Torah Tidbits

23 May 2012 / 2 Sivan 5772
Issue 955
Issue 955- Shabbat Parshat B'chukotai
May 19, 2011

Parsha Points to Ponder

Parsha Points to Ponder

By Rabbi Dov Lipman

1) The Torah relates that if we follow G-D’s commands then we will experience great success including victory over enemies. This is captured by the image of five people chasing 100 and 100 chasing 10,000 (26:8). Why are the five people successful in chasing 20 times their number while the 100 chase 100 times its number?

Da’at Zekainim MiBaalei Hatosfot suggests two possible answers.
1) The power of prayer is such that more people praying leads to greater success and, therefore, the 100 people giving chase and praying will have greater success than the five.
2) The Torah says AND 100 FROM THEM (MIKEM) WILL CHASE 10,000. 100 FROM THEM can mean 100 from those five meaning those 5 people 100 times over will chase 10,000. That means 500 will chase 10,000 which is the same 1 to 20 ratio as the 5 to 100.

2) The Torah begins the curses with the words AND IF YOU DON’T LISTEN TO ME (26:14). The Torah never said IF YOU DO LISTEN TO ME with regard to the blessings so why does it shift to this different concept of not LISTENING for the curses?

The Ohr HaChayim answers that the opening words of the Parsha, IF YOU WALK WITH MY LAWS is interpreted by all to mean IF YOU LEARN MY TORAH. Learning Torah is the same as listening to G-D’s words since the Torah is G-D’s message to us. Therefore, DON’T LISTEN TO ME is the opposite of WALK WITH MY LAWS.

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