The True Owner

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

In this week’s parsha, we are introduced to the shmitta, a year-long mitzvah in which we refrain from working the land and declare all produce that grows hefker. The Torah refers to Shmitta as “Shabbos for Hashem.” In Shmos (20:10) as well, the mitzvah of Shabbos is referred to as “Shabbos for Hashem.” This is hard to understand. Aren’t all mitzvos “for Hashem?” Why does the Torah specify this only for Shabbos and Shmitta?

While indeed all mitzvos are for Hashem, Shabbos and Shmitta are unique in that they inculcate in us the idea that everything belongs to Hashem. A person has a natural inclination to see himself as in control, as possessing what he makes or acquires. On Shabbos, he teaches himself that this is not true. When Hashem tells me to work, I work; now He is telling me not to work, therefore today He will support me through means other than my own efforts. Shabbos is “for Hashem” in that it teaches us that all belongs to Him.

The same is true of shmitta. A farmer naturally views the fields he plowed and planted as “my land.” Shmitta teaches him Who in fact owns his estate and when it can be worked or not. This lesson, explains Rav Yerucham Levovitz, is the main theme of Shabbos and shmitta. Therefore only these two mitzvos are described as “for Hashem.”

Shmitta has yet another way to teach us that everything belongs to Hashem: Not only must we cease from working the land, we can derive no benefit from the fruit that grows there of its own (Vayikra 25:7). When we obey this law we merit bracha (ibid. 25:21), and if we fail in this difficult test and revert back to tilling the soil, we incur the punishment of exile (ibid. 26:34).

The next mitzvah of the parsha, Yovel, goes even further. This time the lesson of lack of ownership is not symbolic — whatever land one acquired over the past 49 years literally reverts back to the original division of Eretz Yisrael by Yehoshua Bin Nun. The land one “owned” for the past two generations is now suddenly given back to descendants of the tribe that received it over a millennium ago. Can there be a greater way of showing that Hashem is the true owner and apportions the land as He sees fit?

What about today? Most of us are not farmers, and until the complete ingathering of the exiles, the mitzvah of Yovel is not in effect. Is there any way that we can tap in to the great lesson of Shmitta, to feel that all is Hashem’s and free ourselves of the illusion that our possessions come from “my strength and the might of my hand” (Devarim 8:17)?

Rav Shimshon Refael Hirsch answers that alongside the parsha of Shmitta appear two mitzvos that seem unrelated, but are the key to making the lesson of Shmitta real to us:ona’ah and ribis — the prohibitions against selling items at inflated prices and taking interest on money loaned to a Jew.

Why are these issurim mentioned together with such lofty concepts as Shmitta and Yovel? Rather, anyone engaged in business, even a pious Jew, relates to his business as belonging to him. “I fix the prices; if someone else wants to pay me why shouldn’t I accept?” No, teaches the issur of ona’ah, you are not free to charge whatever price you want. So too with interest — “This is my money. Lending it to a Jew means tying up my capital. I’m losing profits I could have made. What’s unreasonable about adding some interest to the loan to offset my loss?” No, teaches the issur of ribis, the money is not “yours” in an absolute sense. The dinim of ribis and ona’ah are what teach us — who are not farmers — that we never truly own anything. Everything belongs to Hashem.

The Siach Yitzchak (Drasha of Shabbos Shuva) cites the Talmudic tradition that the first question asked in the beis din shel maala is “Were your business dealings done with emuna?” (Shabbos 31a). Why is this the first question? Because a person’s attitude toward money shows what his level of emuna is. This is our test.

And for many of us, it’s not just a test but an ordeal. The world we see before us teaches just the opposite: The more one works, the more he earns. And those who violate the Torah and demand high prices or accept interest earn still more. How can we keep the proper hashkafa when immersed in such a misleading environment?

Rav Dessler offers three suggestions:

1-When it comes to hishtadlus, don’t overdo it. And in small ways, try to curtail your efforts in gaining a livelihood and use the extra time for avodas Hashem.

2-One’s main worry should not be over his business, but whether his business is taking too much time away from his Torah study.

3-To daven with kavana until one recognizes and feels that everything is from Hashem.

Rav Moshe Sternbuch recalls that when he was a boy, his parents frequently hosted Rav Elchanan Wasserman in their home in England. When Rav Sternbuch’s father passed away, his mother was left with nine orphans and her husband’s extensive business operations. Everything fell on her shoulders. Rav Elchanan would visit often to give her chizuk.

Once, she asked him: “If I devote myself to the chinuch of my children, it will take up the whole day; and if I devote myself to running the business my husband left me, that too will take up the whole day. What should I do?”

“One’s parnassa is determined in advance,” answered Rav Elchanan. “Some people work very hard and it seems that they earn more, but they then lose this money or are sent problems that end up costing the extra amount. Devote yourself to your children’s chinuch, however much time it takes. Then use the remaining time to tend to the business, and Hashem will bless your efforts. In any case, whatever you are destined to earn will come to you.”

May we live with the knowledge that all belongs to Hashem!

 

Torah’s Inexplicable Effect On Us

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

This week’s parsha opens with a seeming repetition: “If you will go in My statutes (chukim) and keep My mitzvos … I will bring you rain in its proper time, etc.” (Vayikra 26:3).

What does “going in Hashem’s statutes” mean if not keeping His mitzvos?

Rather, Rashi explains that going in Hashem’s statutes means “ameilus in Torah” (putting strenuous efforts into one’s learning).

We can ask, however: Why can’t “going in Hashem’s statutes” refer simply to Torah study without strenuous efforts?

The Ohr Hachaim sees the answer in the word “statute” — chok. A chok is a mitzvah that defies understanding. This cannot be referring to Torah learning alone, because Torah learning does not defy understanding. It’s clear that we have to learn Torah. Without learning, we wouldn’t know how to fulfill the mitzvos. Moreover, Torah sharpens the mind. Only, why should we have to be ameil in Torah? Once we understand a Mishna or piece of Gemara, why must we review it again and again, as we are commanded to do? This obligation is in itself a chok. 

Also a chok is the fact that we should put in literally all of our free time into learning. Unless one is required to engage in his livelihood or other unavoidable obligations, the expectation is that he devote himself to Torah day and night (each person should consult his Rav as to how this applies specifically to him). Even if one would master the entire Torah, this obligation would remain in effect, as it states in Menachos (99b) that a sage asked if after mastering the entire Torah he could now study academic disciplines of the gentiles. He was answered: we are commanded to study Torah day and night, so in order to learn the wisdom of the gentiles, you must find a time that is neither day nor night to do so. This is a chok to us; and as with all chukim, we fulfill it in order to give Hashem nachas ruach (Brachos 17a).

Rav Simcha Zissel Broideh explains how ameilus is a chok in a different way: Just as a chok is inexplicable, so too the great positive effect Torah has on us is inexplicable. The Talmud Yerushalmi (Chagiga 1:7) states that Torah rescues from sin and brings a Jew to teshuva. How? We do not know, but the fact remains that a bachur studying Bava Kama, learning laws about a goring ox, becomes a better person. Torah builds him. It states (Toras Kohanim 26:3) that Torah leads to yiras Shamayim, and in Pirkei Avos it states that Torah makes one a tzaddik and chassid. How? It’s a chok.

In Nefesh Hachaim (Shaar 4), we learn that Torah upholds the entire universe and builds new worlds. This seems unreal. By learning dinim about goring oxen, I am holding up the world? What chizuk this should give us! Look at what Torah can do!

We are witness to this phenomenon when we behold the perfected character of great talmidei chachamim. A friend of mine once told me that to get chizuk, he comes to the yeshiva and looks at the best bachurim. “These are people who are not dragged down into the taavos of this world,” he tells me, excited.

Let’s each think for a moment: what did Torah do to you? You may feel you fall short of your goals or potential, but you can surely appreciate that Torah has perfected you in some way.

Rav Yosef (Pesachim 68b) would prepare a feast on Shavuos, explaining that were it not for Shavuos and the giving of the Torah, there would be nothing special about him. “How many Yosefs are there in the marketplace?” he would ask, rhetorically. Without Torah he would have been just another “Joe.” The Kehillas Yitzchak (Parshas Nasso) explains that Rav Yosef is famous in the Talmud as the Amora who tragically forgot his learning, and his comment was made surely after this had happened. Nevertheless, Rav Yosef would prepare a feast in recognition of what Torah had already done for him.

We now understand why chukim refers to ameilus, but still: why are we commanded to go in the chukim? Why not state that we are commanded to study? Why is the word “go” used instead?

Rav Nachum Ze’ev Ziv, son of the Alter of Kelm, explains that this is because the Torah must go with a Jew everywhere—whether he’s in the beis medrash or not. Throughout the day, even amid stressful, difficult situations, the Torah must never be put aside. As the Rambam states, “everyone is obligated in the mitzva of Talmud Torah, whether he is rich or poor, sick or healthy, etc.” (Laws of Talmud Torah 1:8).

Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv exemplified the mitzvah of “going” with Hashem’s statutes at all times. Throughout his life he suffered from ailments and was very weak. Despite sickness, weakness and poverty, Rav Elyashiv was the masmid par excellence in all periods of his life.

 

Toward the end of his life, when he was in an intensive care ward recovering from open-heart surgery, he sat up in his bed and began learning Gemara in his familiar melody.

“Rabbi,” exclaimed one of the nurses, “after surgery a patient has to rest!”

“Is my learning bothering anyone?” Rav Elyashiv asked. Once he clarified that he was not disturbing someone else, no entreaties of the hospital staff could keep him from Torah study.

When Rav Elazar Menachem Mann Shach convinced Rav Elyashiv to assume a role of leadership in Klal Yisrael, Rav Elyashiv said: “I’m willing to do it, but I have to be able to learn at least 13 hours a day. I cannot take on responsibilities that will cut in to my main learning sedarim.”

May we be zocheh to be ameilim baTorah!