Avodas Avodah Parshas Behar: Real Emunah. Rabbi Gedaliah Jaffe. This week we have the privilege to learn together with the Tosher Rebbe in his sefer

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1 Avodas Avodah Parshas Behar: Real Emunah Rabbi Gedaliah Jaffe This week we have the privilege to learn together with the Tosher Rebbe in his sefer Avodas Avoda, Parshas Behar. The Rebbe begins by quoting the opening pesukim,. ו י ד ב ר ה א ל-מ ש ה, ב ה ר ס ינ י ל אמ ר Hashem spoke to Moshe on Har Sinai saying, ד ב ר א ל-ב נ י י ש ר א ל, ו אמ ר ת א ל ה ם Speak to the Jewish people and say to them כ י ת ב א ו א ל-ה אר ץ, א ש ר א נ י נ ת ן ל כ ם when you come to the land that I'm giving you, ו ש ב ת ה ה אר ץ, ש ב ת ל ה the land should rest, a Shabbos for Hashem. Rashi hakadosh points out that it says behar Sinai, so the famous question, מה ענין שמיטה אצל הר סיני? What in the world does Shemittah have to do with Har Sinai? לשם says Rashi hakadosh,ש ב ת ל ה writes, And secondly in passuk bais, when the Torah Hashem. you should be doing this for the sake of,ה' Why do we need to know about Har Sinai? Why do we need to know the connection between Shemittah, between Shabbos, it says la Hashem. We know all mitzvos have to be מצוות samech, done leshem Hashem, as the Shulchan Aruch paskens in orech chayim siman.צריכות כוונה Later on in the parsha, the Torah writes, ו ע ש ית ם, א ת-ח ק ת י, ו א ת-מ ש פ ט י ת ש מ ר ו

2 ו ע ש ית ם א ת ם--ו יש ב ת ם ע ל-ה אר ץ, ל ב ט ח You should do my chukim and my mishpatim.?ו יש ב ת ם ע ל- ה אר ץ, ל ב ט ח mean, Rashi there points out, What does it שבעוון שמיטה ישראל גולים. Because by the sin of not keeping Shemittah, the Jewish people were exiled, שנאמר, As the passuk says... אז ת ר צ ה ה אר ץ א ת ש ב ת ת יה והרצת את-שבתותיה Rashi quotes a passuk later on, in Parshas Bechukosai: ושבעים שנה של גלות בבל The reason why we had seventy years of exile in Bavel, כנגד שבעים שמיטות שבטלו היו was because of the 70 Shemittah cycles that we didn't keep. We see that the punishment for not keeping Shemittah was golus. The Rebbe adds onto this a Tanchuma: אמר משה רבונו של עולם למה נמכרו ישראל למלכויות הללו? Why were the Jewish people sold to these nations? And Hashem answers back, מפני שהם מתחללין את השביעית. Because they didn't keep Shevi is.,רצונך שלא יגאלו If you want them to not be exiled,

3 הזהירם על השמיטות ועל היובלות You must warn them and instruct them about keeping Shemittah and keeping Yovel. So the next question the Rebbe asks is, Klal Yisrael did many aveiros. Why is it that both Rashi and the Tanchuma are telling us that the aveiros of Shemittah and of Yovel those are singled out and that is what caused the golus? To give a little more of an explanation of this, we know that at the beginning of the Aseres HaDibros, when Hashem introduces himself he says, אנ כ י י קו ק א לקי ך, א ש ר ה וצ את י ך מ א ר ץ מ צ ר י ם I am Hashem your G-d who took you out of Mitzrayim. So the question that a lot of the Rishonim ask is, Why is that Hashem didn't say, I created heaven and earth, shamayim va aretz? That's a pretty big thing to put on your résumé. Why does he say, No, I'm the G-d who took you out of Mitzrayim? And also, why does it have both names of Hashem, Hashem elokecha. So those are the five questions the Tosher Rebbe asks. To quickly recap: 1. Why does it say behar Sinai, specifically here, talking about Shemittah? 2. Why by Shemittah and by Shabbos does say lahashem, to do it for Hashem's sake? 3. There are many aveiros; why specifically did not keeping Shemittah and Yovel result in golus? 4. Why didn't Hashem mention that he created heaven and earth, but instead talks about taking us out of Mitzrayim? And finally, 5. Why are there two names that Hashem uses when introducing himself to us, both Hashem and Elokecha, yud key vav key and elokim?

4 The Rebbe begins his explanation by pointing out that the Mitzrim denied Hashgacha Pratis, the idea that Hashem controls every single thing that's happening. They believed that everything proceeds according to nature. They worshiped the kochavim and mazalos, the astrological signs, and that's why in their religion, their ideology, they worshipped the tzon, the sheep, because the tleh (lamb), he was the rosh hamazalos, the most important of all the astrological signs. When you try to change this, Paroh comes along and says לא י ד ע ת י א ת-ה' )הוי'ה( I don't know this god yud key vav key, who controls and manipulates nature. That's the name of Hashem when he's in control; Elokim, is the name that we use when we talk about teva, but Havaya is the name we use for Hashem when we're talking about how he's above teva, beyond. So if you think about it, that's why we're commanded with the korban Pesach, specifically to shecht the tleh (lamb).that sheep represented the Egyptians' belief that the whole world is subjugated to nature, so we weaken that false ideology by shechting that as our korban Pesach. We are proving that, no, this world is not run by mazalos, it's run by HaKadosh Baruch Hu, yud key vav key. And at Har Sinai, after we were taken out of Mitzrayim, we were commanded a special emunah, not just to believe in the metziyus of Hashem, that Hashem is real there are many nations, there are many good people who believe in G-d; that's not the emunah. Our emunah at Har Sinai was to believe in hashgacha pratis, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu not only exists, but also that he's actively involved and controlling every single detail of our lives.,א ש ר ה וצ את י ך מ א ר ץ מ צ ר י ם And the Tosher Rebbe now explains that this is why it says I'm telling you, I'm the One who took you out of Mitzrayim, out of that place of falsehood. I brought you out of that. I don't need to say shamayim and aretz, I'm taking you out of

5 Mitzrayim, and again, that's why both names are used. Hashem says, Hashem elokecha, Hashem yud key vav key, that's hashgacha, and elokim, is the name which shows Hashem s rule in nature. I do both, I'm within nature but I'm not bound by nature. I'm controlling nature, I'm controlling the teva. And that's why we have Shemittah. Shemittah is the mitzvah that reinforces the idea that even though we're working, and I'm working very hard, long hours out in my field, I'm plowing, I'm planting, I'm cutting down the grain, nevertheless, ultimately my success in all this agriculture and all worldly endeavors is up to Hashem. So when He introduces the mitzvah of Shemittah, it says behar Sinai. I want you to know Shemittah, all of your involvement in the physical world, remember what happened on Har Sinai, when I explained to you that everything comes through hashgacha pratis. Have emunah in that. That's the emunah that we're supposed to have and that's the purpose of why we have the mitzvah of Shemittah, to take time off and realize it's not ועוצם ידי,כוחי that Hashem is the one who's running the world. Now we understand that's why it says lahashem. When you think about it, the Torah later on in Parshas Vaeschanan, writes: ו ז כ ר ת כ י ע ב ד ה י ית ב א ר ץ מ צ ר י ם ו י צ א ך ה' א לה י ך מ ש ם ב י ד ח ז ק ה וב ז ר ע נ ט וי ה ע ל כ ן צ ו ך ה' א לק י ך ל ע ש ות א ת י ום ה ש ב ת Remember that you were an eved in Mitzrayim, and Hashem took you out of there, and that's why we have the mitzvah of Shabbos. Both Shabbos and the mitzvah of Shemittah have the same idea - to inculcate within us the idea and understanding how HaKadosh Baruch Hu is running the world. He's in charge of everything, and that's why specifically when we didn't keep Shemittah, we ended up going into

6 galus. We didn't get the point that the natural order is really controlled by Hashem. We thought, We can't keep Shemittah; I'm going to lose out on a year of crops. I can't keep Yovel; it's going to be too much of a financial loss. If we think that everything is natural, then Hashem has to take us out of Eretz Yisrael! The Tosher Rebbe continues and explains that this is an eternal idea. The concept of Shemittah applies to all people, to all places and at all times. Hashgacha pratis nowadays means that everything in our life no matter how small, no matter how large; everything is from Hashem. We say in the Rambam s thirteen Principles: א נ י מ א מ ין ב א מ ונ ה ש ל מ ה ש ה ב ור א י ת ב ר ך ש מ ו ה וא ב ור א ומ נ ה יג ל כ ל ה ב ר וא ים ו ה וא ל ב ד ו ע ש ה ו ע וש ה ו י ע ש ה ל כ ל ה מ ע ש ים I believe with emunah that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the only one who's in charge of everything and anything that happens in my life is up to Hashem. There's a gemara in Chullin daf zayin amud beis, אין אדם נוקף אצבעו מלמטה אלא אם כן מכריזין עליו מלמעלה A person doesn't get a paper cut down here unless it was decreed up above. Above with a capital A. Whatever is going to happen, everything, is controlled by HaKadosh Baruch Hu and this is the emunah that we have to have. We're mechazeik ourselves, when we internalize this idea that gives us strength, so we won't become crushed or broken by nisyonos in our lives. Rather we can mekabel that with ahava and with simcha, because a person understands, Everything that's happening to me is good, Hashem by definition is only good, and he's only doing good things for me.

7 That's what we're working on now, specifically at the time period we find ourselves in of Sefiras HaOmer. Sefiras HaOmer is our preparation towards matan Torah, and matan Torah is when we got the emunah, the mitzvah of believing in Hashem and his hashgacha. That s what it means when it says, חסד יבנה,עולם that Hashem has built a world full of chessed. I might not see it. I might not understand it, but I have emunah that that's whatever HaKadosh Baruch Hu is doing in my life is a chessed. The Rebbe continues by quoting the gemara in Shabbos עמ' א) (פ"ח discussing matan Torah: בשעה שהקדימו ישראל נעשה לנשמע When the Jewish people said naaseh before nishma, "?יצאה בת קול ואמרה להם : "מי גילה לבני רז זה שמלאכי השרת משתמשין בו A bas kol came out and said, Who revealed the secret that this is the way that My malachim praise Me? So the Rebbe asks a question, What's such a big chiddush over here? What's such a big chiddush to say that we said naaseh ve lo nishma. Nishma, to hear, means to understand. We even say it in English, "I hear you," "I hear what you're saying." It means I understand you. The passuk says in Bereishis, שומע יוסף.כי This means that Yosef understood what they were saying. That s the gadlus that the Gemara in Shabbos is referring to, when klal Yisrael put naaseh before nishma, that means We re going to do things before we understand them. That's a tremendous chiddush! A malach can do this, but a malach isn't basar ve'dam. They don't have taives, they don't have desires, they don't have things that tempt them to do the wrong thing. So of course, they're going to say naaseh ve nishma, but for a ben adam to do that, for a human being to say that...

8 שמע ישראל, Wow, that's huge. And that's what we're accepting upon ourselves every time we say.ה' אלוקינו, ה' אחד The idea is that we have emunah and that we accept upon ourselves that everything that's happening to us is from a kind, loving Hashem. We do this twice a day, to carry us throughout the day and the nighttime respectively, because our whole life is infused with this emunah. That's what we say in the maariv davening, we say כל זאת,ואמונה that everything depends upon our emunah, it's the yesod of it all. כל זאת,ואמונה everything depends up on our emunah. Our davening depends upon our emunah; our learning depends upon our emunah. In other words, if a person during davening feels like, I can't focus on the words right now because I've got a big business deal, I'm not sure how this is going to turn out, so therefore, I decide I'm going to say the words, but I'm not going to focus on them. That shows a lack of emunah. And if a person is learning and they say, No, I have to be mevatel the seder because I have a business meeting, I have a client, I have a phone call, I have an , I have something I need to respond to so I can't learn right now. So they're mevatel a seder. No! The teva is mevatel itself to the koach hatorah. This is our emunah that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is running the world. So when do we do this? What's the point in our lives when we acquire this emunah in HaKadosh Baruch Hu? Shabbos kodesh. Shabbos kodesh is the time when we acquire this emunah. If a person prepares properly throughout the week for Shabbos and uses their Shabbos correctly, then they'll sense this emunah. The Talmidei Baal Shem Tov in general, and specifically the Beer Mayim Chayim in

9 sefer Siduro shel Shabbos, explains in very simple and easy-to-understand ways how to conduct oneself on Shabbos Kodesh, how to get the most out of ruchnius in our Shabbos. Oy, vey... if a person thinks that the only purpose for Shabbos is, I need to physically rest now so I can have enough strength to work for another six days, then we miss the whole point. That's why it says Shabbos lahashem, leshem Hashem. And that's what the parsha is telling us: we need to elevate our hasagos. There's a beautiful quote from Reb Baruch Medzhybizh. He teitched the phrase that we say in the zemiros that Shabbos is מ ע ין ע ול ם ה ב א, me-eyn olam haba, a little bit of olam haba. So he says, מעיין עולם הבא, ma ayan olam haba; a ma ayan is something you draw out, it's like a stream, a fountain. So we pull olam haba into our Shabbos. And through the zechus of our emunah we should be zoche to the geulah sheleima, ויקבצם הקדוש ברוך הוא יחד מארבע כנפות הארץ ובא לציון גואל במהרה בימינו... אמן.