פ’ אמור – תשע”ה
Volume 8, Issue 8
INSIGHTS from the SEDRA
Insights from the Sedra is a project of the Scholar’s Kollel of Great Neck. It aims to provide several questions and answers about the Sedra, culled from various commentaries, including the following: Baal Haturim, Darash Moshe, Vedebarta Bam by Rabbi Moshe Bogomilsky, Torah Treasures by Dov Furer, Wellsprings of Torah by Alexander Friedman, and Kol Dodi by Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, Great Torah Lights by Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Goodman, Something To Say by Dov Wasserman, The Vilna Gaon, and Growth Through Torah by Zelig Pliskin.
וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת
“And you shall count for yourselves from the day after Yom Tov.” (23:15)
QUESTION: Why do we count Sefirah between Pesach and Shavuot?
ANSWER: The ultimate purpose of leaving Egypt was to receive the Torah on Mount Sinai. Every Jew is required to occupy himself as much as possible with the study of Torah, but unfortunately people waste much time that could be used for Torah study because they do not appreciate the value of time. Counting Sefirah before Shavuot is a preparation for kabbalat haTorah and it emphasizes the importance of time and its value. It serves as a reminder that we should devote some time every day toward the study of Torah.
Alternatively, another lesson we learn from Sefirah is the following: When counting Sefirah, we recite a blessing every night, yet when the entire day goes by and a person forgets to count, he can no longer recite the blessing on the following days. This teaches us that although each day is an independent entity, it also makes a unique contribution to all other days. Thus, the counting of Sefirah before Shavuot emphasizes the importance of each day and that one who wasted a day of Torah learning also affects the whole future. (Likutei Sichot)
וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת
“And you shall count for yourselves from the day after Yom Tov.” (23:15)
The Torah gives us a mitzvah to count the days from the second day of Pesach until the holiday of Shavuot. The root of this commandment is that the essence of the Jewish people is the Torah, and for the Torah the entire world and Israel were created. The Israelites were redeemed from Egypt in order to accept the torah at Sinai and to fulfill it. The counting of the days from the Exodus from Egypt until the day of the accepting of the Torah is an expression of the importance of the Torah for the Jewish people. Just as a person who is enslaved and knows that he will be liberated on a certain day will count each day until he finally achieves his freedom, so too, we count the days until we receive the Torah. Counting the days shows that our entire being has a strong desire to finally reach the end of the time we are counting.
The greater appreciation one has of Torah the more one will study it. Realizing how important the torah is for us as a nation and for each of us individually we will have great joy and pleasure when we devote ourselves to studying and mastering it. Every year when we count the days between Pesach and Shavuot we once again repeat this message daily for forty-nine days. (Sefer HaChinuch)
ובקצרכם את קציר ארצכם לא תכלה פאת שדך בקצרך ולקט קצירך לא תלקט לעני ולגר תעזב אתם
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not remove completely the corners of your field as you reap and you shall not gather the gleanings of your harvest; for the poor and the proselyte shall you leave them…” (23:22)
The placement of this verse seems very peculiar. It comes in the middle of the description of the Festivals, sandwiched in between Shavuot and Rosh Hashana, and yet it does not seem to have any connection with them. However, the Torah had a reason for placing the commandment to leave a portion of the harvest for poor people immediately after the commandment to keep the festival which celebrates the giving of the Torah. The Torah wants to stress to us that one cannot receive the Torah, which is called Torat Chessed, the Torah of kindness, without accepting upon oneself the obligation to attend to the needs of the poor.
For the same reason, Purim, which is also a festival of accepting the Torah with joy – as it says (Esther 9:27), קימו וקבלו היהודים, The Jews upheld (at that time) what they had accepted previously at Mount Sinai (Shabbos 88a) – also carries with it a special commandment to give matanos la’evyonim, gifts to the poor. (Kol Dodi)
ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון פרי עץ הדר כפת תמרים וענף עץ עבת וערבי נחל
“You shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of the etrog tree, the branches of date palms, twigs of myrtles and brook willows.” (23:40)
QUESTION: According to the Midrash Rabbah (30:12) the different species we take on Sukkot represent various categories of Jews. The willow has neither taste nor aroma and it represents the Jew who neither studies Torah nor does good deeds. Why is the Jew represented by the willow united with the other categories?
ANSWER: Every Jew possesses a spark of Godliness and should never be rejected. Moreover, continued association with other more observant Jews may have a positive effect on the non-observant Jew. The word for willow, “aravah” (ערבה), has the numerical value of 277, which is equivalent to the numerical value of “zera” (זרע), “children”. This alludes that even if a parent errs, he should never be rejected, so that ultimately when his children grow up, they will possess good “taste” and beautiful “aroma” (good deeds and Torah study). (Vedebarta Bam)
עין תחת עין
“An eye for an eye…” (24:20)
QUESTION: According to the Gemara (Bava Kamma 84a) when one damages another’s eye, he is required to make financial restitution. How do we know not to interpret this literally, “an eye for an eye”?
ANSWER: If it means “an eye for an eye”, it should say, ayin be’ad ayin.” The word “tachat” means “under,” which teaches that when one takes another’s eye, his punishment consists of “tachat ayin” – the letters that are “under” the word “ayin”. (עין)
In the Hebrew aleph-beit, if the letters are stacked vertically with “א” on top, under the “ע” is a “פ”, under the “י” is a “כ”, and under the “נ” is a “ס”. These letters spell the word “kesef” (כסף), which of course, means money. (R’ Shimshon M’Ostropoli)
Lag Ba’omer
היום שלשה ושלשים יום לעומר
“Today is the thirty third day of the Omer.”
QUESTION: Every night when counting Sefirah we say “Today is so many days לעומר – of the omer”. Why do we call the 33rd day “Lag ba’omer” and not “Lag La’omer”?
ANSWER: Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai was a reincarnation of the neshama of Moshe Rabeinu. The words “ל”ג בעומר” have the numerical value of 345, which is also the numerical value of “משה” .
Lag Ba’omer is the day on which the famous sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai passed away. He is one of the greatest sages of the Talmud and the author of the holy Zohar. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is mentioned very frequently throughout the Talmud. The day of his hilula – rejoicing on his yahrtzeit – Lag ba’omer – is the thirty third day of the counting of the Omer. It has been noted that the story of his stay in the cave is related in the Gemara (Shabbos) on page 33 and it is the 33rd time that he is mentioned in the Talmud. (Ta’amei HaMinhagim)
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