באדיבות ישיבת הכותל
מידה כנגד מידה
המזמור נחלק לשלושה חלקים מלבד הכותרת (א): בחלק הראשון (ב-ג) המשורר פונה לה' ומבקש שישמור עליו מהרשעים; בחלק השני (ד-ז) מתוארים מעשי הרשעים; ובחלק השלישי (ח-יא) מתוארת הושעת ה' והשלכותיה.
בניגוד למזמורים אחרים שתיארו את האויבים כרודפים אחרי הצדיק (למשל מזמורים ז'; ל"א; נ"ד ועוד רבים אחרים) כאן אין תיאור של הרשע שרודף דווקא אחרי הצדיק. למעשה הבקשה האישית של המשורר היא רק בפתיחת המזמור ("קולי בשיחי... תצר חיי... תסתירני"; ב-ג), כך שהמזמור כולו כתוב בצורה כללית ללא התייחסות לצרה אישית של המשורר דווקא.
המזמור ערוך בצורה של לשון נופל על לשון, כך שכל חלק מתכתב עם החלק הקודם לו: "תסתירני" (ג) – "לירת במסתרים תם" (ה); "מסוד מרעים" (ג) – "דבר רע" (ו); "כחרב לשונם" (ד) – "עלימו לשונם" (ט); "דרכו חצם" (ד) – "חץ פתאום היו מכותם" (ח); "ולא ייראו" (ה) – "וייראו כל אדם" (י); "יחזקו למו" (ו) – "ויכשילוהו עלימו" (ט); "מי יראה" (ו) – "כל ראה בם" (ט). כל אלו מלמדים על עונש שיבוא מידה כנגד מידה: אם הרשעים "דרכו חצם" (ד) אז "וירם א-להים חץ פתאום" (ח), ויעויין עוד בפירוש אבן עזרא ודעת מקרא בסיכום המזמור.
Assisting People at Risk of Financial Hardship
The Torah in Parashat Behar (25:35) commands us to support the needy members of our nation: “If your brother becomes impoverished and his position becomes unstable with you, then you shall support him…so that he may live among you.” Rashi, commenting on the words “ve-hechezakta bo” (“you shall support him”), writes that the Torah commands us not to wait until our fellow falls into complete financial ruin. We are to “support” him while he is still just “unstable,” before he reaches a state of poverty. Rashi writes:
Do not let him decline and fall such that it will be difficult to lift him up. Rather, strengthen him from the time of instability. What does this resemble? A load on a donkey. While it is still on the donkey, one person can hold it and make it stable, but once it falls to the ground, even five people cannot pick it up.
The command here is not to assist the poor – a mitzva which the Torah presents in other contexts – but rather to assist those who are at risk of becoming poor, so that this does not happen.
Rav Gedaliah Silverstone, in his Regesh Leiv, adds that this explains the Torah’s repeated use of the word “imakh” (“with you”) in this verse. The Torah describes a person who has fallen into financial straits “with you,” and commands us to support him so that “va-chai imakh” – “he may live with you.” Following along the lines of Rashi’s interpretation, Rav Silverstone explains this emphasis to imply that the individual in question is still “with you” – he is still on the same socioeconomic plane, as he has yet to fall into outright poverty. This person is not a beggar, but rather “imakh,” somebody who is more or less like the rest of us but has either lost a job or sees his business take a serious downturn. We should not ignore his plight thinking that this person’s family still has their needs generally cared for. We need to have the foresight to recognize where the situation could lead, and lend support even while the person is still “imakh” in order to ensure that he stays this way.
Needless to say, we are obligated as well to assist those who have already fallen into poverty. But the Torah here reminds us to look out for those who are “imakh,” who are not necessarily much worse off than we, but nevertheless need help. Without ever forgetting our obligations to the poor, we must also look around within our own circles to identify those in need of assistance and see how we might be able to lend it.
Courtesy of Yeshivat Har Etzion - www.etzion.org.il
Behar: Finding Independence
The Torah in Parashat Behar discusses the situation of a person who came upon hard times and was forced to sell his land. When the land is reclaimed, the Torah instructs, the purchase price must be determined based on the number of years in which it had been held by the buyer. The value of land of Eretz Yisrael depends upon the number of years remaining until the yovel, when lands are returned to their original owners, and so the price for reclaiming sold land will be determined by reducing the value of the years in which the land had been in the buyer’s possession.
In discussing this law, the Torah envisions two possible scenarios: the seller’s relative reclaims the land on his behalf (25:25), or the seller himself somehow obtains the funds he needs to buy back his property: “And a person who does not have a redeemer – and he is able to acquire enough that he can afford his redemption…” (25:26).
The Melekhet Machashevet (cited in Likutei Batar Likutei) comments that the Torah perhaps subtly conveys here an important lesson in self-sufficiency. Often, when a person realizes that he has no “go’el,” there is nobody who can help him, “ve-hisiga yado u-matza kedei ge’ulato” – he finds within himself the capabilities to solve his problem. The second scenario envisioned by the Torah – where the seller manages to financially recover so he can buy back his property – may be read not merely as the second of two possible situations, but rather as a likely outcome of the first: if nobody is available to help the individual, he will find a way to help himself. The Melekhet Machashevet writes that sometimes the possibility of outside help leads a person to a state of dependency which stifles his ambition. The Torah thus indicates to us that although there are certainly times when we need the support and assistance of other people, we should not accustom ourselves to relying on outside help. In many situations, we are fully capable of solving our own problems, and we should always work to try to do so rather than constantly looking to obtain the assistance of others.
Courtesy of Yeshivat Har Etzion - www.etzion.org.il
המלך שומר על עבדיו
"ה' שֹׁמְרֶךָ ה' צִלְּךָ עַל יַד יְמִינֶךָ" (תהילים קכ"א, ה)
תלמוד בבלי מסכת מנחות דף לג עמוד ב
אמר רבי חנינא:
בוא וראה שלא כמדת הקדוש ברוך הוא מדת בשר ודם,
מדת בשר ודם - מלך יושב מבפנים ועַם משמרין אותו מבחוץ,
מדת הקדוש ברוך הוא אינו כן -
עבדיו יושבין מבפנים והוא משמרן מבחוץ [ביאור שטיינזלץ: על ידי המזוזה]
שנאמר: "ה' שומרך ה' צלך על יד ימינך"
שמירת הלשון
"מַה יִּתֵּן לְךָ וּמַה יֹּסִיף לָךְ לָשׁוֹן רְמִיָּה" (תהילים ק"כ, ג)
תלמוד בבלי מסכת ערכין דף טו עמוד ב
אמר רבי יוחנן משום רבי יוסי בן זימרא:
מאי דכתיב [=מהו שכתוב]: "מה יתן לך ומה יוסיף לך לשון רמיה"?
אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא ללשון:
כל אבריו של אדם זקופים ואתה מוטל,
כל אבריו של אדם מבחוץ ואתה מבפנים,
ולא עוד, אלא שהקפתי לך שתי חומות, אחת של עצם ואחת של בשר,
מה יתן לך ומה יוסיף לך לשון רמיה?
רש"י מסכת ערכין דף טו עמוד ב
מה יתן לך ומה יוסיף לך - עוד הקדוש ברוך הוא שמירה שלא תספר לשון הרע?
Emor: The Right Balance
Judaism measures greatness by spiritual achievements. It should come as no surprise that many of our founding fathers suffered from physical ailments. Yitzchak was blind, Yaakov partially crippled, and Moshe had a speech impediment. Their eminence was such that whatever "handicaps" they might have had were simply irrelevant. Physical limitations are no impediment to greatness.
Nonetheless, physical and material attributes are sometimes crucial. Jewish law acknowledges the (sad) trait of humans to (only?) respect those who possess material wealth; therefore, the rule that our leaders, the high priest and king, for example, were to be people of great means. Physical deformities disqualify a priest from offering the priestly blessing, as people are wont to focus not on the blessing but on the defect. Thus, in a society where people are (thankfully) more accepting of physical handicaps, a kohen suffering from certain handicaps would be allowed to join in blessing the people.
The Torah insists that those who work in the Temple be free of physical blemish. More conspicuously, only those of priestly descent could perform Temple duties. While in our egalitarian times this may seem unfair, Judaism has never equated equality with sameness. The 248 positive mitzvoth, which our Sages say correspond to the limbs in our body, reflect this notion of teamwork, with each person doing their part. While the parts of the body are interconnected, each has its own specific role to play. The 613 mitzvoth reflect this harmonious union of diverse roles. No one person can even come close to performing all the mitzvoth, as some pertain specifically to women and some to men, some to children, some to nations, some to leaders, some to farmers, some to homeowners—the list goes on and on. It is the Jewish people as a whole, and only as a whole, who can observe all 613 mitzvoth.
The Temple service was limited to the very few, possibly because, in the grand scheme of things, it actually was not so important. The Temple is a reflection of our relationship to G-d, a tangible symbol of the Jewish people living up to their mission. That relationship is built outside the Temple in our day-to-day lives. The kohanim themselves only worked two or three days a year in the Temple; the rest of their time was spent as civil servants, as teachers of Torah amongst the people. Of course, as much of the work in the Temple was physically challenging—for example, the kohanim had to do their work while standing, and breaks were few and far between—it is not surprising that the retirement age was 50.
The Temple marks the unity of the physical and spiritual worlds, where one uses physical means to attain spiritual heights. The 39 melachot prohibited on Shabbat are derived from the Temple service; physical creation is defined by its spiritual usefulness. We should thus view the physical impediments to Temple service from a spiritual perspective.
"Any man on whom there is a bodily blemish may not approach to present an offering to G-d…a blind man, or lame, or who has a deformed nose or a misshapen limb" (Vayikra 21:17-18). The Torah tell us that among those unable to work in the Temple is one whose limbs are disproportionate; for example, one eye is much larger than the other. Rav Nisson Alpert, in describing the greatness of his Rebbe, Rav Moshe Feinstein, noted that these disproportionate limbs allude to those whose spiritual growth is uneven and inconsistent. Rav Moshe, zt"l, epitomized one who was great in all areas of life.
While it is to be expected that one specialize in certain areas of learning and even observance, it is a "blemish that disqualifies" when the proportions are well off balance. When one becomes more and more meticulous in ritual observance without any increase in observance in relationship to other people; when one observes every stringency in regard to kashrut, but relies on every leniency in business ethics; when one's focus on the land of Israel blinds one to the needs of the people of Israel—or vice versa on any of the above—that person is leading a blemished Jewish life. At times, such blemishes can be a desecration of G-d's name; the mitzvah not to desecrate G-d’s name appears just a few verses later.
We must broaden our religious growth, even if it means slowing our climb. We must look to widen before we look higher. In order to serve in G-d's temple, the temple that dwells within each of us, let us strive to lead a balanced life, with each aspect of our spirituality moving in the same direction.
Courtesy of Torah in Motion - www.torahinmotion.org
היחס בין שני הפסוקים
"הַלְלוּ אֶת ה' כָּל גּוֹיִם שַׁבְּחוּהוּ כָּל הָאֻמִּים. כִּי גָבַר עָלֵינוּ חַסְדּוֹ וֶאֱמֶת ה' לְעוֹלָם הַלְלוּ יָהּ" (תהילים קי"ז, א-ב)
תלמוד בבלי מסכת פסחים דף קיח עמוד ב
אמר רב כהנא: כשחלה רבי ישמעאל ברבי יוסי שלח לו רבי: אמור לנו שנים ושלשה דברים שאמרת לנו משום אביך.
שלח לו, כך אמר אבא: מאי דכתיב [=מהו שכתוב]: "הללו את ה' כל גוים" (תהלים קי"ז, א)?
אומות העולם מאי עבידתייהו [=למה הם צריכים לשבח ש"גבר עלינו חסדו"]?
הכי קאמר [=כך הוא אומר]: הללו את ה' כל גוים - אגבורות ונפלאות דעביד בהדייהו [=על הגבורות והנפלאות שעשה להם], כל שכן אנו דגבר עלינו חסדו.
לעיון בפוסט של הרב אלחנן סמט העוסק גם הוא בשאלת היחס שבין שני הפסוקים