Day: May 22, 2025

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By Rabbi Shloimie Lindenbaum

ובשנה השביעית שבת שבתון יהיה לארץ…שדך לא תזרע וכרמך לא תזמר (פרק כה פסוק ד)

The Torah tells us about the mitzvah of שמיטה, how every seven years a person must let their fields lay fallow. The Yalkut Shimoni quotes a פסוק in תהלים קג:כ, “Bless Hashem, O His angels, the strong warriors who do His bidding…” and applies it to those who observe שמיטה. The מדרש expounds that normally people can perform a mitzvah for a day, a week, or a month, but one who observes שמיטה spends an entire year willingly leaving his field barren because of a mitzvah! Can there be a greater warrior than he?! This can be his entire livelihood, but he will ignore it for a year to fulfill Hashem’s Will. For this he is compared to an angel and a mighty warrior. R’ Yehudah Zev Segal points out that even though this person is described as being incredibly powerful, this is a mitzvah that is demanded of every single individual! Clearly, Hashem recognizes that we all have the potential to rise to the challenge and act as powerful warriors and angels. We are an incredible nation with amazing abilities, but with this comes our responsibility to listen to Hashem even when it seems nigh impossible. R’ Segal applies to this the מסילת ישרים who describes the obligation of לא תקם ולא תטר- of not taking revenge or harboring any hatred against one who has wronged us, as something that is only for מלאכים, for angels. He says that people are very sensitive to insults and only revenge puts them at ease. He describes revenge as being sweeter than honey, yet we are obligated to fully put aside any feelings of hurt or anger at the antagonist. Even though this is a job for angels, Hashem knows that we have the ability to do it if we strive and try to fulfill His Will. This is the awesome potential and responsibility of כלל ישראל.

ואכלתם לחמכם לשובע (פרק כו פסוק ה)

The Torah tells us that if we listen to Hashem and follow His Torah then we will merit many ברכות including abundance of food and “eating bread to satisfaction”. Rashi explains that we will be able to eat just a little bit and that will suffice to satisfy our hunger- it will be a blessing in the ability of food to fill us. R’ Moshe Feinstein asks, what is the point of this ברכה, the Torah already said that we will be blessed with plentiful food, why do we need to be full from just a little? R’ Moshe answers that even if we can easily access תענוגי עולם הזה, physical worldly pleasures, we should still try not to be immersed in those pleasures. By being involved in physical pleasure, we are inevitably distracted from our true focus in this world, to become close to Hashem. Therefore it is a ברכה to only have to eat a little. Even if we are able to eat a lot, by eating little we can be less involved in this world and we can focus our energies on Torah and יראת שמים, fear of Heaven.

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By Rabbi Naftoly Bier

In ויקרא כה:מז-נה, Leviticus 25:47-55, we are taught the scenario of a destitute Jew, whose only manner to support his family is to contract himself as a slave to a non-Jew. In verse 55, the Torah admonishes the Jew to remember that “for the בני ישראל, the Children of Israel, are servants to Me, they are my servants, who I have taken out of Egypt…” A Jew must remember one’s eternal obligation to his true Master, notwithstanding his other master, the non-Jew. The Torah continues 26:1-2, to enumerate four mitzvos that will ensure this mindset.
Rashi quotes חז״ל, “that one shouldn’t declare, since my master is involved with prohibitive activities such as laboring on Shabbos, I too “have to” follow his lead.
The question one asks is; such an agreement is completely illogical. 1) Firstly a non-Jew is not obligated to observe Shabbos, 2) on the contrary, a non-Jew is not allowed to observe the Shabbos and 3) even if he was obligated, why is he different that though another doesn’t do what is obligatory, does that allow another to act in the same manner?
Rav Yeruchim Levovitz זצ״ל shared a profound observation. All of the interaction of society is dependent on dominion from one angle and submission from the other.
For example, in an employee – employee relationship, the employee is subjugated to be assiduous, honest, and timely in their obligations, while the employer is obligated to pay in a timely manner all while providing the best work situation.
An owner of a store must be certain for their venue to be open to the public at the time that people generally shop, to have a full inventory of products at all times and for the prices to be competitive. The consumers must pay in a timely fashion and treat the store with respect.
A leader in a community is the same. The גמרא הריות י relates a story that רבן גמליאל had two outstanding students who barely had what to eat and to wear. He offered them positions, which initially they had refused. “You think that I am offering you a position of prominence, of being a revered leader which you refuse for you to disdain כבוד,sשררה; on the contrary, you will now have to lead a life of submission to your students!”
Even when it concerns the רבש”ע, כביכול, there is an idea of this principle of mutual responsibility. קין, Cain, said to Hashem, “גדול עוני מנשא”, which Rashi explains, “You, Hashem keeps the world going. You have the responsibility to do so; if so ‘little, mortal me’ you can’t keep going?” In fact we are taught in ברכות דף ז that Hashem כביכול, needs the ברכות, benedictions of His people.
The world we live in is a creation that is completely dependent on the constant realization that one has an unalterable obligation to subject oneself always to someone or something. To Hashem always; but due to this inherent mechanism of Hashem’s world, for without it in the world wouldn’t be what it is, in our relationships with others it similarly applies, as it also does in conducting oneself with סדר, subjecting oneself to an exact timely order.
In במדבר כד:ב, Numbers 24:20, it states, “ראשית גוים עמלק ואחריתו עדי אובד,” “Amalek is the first among nations, but its end will be eternal destruction.” In דברים כה:יז, it says אשר קרך בדרך, which Rashi explains it by happenstance עמלק met the Jewish people. Rav Nosson Wachtfogel זצ”ל, explain that this is the essence of עמלק, they are a nation that has no responsible order of conduct or mission, but rather everything is a momentary decision. (Though there are “plans and objectives” it is not organized with a complete focus on the whole possible trajectory of one’s actions. This is due to the desire to live for the moment without constant responsibility for one’s actions, a reflection of subservience.)
When Moshiach comes the world in that moment of truth, of Hashem’s revelation to all of humankind, Amalek will be devastated, for at that moment all of mankind with acuity, will with enthusiasm and alacrity subjugate with total acquiescence all of their desires and goals to Hashem. This being antithetical to Amalek, they will “disappear” from the world.
Rav Nosson זצ”ל continued; the foundation that embraces all of the world and the existence and essence of the human is that conducting oneself with submission. As it states in איכה ג:כז,v“טוב הגבר אשר ישא עול מנעוריו,” it is beneficial to a person to bear a yoke from youth.
Every person, be it a Torah scholar, a worker, a businessman, a teacher, must be relentlessly dedicated to be punctual for all their responsibilities. This is the only way to be זוכה in תורה as it says “ישא מדברותיך,” which רש”י explains “נשאו עליהם עול תורתך”.
As we approach חג שבועות, let us contemplate the gravity of orderliness, thereby meriting a ברכה from Hashem.