A Taste of Shabbos – Parashat Behar-Bechukotai

The end of the middle book of the Torah is pretty intense; a prime focus in this double parasha reading is on the uniqueness of living in the land of Israel, and in contrast the prediction of the challenges of exile. The blessings of the land are profuse, but the warning of not living there correctly are dire. The takeaways for our times are very complex and greatly debated.

However I do find one common theme that I’d like to share with you. The first portion, Behar, which literally means at the mountain (referring to Sinai) deals with the laws of Shmittah, the Sabbatical year where the land lies fallow, and people are allowed to consume only that which has already grown. Furthermore, your estate is practically ownerless and other people and even animals may come and consume whatever grows on your property. In addition, loans of money that were given during the previous six years, are ‘let go’ (which is really what Shmittah means) in the seventh year.

From a social perspective,  the point seems to be that we are meant to level the playing field and reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, between the haves and the have nots. However, this equality must exist on a more than physical plane. Psalm 41 begins, ‘Fortunate is the one who deals wisely with the indigent.’ This means even when we give to the poor, we are not allowed to demean them.

Also, both portions deal with a slippery slope of disconnection from community and G-d. However, as Rebbe Nachman would often say, ‘If you are able to mess up, you are also able to repair.’ The Kabbalah term of ‘TIKUN OLAM,’ repair of the world has become popular these days. And Rav Pinson points out that the word TIKUN is the same letters as TINOK, a young child or infant. As we read in Pirkei Avot chapter four, ‘One who learns as a child is like writing on clean paper.’ The Lubavitcher Rebbe explained, as in much of Pirkei Avot, the lessons are more prescriptive than descriptive. In other words, even if one was unable to learn Torah in their youth, when the interest and opportunity comes about, one should learn with a sense of wonder and amazement as a young child would learn, even though quantitative years have gone by.

One might say, ‘where there is life, there is hope, and faith.’ This is shown by a striking verse about Shmittah: ‘If a person will ask, what shall we eat in the sixth year’…(so G-d replies) ‘I will ‘COMMAND’ my blessing, so that the land will produce for three years (till the planting occurs again) The Hassidic master, R.  Zusia elaborates: If a person will ask, implies doubt, even though G-d already promised. That doubt says the Rebbe, will block the channels of blessing, even though the flow was ready to come down. Therefore, G-d needs, so to speak, command the channel to reopen! This conveys an extraordinary lesson: In general if G-d made a specific promise about something, even our inner doubt alone, can prevent that promise from being manifest to us. Conversely, our faith alone, even when we may not be deserving, can open the channels of blessing. It seems the sages realized the Law of Attraction long before it became popular!

One general takeaway from both these portions is that when we are given material or spiritual blessings, we are meant to use them for the highest purpose. This is the idea behind the saying, ‘there is no reward for mitzvot in this world.’ But just as we feel that deprivations are not random, so we should believe that abundance is not random. The Torah in these portions does list many blessings for dedication to Torah principles, so how can the sages say, ‘there is no reward in this world?’ Maimonides has a brilliant response. He claims that the material blessings we receive are not meant as a reward for good actions. Indeed, everything this world has to offer cannot be enough payment for the fulfillment of even one mitzvah. Rather, the additional blessings are meant to bestow upon us added opportunities to perform more mitzvot in a better way. A clear example would be if a person ‘struck it rich.’ This windfall would place a greater responsibility to give more charity than before. As one of my favorite lines from Spiderman II = ‘with greater power comes greater responsibility.’

The term ‘Shabbos’ is repeated over and over in these portions. The parallel is clear in the sense that we do our work for six days, and then ‘let go’ on Shabbos. Thus, since all sevens are connected, a similar dynamic is true about Shabbos. If there is an activity that we are engaged in during the six days of the week, if we take a break and stop when Shabbos comes, even though according to natural law, we will accomplish less, since the Torah is divine wisdom which transcends natural law, not only can we be assured that we will not lose out, but we can also be assured that we will gain more. This is true also about giving Tzedakah, charity. The Torah tells us that what we give away is really our only eternal possession. Buying extra supplies for Shabbos is actually chalked up to a ‘carte blanche’ where what we spend is not detracted from our annual allotment on Rosh Hashanah. The highest motive in all the ‘sevens’ is not for our own benefit. Just as the first Shabbos of Creation was meant to elevate the world for a divine dwelling, so too the other sevens. Therefore, the very first Rashi in Behar asks, ‘Why is Shmittah mentioned in reference to Mt. Sinai?’ Many sages point out the order should be reversed to say, ‘Why is Mt. Sinai mentioned in reference to Shmittah?’ One answer is that Shmittah deals with ephemeral material existence and therefore our eternal connection to the revelation at Mt. Sinai needs to be our constant. The sages debate about which day of Sivan Shavuot occurred, but they all agree it happened on Shabbat.  Observing Shabbos the best we can gives us the best chance to distinguish between the variables and the constants in our lives. This is the best time of the year for this reminder.