By Rabbi Shloimie Lindenbaum
כי לי בני ישראל עבדים עבדי הם אשר הוצאתי אותם מארץ מצרים (פרק כה פסוק נה
At the end of the laws describing the freedom of a Jewish slave, the Torah makes the point that the Jews
are Hashem’s servants that he redeemed from Egypt. The Torah seems to be contrasting the slave’s
existence under his master to his current freedom, whereas before he was subjugated to his human
master, now he is free to be a true servant of Hashem. The question is, why is his service of Hashem at
all impeded by having a human master? A Jewish slave is obligated in all the mitzvos as much as any
other Jew? R’ Matisyahu Solomon quoted the Alter of Kelm who explained that although the Jewish slave
keeps all the mitzvos, he is lacking in the complete subjugation of his mind and heart to Hashem’s Will.
An essential part in our service of Hashem is that we are totally involved in serving Him without any other
obligations taking precedence in our minds or actions. When someone has a mortal boss, they will
certainly have other tasks that they must do, and they must be sure to please their boss. Only by being
free of his slavery can the Jewish slave devote all his faculties, all the time, to his one true Master.
ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם (פרק כו פסוק ד
The פרשה begins by telling us that if we follow Hashem’s מצוות then He will bestow all physical
blessings upon us. The פסוק first begins, “I will give your rain in their proper times”. The מדרש
comments that there is an emphasis on “I”- that is, Hashem will send the rain Himself, not
through His angels, and that the “proper times” refer to שבת- specifically Friday night. R’
Yehonason Eibschutz explains the correlation between these two comments of the מדרש based
on a different מדרש found in בראשית. The מדרש there quotes a story about Turnusrufus, a
Roman, asked R’ Akiva, “If it is true that Hashem observes שבת, how could it rain on שבת, isn’t
He transferring from one domain to another?” R’ Akiva answered him, “One cannot transfer
objects from his personal domain to someone else’s, but one can move within their own
personal domain as much as they like.” Meaning, the whole world belongs to Hashem as His
personal domain, therefore He can send rain from the heavens to the earth even on שבת. With
this, R’ Eibschutz explains the first מדרש: Because Hashem is the One sending the rain,
therefore He can send it on שבת as well. Had the rain been directed through a messenger, they
would have been prohibited from transferring domains on שבת.
העשירי יהיה קדש לה’ (פרק כז פסוק לב
The תורה tells us that every year one must tithe their animals and designate the מעשר as holy, a
sacrifice to Hashem. The owner must pass their animals through a narrow opening, and every
tenth one is to be set aside as מעשר. R’ Moshe Feinstein quotes the גמרא in בכורות that even
though the holiness comes automatically to every tenth animal, the owner is supposed to
vocally declare that it is holy. R’ Moshe sees in this an important lesson, that even things that
we take for granted as being elevated and holy, still need constant reinforcement and
encouragement to remain as such. Even though we are all endowed with beautiful and lofty
נשמות, souls, we must constantly strengthen our thoughts, actions, and interpersonal
relationships to ensure that they are in line with what Hashem wants of us.
