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Orchard of Delights Behar

“Shabbat Shalom”) this practice is in keeping with the above dictum Rashi asks why the opening verse of Behar stresses that God
that there is no greater vessel of blessing than peace. spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai about the laws of Shemittah and
Yovel, when we would assume that God spoke to Moses about all
The word “shalom” (peace) is derived from the word “shalem,”
which means complete or whole. Blessing our children with peace on the commandments there! After all, were not all the commandments
Shabbat conveys the essential truth that nothing gives us a greater given on Sinai!? Rashi answers by revealing the straightforward
sense of inner fulfillment and wholeness than seeing our children grow peshat reason for why the Torah emphasizes that these laws were
and blossom. For our children are a reflection of our innermost hopes given at Sinai. The Torah wishes to stress that just as in Behar the
and dreams, representing our link to eternity, the realization of our general principles of the laws of Shemittah and their specifics and
essential purpose in life. This is expressed beautifully by the fact that fine points are mentioned in great detail, so too all the mitzvot were
when God commanded Abraham to leave everything behind and given to Moses at Mount Sinai in great detail (even though the
“go … to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1), the Torah specifics and fine points do not usually appear in the Written Torah).
uses the phrase “lech lecha.” This phrase, in context, literally means Rashi, in citing the ancient legal Midrash Torat Cohanim, teaches a
“go,” but the repetition of the root “lech” suggests an even more fundamental lesson about the interplay between the Written and Oral
literal or deeper meaning: “go to your self.” God was subtly hinting Torahs. Even though virtually all the mitzvot in the Written Torah
to Abraham that his journey would be both a physical and spiritual are described quite briefly, Moses received a thorough explanation.
one, ultimately touching upon his innermost being. The numerical The Oral Torah provides the commandments’ specifics and fine
value of the phrase “lech lecha” is one hundred; therefore, it is points, including their particular applications.
extremely significant that Abraham gave birth to Isaac, the child The remez level of interpretation notes that Mount Sinai is
who would carry on his lifework, at that age. mentioned to hint at the connection between the two cycles of
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s well-known song “The Psalm for seven times seven present in the Torah: the seven times seven years
the Day of Shabbat” begins: “A song for the day of Shabbat.” He culminating in the fiftieth – the Jubilee – year, and the seven times
incorporated the following sentence into the Hebrew lyrics: “The seven weeks culminating in the fiftieth day, the Festival of Shavuot
whole world is waiting to sing the song of Shabbat.” How true this when the Jews received the Torah at Mount Sinai. (This will be
is! Is there anyone in the world who does not seek contentment and discussed further in Bechukotai.) This remez hints to a more profound
peace of mind? Is there anyone who does not long for pleasure that underlying connection between the two cycles than initially meets
transcends the ephemeral material world? Is there anyone who deep the eye.
inside does not long to be safe and protected, free from the fear of The derash interpretation, which adopts a symbolic approach,
violence and aggression? The whole world is truly waiting to sing the focuses on the intrinsic connection between Mount Sinai and the
song of Shabbat, but is, as of yet, unaware of this precious vessel of Sabbatical year alluded to by the verse describing how the children
peace. That is why the future Messianic age is referred to as “a day of Israel camped by Mount Sinai. As Rashi notes the Hebrew word
that is all Shabbat.” May the whole world merit that day soon! for “camped” is written in the singular form rather than the more
likely plural one (Exodus 19:2). Explaining the reason for this, Rashi
remarks that the people’s unity was so great that all the children of
Israel felt as if they were “as one person, with one heart” (see “Time,
Space, and Soul” in the portion of Yitro for a fuller explanation of
this phenomenon). This feeling of unity among the people manifest

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