* TORAH WEEKLY * Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion and Haftorah. Plus Pirkei Avos - The Ethics of Our Fathers. Parshas Bechukosai For the week ending 20 Iyar 5755 in Israel (27 Iyar 5755)* 19 & 20 May 1955 (26 & 27 May 1995)* *week ending dates for locations outside of Israel =========================================================================== Ohr Somayach has a NEW Internet Address: ohr@jer1.co.il =========================================================================== Summary The Torah promises prosperity for the Bnei Yisrael if they will follow Hashem's commandments. However, if they fail to live up to the responsibility of being the Chosen People, then chilling punishments will result. The Torah details the harsh historical process that will fall upon them when Divine protection is removed. These punishments, whose purpose is to bring Yisrael to repent, will be in seven stages, each more severe than the last. Sefer Vayikra, The Book of Leviticus, concludes with a detailed description of Erchin -- the process by which someone can make a vow to give to the Beis Hamikdash, the equivalent monetary value of a person, an animal, or property. =========================================================================== Commentaries "Your threshing will last until the vintage, and the vintage will last until the sowing; you will eat your bread to satiety, and you will dwell securely in your land" (26:6). Such will be the fruitfulness of the land, that you will still be busy threshing when the time comes to harvest the grapes and when the time comes to plant next year's grain, you will still be harvesting the grapes. (Rashi) Constant activity is a blessing. When someone is busy he feels fulfilled and healthy, but when he is idle, he looks for ways of killing time. He seeks amusement and entertainment to take his mind off the emptiness he feels. He becomes restless and bored and wants to travel, trying to make his life into a glamorous travelogue. This false sense of movement is but a poor substitute for the real voyage which is spiritual -- and that most fascinating and educational of journeys cannot take place, neither in stagnation nor in boredom, but in constant activity. (Based on the Hamek Davar) "But despite all this, while they will be in the land of their enemies, I will not been revolted by them nor will have I rejected them to obliterate them, to annul My covenant with them -- for I am Hashem, their G-d" (26:44). `He who thinks that Berlin is Jerusalem...there will come a thunderous and violent wind which will uproot him from his source'. These words, written by Rav Meir Simcha, the Ohr Somayach, in the early 1900s, are an uncanny prediction of the storm which was to engulf Europe years later. From the moment of Hashem's irreversible covenant with Avraham Avinu, the survival of the Jewish People becomes a natural imperative, no less than the rising of the sun or the flowing and ebbing of the tides. Anti-Semitism is placed into nature with its sole purpose to prevent the Jewish People from disappearing into the melting pot amongst the nations, and `annulling' the irreversible covenant with Avraham Avinu. Assimilation is like a nuclear chain reaction -- when a certain critical mass is reached, then the atom bomb of fanatical anti-Semitism results. There was no nation that represented the summit of culture and refinement more than pre-war Germany, and yet within a few short years it turned into a savage animal. When the Jewish People forget their purpose to be a holy nation, they are reminded of their purpose, and the degree of the ferocity of that reminder will depend on the determination of the Jew to assimilate and disappear. "And I will remember my covenant with Yaakov and my covenant with Yitzchak and my covenant with Avraham, I will remember, and the land I will remember" (26:42). What is the connection between these words and the Tochacha which immediately precedes it? If you have forefathers like Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, and a land like Eretz Yisrael, then how much greater will your transgressions be accounted: If the scion of a great family who grows up in the courtyard of the palace sins against the King, his transgression is infinitely greater than a simple fellow who came from a village. (Shla"h HaKadosh) =========================================================================== "The Tochacha" In the Parsha of Bechukosai, there is a section called the Tochacha -- the rebuke -- it details the punishments that will befall the Jewish People if they fail to keep the Torah. Traditionally, no one is `called up' for this section of the Torah; rather the Gabai merely motions to the Baal Koreh (reader) that he should continue reading. There are some people who fear the Tochacha. They leave the shul while it is being read. In some communities, they read it in a low voice, the Baal Koreh almost swallowing the words, and most of the people don't hear it. This is like someone giving a warning to a traveler not to take a certain road, because it's full of brambles and pot-holes, and dangerous wild animals. But the traveler doesn't heed this warning and sets off down that very road. However, as a `precaution' he covers his eyes with a blindfold so that he won't see the dangers. The point of the Tochacha is that it should be heard loud and clear, so that a person can travel down the highway of life with no fear that evil will befall him. (Chafetz Chaim) =========================================================================== Haftorah: Yirmiyahu 16:19-17:4 "Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem, and Hashem will be his trusted One" (17:7). When someone trusts Hashem, even though it is very difficult for him to do so, he is given help from Heaven to achieve a trust that is complete and perfect. Thus, if someone will start off by doing his part and be `the man who trusts in Hashem', in the end he will merit that in reality Hashem will be his `trusted one'. (Shir Maon) =========================================================================== Pirkei Avos: Perek 5 Miraclice "Ten miracles were performed for our forefathers in Egypt." (Avos 5:4) The ten miracles consisted of being spared from the ten plagues which struck the entire land of Egypt and its populace. In regard to all of the plagues the Torah states that they did not reach the Israelites except for the one of lice, where no such mention is made. Since it is impossible that the Israelites should suffer from a plague intended for their oppressors we must conclude that the lice actually reached them as well but miraculously did not bother them. (Rambam) =========================================================================== SUBSCRIBE! to one of the many weekly "lists" published by Ohr Somayach Institutions: weekly - Summary of the weekly Torah portion dafyomi - Rav Mendel Weinbach's insights into the Daf Yomi ask - The Rabbi answers YOUR questions on Judaism parasha-qa - Challenging questions on the weekly Torah portion os-special - All the SPECIAL publications produced by Ohr Somayach os-alum - "B'Yachad" - the Ohr Somayach Electronic Alumni Newsletter There is NEVER a charge for any of the above lists (though your local information provider, such as AOL, Prodigy or CompuServe, might charge a nominal fee). To subscribe to any of these lists, send the message: subscribe {listname} {your full name} to: listproc@jer1.co.il =========================================================================== Dedication opportunities are available for Torah Weekly. Please contact us for details. =========================================================================== Jewish L EEEEEEEE Prepared by Ohr Somayach Institutions J L E 22 Shimon Hatzadik Street, POB 18103 J L Exchange Jerusalem 91180, Israel J J L E Tel: 972-2-810315 Fax: 972-2-812890 JJJJ Learning EEEEEEEE Internet: ohr@jer1.co.il =========================================================================== Written and Compiled by Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair General Editor: Rabbi Moshe Newman Production Design: Lev Seltzer =========================================================================== (C) 1995 Ohr Somayach International - All rights reserved. This publication may be distributed to another person intact without prior permission. We also encourage you to include this material in other publications, such as synagogue newsletters. However, we ask that you contact us beforehand for permission, and then send us a sample issue.