Word of the Month

A weekly feature of Torah Tidbits to help clarify practical and conceptual aspects of the Jewish Calendar, thereby better fulfilling the mitzva of HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem…

From the Writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook by Rabbi Chanan Morrison

Like the Garden of Eden
Ask any farmer - agricultural labor is hard work. Plowing, planting, weeding, pruning, harvesting, and so on. That, however, is not how it was supposed to be. The world was originally designed to be like life in the Garden of Eden. Agricultural labor was only cursed after Adam’s sin - “By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread” (B’reishit 3:19).

Pirkei Avot - 3rd perek

Rabbi Chananya ben Akashiya’s teaching that begins the third chapter of Avot is used at funerals as a sobering reminder of the realities of life. But the way that the mishna unfolds begs us to give various other meanings to this famous teaching.
The mishna asks us to ponder three things and we will stay out of the clutches of sin. Know from where you come, to where you are going, and before whom you will stand in judgment.

Pesach Sheni

This year, Pesach Sheni is Wednesday, May 18th.
In the time of the Beit HaMikdash, someone who was not part of a Chavura for Pesach Rishon (14 Nisan) was required to bring Korban Pesach on the 14th of Iyar.
Food for thought…

B'har - G-d's Servants

Human beings all have their dignity and others must not enslave them. All are God’s servants; none is any more a child of God than any other. This is one of the teachings of this week’s portion. It allows no superiority to the white races over the coloured, to the managerial classes over the workers, to the rich over the poor, to the aristocracy over the commoners.

Divrei Menachem

Parshat B’har opens by discussing Sh’mita whereby every seven years the land in Israel lies fallow and it is forbidden to sow one’s field, prune vineyards, and to gather in produce. By so doing we recognize that Eretz Yisrael does not belong to us but rather is a gift from Hashem.
Moreover, by observing Sh’mita we demonstrate our trust in G-d who declares that by fulfilling His laws and statutes we shall [be able to] dwell in the Land without worry (Vayikra 25:18)

SHEISH SHANIM TIZRA SADECHA V’SHEISH SHANIM TIZMOR KARMECHA V’ASAFTA ET T’VU’ATA:

SHEISH SHANIM TIZRA SADECHA V’SHEISH SHANIM TIZMOR KARMECHA V’ASAFTA ET T’VU’ATA:

So reads Vayikra 25:3 at the beginning of Parshat B’har. We find in this pasuk, a two word phrase - twice - the first word of which ends with the same letter as the second word begins. SHEISH SHANIM, 6 years. This situation is called D’VEIKIM - two words that tend to stick together with one of the two same letters getting swallowed in the fusing of the two words. SHEISHANIM. When reading the Torah (or davening) one should be careful to separate the D’VEIKIM.

Parsha Pix -

At the bottom: Har Sinai with a pair of Luchot at the top. Next to a scene of a horse pulling a plow that is being guided by a farmer. There is a negation circle over the plowing, because it is forbidden during Sh’mita year. The question mark between the two represents the famous question from the beginning of the sedra - namely, MA INYAN SHMITA EITZEL HAR SINAI?

TTriddles

TTRIDDLES…
are Torah Tidbits-style riddles on Parshat HaShavua (sometimes on the calendar). They are found in the hard-copy of TT scattered throughout, usually at the bottom of different columns. In the electronic versions of TT, they are found all together at the end of the ParshaPix-TTriddles section. The best solution set submitted each week (there isn’t always a best) wins a double prize a CD from Noam Productions and/or a gift (game, puzzle, book, etc.) from Big Deal

The Dwellers in the Land of Israel Have a God

Vayikra 25:38 - I am HaShem, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of K’naan, to be a God for you.
Rashi: For all who dwell in the Land of Israel, I am God to him, and if anyone leaves it, it is as though he worships strange gods.
Gur Arye: The Holy Land is HaShem’s, as it is written [Yechezkeil 36:20], “these are His people, and they will depart from His Land” - thus one who dwells in the Land of Israel has HaShem for a God.

A Puzzling Exception

Context: In a sweeping set of edicts at the beginning of Parshat Behar, the Torah regulates the sale of land within Jewish society.

1. Land should be sold only in the case of dire necessity.
2. Land that has been sold may be redeemed after two years by the original owner or by his relatives. The price of redemption is computed on the basis of the purchase price minus the value of the years that have passed since the sale.
3. Land that has not been redeemed automatically reverts back to the original owner with the onset of the Jubilee year.
The implications of these laws are nothing less than staggering. From a Torah perspective, land cannot be sold in perpetuity, only leased for a period of time. Properly observed, the laws regulating the sale of land ensure, in the words of Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, “the prevention of complete permanent poverty of some families by the side of overpowering accumulation of property in the hands of the few.”
Once again, the Torah strikes at the critical area of land ownership, the fault line between the haves and the have-nots throughout history. Even an individual who becomes so destitute that he is forced to sell his family’s holdings can be assured that those holdings will be returned to him or to his heirs with the arrival of the Yovel year, if not before.

P'sukei d'Zimra: ASHREI

Reinforcing Emunah
Meaning: translation…
The splendorous glory of Your power and Your wondrous deeds I shall DISCUSS. And of Your awesome power they will SPEAK, and Your greatness I shall relate. A recollection of Your abundant goodness they will UTTER and of Your righteousness they will SING exultantly….
Theme: An essential concept of the prayer