LEAD TIDBIT
And don't be surprised to see it every once in a while, each time dressed up differently, but essentially making the same point. Why the focus? Because the more Jews who get this point - and do something about it - the better things will be for Klal Yisrael and the closer we will be to the Geula. [Bold statement, but I believe it with all my heart and soul - PC.] One of the colloquial expressions for "What does one thing have to do with the other?" is "What does that have to do with the price of tea (or rice) in China?" Hence, the title of this Lead Tidbit. If you look a little above the title (in the hard copy or PDF version of TT), you will see the famous quote from Rashi, what does Shmita have to do with Har Sinai? The question is prompted by the unusual introductory pasuk, which instead of just saying, And G-d spoke to Moshe saying, this time it has WHERE He spoke to him - Har Sinai. Weren't all mitzvot taught by G-d to Moshe at Sinai - why mention it here, at the beginning of Parshat B'har? And why specifically with the command of Shmita? Check Rashi for his answer. we'd like to suggest another answer to what Shmita is doing next to Har Sinai. (No replacement or even competition to Rashi's answer, just something else to ponder.) The first time that G-d spoke to Moshe Rabeinu was at the Burning Bush. G-d said that He was descending to Egypt to take the people out in order to bring them to a good and expansive land, a land flowing with milk and honey... G-d's purpose in taking us out of Egypt was to bring us to Eretz Yisrael. He never intended for us to live anywhere else. To make us His nation and Him our G-d, He gave us the Torah, which is to be our way of life. He could have waited for us to get to Eretz Yisrael first and then to give us the Torah. But He didn't. He purposely gave us the Torah BEFORE we entered the Land. G-d gave the Torah to the Jewish people in Chutz LaAretz. This is very significant. Even more so, since en route to Sinai we received several preliminary (so-to-speak) mitzvot, that could have been the case but with Matan Torah in Eretz Yisrael. And remember, it's not that we would need the Torah for the period of time before we would enter the Land; it wasn't yet going to be 40 years - only a matter of days. Let's say that one of the reasons G-d gave us the Torah both outside of Israel and before we got there, is to teach us that if it were to come to pass that we would be exiled from Eretz Yisrael- and sadly it did come to pass - that the Torah would still be ours and that we would still live by it in the farthest places of our dispersion. In hindsight, it was a good thing that we knew the Torah was to remain ours even in exile, because we have spent far too long outside of Eretz Yisrael. The problem is that we have done so well with creating a Torah context for our lives in Galut that we have psychologically minimized the significance of Eretz Yisrael to a Torah and a Jewish life. We have, in some instances, relegated Eretz Yisrael to singing "Next Year in Jerusalem" without the pain of its lack, or the commitment to our return to it. This, even though G-d's plan for us always was and is Torah and Eretz Yisrael. What does Shmita have to do with Har Sinai? It is a reminder of the Torah's connection to Eretz Yisrael. It is a statement that says: Even though we received the Torah outside of Eretz Yisrael, we were taught Shmita with all its details at Har Sinai, to emphasize the significance of Eretz Yisrael to all mitzvot. There's one other lesson from the specific choice of Shmita to represent the mitzvot of Eretz Yisrael. Shmita violation is a focus of the Tochacha in B'har's partner sedra of B'chukotai, to remind us that our hold on Eretz Yisrael is dependent upon our keeping the Torah, Shmita and all other mitzvot. So it really isn't only Aliya and Israel that these Lead Tidbits seen to harp on. It is a complete commitment to G-d, His Torah, and His Will for each of us and for all of Klal Yisrael. [The Parshat B'har-B'chukatai Homepage]
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