This week’s Parshiot conclude the book of Torat Kohanim. With regards to the timing of these Parshiot, the Gemara states (Megillah 31b):
Ezra enacted for the Jewish people that they should read the curses in Vayikra before Shavuot and the curses in Devarim before Rosh Hashanah. What is the reason for this? Abaye said, and some say that it was Reish Lakish: In order that the year may conclude (together with) its curses.
The Gemara asks: Granted, for the curses in Devarim there is a reason: In order that the year may conclude its curses. However, for the curses in Vayikra, what relevance does that reason have? Is that to say Shavuot is a new year? Yes, Shavuot is also a new year, as we learned in a Mishna: And on Shavuot, (divine judgment is made) concerning the fruit of the trees.
The Gemara states that we should read the tochecha – the curses or rebuke – found in Parshat Ki Tavo and Parshat Bechukotai, prior to the start of the year. On Shavuot, we are judged concerning the fruits of the tree, and since it is considered the day of judgment for the fruits of the coming year’s trees, it is considered a Rosh Hashanah. Therefore, it is appropriate to complete the curses – i.e., read Parshat Bechukotai and its tochecha – prior to the festival.
Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin (Pri Tzadik) asks why we do not take out a Torah before Pesach as well and read the curses? Pesach is the new year for crops, and are crops any less important than the fruits of the tree?
The Shelah HaKadosh writes (Shnei Luchot HaBrit, Shavuot): On Shavuot, the joy we experience should be spiritual joy, with gratitude and praise to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, who gave us the Torah. This greatly awakens in one’s heart the desire to sanctify oneself, to correct one’s deeds, and to be crowned with the Keter Torah – the crown of Torah, for this holy day is a day of judgment.
The source of the Shelah’s words is a very ancient Kabbalistic sefer, Tola'at Ya'akov, who writes: Know that just as on Rosh Hashanah, Hakadosh Baruch Hu wished to oversee and examine the deeds of humanity, as it is the day of the first Creation and renewal of the world, so too, on the day of Matan Torah, which signifies the renewal of the world, He wished to oversee and examine the deeds of the world and judge it concerning the fruits of the tree. These fruits are the souls that sprout from the tree of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and the world is judged on this day concerning the Torah given on it, for they distanced themselves from it; referring to the fruits of the tree that they did not perfect through Torah and Mitzvot.
The meaning of his writing is that Shavuot is also a day of judgment – not regarding who will live and who will die, as on Rosh Hashanah, in the physical sense, but in the spiritual sense: how much Torah one will merit to learn and originate in that year, if at all.
Parshat Behar enumerates 24 Mitzvot, and Parshat Bechukotai enumerates 12 Mitzvot. Most of the Mitzvot listed in Behar deal with matters of Shemitah and Yovel, such as the prohibition of working the land in the seventh year, the prohibition of harvesting aftergrowths, the prohibition of gathering the fruits of the tree, the Mitzvah of counting the Shemitah years, and immediately afterward come the laws of the Yovel year, such as the Mitzvah of blowing the shofar in the Yovel year, the Mitzvah of sanctifying the Yovel year, and so on. The Mitzvot found in Bechukotai all appear after the curses, toward the end of the Parsha, where they’re listed consecutively.
Among the laws listed by the Torah regarding Shemitah, one suddenly appears that seems unrelated to Shemitah itself:
If you sell anything to your neighbor, or purchase from your neighbor, do not cheat one another. According to the number of years after the Yovel you shall purchase [land] from your neighbor; according to the number of produce years he shall sell it to you. Based on the abundance of years, you shall increase its purchase price and based on the lack of years you shall decrease its purchase price, since it is the number of produce-seasons that he is selling to you. You shall not cheat one another, and you shall fear your G-d for I am Hashem, your G-d.
Rashi says, we are being warned against verbal oppression. Namely, one should not provoke his fellow or give him advice that is improper for him but of benefit to the advisor. And if one thinks of saying to themselves, “Who actually knows if I intended harm?” therefore, it adds, for He who knows all thoughts and intentions.
Rabbotai, here is our main question: Why, in the middle of the laws of Shemitah, does the Torah break to introduce the laws of financial and verbal oppression?
Before addressing the topic, let us first note Rashi’s very well-known question on the opening words in our Parsha. The only place in the Torah where the Torah deals with Mitzvot and mentions that they were said at Har Sinai is here:
Rashi famously asks: What does Shemitah have to do with Har Sinai? Weren’t all the Mitzvot given at Sinai? He answers, just as Shemitah’s general and specific details and minutiae were stated at Sinai, so too were all the Mitzvot’s general and specific details and minutiae stated at Sinai. He adds, it seems that this is its meaning: Since we do not find the subject of Shemitah repeated in Sefer Devarim, we learn that all its general and specific details were stated at Har Sinai. The opening Pasuk comes to teach that every command spoken to Moshe was from Sinai, with all their general and specific details, and they were later repeated in Arvot Moav – the plains of Moav.
The question arises, why did Hakadosh Baruch Hu choose to state all the general and specific details specifically with the Mitzvot of Shemitah? He could have said this in Parshat Mishpatim, immediately after the laws of the Eved Ivri. Why choose this spot and this topic to establish that principle?
The Sefer HaChinuch explains Shemitah (Mitzvah 84): Among the roots of the Mitzvah is to establish in our hearts and to imprint in our minds the concept of the renewal of the world, for on the seventh day, Hakadosh Baruch Hu did not create anything, ascribing rest to Himself. To remove and uproot from our thoughts the notion of the world’s eternity, which heretics believe, thereby destroying all its foundations and breaching its walls, it is incumbent upon us to dedicate all our time, day by day and year by year, to this matter, to count six years and rest in the seventh. Therefore, Hakadosh Baruch Hu commanded to relinquish all that the land produces in that year, beyond resting it, so that a person remembers that the land, which yields fruit for him every year, does not produce them by its own strength and quality, for there is a Master over it and its masters. There is also a benefit in this, as it fosters the trait of generosity, for there is no one as noble as one who gives without hope of reward. Additionally, there is another benefit, as it increases a person’s trust in Hakadosh Baruch Hu, for anyone who wholeheartedly relinquishes all his lands and ancestral inheritance every seventh year teaches himself and his entire family throughout his life. The trait of excessive stinginess or lack of trust will never take hold in him.
In all the midrashim of Chazal, there are two places where Chazal expound a Pasuk originating in Tehillim. One of them is: Bless Hashem, His angels, mighty in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word. To whom does this Pasuk refer? The Midrash says (Vayikra Rabbah, 1:1), this Pasuk speaks of those who observe Shemitah! The way of the world is that a person performs a Mitzvah for a day, for a week, or maybe even for a month. But who continues performing the Mitzvah for the entire year?! Here is one who observes Shemitah and sees his field fallow, and his vineyard fallow, while and he continues to pay taxes, and yet he remains silent, observing the Mitzvah throughout. Is there a greater hero than this?!
Take a person has 100 dunams of land. From its yield, he earns about 300,000-shekel net after taxes. But in the Shemitah year, he does not grow crops, has no income, receives no money from social security, must pay salaries to workers to retain them for the next year, and also pays property taxes. All this is for someone with a vegetable field – but what does a person with a fruit field do? Imagine a person who owns a pineapple field. Each pineapple costs 50 shekel in the store; the farmer gets exactly half – 25 shekel! Someone comes to the pineapple field: “Baruch Hashem, this Shabbat we have many guests coming,” and plucks 6 pineapples from the trees – taking home 150-shekel worth of fruit. On Sunday, he returns: “It was actually very tasty! Let’s continue our pruning work,” and he takes home even more! This is akin to a shoe store owner who, before Rosh Hashanah, relinquishes his store, and everyone enters, tries on shoes that fit, and walks out with them: “The shoe really suits me and is incredibly comfortable. Thank you very much!” This is why the Midrash tells us: “Is there a greater hero than this landowner who observes Shemitah?!”
The Midrash then provides another explanation of the Pasuk in Tehillim. It speaks of Bnei Yisrael who stood at Har Sinai and prioritized doing over hearing: All that Hashem has spoken, we will do, and we will hear. Only an angel can say “Na’aseh Ve’Nishma”. An ordinary person cannot agree to something before knowing what he’s agreeing to? If Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells you to jump off the roof, will you jump? In theory, you could, but if He tells you to jump from the floor up to the roof? You’re not even capable! So how can you say “Na’aseh Ve’Nishma”?! Therefore, the Midrash says, a person who says Na’aseh Ve’Nishma is like an angel!
Chazal in Midrash Tanchuma (Vayikra 1) bring another piece that presents the same idea: He sees his field relinquished, his trees relinquished, the fences breached, and his fruits eaten, yet he suppresses his inclination and does not speak. Our rabbis taught: Who is a hero? One who suppresses his inclination.
The same Pasuk – Bless Hashem, His angels, mighty in strength, who do His word – also appears elsewhere in Chazal, this time in the context of Matan Torah. The Gemara says (Shabbat 88a): When Bnei Yisrael prioritized Na’aseh over Nishma, a heavenly voice emerged: “Who revealed to My children this secret that the ministering angels use?” Thus, we have a connection, and an answer to Rashi’s opening question: “What does Shemitah have to do with Har Sinai?” The same “mighty in strength” required to relinquish one’s field in the Shemitah year were present at Har Sinai when they prioritized “Na’aseh” over “Nishma.”
The sefer Har Yeiraeh (Behar) cites the Pasuk in Parshat Mishpatim: If a thief is found breaking in and is struck and dies, there is no bloodguilt for him. A person is lying in bed, and suddenly in the middle of the night, he hears noises under the bed, sees a tile lifting up, and a head peeking out. What is the law in such a case? Is it permissible to take a gun and shoot the thief? The Torah says yes, and there is no bloodguilt for him. Rashi explains that this is not considered murder; he is as if already dead – rise and kill him first! Why? Because the criminal came to kill you, for he knows that a person does not stand by and watch his property taken and remain silent.
That thief who entered under your floor knows he could be killed and, if necessary, will kill. Therefore, Chazal say (Sanhedrin 72a): One who comes to kill you, rise to kill him first. But if the thief has left, according to the Talmud Bavli, there is bloodguilt – you may not kill him. However, the Yerushalmi brings three opinions, including that of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and Rav Huna who taught that even outside the break-in, after the thief has run off, there is no bloodguilt, because a person’s property is as dear to him as his life. When the property owner sees the thief leaving, he wants to take his property back from him, stands against him, and kills him. The thief might kill the property owner at that point as well, so the principle of rising first still applies. Thus, we find a great chidush here. A person is so attached to his property that not only during the break-in can he kill a thief but even afterwards, because he wants his property back!
Every day, we say in Shema: with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. The Gemara asks (Berachot 61b), if it says “with all your soul,” why does it also need to say “with all your might”? And if it says “with all your might,” why does it also need to say “with all your soul”? The answer provided is, if there is a person whose body is dearer to him than his property, it says “with all your soul,” and if there is a person whose property is dearer to him than his body, it says “with all your might.”
Thus, there are people for whom money is more important than their body, and from this, we find a great chidush. A person’s attachment to his property is like the attachment of a person whose relative is murdered (where avenging their death is permissible).
Based on these words, we can now understand the demand placed on the farmer. Imagine a large store, like Hazorfim, that sells luxurious silver items. The Torah commands that once every seven years, after Rosh Hashanah, the store owner must open the door, and anyone who wants can enter and take whatever they desire for as long as they live. Rabbotai, we don’t appreciate this feeling because we aren’t farmers! According to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and Rav Huna, it is permissible for a person to pursue a thief and kill him, just like a blood avenger. Here, they come to a farmer – who has a hundred dunams of quinoa and another ten dunams of pineapples, which is his entire livelihood – and tell him to open the fields and let them take as much as they want, for free! In a regular year, if someone entered the field and took without permission, according to Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, the field owner could kill him. Why? Because a person is attached to his property! And according to Rav Huna, his law is like that of a blood avenger. Chazal come and tell us that a person who relinquishes his field receives the title of “angel,” because overcoming the inclination is a trait that exists only in an angel!
Rabbotai, how does a person manage to relinquish his field, his prosperity, and overcome the natural inclination to defend it at all costs? The answer is, it’s a special trait we received in the realm of “Shemitah at Har Sinai”.
The Gemara relates (Shabbat 88a): There was a certain Tzeduki (Sadducee) who saw Rava studying a Halacha. His fingers were under his feet, and he was pressing them, and blood was spurting from his fingers. The Tzeduki said to Rava: “You are an impulsive people who put your mouths before your ears! That is, before you heard how difficult the Torah is and whether you could withstand it, you accepted it upon yourselves to fulfill it. You should have first listened to the Mitzvot to know if you could accept them, and if not, you should have declined them.” The Tzeduki does not understand how Bnei Yisrael could say “Na’aseh Ve’Nishma – what if they could not fulfill it? For example, someone comes to you and says, “I need help with a ride – can you do me a favor?” You say, “I can. But the question is where. If you need a ride to the central area, yes. But if you need to Haifa, I can’t, because I have a class in an hour and a half.” You want to help. The only question is whether you can or can’t. The Tzeduki asks Rava: “You wanted the Torah. But how did you know what is written in it? Perhaps there are things in it you cannot withstand?” Rava answered: “We walked in wholeness with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We knew He would not impose on us something we could not bear!”
When you see a Mitzvah like Shemitah, where a person is told to part with his property for an entire year – property meant to support him for that entire year – how can one do such a thing, when it contradicts all logic? The Torah comes and says: “Just as at Har Sinai you said Na’aseh Ve’Nishma and walked with Me in wholeness, knowing I would not impose on you something you could not bear, trust Me that it is the same with the Mitzvah of Shemitah! True, it is difficult and seems illogical, but in the end, you will benefit from it!” This is the yesod of Shemitah at Har Sinai and why the Torah connects the Shemitah to Har Sinai!
And then behold, in the midst of the laws of Shemitah and Yovel, comes the prohibition of financial oppression, or deception, deceit, and fraud. The Sefer HaChinuch writes: The root of the Mitzvah is something very reasonable and even if this law were not written, it should be written, that it is not proper to take people’s money through deceit and fraud. Rather, each person should earn through his labor, in truth and uprightness, what Hakadosh Baruch Hu grants him in His world. Everyone benefits from this, for just as he does not oppress others, others will not oppress him. Even if one is skilled at deceiving more than others, perhaps his children will not be so, and others will deceive them. Thus, things being equal for all is of great benefit to the world.
We asked earlier: Why did Hakadosh Baruch Hu choose to insert the prohibition of financial oppression within the subject of Shemitah and Yovel? It would seem logical that the Torah first complete the matters of Shemitah and Yovel and then turn the page to address the prohibition of financial oppression. The answer is, the same generosity and trust required of the farmer once every seven years is also required of the merchant in his store, the executive in his business, the plumber, the dentist, the garage manager, and so on. For them, it is not once every seven years but day by day, hour by hour. Let’s now look at exactly what this means.
A person goes to a dentist. He doesn’t know if he truly understands dentistry or is just a player. He came to him because a friend highly recommended him, and it so happens that Dr. Berkowitz had no patients booked that day except this person – and it happened to also be the day his mortgage payment was due, along with his office rent. So, what does the dentist do? He puts the patient on the chair and asks him to open his mouth: “Listen, I see swelling in the gums; we should take an X-ray...” They take an X-ray, and then the dentist says: “Listen, your root is practically gone!” In shock, the patient asks, “How much does treatment cost?” The dentist, in a generous mood, responds, “After a special discount for you, I’ll take only 1100 shekel, in cash!” The patient confirms he’ll finish the treatment today, but is told, “Most of it today, and then a follow-up appointment to complete the work.” The patient sits in the chair, and the dentist gets to work, including a comprehensive root canal that only the Abishter knows was overkill for a tooth that needed just a small filling costing 100 shekel! That dentist is now going through exactly what the farmer goes through in the Shemitah year; and exactly what the mechanic goes through at the garage each morning.
Your car starts making noises while driving, so, you go to the garage and describe the noises to the mechanic. “Put it on the lift,” he tells you, and then moments later, he shouts, “Believe me, you got off lucky! Your belt and alternator are gone, and you nearly lost your engine head!” Shocked, you ask, “How much is the damage?” In a gracious mood, he lets you know, “For you, only 2500 shekel; come back this afternoon and it’ll be ready.” You leave the car and take a taxi home, and at home, you start soul-searching: “How did this damage suddenly happen to me? I’m meticulous with giving Terumot and Ma’asrot!” Meanwhile, at the garage, the mechanic only needed to tighten a bolt and replace a small belt; and laughs all the way to the bank. Another victim caught in his net!
The Torah comes, right in the middle of matters pertaining to Shemitah, and inserts this prohibition of deception, deceit, and fraud. Why here specifically? To tell us that it is the same personal trial as Shemitah! The trial the farmer goes through in the Shemitah year is the same one the dentist, the mechanic, the grocer, the broker, and so on go through.
If so, why is the Pasuk Bless Hashem, His angels, mighty in strength, who do His word said about those who observe Shemitah and not also said about the mechanic and the dentist? The answer is simple. Because a person with daily commerce is not required to relinquish all his property at once, but little by little each day. This is unlike those who observe Shemitah, who relinquish their entire source of livelihood for a whole year in a single moment!
So how can we still withstand the trial of money? The Gemara says (Yoma 38a):
