Rabbi Frand on Parshas Behar - Bechukosai
These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi
Yissocher Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Torah Tapes on the weekly Torah
portion: Tape# 145 - Kidney
Donations: Endangering Oneself to Save Another. . Good Shabbos!
The Shofar of the Jubilee Year: Positive Peer Pressure
In this week's parsha we learn of the mitzvah of Shmitah and Yovel -
the Biblical command that every seventh year the land in Eretz
Yisroel [Israel] must lie fallow and after every seven Shmitah cycles
the Jubilee year begins in which all servants go free. To signify
this, the Torah commands (Vayikra 25:9) "You shall sound the Shofar
throughout the land", a mitzvah performed on Yom Kippur of the Yovel
year -- the point in time at which time all slaves went free.
The Sefer HaChinuch in this week's parsha analyzes the significance
of the Shofar. He points out that the matter of sending away one's
servants is very difficult for a slave-owner to carry out. Slave
owners sustained a very substantial financial loss.
In general, owning slaves was a financial bonanza. Just imagine --
for anyone who has a business -- what it would be like not to have to
pay workers. There was no salary, no social security taxes, no
pension, no Blue Cross, nothing. It was almost like having free
labor (other than cost of food and basic care).
Now, all of a sudden, they must wave good-bye to the slaves. Slave
owners incurred major financial losses. The Chinuch says that in order
to give the people the strength and the encouragement to fulfill this
very difficult command, the Torah requires the sounding of the Shofar
throughout Eretz Yisroel, to give everyone the sense that they are not
alone in making this sacrifice: It is a phenomenon that transpired
throughout the land.
When the Shofar sounded throughout Eretz Yisroel, the slave owner
recognized "I'm not the only one taking a financial killing; everyone
is taking a financial bath. Everybody has to send out their slaves
today."
The Chinuch emphasizes that nothing strengthens the spirit of mankind
like universal public action. The fact that "everybody is doing it"
is the greatest source of encouragement. That, according to the
Chinuch, is why the Shofar was blown. If everyone else has to do it,
it is easier for me to do it as well.
This is a tremendous insight. Nonetheless, we still might ask, "So
what if everybody is doing it -- I will still to take a beating!" Why
does this help?
All we have to do to answer this question is to read the newspaper or
listen to the radio. The whole country is bombarded with the slogan
"Just Say No to Drugs". Thank G-d that in our society, for the most part,
we are insulated from this, but it is a plague that is smiting the
entire country (makas medinah)! It is destroying all of society.
There is not a kid in all of America that does not know that drugs
are bad for him. So are they all idiots? They know it is going to
hook them, they know it is going to kill them, and yet they all
start? The answer is "Everybody is doing it". Peer pressure, social
pressure is such that it can make a person do something that he does
not want to do.
One can know something is bad for him, but as the Chinuch says, there
is no greater encouragement to human activity than the fact that
everyone is doing it.
That is why even though I know I have to send away my slave and it
will cost me a fortune, I am strengthened by the fact that I know
everyone is doing it as well. That is human nature. We are
tremendously influenced by our peer and social pressure... to the
extent that we will do something that is inherently bad for us, but
we will be able to do it because everyone else is doing it.
The lesson to be learned from this is the importance of community. A
person needs to understand that not only is one's spouse and
immediate family a tremendous influence, but the type of community
that one chooses to live in is as well. If everyone does something in
one way, a person will feel obliged to conform -- for good or for
bad. A person will act better than he would usually act, because of
community standards, and on the other hand a person will act worse
than he would otherwise act, because "listen, this is what everyone
is doing".
We do not outgrow this. When we were teenagers there was peer
pressure, but even as adults we have peer pressure, social pressure.
Therefore it is imperative, no matter how old a person is, that he
find a community that wants the right things out of life. He must put
himself in such a community and put his children in such a community.
Children will not be able to withstand the forces of peer pressure.
They are human beings and whatever their peers do, they will do. One
should not fool himself. We are all influenced, especially children
and teenagers who are so dependent on what their friends say. This is
what the Torah is reminding us through the blowing of the Shofar
throughout the Land.
The Martyrdom of Giving Up One's Money
The Beis Av, Rav Schlesinger, picks up at this point on the words of
the Sefer HaChinuch. He says the words of the Chinuch are correct,
but they don't solve the whole problem.
The Talmud relates [Rosh HaShannah 34b] that the Yom Kippur blowing
on Yovel actually consisted of the exact same sequence of sounds with
the exact same prayer ritual as performed ten days earlier on Rosh
HaShannah [every year].
If the whole purpose -- the Beis Av argues -- of Shofar blowing on
Yovel was to remind each slave owner that "everyone was doing it",
there would be no need for the specific blowing of Malchiyus -
Zichronos - Shofaros. There would be no need for exactly Tekiah-
Teruah-Tekiah. There would be no need for the whole ritual of Rosh
HaShannah all over again.
Why did the Yovel ritual replicate Rosh HaShannah all over again? Rav
Schlesinger offers the following answer: One of the main factors of
Shofar blowing on Rosh HaShannah is that we should remember Akeidas
Yitzchak. When we hear the ram's horn on the New Year, we remind
ourselves of the dedication and self-sacrifice of our Patriarchs and
we decide mentally that we are also ready to sacrifice for G-d's
sake. We accept the Yoke of Heaven and we say to ourselves that even
though it will require martyrdom, we are ready to do it. This is what
we think about when we hear the Shofar blowing on Rosh HaShannah and
remember the Akeidas Yitzchak.
On Yovel, we are also asked for Mesiras Nefesh ["giving the soul"].
On Yovel we also have to think about the Binding of Yitzchak. We also
have to think about willingness to sacrifice. But what type of
sacrifice? The sacrifice of "With all your heart and with all your
soul" (bechol levavcha u'vchol nafshecha), was on Rosh HaShannah. The
sacrifice of Yovel - Yom Kippur is "With all your wealth" (bechol
me'odecha).
Let's not kid ourselves - we love our money. We are attached to it.
It is difficult to give away our money. When the Torah tells us to
give away our slaves, it is telling us that we have to make a mesiras
nefesh of money. This requires almost as much mesiras nefesh as
giving away one's life. Therefore it becomes necessary to once again
conjure up in our minds the image of the Binding of Yitzchak. We have
to picture what it means to be a Jew. What it means to be a Jew is
not only to serve G-d with our very lives, but even with our money.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin [74a] tells us there are certain people for
whom parting with their money is a greater sacrifice than parting
with their lives. Who is this odd ball who loves his money more than
his life? We ask ourselves incredulously, "Do such people really
exist?"
The answer is absolutely yes. This is why people work 14, 16, 18
hours a day. Why do people have coronaries as a result of their
businesses?
I know of a man who, during the race riots that occurred in Baltimore
30 years ago, went down to his liquor store in West Baltimore with
his shot gun to fend off the rioters. We say, "Gee, he's crazy!" But
in truth he is just a little crazier than many of us. We also give
our sweat and our tears and our energy and the best years of our life
to financial gain.
The Gemara of "there is a person whose money is more dear to him..."
is not the "one in a million" case. Therefore, the Torah asks us for
a mesiras nefesh to send away our slaves on the year of Yovel and
asks us to "kiss our money good-bye". This is exceedingly difficult
for a human being.
We have to go through Rosh HaShannah all over again. We have to hear
Kingship! We have to hear Remembrances! We have to hear Shofar
Sounds! We have to remember the Binding of Yitzchak. Because we are
asked to give up something that is extremely precious to us... that
is our wealth (bechol me'odecha, "with all your wealth" in the Shema),
which is nothing less than mesiras nefesh.
Rav Pam, shlit"a, once said that the trial of the generation which
preceded us and lived through the Holocaust was the trial of "with
all your hearts and with all your souls". They had to pay the price
of being a Jew with their own lives. Our trial, the nissayon [test]
of Jews in America in the 1990s is "with all your wealth". Give your
money. Give your money to Yeshivas, give your money to the Mikveh,
give your money to settle the Russian Jews, give your money. It is
hard; it is mesiras nefesh; but that is what we must do. It is the
trial of our generation.
Glossary
Shmitah / Yovel -- Sabbatical / Jubilee (years)
Akeidas Yitzchak -- binding of Isaac
Mesiras Nefesh -- dedication of soul
bechol me'odecha -- expression from the first chapter of Shema
interpreted Rabbincally to mean "with all your
wealth"
Sources and Personalities
Sefer HaChinuch -- Book of Education, a catalog of the 613
commandments, organized in the order of the weekly
Torah portions. Published by Rav Aharon HaLevi of
Barcelona in 13th century Spain
Rav Elyakim Schlesinger -- Author of Sefer Bais Av, Rosh Yeshiva in
London.
Rav Avrohom Pam -- Contemporary Rosh Yeshivah of Mesivta Torah
Vodaath, New York.
This week's write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi
Yissochar Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Torah Tapes on the weekly Torah
portion (#145). The corresponding halachic portion for this tape is:
Kidney
Donations: Endangering Oneself to Save Another. The other halachic portions for Behar - Bechukosai from
the Commuter Chavrusah Series are:
Also Available: Mesorah / Artscroll has published a collection
of Rabbi Frand's essays. The book is entitled:
and is available through your local Hebrew book store or from
Project Genesis, 1-410-654-1799.
