This week's parsha
Unless otherwise noted, "This week's Parsha" comprises articles taken from contributors to the Chabad.org website. We show the original author's name here, so that proper attribution is given. For the sake of brevity, footnotes cited in the original author's writings are omitted from this website. If you need to see the citations, please refer to the original articles on the Chabad.org website.
The Weekly Sabbatical
"G-d spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai and said ... Six years you may plant your fields... and the seventh year shall be Shabbat, you shall not plant.” Why was this Divine commandment of shmita (Sabbatical year when fields are left fallow) particularly related to Mt. Sinai? After all, the entire Torah was taught to Moses on Sinai.
Shmita, perhaps to a greater degree than other commandments, tests the Jew's faith in G-d, because it explicitly calls upon him to demonstrate his confidence in G-d's bounty, his belief in G-d's power and providence. "And if you ask what will we eat during the seventh year -- we have not sown and harvested? I will give you My blessing". This is a difficult test, undramatic, there is no heroic martyrdom involved. There is no reason for its fulfillment but faith in G-d, and without faith its fulfillment is impossible. As Sinai is symbolic of Judaism, shmita is symbolic of devotion to Judaism.
Shmita, perhaps to a greater degree than other commandments, tests the Jew's faith in G-d, because it explicitly calls upon him to demonstrate his confidence in G-d's bounty, his belief in G-d's power and providence. "And if you ask what will we eat during the seventh year -- we have not sown and harvested? I will give you My blessing". This is a difficult test, undramatic, there is no heroic martyrdom involved. There is no reason for its fulfillment but faith in G-d, and without faith its fulfillment is impossible. As Sinai is symbolic of Judaism, shmita is symbolic of devotion to Judaism.
Speak Praise!
The Torah provides spiritual guidance to each individual in every epoch. This guidance is relevant whether we live in the Iron Age or the Cyberspace Age. Human nature, human problems and human potential remain the same. The Torah comes from G-d, to obviate our problems and develop our potential to its highest level of possibility -- and beyond.
Every word of Torah has this power, including the name of this week’s Torah reading. The name in Hebrew is a single word: Emor, or "Speak!"
Of course, this single word is actually part of a sentence, where it has meaning in context. But as the name of the entire portion, honored as such by many centuries of Jewish tradition, it also has a significance of its own. So we can ask: What is this word "Speak!" telling us to do? To speak about what? When and why should we speak?
The imperative statement "Speak!" seems to contrast with statements by the sages in favor of not speaking very much, such as "say little, but do much," "the best thing for a person is silence," and so on.
Every word of Torah has this power, including the name of this week’s Torah reading. The name in Hebrew is a single word: Emor, or "Speak!"
Of course, this single word is actually part of a sentence, where it has meaning in context. But as the name of the entire portion, honored as such by many centuries of Jewish tradition, it also has a significance of its own. So we can ask: What is this word "Speak!" telling us to do? To speak about what? When and why should we speak?
The imperative statement "Speak!" seems to contrast with statements by the sages in favor of not speaking very much, such as "say little, but do much," "the best thing for a person is silence," and so on.
From the Heart
This week's Parshah speaks about how we should approach another person if we feel the need to point out some aspect of their behavior that is bothering us or may seem unacceptable.
The Baal Shem Tov tells us that another person is like a mirror -- if we find ourselves noticing faults in others, it is because they exist within ourselves. It is not such a foreign concept -- it is common in psychological terms to speak of one person "projecting" their own faults onto another. It is incumbent upon us to realize that when we see a fault in somebody else, it is only because we need to work on ourselves.
This fits well with the time-period we are in, Sefirat Haomer. During this traditional period of semi-mourning, we commemorate the loss of Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 disciples. The Torah tells us that each of them was so sure that he was right, and so determined to share this wonderful news with his fellow, that he lost sight of his fellow’s needs and wishes.
The Baal Shem Tov tells us that another person is like a mirror -- if we find ourselves noticing faults in others, it is because they exist within ourselves. It is not such a foreign concept -- it is common in psychological terms to speak of one person "projecting" their own faults onto another. It is incumbent upon us to realize that when we see a fault in somebody else, it is only because we need to work on ourselves.
This fits well with the time-period we are in, Sefirat Haomer. During this traditional period of semi-mourning, we commemorate the loss of Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 disciples. The Torah tells us that each of them was so sure that he was right, and so determined to share this wonderful news with his fellow, that he lost sight of his fellow’s needs and wishes.
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