the Halacha this way in accordance with Rebbe Yehudah (Hilchos Zechya U’Matanah 3:11). Since the Jewish people were considered Bnei Noach before they received the Torah at Sinai, Hashem, if it were possible, would be in violation of giving a gift to a non-Jew. Therefore, Hashem only bequeathed the gift of Eretz Yisroel to Klal Yisroel after Matan Torah.
One might ask, if this is true, how could Hashem have given them the Torah, which was also a ‘gift’, since they were B’nei Noach at the time. The solution is similar to how a non-Jewish slave may acquire his document of freedom from his master, even though until that point the slave does not have the ability to acquire for himself, because his acquisitions belong to his master. Based on the principle of Gita V’Yadah Ba’in K’Echad, that the document and the ability to receive can occur simultaneously, only the Torah could have been the first ‘unilateral gift’ given by Hashem to the Children of Yaakov, according to the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh.
This explanation of the Ohr HaChaim complements the statement of Chazal that Ain Torah K’Toras Eretz Yisroel (Vayikra Rabbah 13:5) that the highest possible quality of Torah can only be found in Eretz Yisroel. May it be Hashem’s will that all of Klal Yisroel will soon merit to learn Torah and perform all of its Mitzvos in Eretz Yisroel, especially those that may only be performed in Eretz Yisroel, with the coming of the Biyas Goel speedily in our days.