The (conditional) blessings at the beginning of the parsha conclude with the pasuk, “I am Hashem, your G-d, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, from being their slaves, I broke the staves of your yoke (motos ulchem) and I led you erect.” [Vayikra 26:13]. Frankly, I am not exactly sure what the term (per ArtScroll translation) “stave of your yoke” means. I assume that there is some kind of piece that is inserted into the yoke of an animal that holds the yoke in place, a type of hinge. Whatever it is, Hashem promises to break these “motos ulchem” which metaphorically caused us to be imprisoned in Egypt as slaves, thereby enabling our freedom and Hashem’s ability to lead us from there proudly and standing upright into Eretz Yisrael. This pasuk is a source for something that we say almost every day. Namely, one of the “Ha’Rachamans” in bentching [Grace after Meals]: HaRachaman Hu yishbor uleinu mei’al tzavareinu; v’hu yoleecheinu komemiyus l’artzeinu. [May the Merciful One break our yoke from our necks and bring us standing tall to our land.]
This “HaRachaman” is very similar to the pasuk here in Bechukosai, but with one very big difference. In bentching we say that He will break the yokes from our necks – He will throw them away! Why, when the Torah talks about this, does it merely talk about breaking the staves or pegs or hinges of the yokes, rather than the yokes themselves? What is the difference?
I heard a very nice parable in the name of a Rav Shlomo Zalman Ulman, z”l: When a farmer – at the very end of his harvest, or at least when he is going to stop harvesting for a while – completes his job, he does not break the yoke that was upon the animal. He knows that he is going to need to use this animal again in a couple months for additional work. He knows he will need the yoke again for plowing, harvesting, or other work so he certainly does not want to break it. Therefore, the farmer removes the yoke from the oxen by taking off the staves or hinges that keep the yoke in place, but he does not get rid of the yoke itself.
However, when a farmer who has been working the land for sixty years decides, “It is time to hang it up!” he concludes, “That is it! No more farming for me.” — What does he do? He takes off the yoke from his animal and tosses it away. He breaks it! “I am never going to use this again. I am finished with farming!” The yoke is too old to resell, so he breaks it!
When the Ribono shel Olam originally made this promise, He was aware that “Now I am going to temporarily remove this yoke from you, but unfortunately, in Jewish history, there are going to be other periods of Galus in which you are going to have the yoke placed upon you again.” Therefore, the Ribono shel Olam merely says, “I will break the staves of your yoke. I will not discard the yoke, because unfortunately, the yoke is going to be used again sometime in the future.”
However, in the HaRachamans in bentching, we pray to the Almighty that the All Merciful One shall in the future permanently break the yoke from upon our necks. We pray that, once and for all, He should smash the yokes of the enslavement of our exiles that we have suffered repeatedly in our history, and that He should lead us finally, once and for all, upright to our Land.”
