"What is the meaning of:’if you follow My statutes’? It means that you toil in the study of Torah..”
Parashat Bechukotai opens with Hashem’s promise of great rewards, to those who (26:3 ) ‘follow My statutes and observe My commandments and perform them’.
Rashi brings the commentary of our Sages, on these words:’’If you follow my statutes’: ‘it cannot refer to observing the commandments, since the Torah here already says:’and observe My commandments’..so what is the meaning of:’if you follow My statutes’? It means that you toil in the study of Torah.
‘And observe My commandments’: Toil in the study of Torah in order to observe and fulfill the commandments.’
The Maharal, on this Rashi, adds:’The pasuk alludes to ‘toil in Torah’, because of its choice of the words ‘in my statutes’ תהלכו: you shall walk, as ‘walking’ involves burden and labor, and this, too, is what ‘toil in Torah’ requires.
‘Further, we can also say that the ‘walking’ that a person undertakes from place to place, also describes the journey of one who toils in Torah, as he constantly seeks ‘to go’ from one level of understanding, to a higher level.’
Rav Moshe Feinstein comments:’It iis surprising that the Torah here uses the language of ‘תלכו’: going, as in other places we find that when discussing חוקות: statutes, it uses the language of ‘doing’ or ‘keeping’.
‘The reason would appear to be, that on occasions a person ’goes’ in certain things in ways which he thinks are לשם שמים: for ‘the sake of Heaven’, but, in reality are not, and are not the correct way.
‘The correct way is to go in the ways that have been handed down by our tradition, wholeheartedly and without second thoughts.
‘Should he instead to pursue a different way, though his intentions may be laudable, that is not what the Torah requires.
‘This is the advice of the Psalmist ( 2:1 ):’Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the wicked’.’
Rav Moshe Sternbuch brings what he terms as the ‘literal’ reading of our pasuk, from Rav Moshe Shneider:’תלכו: you shall go, requires that the true toiler in Torah, even when he is walking or on the way to another destination, does not cease his toil and review of his learning.
‘The test of the true ben torah, is that his thoughts and talk at all times, even when he is on the way somewhere, are in his Torah.&
The rewards promised, for toiling in Torah, promised here, in addition to the material blessings set out, also include the spiritual reward of:(26:11-12):’ונתתי משכני בתוככם: I will place My dwelling in your midst..והתהלכתי בתוככם: I will walk among you, and My spirit will not reject you…and ( I will ) be your G-d, and you will be My people.’
The Netivot Shalom expounds:’We have to note that our Parasha begins with material blessings, such as timely rainfall, but concludes with spiritual blessings, the like of which we do not find elsewhere in the Torah, and we need to understand the meaning of this.
‘Perhaps the answer may be found in the teaching of our Sages, that ‘the reward for Mitzvot is not given in this world’, the reason being - as the Torah adjures in several places - that the result of receiving material rewards and blessings, can, alas, be that we come to וישמן ישורון ויבעט: we become sated, and rebel against Hashem.
‘This is what the Torah comes to teach here, that if we toil in Torah, Hashem will shower us with His material blessings, but these will not cause us, in our prosperity, to rebel, but instead, to rise to higher spiritual levels, to come closer to Hashem, until we merit the wondrous state of ‘I will walk among you’.’
The Panim Yafot similarly expounds:’Hashem will assist you to rise from one spiritual level to the next, higher one, and, at each level, you will increase your measure of Awe of Hashem.
‘This is the meaning of the concluding words:’I will be a G-d unto you, and you will be a people unto Me.’
Rav Chaim Friedlander offers a different understanding of these words:’Their deeper meaning is that the spiritual reward for toiling in Torah, is the nearness of the Shechina to the person - his דביקות: cleaving to Hashem.
‘This was the pristine original state of things, that Hashem was present in the world, of:‘He walked within you’.
‘However, as our Sages lament, as a result of the sins of mankind throughout the generations - starting with the sin of Adam HaRishon - the Shechina gradually distanced itself; but this was not the intended state when man was created.
‘When Hashem said to Avraham:(Lech Lecha 17:1):’Walk before Me and be תמים: wholehearted’, the message to Avraham was:’your walking is always ‘before Me’ - always in My presence.
‘This, too, is what is said in our Parasha, that ‘I will walk among you’: in constant dveikut; not just in the Mikdash, but wherever you may go.
‘The Sforno adds: before the sin of the golden calf, this was the state of things; it was only because of that sin, that was there a need for a special place for the residence of the Shechina - the Mishkan - so that the state referred to in our Parasha, of ‘I will walk among you’, was a return to the state to which Bnei Israel ascended at Matan Torah - the state of Adam haRishon before he sinned - that Hashem was found amongst us in every place.
‘Lest we err, and think that we cannot return to that elevated state, the Chovot Halevavot teaches that it is within each of us to attain this state of closeness to Hashem, that He ‘will walk among’ us, if we constantly feel that we are in His presence, and that, in all that we do, we are in awe of Him, aware that He is watching our every move.
‘This is the deeper meaning of the words of David Hamelech ( Ps’ 16:8): ‘שויתי ה" נגדי תמיד: I have set the Lord always before me’.’
Let us conclude by nourishing our souls, with the beautiful exposition of the Slonimer Rebbe - the Darchei Noam - as to the wondrous reward for toiling in Torah.
Expounds the Rebbe:’The Zohar Hakadosh compares the loving relationship between one who toils in Torah, and the Torah, as being ( Proverbs 27:19 ):’As in water, face answers to face’: the greater the love of the person for the Torah, so too is the love of the Torah for him.
‘This depends solely upon the toil of the person in Torah, because the amount of exertion the person puts into his toil in Torah, is the true reflection of the importance of the Torah to him.
‘If he shows that there is nothing that compares to its worth on his eyes, the Torah will ‘reciprocate’, and if this is his greatest passion, he will - in the description of the Midrash Tanchuma, of the oral Torah - merit ‘in the darkness, see a great light’, it will reveal its endless secrets, to him.
‘As a reward for his toil, the Torah, in its love for him, will enter and dwell in the toiler.
Our Sages say ( Shabbat 104. ) that אנכי, is an acronym for א׳נא נ׳פשי כ׳תיבת י׳הבית: as it were, that Hashem wrote and inserted Himself into the letters of the Torah.
‘Therefore, whoever merits that the Torah should dwell within him, has the wondrous zechut that Hashem who is ‘written in’ the Torah, also dwells in him.
‘This is the deeper meaning of the words in our Parasha:’if you toil in Torah, ונתתי משכני בתוככם והתהלכתי בתוככם: ‘I will dwell among you..and I will walk among you’.’
Concludes the Rebbe:’We can now understand why ‘toiling in Torah’ is not a Mitzvah, for, has that been the case, we would toil because we are obligated to do so, and it would not express how precious the Torah is to us.
‘By leaving it to us to toil in Torah of our free choice, above all other pursuits, we show its priceless value in our eyes.’
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