By the power of my prayer, I can transform this wooden table into gold. But I would be embarrassed to pray to the Holy One for such a trivial thing. - Baal Shem Tov

from Hasidic Wisdom by Simcha Raz (Elkins/Elkins)

A Word to the wise is (sh/b) Sufficient

In this week's sedra of B'har we find the commands for the Shabbats of the Land - Sh'mita and Yovel. The Torah sets down the commands, gives many of the details, and asks and answers the question that would be on everyone's lips - what are we supposed to eat following the seventh Sh'mita and the Yovel year that follows it; the answer is to trust in G-d's bracha of bounty.

In next week's sedra, we find the "heavy-handed" warnings, threats, and promises concerning our betrayal of G-d and His Mitzvot. Although the Tochacha talks about ALL MITZVOT, it is unavoidable not to see the special premium placed on Sh'mita. If you will violate our covenant, if you will despise all of My mitzvot, if you will be unfaithful to Me... then you will be scattered to the four corners of the world, and then the Land will get its Shabbats... be cause you didn't keep Sh'mita. There is almost an equation made between violation of Sh'mita and abandonment of ALL mitzvot.

Just as our Sages tell us that he who desecrates the Shabbat it is as if he denied the essence of belief in G-d, so too is it with desecrating the Land's Shabbat. In both Creator and Master of the World. He says, do not do such-and-such on Shabbat, do not do such-and-such during Sh'mita. The violator says, I don't accept or believe that G-d is the Boss; I can and will do anything I want.

Pirkei Avot states (4:11) that exile comes as a result of idol worship, sexual immorality, bloodshed (the three "cardinal" sins) and Sh'mita (the violation thereof).

B'chukotai, then, contains the clear cut statements linking our hold on the Land of Israel and the keeping of mitzvot in general and Sh'mita in particular.

We can say that B'har contains a more subtle point which the wise among us (that's all of us) should see, and act upon. Among other reasons, it is a great way to forestall the Tochacha and actually render it unnecessary and useless.

Of course, the obvious part of this plan is to keep the mitzvot - all of them in general, and Shmita in particular.

But there is a more subtle aspect to the issue. This Land is ours. One of the ways we keep it is by observing its Shabbatot. But Sh'mita does not apply today from the mitzvot of the Torah. (There are different halachic opinions on this matter, but this is piece is meant to make a point, not to give a halachic study of the issue.) At best it is Rabbinic. We are coming back to Eretz Yisrael from the four corners of the world, but we still cannot give the Land its Shabbatot in the way they it was meant to be. As well as anyone can keep Sh'mita today, heter this, no heter that, it is not the full Sh'mita that this Land deserves. One of the conditions necessary for "full" Sh'mita is a majority of the Jews of the world living in Eretz Yisrael. And that is something which we can and will IY"H accomplish. In other words, our brethren of the House of Israel who are scattered around the world - come home. Then together we can proceed towards the realization of the Geula Sh'leima. Then this wonderful Land will finally get what it so much wants and deserves - her children, all her children, living full Torah lives in blessed security and prosperity, on their Land with the Beit HaMikdash, BB"A.

Homonymic Antonyms

The pasuk that teaches us that a house in a walled city is not returned at Yovel if it hadn't been redeemed within a year, uses the phrase ASHER LO CHOMA - a city which has a wall. However, the word LO is spelled in the Torah lamed-alef, which if read literally would mean the opposite - a city which has NO wall... Tradition dictates that although the word is written lamed-alef, it is to be read as lamed-vav (which sound the same), this LO meaning a city which HAS a wall. The Gemara explains this KRI/KTIV by saying that even if the city has NO wall now, as long as it HAD a wall from the time of Israel's original entry into the Land, its houses are non-returnable.

This is another example, of many, of the absolute necessity of considering the Written Word and the Oral Law as the two inseparable components of Torah. Here, a reading of the Torah's text without a commitment to the Oral Tradition, without a full-hearted belief in the Oral Law, without a solid trust in our Sages and their teachings, would produce a completely opposite halachic result, a perversion of G-d's Will.

[SDT] The prohibition (this week's sedra) against taking interest on a personal loan to a fellow Jew is one of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah. Yet the temptation to rationalize, the ease of taking a "business is business" attitude, saying "afterall, the borrower is gaining too", prompted our Sages to emphasize the significance of keeping this mitzva (and the seriousness of violating it). RIBIT has a numeric value of 612, as if to say: Keep this mitzva and it's like keeping the other 612 as well. Violate, and...

LAG BA'OMER

Whether you are reading this in time for Lag BaOmer this year, or you are reading it as a retrospect, I hope you will gain insights into the Omer in general and Lag BaOmer in particular.

Lag BaOmer is an enigmatic semi-holiday, of which the Shulchan Aruch speaks in terms of "a bit of joy", which grew to a festive day of major proportion in the Chassidic world.

Lag BaOmer should be seen in the context of the whole Omer period, in order to be properly understood. From the perspective of the Torah, the Omer period is analogous to Chol HaMoed, being sandwiched between Pesach and its Atzeret, Shavuot. In the context of the Beit HaMikdash, the period of counting runs from the bringing of the first Barley offering to the Two Loaves (from wheat flour) on Shavuot. The Omer corresponds to the preparatory period between Y'tzi'at Mitzrayim and Matan Torah, during which time, a nation that had just emerged from long slavery and oppression prepared itself physically, psychologically, and spiritually for the great events at Sinai.

All indications point to the Omer being a joyous period. The mournful aspect of the Omer came in two stages: With the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash and the cessation of the Omer and Shtei HaLechem offering, the counting of the Omer became "hollow". A vacuum was created. We continued to go through the motions of counting, but without the "from" and the "to", something was missing, to say the least.

Then comes the Talmud account of the tragic deaths of the students of Rabbi Akiva. The combination of when they died, why they died, AND the emotional vacuum of the Omer, resulted in the Sages ordaining practices of mourning during these days. Having died during this time of the year would not have, by itself, shaped the present nature of these days. But the statement in the Talmud (Y'vamot) that they perished because they didn't treat each other with respect - this has an ironic element that the Sages chose not to overlook. During the seven weeks from the Exodus to Sinai, when the Jewish People were preparing themselves to be worthy of receiving the Torah, how sharp is the implied lesson and warning - see these scholars? High marks in the Torah-learning side of the issue. But a human failing on an interpersonal level. This cannot be. And this is what our Sages wanted us to think about during this pre-Shavuot period. It was then natural to include mourning the devastation of the Crusades during the Omer as well.

As far as Lag BaOmer is concerned, several factors combine to define its nature. That the students of Rabbi Akiva "stopped dying" on the 33rd day, or they died during a 33 day period, or on a total of 33 days (these are different opinions as to what happened), prompted the Sages to make a statement on day 33 of the Omer, to allow that day to represent the turnabout from the tragic nature that the Omer had developed. Pri Chadash raises the question: why celebrate when the students of Rabbi Akiva stopped dying, if they were all gone? His suggested answer is that "they stopped dying" represents the hope for the future, that Torah learning and scholarship has not ended with their deaths. Rabbi Akiva would have more students and many Rabbi Akivas will have many many students. Lag BaOmer is not an intrinsically happy day, but it represents the bright promise of the future. Behavior on Lag BaOmer differs from community to community - some allow weddings, some don't; some cut hair, some don't - yet in all cases, Lag BaOmer stands out as a bright day in contrast to the mournful flavor of the rest of the Omer.

It's almost as if each day of the Omer says "just give me an excuse to be festive again and you'll see what I can be, you'll see what I should be.

The original days of the Omer (right out of Egypt) were days of potential that came to fruition at the foot of Har Sinai.

The students of Rabbi Akiva represent another kind of potential, both in the pursuit of Torah scholarship as well as in the Bar Kochba revolt (which is another element in the story). These potentials were not realized. The Omer stands for both kinds of potentials: the fulfilled and the not yet fulfilled.

The Chatam Sofer says that it was on the 18th of Iyar (Lag BaOmer) that the Manna began to fall. This is based on the idea that the food supply (matza) that we brought out of Egypt lasted until the 14th of Iyar (which marks the 14th of Iyar as the end of the Pesach Time Frame, hence its choice by G-d for Pesach Sheni). Then the people went hungry for three days - 15,16,17 of Iyar, complained, and received the Manna on the 18th. This adds to the celebratory nature of Lag BaOmer.

Finally, we come to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. Forced into hiding, his success in all areas of Torah, esp. the hidden, mystical dimensions, show us the great potential, and the realization of the potential that defines Living Judaism.

So it his yahrzeit, and more, the reflection on his life and accomplishments, that allows Lag BaOmer to stand up and say: Remember - this mournful behavior is only temporary. We must continue to grow in Torah and we will be privileged to the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash, speedily in our time. And then the days of the Omer - all of them - will be restored to their joyous potentials. Until then, we celebrate the life of the great Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, and rededicate ourselves to G-d and Torah.

G'MATRIYA based on L'ORA SHEL TORAH by R. Yaakov Auerbach z"l

The Torah emphasizes that our hold on Eretz Yisrael is dependent upon observance of mitzvot in general, and the laws of Sh'mita in particular. As mentioned elsewhere in this issue, Pirkei Avot echoes this idea by saying that exile comes to the world because of... Sh'mita (violation). Also appearing elsewhere in this issue is the idea that one who violates Sh'mita is, in some way, denying G-d's mastery of the world. Both of these ideas are beautifully reflected in an Auerbach G'matriya.

The last pasuk in B'har says: ET SHABTOTAI TISHMORU, and my Shabbats you shall safeguard. Based on the Midrash and several commentaries, here the reference is to SHABBAT HA'ARETZ (i.e. Sh'mita), and not to "regular" Shabbat (a.k.a. Shabbat B'reishit). The numeric value of this phrase is:

1+400 (401) + 300+2+400+400+10 (1112) + 400+300+40+200+6 (946) = 2459.

This is balanced by the statement, also from B'har (25:38): I Am G-d Who took you out of Egypt LATEIT LACHEM ET ERETZ CANAAN, L'H'YOT LACHEM LEILOKIM (to give you Eretz Yisrael, to be your G-d). In this portion, we find both "benefits" of Sh'mita - to receive and secure our hold on the Land, and to acknowledge G-d.

G'matriya: 30+400+400 (830) + 30+20+40 (90) + 1+400 (401) + 1+200+90 (291) + 20+50+70+50 (190) + 30+5+10+6+400 (451) + 30+20+40 (90) + 30+1+30+5+10+40 (116) = 2459.

Another numeric indication that the observance of Sh'mita is the key to our continued existence in Eretz Yisrael can be seem in the G'matriyot of the following two phrases.

U'VASHANA HASH'VI'IT = 6+2+300+50+5 (363) + 5+300+2+10+70+10+400 (797) = 1160.

VISHAVTEM LAVETCH B'ARTZ'CHEM

and you shall dwell securely in your Land =

6+10+300+2+400+40 (758) 30+2+9+8 (49) + 2+1+200+90+20+40 (353) = 1160.

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