Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

156
Bechukotai
Keep Thinking
Yonatan Pesach Friedman
“I m bechukosai teileichu ve-es mitzvosai tishmiru va-asisem osam.” (Vayikra 26:3)
I would like to share with you an idea that we learn from this verse that maybe we
can incorporate into our everyday lives in order to strengthen our connection to the
Creator. The verse literally means, “If you follow (“walk in”) My statutes and observe
My commandments and perform them.” Rashi explains “If you follow My statutes” to
mean that we must be laboring in the Torah. ‘Talaichu,’ you walk, denotes a laborious
activity, so we learn from here that we must be ameilim be-Torah, literally laboring in
Torah. Rashi adds that the phrase “ve-es mitzvosai tishmiru” means that our learning
must be in order to apply the Torah to our lives through mitzva observance.
Rav Netanel Lebowitz, shlita, told me a fascinating insight that might add another
layer of interpretation to our verse. What does “and observe My commandments”
mean? If we look back at Parshat Vayeishev, it says that Yosef told his brothers the
dream he had dreamt, that the sun, the moon and eleven stars would bow down
to him. Then he related the dream to his brothers and his father. What was their
response? “So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father waited (“shamar”) for
the matter” (37:11). Rashi explains that Yosef ’s father, Ya’akov, was sitting and looking
forward to when it would come true! What does it mean that someone is “shomer”
Shabbos? It doesn’t mean that he sits around and guards the Shabbos. It means that
you are anticipating the opportunities to be shomer Shabbos! So maybe the verse in
our parsha is teaching us of the great importance of machshava, thought. Through