A.
וידבר ד' אל משה בהר סיני
לאמר: דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אלהם כי תבאו אל הארץ אשר אני נתן לכם ושבתה הארץ
שבת לד': (“And Ha-Shem spoke to Moshe on Mt
Sinai [bë-Har Sinai] to say: Speak to the bënei Yisra’él and say
to them, For you will come to the land which I am giving you; and the land will
rest, a shabbath la-Shem”). So begins this week’s double parasha.
In commenting on the above passage, Rashi quotes
the midrash Torath Kohanim: מה ענין שמיטה אצל הר
סיני והלא כל המצות נאמרו מסיני? אלא מה שמיטה נאמרו כללותי' ודקדוקי' מסיני אף
כולן נאמרו כללותיטהן ודקדוקיהן מסיני. כך שנוי' בת"כ ונ"ל שכך פירושה
וגו' (“What has the subject of
shëmitta to do with Mt Sinai? Were not all the mitzvoth said from
Sinai [mi-Sinai]? Rather, just as the general principles and details of shëmitta
were said mi-Sinai, so were the general principles and details of
all of them said mi-Sinai. So is it taught in Torath Kohanim, and
so does its interpretation seem to me....”)
If we consider this midrashic comment on our
passage, two things stand out: Surely the point of departure of our midrash should
be the phrase bë-Har Sinai: Since all of the mitzvoth were said
at Sinai, why does the Torah find it necessary to mention it again
specifically in connexion with shëmitta? However, the actual wording of
the question, מה ענין שמיטה אצל הר סיני, suggests that there is some reason to
think that shëmitta should be divorced from the other mitzvoth and
their Sinaïtic origin. This requires elucidation.
Then there is the peculiar change in wording which
occurs in the midrash: Though our passage speaks of G-d addressing Moshe
bë-Har Sinai, the midrash consistently answers the question by
using a different case prefix, mi-Sinai, repeating the word three times.
Why?
Finally, we note that shëmitta also finds
mention in the Sifrei, in a somewhat similar vein: There, the thesis
that the mitzvoth were commanded at Sinai only in general terms, and the
details left for Moshe’s final address to Israel on the plains of Mo’av (i.e.,
the book of Deuteronomy) finds refutation in that, of all mitzvoth, shëmitta
is not to be found in the repetition in that address in Mo’av (שם, סדר דברים, פיסקא א' ), to indicate that its details were taught only at Sinai, as
indeed were those of all the other mitzvoth. If so, the ques-tion again
returns: Why is this mitzva in particular singled out for this
distinction?
B.
We start by turning to the first mishna in
Avoth, which begins: משה קבל תורה מסיני
(“Moshe received the Torah mi-Sinai....”). Many commentators note
the odd language: Did Moshe not receive the Torah bë-Sinai, from G-d?
To quote one of those commentators, the Ésh
Dath: אמרו במדרש עשרת הדברות : מפני מה זכה משה להיות
חתן תורה עקב ענוה ויראה שהיתה בו כו' הרי שמשה רבינו הי' ענו מכל האדם אשר על פני
האדמה. וכבר ידענו כי לכן ניתנה התורה דוקא על הר סיני משום עניוותו כמו שאמרו כו'
"ושפל רוח יתמך כבוד", זה סיני שהשפיל את עצמו לומר שאני נמוך ועל ידי
כך תמך הקב"ה את כבודו עליו
(“[Hazal] said in the Midrash ‘Asereth ha-Dibbëroth: Why
did Moshe merit to be the groom of the Torah? Because of the ‘anava [‘humility’]
and yir’a [‘awe’] within him....So Moshe our Teacher was more humble
than any person on the earth, and we already know that for this reason the
Torah was given on Mt Sinai because of its humility, as [Hazal]
said, ‘And the low of spirit will bear honour’ [Proverbs XXIX, 23], this is
Sinai, which humbled itself to say ‘I am low’, and because of that, the Holy
One, Blessed is He granted His glory upon it [במדבר רבה
פי"ג סי' ה']”).
ולכן,
concludes the Rebbe, אמר התנא "מסיני"
ולא "בסיני" כי משה למד מסיני כי רק על ידי עניוות יתירה זוכים לקבל את
התורה וה"פ משה קבל תורה מסיני שלמד מסיני כיצד לזכות לקבלה (“And there-fore the Tanna said mi-Sinai
and not bë-Sinai, because Moshe learnt from Sinai that only through
exemplary humility does one merit to receive the Torah, and this is the meaning
of Moshe qibbél Torah mi-Sinai, the hat learnt mi-Sinai how to
merit receiving it”).
This, then, is the lesson driven home by the fact
that (despite popular opinion and Arab legend), Har Sinai was a rather
humble and modest hill: That ‘anava is the quality essen-tial to qinyan
Torah.
Acceptance of the Torah mi-Sinai, that is,
with the Sinaïtic quality of ‘anava, brings about the seeming paradox
that performance of its mitzvoth reaches great spiritual heights. If we
bear in mind that the midda of ‘anava is essentially passive, in
the category of שב ואל תעשה, like the mitzva of shabbath, which largely
involves refraining from action, we may see an allusion to this in that a mitzva
which is dependent on the earth (and therefore lowly in character), shëmitta,
is in fact a shabbath la-Shem.
But the emphasis given by our midrash to shëmitta
with all its details brings into focus the very next verse: שש שנים תזרע שדך ושש שנים תזמר כרמך ואספת את תבואתה ובשנה השביעית שבת
שבתון יהי' לארץ שבת לד' וגו'
(“Six years you will sow your field and six years you will pruine your vineyard
and gather its produce; and in the seventh year there will a shabbath of
resting for the land; a shabbath la-Shem”).
The shëvuth of shabbath, whether it
is the weekly variety or that of shëmitta, is dependent on the fruits
of the preceding period; hence, even mitzvoth which are primarily
classed as שב ואל תעשה, such as shabbath, have a component which can be seen to
be classed as קום ועשה, requiring positive action. Thus, both types of mitzvoth require
trans-mission mi-Sinai to inculcate the fact that qinyan Torah requires
‘anava, which in turn can motivate and inform even the most mundane
activity, and guarantee that they be crowned with success.
C.
This principle resonates throughout the second
half of our double parasha as well: אם בחקתי תלכו
ואת מצותי תשמרו ועדיתם אתם: ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם וגו' (“If you go by My laws and keep My mitzvoth and do them:
And I shall give your rains in their time....”; XXVI, 3). The physical
well-being of the world is thus dependent on Torah-observance.
Rabbénu Bëhayé notes that the parshiya
(roughly, “paragraph”) in the séfer Torah which begins with this
verse extends through v. 13. Our verse begins with alef and v. 13 ends
with tav, the first and last letters of the holy alphabet, indicating
that the world’s physical well-being is dependent on learning and observing
Torah from alef to tav.
But if this is so, then why do we find eminent
talmidei hachamim in dire poverty?
Rabbi Hayyim Volozhiner offers the following:
אחרי אשר כתוב בתורה "אם בחקתי תלכו וגו' ונתתי גשמיכם
בעתם" וכל טובות העולם הזה מובטח לשומרי תורה ומה זה אשר עובד ד' ידכה ישוח
אבל הטעם הוא כי בשורש כל המצות מעוררים רב טוב ושפע עצום בכל העלמות ומוריד מזון
ורווח. אך אם עושי המצות מעוטים, ואין צינורים לשפע הטוב רק מהמעטים, וד' יתברך
שמו ברחמיו חפץ חסד שיהי' חיים ושפע לכל בני אדם גם לאינם ראויים. ונוטל השפע
מהמעטים השרידים יראי ד' ומחלק לכל בני אדם. לפעמים למי שבשבילו בא הכל, לעצמו
אינו מגיע וכמו שאמרו על ר' חנינא בן דוסא "כל העולם ניזון בשביל חנינא בני,
ופי' השל"ה "בשביל" לשון דרך וצנור כו' וחנינא בני די לו בקב חרובין"
וכי רק צינורו מוריד שפע לעולם ולעצמו לא הי' מגיע כי הי' מסתפק במועט וגו'
(“Since it is written in the Torah, ‘If you go by
My laws... And I shall give your rains in their time’, and all the good of this
world is promised to those who keep the Torah, how is it that one who serves
Ha-Shem can be oppressed and destitute? But the reason is that at the root of
all the mitzvoth [which they do], they awaken great good and huge
abundance [shefa‘] in al the worlds, and bring down nourishment and
sustenance. But if those doing mitzvoth are few, and the only conduits
for the shefa‘ of good are because of the few, and Ha-Shem in His mercy
desires kindness, that all people should have life and shefa‘, even the
undeserving, He takes the shefa‘ from the few, remaining G-d fearers and
distributes it to everybody. Sometimes, nothing is left for a person because of
whom [shebi-shvilo] everything comes [into the world], as Hazal
said of R’ Hanina ben Dosa, ‘The entire world is sustained bi-shvil
Hanina my son [and the Shela”h notes that a shvil is a
path or conduit]... and Hanina my son suffices with a bushel of carob’ [ברכות י"ז:],
since it as only his conduit bringing down shefa ‘ to the world, and for
himself nothing was left, for he was content with little....”; רוח חיים לאבות פ"א מ"ג החל מד"ה ויתכן).
D.
There is a phrase which one hears bandied about
a great deal to-day, tiqqun ‘olam. The phrase can be translated roughly
“rectifying, repairing the world.”
Our parasha is a clear object lesson in what
tiquun ‘olam really means: If you would rectify the world, open another
conduit! Dedicate more time to Torah learning, carry out the mitzvoth with
greater kavvana and precision, live your daily lives with the intent
that everything be done so that Torah can be learnt and observed. All of these
will bring greater abundance and sustenance into the world, and thereby expand
the “pie” to be distributed (as R’ Hayyim Volozhiner has so movingly
written).
The tremendous opportunity and responsibility for
the world’s well-being which Mattan Torah presents us is a worthy
subject for contemplation as we enter the last week of the sëfira and
prepare to accept the Torah anew.
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