shemita, ona'ah. and lag ba'omer

Our parsha opens with the sugya of shemita and yovel, and then proceeds to tell us the halachos of ona'as mamon and ona'as devarim.  The parsha then returns to the sugya of shemita/yovel, and responds to the farmer's worry (25:20-21):

וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ מַה⁠ נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת הֵן לֹא נִזְרָע וְלֹא נֶאֱסֹף אֶת⁠ תְּבוּאָתֵנוּ

 וְצִוִּיתִי אֶת⁠ בִּרְכָתִי לָכֶם בַּשָּׁנָה הַשִּׁשִּׁית וְעָשָׂת אֶת⁠ הַתְּבוּאָה לִשְׁלֹשׁ הַשָּׁנִים

Why does the Torah wait until after the parsha of ona'ah to respond to the farmer's concern about going hungry during shemita and yovel?  Shouldn't these pesukim appear earlier?

My wife's grandfather, R' Dov Yehudah Shochet, answers (see my wife's post here)  that the very same worry of  מַה נֹּאכַל that the farmer feels free to openly express (וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ...) during the shemita year also lives in the back of the mind of the person who violates the issurim of ona'ah.  It's the fear of not being able to make a go of it unless you chisel more out of the other guy, or put down the other guy so that you are not left with less.  If you trust that Hashem will always give you your fair share, then overcharging the next guy accomplishes nothing. Therefore, the Torah waits and puts the response of וְצִוִּיתִי אֶת בִּרְכָתִי לָכֶם after the parsha of ona'ah, as the message of bitachon, the message that Hashem will ensure you get what you deserve, undercuts not just the worry of shemita observance, but undercuts the temptation for ona'ah as well.

This same theme is at the root of our celebration of Lag baOmer.  The Yerushalmi (Sheviis 9:1) records that when Rashb"i came out of the cave, he saw a hunter trying to trap birds.  He heard a voice in shamayim declare that the bird should go free, and off flew the bird.  He heard a bas kol declare that a bird should be caught, and so it was:

רִבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן יוֹחַי עֲבַד טְמִיר בִּמְעַרְתָּא תְּלַת עָשָׂר שְׁנִין בִּמְעָרַת חָרוּבִין. (דתרומה)  עַד שֶׁהֶעֱלָה גוּפוֹ חֲלוּדָה לְסוֹף תְּלַת עָשָׂר שְׁנִין. אֲמַר לֵינָה נְפַק חָמִי מַה קָלָא עָֽלְמָא נְפַק וְיָתִיב לֵיהּ עַל פּוּמָא דִמְעַרְתָּא חָמָא חַד צַייָד צְייַד צִיפּוֹרִין פְּרַס מְצוּדָתֵיהּ שְׁמַע בְּרַת קָלָא אָֽמְרָה דִימִוס וְאִישְׁתֵּיזְבַת. אֲמַר צִיפּוֹר מִבַּלְעֲדֵי שְׁמַיָּא לָא יִבְדָּא. וְכָל־שֶׁכֵּן בַּר נַשָּׁא

Rashb"i concluded that if the fate of birds is determined by hasgacha pratis, kal v'chomer the fate of man.  

It's not our own efforts and actions that determine our success or failure.  Working an extra day, an extra year more than everyone else, charging more than everyone else, will get you nowhere.

Chasam Sofer in his derashos cites a Midrash that says that the matzah from Egypt lasted until 15 Iyar, and then Bn"Y went three days with nothing. They complained (Shmos 16:3):

וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֲלֵהֶם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מִי יִתֵּן מוּתֵנוּ בְיַד ה׳ בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם בְּשִׁבְתֵּנוּ עַל סִיר הַבָּשָׂר בְּאׇכְלֵנוּ לֶחֶם לָשֹׂבַע כִּי הוֹצֵאתֶם אֹתָנוּ אֶל הַמִּדְבָּר הַזֶּה לְהָמִית אֶת כׇּל הַקָּהָל הַזֶּה בָּרָעָב

This is the desert version of the farmer's complaint of מַה נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת.  On 18 Iyar = Lag Ba'Omer Hashem responded by giving the people mon.  In other words, on 18 Iyar Hashem fulfilled וְצִוִּיתִי אֶת בִּרְכָתִי לָכֶם -- sans hishtadlus, sans any effort, food literally fell from the sky.  

Rashb"i, the baal hilula,opined (Brachos 35b)

 ר"ש בן יוחי אומר אפשר אדם חורש בשעת חרישה וזורע בשעת זריעה וקוצר בשעת קצירה ודש בשעת דישה וזורה בשעת הרוח תורה מה תהא עליה אלא בזמן שישראל עושין רצונו של מקום מלאכתן נעשית ע"י אחרים שנא' ועמדו זרים ורעו צאנכם וגו'

What the famer lived for one year, what we live one day out of seven, Rashbi lived year round (perhaps this is why the Zohar refers to tzadikin as "shabbos.")

Coming back to the opening of our parsha:

 דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם כִּי תָבֹאוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ **אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם** וְשָׁבְתָה הָאָרֶץ שַׁבָּת לַה׳.

Do we need a reminder that Eretz Yisrael was promised to us by Hashem -- הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם -- a fact we know from many earlier places in the Torah?  (See Oznayim laTorah)?  

In light of the above, perhaps we can say that these pesukim perhaps set the stage for us for the rest of the parsha.  It's the recognition that Hashem is in chage that makes the observance of shemita, yovel, avoiding ona'ah, all possible.  If you think you are the baal ha'bayis, that your actions alone that determine success or failure, then you are walking into the parsha with the wrong attitude from the get-go.

R' Gershon Edelstein on how to spend Lag ba'Omer

Printed in the parsha sheet "Mi'Meged Geresh Yerachim," which is based on the thought of R' Gershom Edlestein:

Lag ba'Omer: Rashb"Y and Moshe Rabeinu

After more than a year locked in our bunkers, most parents have had enough with being home all day with their kids.  Imagine R’ Shimon bar Yochai, locked in his bunker with just his son for 13 years!  If I had to stay locked up with my son for 13 years I probably would have just walked out and surrendered (just joking).  Maybe that’s part of the gadlus of Rashb”Y.

Branded a criminal by the government, forced to flee and hide out for years, only to then re-appear and help lead Klal Yisrael – the story of Rashb”y, the story of Moshe Rabeinu.  Torah sheb’ksav, Torah she’baal peh (see R' Tzadok's first piece on Lag ba'Omer in Pri Tzadik).  The emergence from the cave only to be forced to go back in because the Torah absorbed the first time around was too great for this world, or maybe the world was too small for it, is the sheviras ha’luchos of the Rashb”Y story. 

In Brachos 35 the gemara tells us that Rashb”Y held that one must learn 24x7.  If a person goes out to plant in the planting season and harvest in the harvest season, Torah mah ye’hei aleha, what will become of Talmud Torah?  Yet, the gemara in Menachos 99 tells us that Rashb”Y held that one can be yotzei T”T simply by reciting shema in the morning and at night.  How do you reconcile the two gemaros?

Sdei Chemed explains that the gemara in Brachos is Rashb”Y's view before he emerged from the cave; the gemara in Menachos is his view after he emerged the second time.  Rashb”Y developed and adjusted his position because he grew from his experience.

Torah she'bksav is kedusha that is keviya v'kayma, unchanging and permanent.  Torah shebaal peh grows and develops.  We don't celebrate the death of Moshe Rabeinu with a holiday; we celebrate Rash"Y on Lag ba'Omer because there is an aliyas ha'tzadikim, meaning even after death the tzadik grows, we grow from the tzadik, and so we celebrate what we have achieved and what he hope to continue to achieve (see the Kozhiglover here.) 

I wrote a little over a year ago that those who want the pandemic to end and “things to return to the way they were before” have it all wrong.  If things just return to the way they were before, then we have failed to grow and learn from our experience.  Those years in his bunker changed Rashb”Y: they changed his outlook, his Torah, his view of other people.  Has the year in the bunker changed us and helped us grow and develop, or has it just been time spent hiding from reality?

Notes from the Underground: Lag baOmer, destiny vs free will

1) The lack of bonfires got me thinking back to when I was a kid and had TV.  I remember WPIX, channel 11, home of the Yankees, would go off air on Xmas and just show a loop of logs burning in a fireplace so that those folks living in their NY apartments or homes without fireplaces could still imagine themselves sitting all cozy around a yuletide fire.  Is there a virtual bonfire l'havdil out there that we can put on our screens in honor of Rashbi?

On second thought, it just wouldn't be the same as this:

No one plays a crowd like R ' Melech.

For some reason Lag baOmer has grown in popularity over the years.  It is hard to see the background in this picture of my wife's uncle, R' Immanuel Shochet a"h, as a very young man (center) speaking at Meiron in 1958, but it does not look like hundreds of thousands were there in those days:

2) Lab BaOmer is hod she'b'hod.  Hod=the midah of Aharon haKohen, oheiv shalom, rodef shalom, oheiv es ha'briyos u'mikarvan la'Torah.  This is why the day is also about R' AKiva, who taught v'ahavta l'reiach kamocha = oheiv shalom is the klal gadol ba'Torah; u'mikarvan laTorah= R' Akiva is the shoresh of Torah she'baal peh.  Those two are ha b'ha talya. 

The day is not really about the bonfire : )

3) Do you drive a car?  I used to have to drive as part of my commute. Link to your article of the day where they crunched the numbers and found: The COVID-19 death risk in people less than 65 years old during the period of fatalities from the epidemic was equivalent to the death risk from driving between 13 and 101 miles per day for 11 countries and 6 states, and was higher (equivalent to the death risk from driving 143-668 miles per day) for 6 other states and the UK... CONCLUSIONS: People less than 65 years old have very small risks of COVID-19 death even in pandemic epicenters and deaths for people less than 65 years without underlying predisposing conditions are remarkably uncommon."  The price we pay by doing a lockdown to protect against that risk is reported in in another study: "The same number of people could die from ‘deaths of despair’ as have already died in the U.S. from coronavirus, new study finds"  Mai chazis d'damei didach who want the lockdown sumak tfei from those dying because of it?

4) The Midrash at the beginning of Emor, commenting on the pasuk "amaros Hashem t'horos," gives a mashal: A politician comes to town and the people love him.  The more they sing his praises, the more promises he makes to them -- when he's elected he will fix the Van Wyck, he will have the subways cleaned up and running on time, there will be a chicken in every pot.  Lo and behold, once he is elected none of what was promised materializes.  Hashem is not like that.  His word is true for eternity.


I could not figure this Midrash out.  What are Chazal trying to teach me?  That Democrats campaign on lies?  I know that.  That Hashem is not a politician and keeps his promises?  I know that too.  Sefas Emes (5640) says an amazing vort.  I've posted many times about the Ohr haChaim in P' VaYeishev (its in other sources too) that speaks about the power of bechira to even thwart hashgacha -- meaning, Hashem built into the teva the power for us to make decisions that change the course of our lives, and barring exceptional zechuyos that warrant a l'maalah-min-ha'teva intervention, we suffer the consequences.  Why am I so disturbed by the lockdown when Hashem sent the virus?  Why don't I just accept His gezira, like I quoted from the Ishbitzer yesterday?  The answer is that, as Alex Berenson puts it, the virus didn't put 30 million people out of work -- our reaction did.  Hashem gives us bechira to do as we please.  If you believe humans will usually choose well, then this is a very uplifting message -- we have a hand in tikun olam and making the world a better place.  I unfortunately am not one of those people that think people generally choose well : )  I am one of the people who believe if you bet on human stupidity, the odds are very much in your favor.  What Chazal are telling us here is that even if that is the case, don't lose faith.  Hashem promises that in the end we will overcome it all, that there will be a geulah, that we will return to Him, and though we may wittingly or unwittingly find ourselves sometimes working against those very outcomes, "amaros Hashem t'horos" and Hashem keeps his promise to make it all happen in spite of us.  The best thing we can do sometimes is to just do out best to get out of the way : )  

Notes from the Underground - Mothers Day, Lag baOmer, etc

1) Baba Basra 80 - "ima a'barta mitzavta."  Mothers take comfort in their children being there.  It doesn't matter if it's birds (the context in the sugya) or people.  So happy mothers day to all the mothers who are always there for their children and whose greatest nachas comes from their children.  (Though to be honest, unlike the birds in the sugya, it would be nice if some of my kids managed to get out of the house already, but that's another story.)

2) I guess if there are no bonfires allowed for Lag BaOmer we will have to celebrate by just learning Torah or something.  I have a hunch Rashi would approve, at least b'dieved : )

3) Remember why Rashbi ended up in the cave?  Why he was stuck in a bunker for 13 years?  My wife quotes the whole gemara in her Lag BaOmer post.  Rashbi was forced into hiding because he was brave enough to speak out against the Roman government.  Rashbi would not sit back in silence if the state were to shut schools to schoolchildren who are largely immune from the worst dangers of a virus but force nursing homes filled with  vulnerable elderly to accept patients that are still infectious.  He would cry out in protest.  Or maybe that's just my imagination.  

4) My wife asked why he is called Bar Yochai and not Ben Yochai.  The Lev Simcha explained that bar is like the word milbar vs milgav -- outside, as opposed to inside.  When a kid becomes bar mitzvah it means he comes out of his domain of pratiyus and becomes part of the klal, part of the community.  So too, Rashbi stepped outside himself and gave himself up completely to the klal.  

Parshas Emor tells us that a regular kohen can become tamei to his attend the funeral of his closest relatives, but not so the kohen gadol.  Why the difference?  The Kotzker explains that the kohen gadol gives himself over to the klal.  We are all his relatives.  He has to love every Jew like a brother, like a mother or father.  That's the spirit of R' Shimon bar Yochai -- giving everything over to the klal.  

5)  A very powerful Ishbitzer (end of P' Emor) to keep in mind when you are in the bunker:

  כי איש ישראל אחר שלבו דבוק בהש"י וכוונתו לש"ש, אף אם הש"י ידחה אותו מאיזה טובה, בזה עצמו יקרא עובד ה' במה שמרחיק עצמו על פי רצון הש"י ויזכה לטובה גדולה, כגון בעל מום מזרע אהרן, בזה עצמו היה זוכה לטובה גדולה במה שהרחיק עצמו מהעבודה, אך מי שאין שורשו וגזעו מישראל באם ירוחק מטובה אז לא יוכל עצור רוחו ויבעט

The proof that the mekalel's desire to have a place in machaneh yisrael was not truly lshem shamayim was the fact that when his dream could not be realized he rebelled.  True avodas Hashem means being willing to give up what you desire and accepting the task Hashem desires of you instead. 

 

Why does the Torah tell us the whole story of the mekalel?  Why not just give us the din of "nokeiv shel Hashem mos yumas" without the story?

The Torah wants to show us the exception that proves the rule (see Seforno).  It's only this individual who came from a Mitzri, who mother was not-so- good either, who could be nokeiv shem Hashem.  The same story could never happen to a person m'zera Yisrael, raised in a home in Klal Yisrael.  It's in our DNA not to behave this way.  The parsha is not just telling us a din, it's telling us something about the character of a Jew.  Klal Yisrael's greatness is that we accept the gzar din of shamayim without a rebellion.

a good word -- amaros tehoros

I was not feeling in a writing mood this week, but then I got an uplifting email from someone telling me how much they appreciated the posts and it changed my mind.  That person gets the credit for being mezakeh everyone who might read this and learn something.  You never know the value of a kind word.

Why a bow and arrow on Lag ba'Omer?  When you use a bow and arrow, if you want to shoot an arrow into the air you have to pull back the drawsting toward the ground.  The further back down you pull the string, the higher up the arrow will go.  Life often pulls us down.  Lag Ba'Omer tells us that what we think is a big setback is really just a needed step to shoot even higher.  Can you imagine how far R' Akiva thought he had fallen when all 24,000 students of his died?  But then the arrow shot upwards again, and it was the whole torah sheba'al peh that was the result.

The Midrash opens our parsha by telling us that "amaros Hashem tehoros" unlike the promises of a human ruler.  A human king may make all kinds of campaign promises to build this or fix that, and then the king goes to sleep and maybe never wakes up and all the promises are for naught.  (The Midrash is pretty dramatic -- I guess the Midrash could not even conceive of modern politicians who make promises and don't keep them even though they remain alive and well.)  Hashem's word is emes for all eternity.

A beautiful idea, but what does it have to do with our parsha?  Why stick it here?  Just because the word "amaros" is like "emor" and "amarta" in the parsha -- so what?

Secondly, the Midrash gives examples of the promises a human king makes with no guarantee of being able to fulfill them, but it doesn't tell us what promise of Hashem it is talking about. 

If you had to choose one word to sum up the theme of our parsha, a good choice would be "tahara."  We learn in our parsha about the holiness of the kohen, who cannot become defiled with the dead and who cannot serve as a ba'al mum.  We learn about korbanos and the disqualification of mumim.  We learn about the mitzvah of sefira that we are engaged in, "u'sefartem lachem" = to make ourselves into sapir, precious sparkling gems, so to speak, ready for kabbalas haTorah.  It's all, at least in a symbolic sense, about perfection is serving G-d, about not being spiritually defiled, blemished, unsuitable.

The first Sefas Emes on the parsha asks a basic question: how is it possible for a human being of flesh and blood to become tahor, to purify himself properly to serve G-d?  How can any of us, with all the mistakes we make, with all our shortcomings, measure up?

The Besh"t taught "l'olam Hashem devarcha nitzav bashamayim" means that the words of Hashem used to create the world are constantly emanating from Him and constantly causing the world to be recreated.  Not only that, but as the Alter Rebbe explains in the second part of Tanya, those words are what are the true essence of what everything is made of.  In other words, Hashem's utterance do not cause the world to exist; rather, they are the very stuff of which the world is made, the underlying subatomic subphysical "stuff" of everything that exists. 

Says the Midrash in Parshas Kedoshim, "Nasata kedusha l'Yisrael, nasata lahem l'olam, she'ne'emar 'Kedoshim ti'hiyu.'"  G-d gave us eternal kedusha.  How do you know?  Because, answers the Midrash, the pasuk says, "Kedoshim ti'hiyu." 

How does that answer the question?  All the pasuk says is that we have a mitzvah to be holy?

Based on the Besh"t's teaching the Rebbe of Aleksander answers that the words "kedoshim ti'hiyu" are not just a command, but they are a reality.  Just as the words, "ye'hi or" reverberate for all eternity and every moment ensure the recreation of light in the universe, so too, G-d's words of "kedoshim ti'hiyu" reverberate for all eternity and make us holy.


I'm just flesh and blood, a human being with all the faults that go with that -- a spiritual ba'al mum, a person with spiritual tumah enveloping him.  How can I get ready for kabbalas haTorah?  The answer is "amaros Hashem tehoros" for all eternity.  What promise is the Midrash talking about?  The promise of "l'nefesh lo yitamah."  The promise of "kedoshim ti'hiyu."  Our parsha is not just a list of demands, commands.  It's a map of the reality of who we are and what we are.  Hashem's words give us the koach to be tahor, to be kadosh, for eternity -- no matter if we've fallen, if we've become a little blemished and defiled.  That's just the arrow being pulled back.  The koach to be better is within us willy nilly because Hashem's words, the words of our parsha, make it so.  All we have to do is not spoil that kedusha and tahara, not drive it away. 

Lag b'Omer -- holiday of ahavas Yisrael

The Chidushei HaRI”M teaches that every single person has a special chein, some special quality that makes him/her beloved, in the eyes of Hashem.  No one else has that special quality, and no matter how low a Jew has fallen, that special quality remains.  If you think you know what that quality is, why Hashem loves you and thinks you are special, then you are on the wrong track, because it’s something hidden deep within a person, not something you feel or think you know in your consciousness.

Every Jew corresponds to a letter in Torah.  Just as there are different levels of understanding within every dot of Torah – pshat, remez, derush, and sod – so too, within every Jew there is what you see on the surface, but then there are deeper and deeper levels, down to the level of sod, that hidden nekudah of chein. 

R’ Akiva’s students died because they related to each other based on what they saw on the surface.  By that I don’t mean that students of R’ Akiva judged one another based on the color of their suit or tie or what model car they drove – that may be true of us, but I can’t image that it was true of them.  What I mean is that even if your friend doesn’t understand a Rashba as well as you do, that is also just a superficial judgment, and you can still be guilty of “lo nahagu kavod” for thinking any less of him (and I don’t pretend to be anything less than a doresh v’aino me’kayeim here).  Even if your friend doesn’t know what a Rashba is, there is still a nekduah of chein that only your friend has that you need to love him for.

This was the great revelation of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.  We all know that RaShB’Y was a master of the hidden aspects of Torah, the sod.  RaShB”Y was also a master of the sod within every Jew as well.  Just as he looked beyond the surface meaning of Torah and penetrated to its most mystical depths, so too, he didn’t just look at the surface of a Jew, but was able to penetrate to the depths and find at the nekudas chein. 

R’ Moshe Wolfson in his Emunas Itecha explains that the punishment of R’ Akiva’s students stopped on Lag b’Omer, the day we celebrate the life of RaShB”Y, because RaShB”Y was the tikun of “lo nahagu kavod zeh ba’zeh.”  Lag b'Omer is a chag of ahavas Yisrael, when we learn to appreciate the sod that makes every individual special.

be all that you can be

The gemara (Kesubos 62) relates the famous story of R' Akiva:

R' Akiva was a shepherd who worked for Kalba Savu'a. Kalba Savu'a daughter Rachel saw that he was modest and refined and offered to marry him on the condition that he would go and learn in yeshiva. He agreed, and they became secretly engaged... R' Akiva went and learned for twelve years and returned home with a following of 12,000 students. As he approached, he heard someone criticizing his wife, saying that she was like a widow, as her husband was gone for so long. She answered back that if was up to her, her husband could stay away another twelve years. R' Akiva inferred that he had his wife's permission to continue learning, and so he immediately turned around and returned to yeshiva. After another twelve years he returned home again, this time with 24,000 students. R' Akiva's wife came out to greet her husband, now the great Tanna, and fell at his feet. The students tried to push her away, but R' Akiva told them to leave her, as all his Torah and theirs came through her merit alone.

Its' clear from the gemara that R' Akiva assumed he could spend at least twelve years learning, enough time to attract 12,000 students. But why? Where did he get this idea from? All his wife told him was that she was getting married on the condition that he learn in yeshiva. Imagine a kollel husband and his wife to be discussing their future plans before the wedding. Together, they decide that he should continue in yeshiva. Right after the wedding, he leaves home and is not heard from for the next twelve years. I imagine that any wife faced with such a situation would say this is certainly not what she bargained for!

R' Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi explains that R' Akiva and his wife understood that yeshiva is not just a place that you spend a few days/months/years accumulating knowledge. It's not about becoming an expert in some particular discipline, an expert in the "field" of Talmud or Jewish law. Yeshiva is about becoming what you are capable of becoming -- "Be all that you can be," to borrow the slogan from elsewhere. When R' Akiva's wife set as a condition of her marrying him that he go to yeshiva, implicit in her "tnai" was the fact that she wanted him to fulfill his potential -- that's what yeshiva is for.  Had he come come home after a year, after five years, after even ten years, even with as many hundreds or thousands of students that might have joined him by that point, R' Akiva would still not have accomplished all that he was meant to.  His potential would still have been unfulfilled.

When R' Akiva returned home and heard his wife agreeing that he could spend another twelve years in yeshiva, this was not a new "matir," not additional permission she was granting him on top of her original consent. This was part and parcel of their original marriage agreement. When you are capable to having 24,000 students, to have only 12,000, as great an achievement as that may be, is nonetheless to stop halfway. R' Akiva's wife did not want a half-way solution -- she wanted her husband to be R' Akiva, in the fullest sense of what he was capable of becoming.

(Interestingly, it was not his sharp mind that attracted R' Akiva's wife to him and led her to recognize his potential, but it was his midos tovos, and in particular, his tzniyus -- the gemara describes him as "tzani'a u'ma'alei." On that basis alone, R' Akiva's wife was able to discern that he had the seeds of becoming the gadol hador.  Apparently lomdus alone doesn't cut it.)

Lest this post be misinterpreted, let me say that of course not everyone is R' Akiva.  Goals and aspirations need to be realistic.  Both husband and wife need to be on the same page -- it would not have worked if R' Akiva thought he could spend twelve years in yeshiva and his wife expected him home in a week, or if his wife wanted him to learn for twelve years and he just didn't have it in him.  That being said, punching the clock is not a goal.  Live up to your potential, whatever it is.  R' Akiva did not stop at 12,000 students when he knew he could have 24,000.  Someone who can learn two blatt a day doesn't need to close the gemara just because the daf yomi calendar says he is done.  That's what R' Akiva's life is all about, and what we look forward to celebrating on Lag ba'Omer.    

Rashb"i and the value of individualism

מעשה בתלמיד אחד של ר"ש בן יוחאי שיצא חוצה לארץ ובא עשיר והיו התלמידים רואין אותו ומקנאין בו והיו מבקשים הן לצאת לחוצה לארץ וידע ר"ש והוציאן לבקעה אחת של פגי מדון ונתפלל ואמר בקעה בקעה מלאי דינרי זהב התחילה מושכת דינרי זהב לפניהן אמר להם אם זהב אתם מבקשים הרי זהב טלו לכם אלא היו יודעין כל מי שהוא נוטל עכשיו חלקו של עוה"ב הוא נוטל שאין מתן שכר התורה אלא לעוה"ב הוי ותשחק ליום אחרון

The Midrash (Shmos, 52:4) tells the story of a student of R' Shimon bar Yochai who left the yeshiva and returned quite wealthy. The other students were jealous and wanted to follow his example. Rashb"i took them out to Meiron (there are different girsa'os as to the place name) and miraculously caused a valley to fill with gold. He told them they could take what they want, but their portion in Gan Eden would be reduced as a result.

One might read this as a going "off the derech" tale -- a guy leaves yeshiva and a few months later is seen driving a Rolls, wearing a Rolex, coming out of a fancy restaurant after eating his filet mignon. But that's not really what this story is about. The student is still referred to as "talmid.. Rashb"i" and the tale centers around his returning to the yeshiva, to his old chevra, not his leaving. Rash"i does not direct his message to the returning talmid, who seems to have been accepted back, but rather to the other students.

R' Eliya Lopian (Lev Eliyahu, P' Pekudei) writes that there was nothing nefarious about the talmid's actions or intentions. Quite the contrary, being a "talmid of Rashb"i" it stands to reason that this ben yeshiva would use his riches for tzedaka, for chessed, to support the yeshiva. This is the guy wearing a suit and black hat you see pictured in the yeshiva's advertisement for its annual dinner, the guy who is alumnus of the decade because he has torah u'gedulah b'makom echad, he can bankroll the yeshiva while being kove'a itim, he enjoys his wealth but still keeps a kesher with his makom Torah.

Don't we all want to be that guy? Shouldn't we want to be that guy?

Rashb"i's answer is that our being that guy, becoming someone we are not, involves a sacrifice that just isn't worth it. The gold that filled the valley of Meiron is the schar we earn from overcoming our individual difficulties and tests. Sure, the rich talmid earns schar for the good works he can sponsor, but those rewards are not a substitute for what we might attain following our own path. There is tremendous schar for learning b'dochak, for histapkus b'mu'at -- there won't be a dinner to honor people who live these ideals day in and day out, they will likely pass under the radar of public attention. Yet, they too have riches. Their valley of gold awaits collection in a better world than ours.

haircuts this Friday

The Rama (493:2) writes that when Lag baOmer falls on Sunday, like it does this year, haircuts and shaves may be taken even on Friday l’kavod Shabbos. What is debatable is whether the same logic holds true for those who observe aveilus of sefirah until Rosh Chodesh Sivan or until shloshes y’mei hagbalah and those days fall on/begin on Sunday. The Pri Megadim holds that the same heter for haircuts/shaves on Friday applies in these cases as well; both R’ Moshe and R’ Elyashiv disagree. R’ Moshe explained that the logic of the Rama is not based on kavod Shabbos in isolation, but rather is baed on kavod Shabbos when placed in context and in contrast with Lag baOmer. It would be halachically unseemly to allow haircuts on Sunday, Lag baOmer, a minor festival, but insist on maintaining an unkempt appearance on Shabbos, which has a far superior level of kedusha. The same logic does not hold true at the end of sefirah. The haircut taken after Rosh Chodesh or the days of hagbalah is not due to those days being celebrated as festivals and standing in contrast to Shabbos, but rather the heter for a haircut is due simply to aveilus having ended (see Shu”T Rivevos Ephraim 6:259). Similarly, where a shloshim period ends on Sunday, there is no heter for a shave or haircut on the preceding Friday.

lag ba'omer - freedom and individuality

The sefira period is a time for mourning the death of R’ Akiva’s students who were punished because they failed to respect each other properly. How could such giants fail in such a basic matter of middos? The Shem m’Shmuel offers an analogy: one’s hands do not show kavod to one’s feet for perambulation, and one’s feet do not show kavod to one’s hand for grasping. Kavod stems from the recognition of “otherness”. R’ Akiva’s students were so imbued with the idea of klal yisrael being one united entity that this notion of “otherness” was foreign to them. The mussar haskel is that unity should never cause us to lose sight of individual worth and distinctiveness. As opposed to counting shemita years, which is an obligation incumbent upon klal yisrael as a collective entity and carried out by beis din, “u’sefartem lachem” teaches that the count of sefira must be done by each individual.

The Shem m'Shmuel further explains that the date of La”g baOmer (or Lag laOmer, depending on your nusach) falls out three days after the man started falling (see Kiddushin 38). A recurrence of three times is normally sufficient to establish a chazakah. Until the man began, the Jewish people were sustained by the foods they brought out of Mitzrayim, food tainted with the taste of slavery. La”g baOmer is a celebration of the true start of freedom and break with the past.

I would combine these two ideas of the Shem m’Shmuel. The oppressor does not recognize the individual, but lashes out at the group, whether it is “the Jews”, “the blacks”, or some other collective. This is the mentality of Mitzrayim enslavement. Sefer Shmos opens with the names of individuals - Reuvain, Shimon…, but the new Pharoah refers only to “Am Bnei Yisrael”, forgetting Yosef, forgetting the relationship with the individual. Slavery depends on this depersonalization that causes the loss of respect for the worth of the individual. R’ Yonasan Sacks in Passaic once explained in a 9 Av shiur that the reason the sugyos in Gittin highlight vignettes that relate to the plight of individuals during the churban is because it is easy to lose sight of the scope and effect of tragedy when it is expressed only as the plight of masses. Until Lag baOmer we lived on the food of Mitzrayim, we retained some element of looking at the group instead of focusing on the individual. Even R’ Akiva’s students may have absorbed this mindset, albeit motivated by the positive goal of wanting to fully appreciate the bond of klal yisrael as a people. Lag ba’Omer is the time to break the mindset of Mitzrayim and to recognize the value of individuality.

Nisan - re'iya; Iyar - shemiya; Sivan - the pairing of both

I hate to disappoint the lomuds fans, but I want to finish the discussion of the dichotomy between re’iya and shemiya as reflected in Nisan/Iyar. The Shem m’Shmuel ties these two forces to the month’s mazalos. The mazal of Nisan is the t’leh, the lamb. The lamb follows the shepard wherever the shepherd leads; Bnei Yisrael lovingly followed Hashem’s lead into the desert during Yetziyas Mitzrayim. A lamb cannot be burdened or used as a pack animal, but is simply fed in its pasture, used only for milk and wool. Bnei Yisrael at the moment of Yetziyas Mitzrayim was unprepared for the burdens of Torah and mitzvos and were culturally little different from the Egyptians who enslaved them. It was only G-d’s love for the Jewish people which spared us.

The mazal of Iyar is a shor, an ox, a beast of burden. The miracles of Yetziyas Mitzrayim were a window on what could be accomplished, but it was now up to Bnei Yisrael to give their attention to their own development by preparing to bear the yoke of Torah.

Finally, the month of Sivan is the mazal of teumim, twins. The Shem m’Shmuel explains this mazal based on a Midrashic reading of “yanasi tamasi” not as the simple, pure dove, but as the dove which is “teumasi”, my twin. Bnei Yisrael can come so close to G-d as to seem a twin to the Divine presence.

The point I wanted to make is that I don’t know why the Shem m’Shmuel did not follow through with his re’iya/shemiya dichotomy to explain teumim as the twinning of these two ideas. Perhaps this is the notion of “ro’im es hakolos” that was experienced at Har Sinai – the simultaneous experience of re’iya and shemiya at once. Meaning, there was at Har Sinai a culmination of our preparation as well as a commitment to further “nishma” along with na’asah, but at the same time, there was an overwhelming experience of hisgalus that transcended what human preparedness could encompass.

Nisan - re'iya; Iyar - shemiya

May seforim teach that the 12 months of the year correspond to the 12 shevatim [meaning: G-d reveals himself in certain paradigmatic ways in the context of time/space/people. There is a correspondence between the revelation of G-dliness brought about by the personalities of the 12 shevatim and the revelation of G-dliness which occurs through the yearly cycle of 12 months]. The Shem m’Shmuel teaches based on the Zohar that this relationship follows the birth order of the shevatim -- Nisan corresponds with Reuvain and Iyar corresponds with Shimon. The character of Reuvain is “re’iya”, sight, vision; in naming her son Leah referred to G-d seeing her plight. The month of Nisan is the month of the exodus from Egypt where we saw G-d’s presence revealed as never before in history. “Ra’asa shifcha al haYam…”, the maidservant saw G-d’s presence at the splitting of the Sea more clearly that the prophet Yechezkel. Seeing is believing; we attribute great certainty and confidence to what our eyes tell us. The process of seeing involves no effort other than to open ones eyes; similarly, the process of leaving Mitzrayim involved no effort from Bnei Yisrael other than to open their eyes to the deliverance being granted.

The month of Iyar corresponds to Shimon, the sheivet which characterizes the power of hearing. In naming Shimon Leah referred to G-d hearing of her plight, “ki shama Hashem…” We place far less confidence is hearsay than in what we witness with our own eyes. As David HaMelech tells us, “Shim’i bas ure’i v’hati ozneich…” (Tehillim 45:11) – hearing must be followed up with “hati ozeich”, a deliberate decision to attend to what was heard, to digest and assimilate what the ears absorbed. After the miracles of Egypt concluded, Bnei Yisrael were left with the task of assimilating what had occurred into their lives and consciousness. This is the avodah of sefirah and the month of Iyar. The Shem m’Shmuel forcefully writes that Hashem does not perform miracles to that we should be habituated to living in a world of supernatural, where every challenge is met by a burst of Divine deliverance and we stand by as idle witnesses, participating only through re’iya. Rather, Hashem does miracles so that we glean the inspiration to use our own efforts achieve the transcendent heights which the miraculous proved possible, participating as active agents, “hati ozneiach”. More to come bl”n.