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Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 14:40:08 +0300

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From: Ilana & Bezalel Edwards <edw@internet-zahav.net>

Subject: Mei haShiloah

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     Dear Reb Shlomo list recipients, 

 For those with limited access to Hebrew, I thought there might be a call

for translation of Hasidic commentaries on the parsha.  What follows is a

sampling of the Mei HaShiloach, Reb Mordechai Yoseph Lainer zts'l, the

rebbe of Izbitsa, whose Toras were constantly on Reb Shlomo's lips.  If

there are any mistakes or misinterpretations in translation, please let me

know, I would be most grateful. Perhaps it is possble to translate

something faithfully without having an inkling as to what it means? And if

anyone has reb Shlomo's zts'l or others interpretations of the Mei

haShiloah, it would be most appreciated. B'ezrat Hashem I will continue

this on a weekly basis. 



PARSHAT BEHAR



     "Speak to the children of Israel ... the land shall keep a sabbath

unto Hashem." (Vayikra,25:2)  Concerning the three matters discussed here,

Shmitta  (seventh "rest" year for the land), freedom of slaves (in the

fiftieth year, the "Yovel"), and Ribit (the prohibition of lending at

interest), the Blessed G-d is warning Israel against putting their trust in

anything (of this world) that it would seem from the human view that it

would be possible to rely upon. These three things - Shmitta, Yovel, Ribit

- each take a catagory of place, time, and person (olam, shana, nefesh).

The aquisition of fields and vineyards is the aquisition one could have in

place, putting his trust in it, so concerning this the Blessed One

commanded the Shmitta.  That is to say, mankind cannot put his trust in

places, but rather shall see that they belong to G-d, for in the seventh,

Shmitta, year there is no recognition of ownership in one's aquisitions

(anyone can come in and eat from his field), and thus he shall see that the

land it G-d's. 

      Corresponding to placing one's trust in time, in other words, that he

can rely on amassing wealth from selling time, namely, taking interest, the

Torah says, "do not take interest from him,"  for the point of interest is

is one selling his time, as it says in the Gemara (Baba Metsia, 63b), "the

main point of interest is that all compensation of money for waiting

(postponing paying a debt), is forbidden."

      As for man's aquisition in other people, that he feels he may trust

his ability to use servants for his needs, G-d commanded concerning the

freeing of slaves in the Yovel year. Thus he sees that he has no ownership

of their bodies, and must set them free.  Even at the time they are slaves

G-d commanded, "not to force him to serve with hard labor," that is, to

understand that the body of the servant is not his domain. 

      G-d commanded these three mitsvot to show man that he may not put his

trust in anything connected to time, place or person - only in the blessed

G-d may he place his trust.  This is why each of these sections ends with

the statement, "I am the Lord your G-d who brought you out if Egypt to give

you the land of Canaan," in order to show that His influence toward us is

in now way to reduced from that which He has prohibited to us.  "I am the

Lord your G-d who took you out of Mitsrayim," Mitsrayim (Egypt) comes from

the word for narrowness, limitation, to show that the pleasures of the

world  which are not coming from the side of Holiness are rooted in

narrowness and constriction, "to give you the land of Canaan," that is to

say that the goodness which G-d gives us will be in Holiness, and we will

be able to extend it out to our surroundings, for our inheritence from G-d

is the goodness of Holiness, "an inheritence without narrowness

(limitations)."



     "and give the land a sabbath unto Hashem."  The point of the

sabbatical year, the Shmitta, is to be a sign for Israel, for, "the land is

G-d's and the fullness thereof."  Concerning this the Holy Zohar says

(Bereshit 3b), "there are (G-d created) large letters and small letters,"

(refering to the occasional large or small letter in the Torah scroll).

the small letter is Shabbat ("ot" means both sign and letter). Shabbat is a

sign for Israel, for G-d is the motivator of everything, and the actions of

man will do nothing.  the large letter-sign is Shmitta, for with the

passing of seven years there must necessarily be an entire year in which it

is clear that the land is   G-d's, and that no man has the power of action,

only G-d alone.



     "and you shall count seven sabbaths of years ... then proclaim with

the call of the shofar ... and each man shall return to his portion ... in

the Yovel year each man shall return to his posession."  The matter of the

Shmitta and Yovel corresponds to the way of acting mentioned in the Pirkei

Avot (ch.5:41) "what it mine is yours, what is yours is yours."  Shmitta,

the seventh rest year for the land, corresponds to the attribute of, "what

is mine is yours," that is to say, that even though, "the land was given to

mankind" (Psalms), that one can aquire from the land, and bring out of it

all the good things of the world (for all kinds of good things of the world

are included in the land, as it is written (Kohelet 3:20),"all was from the

dust."), and in the seventh year he gives the land (back) to G-d, for he

ceases from toil and working the land voluntarily according to the will of

G-d, keeping His ordinances. This is called, "what is mine is yours."

     The Yovel, the fiftieth "jubilee" year, corresponds to the attribute

of, "what is yours is yours,"  for the commandment of Yovel requires that

each one shall return to his posession and to his family. For in truth, G-d

 was fair in how He put man in the land, and divided out an inheritence to

each one according to his level, based on the root (of his particular

soul), upholding each one on his particular banner, saying to them, "they

are My servants."  Yet since the progression of events caused man to

request many accounts, until this one merited to ascend and extend into

another's borders, or to purchace the other to serve him, and the other

descended and had to sell his posessions until he eventually had to sell

himself into servitude, and since the word of G-d endures forever and will

not change,  G-d forbid, based on the actions of mankind, therefore G-d's

(temporary) judgements which pass over man will not reach the depth of the

root of his soul, for G-d created a time for everything to return to its

initial portion.  Thus He created the Yovel year so that each could return

to his place and the portion alloted to him from G-d, as it is said,  

"the Yovel year shall be holy to you," in other words, in the year of Yovel

the light of the Kedusha of G-d will be revealed to all, by  means of the

proclamation of the Shofar on Yom Kippur, and each one will recognize that

the portion of his fathers which was given to him by G-d will remain with

him, and as for that which came to him by means of the actions of man, even

though there was an agreement of aquisition placing him under another's

domain until now, yet since he does not belong to the other at the root, he

must be returned to the place he was originally alloted. This is the

illumination of G-d in the year of the Yovel, that everyone can return to

his place, that everything has its own place.  This recognition and

understanding can come only after fulfilling the mitsvah of Shmitta, that

is, delivering all over to G-d and by means this reach the attribute of,

"what is yours is yours."  That is to say, the recognition of the place

ascribed to everything at it's root, as  in the saying of the Midrash

(Bereshit Rabba 43:19), "all is in the posession of the blind until G-d

comes and opens their eyes."  Meaning, even though the human eye will see

that this servant belongs to this master, and this field to that one who

bought it, yet whoever G-d illuminates, opening his eyes, will see that all

the actions of man will not create a change in the depth of the will of G-d

even minutely, and in the Yovel this light will be revealed.  this is the

atribute of, "what is yours is yours," and is greater than the atribute of,

"what is mine is yours."  

      By means of Shmitta and Yovel one shall see that all the good and

wealth he has amassed not by the will of G-d, but by means of his own

efforts, is not his even though it is in his posession.  Therefore this

Parsha warns against theft, deception and interest, to show that in the

future it will be apparent that anything which came by means of these

methods is not his, for perhaps one may say to himself, "if it is so, that

eventually a person will have only what was originally given him by G-d,

then all efforts to gain wealth, to aquire things, expand borders are in

vain, for only what G-d gave him will remain his." Concrening  this Shlomo

haMelech said (Kohelet 10:1), "a little folly is more precious than honnor

or wisdom."  Meaning, although by the understanding that none of that which

he has gained by his efforts will remain with him, will a man refrain from

toil in this world, it is the "little folly" within him that caused him to

gather wealth even though he knows it is only temporary. Nevertheless he

may merit by means of his efforts even though the time will come to return

to his portion, to return everything to its place, nonetheless he will

profit, for he will return to the other only what is alloted him.  Yet the

limit and the border which G-d set to recognize between one man's portion

and another's will be added to his border since at the beginning he

extended his border into the other's, and a little security will remain

from his efforts in this world also from the other's portion even though it

is to be returned. Thus from all the efforts that one exerts in this world,

this understanding will remain with him for ever. 



