May 13, 2011-Parshat Behar

"What's that got to do with the price of tea in china?" Did you know we Jews have an equivalent quip? The beginning of this week's Torah portion, Behar, inspired it; Mah inyan Shmittah etzel Har Sinai (what's the connection between Shmittah - the sabbatical year - and mt. Sinai)? This question comes as a response to the Torah portion's opening sequence where the intricate laws of the Sabbatical year are introduced with the prelude that God spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Why is this point singled out here? The classic response teaches that not only were the broad outlines of God's will revealed at Mt. Sinai, but all the details of ALL the laws were articulated there as well, even if they are taught much later in the Torah.

As a very important side note, this commandment requires that the entire country lie fallow for one full year, and that God will provide three years worth of produce in the sixth year to cover year six, seven, and the first of the next cycle since no work was done during the seventh. This would be a preposterous claim for a human author to make if the Torah were not of Diving origin. In addition, there are no records of historical famine or breach of this remarkable unnatural occurrence that recurred every seven years for close to 1000 years of living in the land of Israel. Think about it.

As Penn segues into Graduation mode and the tents are staked securely into the earth (in anticipation of some heavy rains), there is a lesson here in the Torah that may shed some light on the deeper meaning of this colligate ceremony . The laws of Shmittah apply when we as Jews enter the land of Israel. And yet the Torah teaches us that their details were enumerated at Mt. Sinai. A time of information, gestation, and then practice. Graduation is really a transition from the theory to the practice, not merely a completion of one separate stage and the beginning of another. We'll sing tonight in Lecha Dodi, written in Tzfat by R' Shlomo Alkebitz some 500 years ago, sof maase v'machsheva techilah (God's action is the end, His thought/vision the beginning). We're meant to have thought, learned, contemplated and prepared. And now we celebrate the transition that makes those theoretics practical. Bringing things into the world of action is what makes us most Divine, what fuels our spiritual uniqueness of creativity.

But Shmittah teaches us something far more valuable. In the world of hard work - tilling the proverbial soil of life - it becomes very easy to forget God and His blessing and rely on our own might for sustenance. Shmittah reminds us that every 7 years, everything we have is a gift. A gift from God. We're His partner and do our share for 6 years, but on the 7th the relationship moves to a whole new level. As we enter into the 'real world', we cannot forget from where we come, why we're here, and Who is truly guiding our existence and rooting for our success. We Jews have been called the conscious of the world for this very reason. To be anchored in right vs. wrong, God's will, spiritual sanity and humility - these are the traits we stand for even amidst the deception and gruel of hard work.

To our graduates - we wish you spiritual success in life (with the requisite material grace you need to succeed).

Good Shabbos,

Rabbi Lynn