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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Vayikra
- Behar
The previous parasha ends with the incident of the blasphemer. Now God instructs Moshe to tell the People of Israel that, when they inherit the Land of Israel, they must observe a Sabbath for the land.
Chazal explain the juxtaposition of the reference to Mt. Sinai/הר סיני, with the rules of the Sabbatical year/שנת שמיטה: Just as all the detailed laws concerning שמיטה are revealed here, so, too, the details of all Torah laws were revealed at Mt. Sinai.
However, there is a different question of juxtaposition which arises here: How do the extensive details of the laws of שמיטה relate to the immediately preceding incident, in which Moshe does not know the law relating to the punishment of a blasphemer/מגדף?
The word הר is from the root ה-ר-ר "to protrude in isolation." The word שמיטה is from the root ש-מ-ט "to release." Both land and debts are released in the seventh year. The word מגדף is from the root ג-ד-ף "to scorn and defame."
According to the Torah, Moshe did not know how to deal with someone who cursed God; he received no guidance as to an appropriate punishment. As a result, the blasphemer is incarcerated until Moshe asks God how to deal with this particular sin. However, the incident of the מגדף seems to contradict the explanation of Chazal that all of the laws given at Sinai were conveyed in all of their detail. If that was the case, why does Moshe need to request that God reveal the punishment for this sin?
It seems incomprehensible that there were no laws dealing with cursing God, one of the most serious sins imaginable. In addition, it is the kind of act that can be committed at any time, in any place, by any person. And yet, the Torah clearly indicates that no established protocol existed for dealing with a blasphemer until Moshe seeks God’s special instructions!
Contrast this with שמיטה, the laws of which are minutely detailed. Yet, the שמיטה laws should not have been a priority in the desert. The practical observance of שמיטה would not begin until the Jews entered the land of Israel/כי תבואו אל הארץ. In fact, it was not until the fifteenth year after coming to the land that the first cycle ofשמיטה began. Chazal tell us that it took seven years to conquer the land and another seven years to apportion and settle it. The first שבת of the land was observed in the twenty-first year after the Jewish people entered the land.
The word תבואו is from the root ב-ו-א "to come to an attractive place." The word שבת is from the root ש-ב-ת "to cease activity before completion."
How can one explain why the Torah sets forth the details of שמיטה, while the laws of מגדף were utterly disregarded? The answer is a psychological one. The sin of blasphemy is such a terrible act that the Torah did not want even to mention it as a possibility. To enumerate the details would acknowledge that it is possible for a Jew to commit such a sin. Instead, God waited until the act was actually committed (Chazal tell us, by a renegade half-Egyptian, half-Jew) whereupon the specific rules of punishment were detailed to Moshe.
Copyright © 2014, Matityahu Clark. All Rights Reserved. This is an excerpt from the forthcoming Hirsch At Your Table, a collection of brief divrei torah based on R. Samson Raphael Hirsch’s Torah Commentary.
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
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The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
