Torah Portio
THE WEINBERG RESIDENCE
Festival of our destiny
The march to our freedom is expressed by counting.
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN TORAH COLUMNIST
Behar
LsvHlcu 25:1-262 Efrat
The biblical portions in the Book of Leviticus - Tazria, Metzorah, Emor and Behar - seem to be almost fixated on the conmiandment to count, the commandment oisefim. Barely two chapters ago, we were commanded to count each day of the seven weeks between the festivals of Passover and Shavuot, until the 50th day. In this week's portion, the Bible is commanding us to count the seven cycles of the sabbatical years (seven times seven or 49 years) until the 50th year, the Jubilee year. Clearly, there is a significant parallel between these two commandments of coimting. Similarly, both men and women are conmianded to coimt seven days, after which, on the eighth day, they undergo ritual immersion and purity. All of these "coimtings" must in some way be related.
The count from Passover to Shavuot is, at least firom a biblical perspective, the count from freedom from slavery to our entry into Israel and Jerusalem. On Passover, we left Egypt and Egyptian enslavement, however, we only got as far as the desert, with £dl of its imcertain-ties and its alien and difllcult climatic and agricultiu-al conditions. It is specifically Shavuot that is biblically defined as the festival of the first fruits, which were to be brought to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The Bible imderscores the relationship between Shavuot and Jerusalem when it discusses the special declaration to be made by the Israelite upon bringing the fi:iiits to the Temple altar.
This idea is eyen further deepened by the text of the Haggadah dxuing the Passover seder. The Mishnah (in Arvei Pesachim) teaches that the central part of our retelling of the Exodus is an explanation of the verses that the individual must read when they bring the firet fiiiits; we are to explain aroimd the seder table "from 'Arami ovcd AvV ['an Aramean tried to destroy my forefather^ until the end of that portion." (Deuteronomy 26:5-10) However, we do not explain the entire speech; the Haggadah neglects to include the last verses of the declaration of the one who brings the first fruits. The final two verses, "He brou^t us to this place and He gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now behold I have brou^t the first fiuit of the earth
that you have given me, O Lord," (26:9,10) are deleted by the author of the Haggadah.
The reason for this omission is that our sojoiun in, and escape from, Egypt were directed by (j-d and were part and parcel of Jewish fate. However, our entry into Israel, our esteblishment of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and our ability to influence the world to accept a (3-d of morality and peace, are very much dependent upon our own desires and actions. The desert was a temporaiy destination; Israel and Jerusalem is the Jewish destiny of being a light unto the nations of the world.
That is why the Bible commands, "And you shall sanctify the 50th year" within the context of our counting the sabbatical years leading up to the Jubilee. And the word Jubilee is either identified with the word for sho-far or ram's horn - the instrument used as our call to repentance—or finom the Hebrew yovd, which means "he [the nation] shall lead" the entire world back to Od. The Jubilee year is biblically defined as a declaration of universal fireedom and the re-tiu-n of every individual to their homestead.
This march to national freedom in our own land — from which we must realize oiu- mission to bring peace to the world - is expressed by coimting, or se-fira. The Hebrew root, spr, also means to tell, to recoimt, to clarify, which is the real corrmiand-ment of the seder night oisippur yctziat Mitzraim. The same root also appears in the biblical description of the throne of the Divine at the time of the revelation at Sinai, which is like "the white of the sapphire (sappir) and the piuity of the heavens." (Exodus 24:10)
From this perspective, it becomes necessary to imderstand the commandment to count as a command to become pure and move closer to the throne of the Almighty. Since there is no redemption without repentance and purification, this is why Shavuot is also the time when we receive the Torah (our road map to purity and redemption) fixjm (j-d and why Shavuot is the festival of our destiny. This is also why mystical and Chassidic literature refers to the emanations of the Divine in this world as sefirot.
Shabbat shalom. □
Rabbi Shlomo Bisldn is chief rabbi ofEfrat, Israel, and dean of Ohr Torah institutions in Israel.
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