Based on Daas Torah by Rav Yeruchem Levovitz zt”l, Va- yikra pg. 285
If he redeems it, he must add a fifth to its value. (27:13)
Rashi puts it simply: “The Torah was strict with the owner, obligating him to add on a fifth” to redeem it. He shows that this holds for the redemption of a house, a field, and maaser sheni. The owner is always saddled with a surcharge, while a third party who redeems any of those items does so only according to its actual assessed value.
What does the Torah have against owners? Doesn’t rea- son dictate the opposite? A third party who redeems a sancti- fied animal, house, or field engages essentially in a commer- cial transaction. It makes sense that when purchasing from the Temple Estate, he will pay a premium in deference to the holiness of hekdesh. An owner, however, took the meritorious step of donating to the Temple, of consecrating his property and removing it from the mundane, commercial world and el- evating it to the holy. Shouldn’t he deserve a break?
Upon reflection, the answer is a resounding “No!” Unlike the third-party purchaser, the owner previously moved to higher spiritual ground. He was a makdish, someone who voluntarily took his property and invested it with kedushah. Because of that, when he seeks to redeem the hekdesh he created, we expect him to continue to be a makdish – to spread kedushah to still more places, like the additional fifth that he is required to give to hekdesh.
We find a similar idea elsewhere. Chazal tell us that one who begins a mitzvah and fails to complete it will bury his wife and children. Why should a person who at least performed part of a mitzvah be treated more harshly than one who per- formed none of it? The explanation is the same. Once he rose to the occasion and saw fit to devote himself to a mitzvah, Hashem demands of him that he not allow his inspiration and elevation to die a sudden death. He is obligated to savor it and nurture it and push on till the task is completed.
A Jew who is meticulous about 612 mitzvos and ignores one will be punished. A non-Jew who ignores (almost) all of them is not punished. Why? Because the Torah places re- sponsibility upon a person according to his discernment. A Jew is endowed with spiritual abilities that beget many re- sponsibilities. As Rabbeinu Bachya put it, “Whomever Hash- em showers with special favor, He obligates in more avodah.”
This thinking is what is behind Chazal’s teaching: “Ac- cording to a camel is its load.” According to how much of a burden the camel can bear is the load that will be placed upon it. This is an important principle throughout the Torah.
RABBI YAKOV YOSEF SCHECHTER
RABBI YITZCHAK ADLERSTEIN
