Bechukosai – Page 9 – Peninim on the Torah

“I will remember My covenant with Yaakov and also My covenant with Yitzchak; and also My covenant with Avraham I will surely remember, and I will remember the Land.” (26:42)

This pasuk presents an apparent change in the sequential order of the Avos, Patriarchs. Rashi interprets the pasuk to indicate that the merit of Yaakov should be sufficient to bring redemption to his children. If Yaakov’s merit is not worthy of effecting redemption, Yitzchak Avinu’s zechusim, merits, will add to the virtue on behalf of Klal Yisrael. If Klal Yisrael is still in need of support, the merits of Avraham Avinu will tip the scale in favor of Klal Yisrael. The commentators question this sequence. Yaakov Avinu is the bchir ha’Avos, the chosen of the Patriarchs, his name is engraved…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5753, Bechukosai

“And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you go upright.” (26:13)

Rashi cites the Midrash which explains this blessing with two words, with vpuez vnuecw “erect stature.” Horav M. Shternbuch, Shlita, expounds on this concept. There are individuals who, although they are observant, tend to deny their compliance with Hashem’s mitzvos. Consequently, they mask their mitzvah performance and attempt to conceal their allegiance to the Torah. These individuals disguise authentic observance with artificial excuses. They are moral cowards who lack the courage of their convictions, demonstrating a lack of pride in their heritage. They are fearful that, due to their commitment to Judaism, they will be viewed as different. This perception…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5753, Bechukosai

“To break My covenant.” (26:15)

Rashi explains this refers to rehgc rpuf, one who will eventually deny the basic tenets of religion or the existence of Hashem. This commentary does not seem consistent with the sequence of the text. After the Torah enumerates various punishments to befall those who sin, it states: “And if after all this you will [still] not listen to Me and walk contrary to Me (hrec)” (26:27). Rabbeinu Yonah characterizes hre as one who dismisses the punishments as “accidental” happenings, which are not relevant to him at all. According to the text, this sin is even more egregious than the previous…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5753, Bechukosai

“I will not have been revolted by them, nor will I have rejected them to obliterate them.” (26:44)

The Zohar Hakadosh suggests a special meaning for this phrase. Instead of the word ,ukfkw “to obliterate,” he reads it as the word vkfw “bride,” drawing the following analogy. A wealthy man was seen walking through a very poor section of a hostile land. When questioned regarding his whereabouts, he responded that he was searching for his bride-to-be. Indeed, when she appeared, the whole street took on a different appearance in his eyes. Even the air took on a sweet fragrance for him. So, too, Hashem will not reject us when, like an impatient bride, we await Him during our…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5752, Bechukosai

“If in My statutes, you shall walk.” (26:3)

What is the meaning of “walking” in Hashem’s statutes? This idea can be elucidated allegorically with the following parable: A group of people are sitting together around a large table. As long as they sit together, eating and drinking, there are no noticeable characteristics distinguishing any individual among them. This situation changes at the end of the meal, when they rise to go. All but one individual leave and go on their way. Only one person remains sitting in his place, as if paralyzed in his position. This riddle is solved only after careful inquiry. Due to a serious physical…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5752, Bechukosai

If in My statutes you shall walk, and My commandments you shall keep, and do them.” (26:3)

Rashi interprets the Torah’s imperative to “walk” in Hashem’s statutes as meaning to toil laboriously in the study of Torah. It seems peculiar that Torah study, which is an intellectual pursuit of knowledge, should be characterized by the term “chok” – which denotes a statute whose rationale is not necessarily comprehensible by human intelligence. Horav Simcha Zisel Shlita explains that the Torah is teaching us the proper perspective with which one should view Torah study. Torah study should be more than an exercise in mental gymnastics; rather, it should be a total immersion of one’s essence in the…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5752, Bechukosai

“I shall remember My covenant with Yaakov, and also My covenant with Avrohom and also My covenant with Yitzchok I shall remember.” (26:42)

The placement of this pasuk in the midst of the narrative seems to deviate from the focus of the text. The Torah enumerates the frightening curses that are to befall the Jewish people in response to their abandonment of the Torah. The interjection of Hashem’s benevolent remembering of our ancestors interrupts the theme of severe judgment. There are various ways to approach this problem. The Shellah views the reminiscence of the ancestors as a condemnation of the Jewish people. Before one is punished, his past must be weighed. Is there a pathology in the family that led to this…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5752, Bechukosai

“These are the statutes and the ordinances and the laws which ‘в made between Him and (between) Bnei Yisrael in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moshe.” (26:46)

One would expect to find this pasuk located at the very end of this parsha, which is the culmination of Sefer Vayikra. This pasuk would then serve as a separation to distinguish the laws of Sefer Vayikra which were given at Mount Sinai – from those of Sefer Bamidbar, which were communicated in the Ohel Moed on the plains of Moav. Instead of concluding Sefer Vayikra at this point, however, the Torah continues the chapter to relate the vows that a person may make to donate to the Bais Hamikdash the monetary value which the Torah assigns to a person…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5751, Bechukosai

“But if you will not listen to Me, and will not do all these commandments, and you will despise My laws. And your souls reject My regulations, so that all My commandments, not be fulfilled, whereby you break My covenant.” (26:14-15)

Rashi cites the Toras Kohanim who develops these pesukim into the seven point step-by-step spiritual deterioration of an individual. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch Zt”l vividly explains the cause and effect of each step of this regressive deterioration. “But if you will not listen to Me” – The decline begins with “not listening” to Hashem’s word which is defined as not “learning” the Torah’s precepts. The person who does not study and acquaint himself with Hashem’s precepts, becomes disobedient. The result of this theoretical sin is practical defection, or “you will not do”, one who does not “learn” will…

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אם בחוקותי תלכו

Sruly Schnair In 5781, Bechukosai

If you will follow My decrees. (26:3)

Rashi explains that this pasuk refers, not to mitzvah performance, but rather, shetiheyu ameilim baTorah, that we engage in intensive Torah study, with the intention that such study will lead to mitzvah observance. Contrary to the mistaken notion that observance and study are two distinct Jewish functions, mitzvah observance is actually a function of Torah study – not its goal. An observant Jew’s life revolves around Torah study which guides and defines his mitzvah observance. The Talmud (Shabbos 31a) teaches that when one arrives in Olam Habba, the World-to- Come, he is asked, Kavaata ittim laTorah, “Did you set aside…

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“I will remember My covenant with Yaakov and also My covenant with Yitzchak; and also My covenant with Avraham I will surely remember, and I will remember the Land.” (26:42)

“And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you go upright.” (26:13)

“To break My covenant.” (26:15)

“I will not have been revolted by them, nor will I have rejected them to obliterate them.” (26:44)

“If in My statutes, you shall walk.” (26:3)

If in My statutes you shall walk, and My commandments you shall keep, and do them.” (26:3)

“I shall remember My covenant with Yaakov, and also My covenant with Avrohom and also My covenant with Yitzchok I shall remember.” (26:42)

“These are the statutes and the ordinances and the laws which ‘в made between Him and (between) Bnei Yisrael in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moshe.” (26:46)

“But if you will not listen to Me, and will not do all these commandments, and you will despise My laws. And your souls reject My regulations, so that all My commandments, not be fulfilled, whereby you break My covenant.” (26:14-15)

אם בחוקותי תלכו

If you will follow My decrees. (26:3)

YEARS

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