Parshas Bechukosai begins (Vayikra 26:3) with the words “Im bechukosai teleichu” (If you go in my decrees). Rashi at the beginning of the parsha notes that these words cannot refer to simple mitzvah observance because that is covered by the continuation of the pasuk – “v’es mitzvosai tishmeru” (and My commandments you shall keep). Rather, Rashi says that the words indicate “she’tee’he’yu ameillim b’Torah” (that you should be laboring in the Torah) – indicating that a person must sweat in his effort to study and master Torah learning.
The question is, why is the verb teleichu (you go) associated with intense learning? Rav Meir Shapiro, the Lubliner Rav, founded the famous Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin. The entrance exam to the yeshiva was knowing 300 blatt of Gemara by heart. The smicha exam at the yeshiva was 1000 blatt of Gemara by heart. I don’t know how many bochurim today would be accepted to such a yeshiva. Rav Meir Shapiro also founded the now widely-adopted Daf Yomi program. Besides everything else, he was a master darshan (a tremendous speaker).
For the building dedication of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, Rav Meir Shapiro had a pasuk engraved on the walls of the Yeshiva building: “Go my children (Lechu banim), listen to me, I will teach you the fear of Hashem.” (Tehillim 34:12) The obvious question on that pasuk is why does it say Lechu banim – Go my children? Shouldn’t it say Bo’u banim... Come my children? Rav Meir Shapiro explained that the proof of whether a person has succeeded in learning – whether he became a talmid chochom or a yareh shamayim or a ben Torah – is not while he is in a yeshiva. The proof is after he has left the yeshiva. If the yeshiva made an impression on him such that he is a ben Torah, an honest Jew, and a Jew who fears Heaven – even after he has left the yeshiva, that proves that the yeshiva has done its job in properly educating him.
As long as a person remains in yeshiva, the peer pressure and social pressure may be keeping him in check. People do not like to stand-out, so they toe the line. But when they are out of yeshiva, then the proof is in the pudding. That is what the pasuk means when it says: Go my sons.... “After you leave the yeshiva, I want to see if I can in fact recognize the type of person my yeshiva is supposed to produce through your behavior.”
Rav Meir Shapiro added that this is what limud haTorah is all about. Limud haTorah is about the impression Torah makes on the person and how it forms him. Does he become a different person? Therefore, “Lechu banim (Go out, my children).”
Based on this observation, the Tolner Rebbe says as follows. Perhaps this explains why the pasuk at the beginning of our parsha also uses the verb “Bechukosai teleichu” in reference to toiling in Torah study. Perhaps it is because a person’s essence is recognizable when he is already teleichu – on the way, when he is already “out there in the world.” The true mark of the impact a person’s Torah study made upon him is how he acts in the business world and how he acts in the secular world when he is not within the four walls of the beis hamedrash. That is why the pasuk at the beginning of our parsha uses a verb indicating being on the road rather than a verb such as tishma’u (you shall listen) or tavinu (you shall understand).
The Tolner Rebbe then mentions a beautiful story involving the Pnei Menachem. When the Pnei Menachem was a very little boy, his father – the Imrei Emes – taught him the siddur. The Imrei Emes taught him how to daven and the proper sequence of the prayers throughout the siddur. This was before the young child was even ready to study Chumash or Mishnayos. When he got to Krias Shema she’al hamita, the Imrei Emes explained to his son that this was the prayer recited before going to bed at night. The little Pnei Menachem asked his father “Why do we say Krias Shema she’al hamita BEFORE we get into bed if it is called Krias Shema she’al hamitah (literally — the reading of Shema upon the bed)? “Al hamitah” implies, he asked, that a person should say it when he is already IN bed!
The Imrei Emes answered his little son: Krias Shema represents acceptance of the yoke of Heaven. A person cannot accept the yoke of Heaven while stretched out in bed. That does not work. Therefore, it needs to be said before you actually lie down. The young son persisted: then why is it CALLED Krias Shema she’al hamita (upon the bed), it should be called Krias Shema shelifnei hamita? The Imrei Emes told him it is because when a person is actually lying down in bed we see what affect the past day’s learning had on him. Even the “al ha’mita” – the sleep – should become a different sleep. The sleep itself should be infused with kedusha because its purpose is for you to be strong and well and be fortified to serve Hashem properly the next day.
Lechu banim shimu li – Go my children, listen to me: When you are on the way, when you are driving, that is when we see what kind of Jew you really are. Im bechukosai teleichu – in the going (haleecha) – we recognize what a person’s toiling in Torah has accomplished. (R’ Frand)
