CHOCHMAS NASHIM: BEHAR: NAME YOUR IDOL
By: Suri Davis
Joseph was removed from jail so he could interpret Pharoah’s dreams. The interpretation of his dreams was that G-d was going to give abundant food for seven years, followed by seven years of famine. Joseph advised Pharoah that he should store food in storehouses during the years of plenty, so there would be sufficient food during the famine. 7/7
In Egypt, the Jews had sunk in their purity to the 49th level of impurity, 7/7.
On Mt. Sinai, the Jews were commanded to observe Sabbath on the seventh day of the week. 7
This week’s torah portion, Behar/On the mountain, begins with the laws of shmittah, wherein the Jews were to work the land for six years, and the seventh year, the land was to lie fallow. Again, 7.
After seven cycles of shmittah cycles, there would be a jubilee year, where all Jewish slaves would be freed, and all land bought and sold during the 49 years between jubilee years, would return to their original owners. 7/7 +1
We are now in the midst of counting the days between Passover and the holiday of Shavuoth, which celebrates G-d giving the Jews the torah on Mt. Sinai. We count 49 days, and on the 50th day is Shavuoth.
Six days a week we toil. We work for our income and sustenance. In Genesis, in discussing Shabbos, it is part of creation, it is its own creation. We don’t merely refrain from our regular duties, we sanctify the day, by dedicating it to G-d and family, with an active intent to thank G-d for sustaining us on this seventh day, when we are not in our daily task. It is the day, as I’ve mentioned before, that we take our hands off the driving wheel, and let G-d actively take over.
In the shmittah year, the seventh year of the agricultural cycle, we don’t work the land, and we have to rely on G-d to sustain us in the seventh year and in the eighth year, as we return to the land.
In the Jubilee year, we actively sit back and receive our sustenance from G-d the seventh, Jubilee and first year of the new cycle, three consecutive years.
What acts as a temptation on Shabbos that tempts us to violate the Shabbos? A ball game, a big case, a big factory order, an internet game?
What fear grips us in our lives in the land of Israel, that prevents us from having the faith that G-d can and will sustain us, 1, 2, 3 years.
How do we shrug off the daily grind and work on ourselves to give our lives and souls to dedication towards G-d on Shabbos. To work on our middos for all year long, but particularly during the 49 days between Exodus and Shavuoth, morphing ourselves from slaves to Pharoah, to having the honor of being the servant of G-d, being chosen as the nation chosen by G-d to receive his Torah, which contains a daily guide with a stated purpose in elevating those who observe it, to revealing how we perfect the image of G-d with which we were created, and which assists us in actualizing our potential.
The torah portion ends with a warning that if we do not follow the laws of shmittah, if we do not internalize the knowledge that G-d will surely care for us as we refrain from working the land, then we will be vulnerable to idols and idol worship. That seed of fear, that kernel of doubt in G-d, will sow greater doubt, which will permit us to sink to worshipping useless objects.
How can we improve our service of G-d between man and G-d and between man and his fellow man. What is your modern day idol, that thing which prevents you from growing and actualizing your potential.