The Torah portion of Behar contains the Biblical prohibition against usury: "Do not take from him any usury or increase, and you shall fear your G-d, that your brother may live with you." Immediately following this verse we are told: "I am the L-rd your G-d who brought you out of the land of Egypt... to be your G-d." Our Sages learned from the juxtaposition of these two verses that when a person accepts the prohibition against lending money with interest, it is as if he accepts the yoke of Heaven. Conversely one who throws off the restriction against usury, simultaneously throws off the yoke of Heaven as well.
What is so significant about usury that the Rabbis used it to illustrate the concept of subservience to G-d? How does charging interest, or refraining from doing so, express the relationship between man and G-d?
Collecting interest on money means making a profit without exerting oneself, at the expense of another person's labor. Once a person lends money to another, that money becomes the property of the borrower, even though he owes the amount to the one who lent it. A person who charges interest is therefore profiting from money which is not his, and is taking advantage of the fact that it once belonged to him.
By understanding this concept, we understand why avoiding usury is so crucial: G-d's goodness and blessings are only bestowed as a direct result of our labor. Both physical and spiritual rewards are only attainable after much toil and effort. The 613 commandments of the Torah are practical expressions of this principle, each one a specific deed to be performed in order to help us reach a higher spiritual level.
But why is all this work necessary? Couldn't G-d, the source of all good, have bestowed that goodness upon us without the labor? The answer is that it is precisely because of G-d's goodness that He chose this system, for we can only truly appreciate that for which we have worked.
An undeserved gift is called "bread of shame," and provides neither joy nor satisfaction. But when a person works toward a goal and then receives his reward, the value of that gift is appreciated and his happiness is that much greater. That is why we are obligated to expend so much effort in our worship of G-d. Spirituality must be attained through hard work and not conferred as a gift.
The mitzva which best illustrates this principle is the prohibition against usury. When a person refrains from it, according to G-d's will, he confirms G-d's plan for the world, that profit may only be accrued as the result of man's work. A person who charges interest defies, with his behavior, this basic principle which is a foundation of the entire Torah.
Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Every evening from the second night of Passover to the day before Shavuot, we count another day, marking the 49 days (seven weeks) between these two holidays. This Mitzva is known as Sefirat HaOmer – the Counting of the Omer.
Lag BaOmer, the thirty-third day of the counting of the Omer, is the anniversary of the passing of the great Talmudical sage, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (circa 165 ce). Rabbi Shimon was the first to expound upon the mystical secrets of the Divine wisdom. The Chassidic masters have explained that the growing popularity of the inner dimensions of Torah reflect history’s progression toward the day when, “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of G-d, as the waters cover the sea.”
Before his passing, Rabbi Shimon instructed his disciples to observe his yahrzeit, the anniversary of his passing, as a day of festivity, as it marks the culmination of all he achieved in his life.
On Lag BaOmer it is customary to take children outside to play with bows and arrows to commemorate that in the course of Rabbi Shimon’s lifetime, no rainbow appeared in the sky. The rainbow is a sign of human failing: G-d promised that whenever mankind shall be as undeserving as in the generation of the Flood, the rainbow will remind Him of His vow to never again destroy His world.
But as long as Rabbi Shimon was alive, his merit alone was enough to ensure that G-d would not regret His creation. Hence the connection of the bow (keshet in Hebrew, which also translates as ‘rainbow’) to Lag BaOmer.
Based on the above explanation, the bow independently, representing the rainbow, has a negative connotation. There is, however, a positive aspect to the bow.
The inventor of the bow and arrow conceived how the tension in an arched bough of wood could propel a missile over great distances. To do so, he first had to grasp the paradox that the more the deadly arrow is drawn toward oneself, the more distant a foe it can reach.
Therein lies the deeper significance of the connection of the bow to Lag BaOmer.
The “revealed” part of Torah is like a close-range weapon in that it aids us in meeting the obvious challenges of life. It teaches us to distinguish between the holy and the profane. Do not kill or steal, it tells us; feed the hungry, remember the Shabbat day, eat only kosher foods.
But what about the subtleties of comprehending the Divine essence of reality? This is where the mystical dimension of Torah comes in. Delve into yourself, retreat to your own essence, to the very core of your soul. There you will uncover the “spark of G-dliness” within you that is one with its Creator and His creation. There you will gain the insight and foresight to deal with the most distant and obscure adversary.
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber.
