In Parshas Bechukosai Hashem issues instructions to Klal Yisrael, putting forth a pathway as to how they may attain a life of prosperity. He also warns them of the pathway that will lead them to a life of pain, difficulty, and many klalos.
The significance of these pesukim this year
This year the pesukim of the klalos seem to carry extra significance. In our own land we are being chased and slaughtered by our enemies, and many have been exiled from their homes. We yearn for an end to the pain and atrocities, for prosperity and peace to return to the land. We dearly wish for the fulfilment of the pesukim “ו ִֽישַׁבְת ֶּ֥ם לָב ֶ֖טַׁח בְאַׁרְצְכ ִֽם”, וְנִָֽתַׁת ִּ֤י שָלוֹם֙ בָאָָ֔ר ץ "”, and וּשְכַׁבְת ֶ֖ם וְא ֵ֣ין מִַֽׁחֲר ִ֑יד" וְח ֶ֖ר ב לֹא־תִַֽׁעֲבֶֹּ֥ר בְאַׁרְצְכ ִֽם ”. In that light let us examine Hashem’s expectations of us in the opening words of Parshas Bechukosai.
“Im bechukosai telechu”. These words, simply translated, would be, “if you go with my rules”. Rashi, however, famously explains it to mean, “if you toil in my Torah”. Why is toiling in Torah the first and most important basis for peace and prosperity and why does the Torah refer to amelus baTorah with word telechu, walking?
The treasure by the canal
The Ben Ish Chai in Parshas Chukkas offers the following explanation:
There was once an exceptionally successful and wealthy man lying on his deathbed. He gathered his children around his bed and, after giving his tzava’ah and blessing them, he saw that he was getting steadily weaker and so he decided to disclose a treasure to them that was worth more than the entire estate.
He began talking about a canal that had been dug along his fields. As his breathing slowed he told them that if they dug in the canal they would find the most valuable treasure. Then, before he could elaborate, he passed away.
Following the shiva, the children divided his assets. They also decided that they would embark on the mission to find the priceless treasure their father had been so eager to reveal to them. This was no simple task as the canal stretched on for many miles and so, they divided the canal into then parts, and each child would search 10km of canal.
They began the tedious work, laboring mightily, day after day, week after week, digging and digging but without any results. After three months they sat down together to discuss their findings. They had dug up every last inch of the canal but had not come up with anything. But surely their father had not been trying to fool them. They headed home disappointed.
A couple of months later, Moshe, the oldest son, got a knock on his door. A man introduced himself as a fruit and vegetable merchant and said that he had seen the wonderful fruits that were growing in the fields surrounding their canal and wanted to purchase them for top dollar. The merchandise was so fantastic that Moshe could name his price.
Before he could even name his price there was another knock on the door. It was another merchant who also wanted the fruits. He said to Moshe, “Whatever price he offers, I will pay double.” Before long a crowd of eager customers had gathered, each willing to pay more than the previous one.
Moshe could not understand what had happened. Never before had there been such demand for their fruit. He went down to his fields and was shocked at what he saw: His fruit was indeed large, beautiful, plentiful, and tasty.
As it transpired, it was all of their digging that had caused this to occur. They had not been digging to find a treasure - the digging itself was the treasure, paving the way for an abundance of water which irrigated the fields.
More than a Malach
We often sit over a gemara, over a Tosfos or a Rashba, and toil to understand it. We hope to achieve clarity in the end, believing that if we do not we will have toiled in vein. But this could not be further from the truth, as we will explain in the following paragraphs.
A malach, despite its lofty levels and ability to sing shira to Hashem is called an omed. A person, who is far lower and more limited is called a holech. What does this mean? The Rosh Yeshiva, Hagaon R’ Tzvi Kushelevsky gave the following explanation.
If a person attempts to move a very large freezer from one place to another, he may sweat and toil but if he fails to bring it to its destination, he has failed. By contrast, a person in a gym, lifting weights, while he will certainly not “succeed”, in other words, he will not be able to lift all of the weights all of the time, his endeavor is nonetheless classed as a success. For it is building his muscles that is his goal. Next time he needs to move a heavy item he will be able to do it because his muscles have been strengthened.
This is also true of the brain. A person may toil for an hour to understand a Tosfos, and ultimately not acheive clarity. He is, however, no worse than the man stretching and developing his muscles in the gym, for as he is thinking and toiling, he is stretching his thinking muscles, digging the trenches of the canal.
For the rest of his life he will have the capacity to learn so much better, he will have the water streaming through the canal that he dug during the many hours of toil, and thereby he will benefit from the wonderful peros of true Torah unerstaning. (Of course, this is accompanied by great si’ata di’shmaya, l’ma’alah miderech ha’teva that is always the product of amelus baTorah.)
It goes one step further.
A person may have a particular struggle, perhaps in shemiras einayim, working on a middah, understanding a Tosfos, refraining from sharing a juicy piece of lashon hara. He may work hard, yet fail, he may put his effort in, yet ultimately gives in to the yetzer ha’ra. He might feel, “Why did I even try?” but this is a grave mistake.
First, kol rega v’rega, for every moment a person guards his mouth, he merits the ohr ha’ganuz that no malach nor creation can fathom. But more than that: just as when lifting weights in the gym the objective is not to move the weights but to develop the muscles, the same is true of the efforts in avodas Hashem. Even if he ultimately fails to understand the Tosfos, his toil has “dug the canal” and stretched his mental muscles, paving the way for future success.
Each time a person says no, each time he closes his eyes, his mouth, refrains from getting angry, each time he puts effort into his ruchniyus, not only does he receive untold sechar for his great effort, he paves the way for future success.
Next time he is walking down the street and has a nisayon in shemiras einayim he will have that much more power to overcome his nisayon. He will have stretched those muscles and be that much stronger.
Next time he is lying in bed, his yetzer ha’ra telling him not to get up, it will be that much easier for him to be misgaber ka’ari. He will have the strength within him. Next time he is toiling over a Tosfos and the yetzer ha’ra tells him, “Just move on to the next Tosfos”, he will have much more koach to persevere, to keep on going until he understands it entirely.
Every bit of effort, every bit of toil, has a tachlis in its own right.
Current Times
We are approaching the very special Yom Tov of zman Matan Torasenu. This week is already Shabbos Mevarchin,
The days of sefira are the days in which we do our part towards receiving the Torah. How do we accomplish that? Through bechukosai telechu, through going out on the journey, through doing the toiling. Once we have done our part, once we have toiled, Hashem gives us the Torah as a gift.
As we gather our strength for this wonderful avoda, increase our toiling in Torah, our bechukosai telechu and u’mitzvosav tishmoru, may we merit all of the wonderful brachos that Hashem promises, peace and prosperity in the land, and only good for all of Kal Yisrael.
