Behar and Bechukotai 2020
Isaac’s Parsha Corner · 2020
“G-d spoke to Moshe on Mt Sinai saying the following, “Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: ‘When you go into the land that I am giving to you, the land shall rest a Sabbath to G-d. For six years you shall plant fields, prune vines, and gather produce. And on the seventh year a Shmitah (sabbatical) will be for the land.” Rashi, quoting the Torat Kohanim, asks famously, “What is the reason the Shmitah is introduced with a reference to Mount Sinai? Many answers have been offered. A simple explanation is that the land of Israel is infused with the same holiness as was Sinai. There at the revelation at the burning bush Moshe was instructed “Do not come close, remove your shoes, for the place upon which you stand is holy earth.” Later at Sinai G-d instructed the nation to remain distant from the mountain “On the third day G-d will descend before the entire nation upon Mount Sinai. You shall limit access to the mountain. You shall instruct them to be careful not to go up on the mountain …”. And again in the Book of Joshua outside Jericho “And the angel said to Joshua remove your shoes for the place you are standing on is holy”.
Another option to consider is this: The burning bush was located on Mount Sinai. The event would come later but the mountain was already holy! The revelation on Sinai was temporal, a moment of prophetic vision. For a brief moment we heard G-d’s voice and then no more. “Face to face G-d spoke to you on the mountain from within the fire” (Devarim ch 5 vs 4) The impact was eternal, life for the Nation would change dramatically. “Has there ever been a nation who heard the Voice of Elokim from the fire as you heard and survived?” (ibid Ch 4 vs 33). The revelation in all its glory turned out to be a major disappointment. Very soon after having just heard just two commandments they disregarded and discarded them both. We were like Adam in the Garden who also failed to keep his one and only commandment for even one day. Yet, despite the failure, we celebrate the giving. Like the creation of the world where after 10 brief generations the disappointment and failure of the first attempt resulted in a world destroyed by boiling caustic rain. We celebrated our beginning even though we failed initially. There was holiness in that beginning. Sinai was that beginning. Each seven year cycle we have an opportunity to start our lives over again; we take a year off to re-group, re-prioritize and get ready for our next cycle!
Finally another explanation of the connection between Sinai and Shmitah: The pasuk at the beginning of Bechukotai reads, “If you walk in My teachings and guard My commandments and do them I will give the rain in its time…” Rashi, quoting Torat Kohanim, “To walk in G-ds teaching you must toil in the study of Torah.” This can only happen when you take the time to do the toil. The Shmitah year is designed not only to let the land rest. The human’s are instructed in Parshat Behar to spend that year off, away from toil of the field. Bechukotai tells us what we should do in that year. On the sabbatical year we rest from physical toiling and focus on the spiritual. The Rabbi’s tell us that the first destruction of the temple was due to our failure to observe the Shmitah. One wonders why the people decided as a group to disregard this important commandment, and for 70 consecutive cycles! I would suggest that the people took off the time but failed to capitalize on the opportunity, instead wasting the sabbatical year on other non-spiritual matters. They were not “toiling in Torah”. Shmitah year is the opportunity to get re-acquainted with the Torah and to again walk in G-ds teachings, hence the connection between Sinai and Shmitah. Dedicated in memory of Joel Shulman A’H