BOSTONER TORAH INSIGHTS II BOSTONER ‘CHASSIDUS’ IN ENGLISH Parshas Behar–Bechukosai 24 Iyar 5773 Bostoner Rebbe shlit”a – Yerushalayim Secretariat E–mail: [email protected] FOR THE

REFUAH SHLAYMA OF BOAZ BEN ILANA CHAYA

“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 approach of the Ohr HaChaim reminded me of a question I was once asked by a certain Talmud Chacham in the name of his granddaughter who was learning Parshas Beshalach in school. She asked, “How can the Torah say that, “Hashem did not lead them by the way of the land of Plishtim, because it was near…” (Shemos 13:17)? How could Hashem have taken them directly to Eretz Yisroel? Didn’t B’nei Yisroel have to receive the Torah at Har Sinai first? Hashem had already told Moshe, “…When you take the people out of Mitzrayim you will serve Hashem on this mountain” (Shemos 3:12). How could the Jewish People go to Eretz Yisroel without first coming to ‘The Mountain of Elokim’ at Chorev (Shemos 3:1) where Hashem first spoke to Moshe. I suggested that Pesachim 118a expounds the words, “And the mountains danced like rams” (Tehillim 114:6) refers to the Giving of the Torah. Beraishis Rabbah (99:1) explains that at the time of Matan Torah, many mountains came ‘running’ and ‘arguing’ with one another why the Torah should be given upon them. Mount Tabor came from Beit Aylim and Mount Carmel came from Aspamya. Rabbeinu Bachya explains (Shemos 19:24) that this is not an allegory, but it actually happened that the mountains uprooted themselves to attend Matan Torah. He points to Megillah 29a, which implies that Mount Carmel and Mount Tabor were rewarded by being re-rooted in Eretz Yisroel, because they were in attendance at Matan Torah. I concluded that if we accept that mountains can be uprooted from their place and replanted in Eretz Yisroel, perhaps Har Sinai would have been uprooted and placed in Eretz Yisroel for Matan Torah, and we would have received Torah and Eretz Yisroel simultaneously. However, for whatever reason, Hashem chose not to take us to Eretz Yisroel first to receive the Torah there on Har Sinai, but rather to give us the Torah in the desert before going to Eretz Yisroel So in addition to the Ohr HaChaim’s explanation, that Torah and Eretz Yisroel are intertwined, and moreover that receiving the Torah was the first indispensable step to receiving Eretz Yisroel, I would suggest that mentioning Har Sinai by the laws of Shmitah stresses the theoretical possibility of receiving the Torah on Har Sinai in Eretz Yisroel. Perhaps this explains why 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.