Judicious Journeys
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Parshat Bechukotai begins with the promise of blessings; “If you telechu/will walk, follow My commandments and perform them, then I will provide your rains in their time.. va’olich/and I will lead/walk with you [in/to] uprightness/permanence.” Rashi explains this as a threefold process. First, if you toil in the Torah, you will observe My mitzvoth, and then I will also walk with you.
Rebbetzin Smiles points out that these parshiot of Behar and Bechukotai form the conclusion and summation of the Sefer Vayikra, the Book of the Torah dedicated to sanctity. As such, they must contain some elements we can incorporate to sanctify our own lives.
Rabbi Belsky asks how Rashi deduces toiling in Torah study from the term telechu/will walk. Granted that the next phrase, “Follow My commandments,” refers to mitzvah observance, but how does telechu refer specifically to toiling in Torah? A verse in Iyov/Job states, “Man was born to toil.” After some discussion, here too our Sages conclude that toil refers to Torah study. They cite the conversation between Rabbi Akiva and Pappus ben Yehudah, both sentenced to death for violating Roam decrees. In a conversation between the two, Pappus laments that he was arrested for a minor offense, but he praises Akiva for defying the Romans to teach Torah. At least Akiva would die for a worthwhile cause while his own death would be meaningless. Rabbi Akiva made his choice in spite of the challenges he knew he would face.
We too choose our path in life, and the choice we make will direct where we put our effort. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein extends this lesson not only to Torah study and teaching, but to every mitzvah. We must include intention and effort in its performance. Do every mitzvah with alacrity, whether it is an easy mitzvah or a hard one, whether we consider it an important mitzvah or a minor one. As the Oshover Rebbe writes in Be’er Moshe, quench my thirst for Hashem through Torah and mitzvah observance, sincerely and without question whether I understand them or not, for they are all like chukim to me.. As the verse in Tehillim says, “Praiseworthy are those whose way is perfect, haholchim/who walk with the Torah of Hashem.”
Our attitude in approaching a mitzvah will set the tone for its ultimate performance and perfection, writes Rabbi Yaakov Hillel in Ascending the Path. We should approach every mitzvah as if we were receiving a large check, with joy and a spring in our step. We should ratz/run to them with our full ratzon/desire. Unfortunately, we value money much more than Torah and mitzvah performance, for we do not realize the mitzvah’s true, eternal value. Choose to dedicate your life to kedushah/sanctity, not just lishmor/to observe passively, but telechu/to go quickly, actively. When we do the mitzvah with alacrity, adds Rabbi Wolbe, Hashem is joining us and leading us; if we procrastinate, we will still be rewarded for mitzvah observance, but we would have lost the opportunity of Hashem’s “company” on the journey.
Human beings are different from angels, explains Rabbi Kushevelsky in Toras Zvi. Angels are created as omdim/stationary, unmoving beings. They are forever ready to do God’s will, not by choice but by their essence. They face no challenges. They can never strive and grow in sanctity. Human beings, on the other hand, are holchim/walkers and movers. People are never static. If they are not moving forward, they are moving backward. Therefore they must strive and toil to reach an ever higher rung on the ladder that connects us to Hashem. Therefor the one who encounters difficulties in his Torah study and nevertheless toils and struggles to overcome them reaches a higher level than the one who faces no challenges in his Torah study. As Rabbi Frand notes, citing the Alter of Slabodka, man is called Adam, from the adamah/earth from which he was created, for, like the earth, man also needs to be worked on, planted, pruned of the negatives, to bear fruit, harvested, and then begin the cycle again.
The Jewish imperative to go, to walk, to strive traces back to our ancestor Avraham. Three times Hashem commanded Avraham Avinu lech/go, each time bringing him to a higher spiritual level, writes the Netivot Shalom, the Slonimer Rebbe. The first time Hashem told Avraham lech lecha/ go [for you] from his land; the second time Hashem him to him to “Hishalech lefoni veheyei toim/go before Me and be perfect,” with the covenant of circumcision; the final time was Avraham’s final test, “Lech lecha/Go [for you] to the land of Moriah” and bring up Yitzchak as an offering. It is only after that third “going” that Hashem tells Avraham, “Now I know that you are truly a yirei Elokhim/a God fearing man, a man who truly has awe for God. This was the ultimate test because there was no way Avraham could be doing this for personal motivation of any kind. Yet he arose early in the morning, with alacrity, to do God’s will.
In the physical world, one can remain in rote mode, idling, neither moving forward or back. But in the spiritual world, one is always in motion. If one is not moving forward and ascending, he is retreating and descending. In fact, adds Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l, this attitude of always striving should infuse not just Torah study, but all our actions, wherever we go, wherever we walk. Rabbi Belsky explains more fully how every area of life is a mini beis medrash. In business and in the marketplace one must apply the laws he learned in Masechet Yoma. When buying food, he must remember the laws of kashrut. When eating, he must practice self control and recite the appropriate brachah.
In truth, any action we do, whether mundane or for ritual observance, can be infused with spirituality or remain routine. Rabbi Gedalyah Schorr takes the verse from Mishlei, that “they be an adornment for your head…,” that they go with you wherever you go. [Today’s image might be a halo. CKS] When you build your home, put up the mezuzot and toivel your dishes, for example. When you shop for clothes, picture yourself in modest clothing. [I find myself shopping racks by scanning for sleeves hanging down. Unfortunately, when I then look at the whole dress or blouse, the neckline is usually inappropriate. CKS] On the other hand, even mitzvoth, like charity, can be done with personal motives such as garnering honor or respect, rather than for the sake of Heaven. The mitzvoth are not just a chain around your neck, but a means of keeping us focused and connected to Hakodosh Boruch Hu wherever we go. We must consider ourselves a walking Beit Hamikdosh, dedicated to the higher reality, with Hashem walking with us, writes the Seforno.
On the other hand, even practical deeds that seem to be done for the common good may actually be self serving. Such was the case with the Romans. Rabbi Yehudah praised the Romans for having built roads, bridges and marketplaces. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, however, criticized this view. He understood that all these improvements were for the benefit of the Romans themselves, for their profits in collecting taxes. For this crime of criticizing the state, Rabbi Shimon was sentenced to death. This is when he and his on Elazar fled to a cave where they remained for twelve years plus an additional year.
Rabbi Eisenberger cites this incident in explaining how the nations will tell Hashem that they did so much for the Jews, when in fact it was generally done for their own aggrandizement. Rebbetzin Smiles here notes that this may well be an argument that technology pioneers and masters put forth. Look at how much Torah is disseminated through the internet, and now through ZOOM. But was the motivation to spread Torah, to improve mankind, or to make a huge profit? Only God knows for sure.
We will also be judged based on our motivation. Are we participating in a wedding to give joy to the bride and groom, or am I looking forward to the prospect of a good meal? Is Shabbat about reconnecting the Ribbono shel Olam, or about the nap after the cholent? What are we doing strictly for ourselves, and what are we doing for Hakodosh Boruch Hu?
A Jew by nature looks for the spiritual component in everything. When a Jew gives charity in the hope for a cure for himself or a loved one, he still considers it money well spent on a mitzvah rather than wasted even if his prayer does not seem to be answered. A Jew’s focus, even if he is unaware, is on the next world rather than on this physical world.
Esau and Yaakov perfectly demonstrated these two mindsets. Esau came home famished from his day of hunting and demanded the soup Yaakov was cooking be poured into him immediately. He willingly and easily sold his birthright, his potential in the next world, for that soup. He feels he’s about to die of hunger, an obvious exaggeration, and he certainly has no belief in and no need for the next world. A Jew, on the other hand, when he contemplates his death, thinks of the next world. He understands that this world is the journey to the next world.
Rabbi Eisenberger in Mesillot Bilvovom suggests that this Jewish mindset is subconsciously at the root of much antisemitism. After all, if Jews are only interested in the next world, what right do they have for money in this world? But while we have a right to the money, we are also accountable for how we use it, and for our motivation and dedication to the higher purpose.
The legend of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai continues. We learn that Rabbi Shimon and his son subsisted on the fruit of a carob tree that grew outside their cave. For six days they ate carobs, but for Shabbat, the tree was transformed into a date tree. Rabbi Eisenberger offers a beautiful homiletic interpretation of the symbolism in these trees based on the Maharsha. A carob tree takes seventy years from when it is first planted until it bears fruit. Traditionally, a man’s lifespan is also seventy years during which time he toils, and if he was successful in doing the work properly, he reaps his reward in the world to come. Shabbat is a semblance of the world to come which we experience every week in this world. A verse in Tehillim says that a tzadik/righteous person will grow like a date tree. Rashb”i, the consummate tzadik who did everything for Heaven, merited eating of the date tree on Shabbat merited this miracle during his lifetime.
[Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai died on Lag B’Omer. His yahrtzeit, the day he merited receiving his true reward in the world to come, is celebrated every year with bonfires that reflect the fire of Torah and the light he brought to the world with the Zohar. (Unfortunately, this year these festivities are canceled, but in Meron at Rabbi Shimon’s tomb, the Israeli government has still sanctioned a bonfire, bands playing the traditional songs, with limited crowds attending wearing masks.) CKS]
If we understand the purpose of our journey on earth, of the constant walking and going, then we will merit Hashem alongside us on this journey until we reach the ultimate destination of Gan Eden. If we go in the chukim and mitzvoth in this world with the attitude of a Yaakov and not of an Esau, if we willingly put in the work necessary for our “carob tree” to grow, we will merit experiencing the date tree in the world to come, and perhaps even somewhat in this world.