By, Moshe Burt
 
Rashi asks a critical question on the very first posuk of our Parsha; "Hashem spoke to Moshe on Har Sinai, saying."  (Parsha Behar, Vayikra Perek 25, posuk 1)  He asks; "What does the Shemittoh (Sabbatical) year have to do with Mount Sinai?  Were not all of the Mitzvot said at Sinai?" He answers that just as all of the Mitzvot; their general rules and their specifics were taught at Sinai, so too were the general rules and specifics regarding Shemittoh taught at Sinai.  Rashi then reasons that the posuk comes to teach us that every utterance said to Moshe, they were all from Sinai.

The Hatam Sofer reiterates and expands on Rashi's explanation.  He asks "Why did the Torah list all of the specific rules of Shemittoh rather than doing so with any other commandment?  The reason for doing this is because the laws of Shemittoh prove that the Torah was given in Heaven.  Had the Torah been of mortal origin, how could any human promise, 'I will command My blessing during the sixth year and it will provide produce for three years'? -- something which is beyond the realm of the natural, and a way to test whether Torah is genuine." (Torah Gems, Aharon Yaakov Greenberg, Parsha Behar, page 331)

When contemplating this posuk, I can't help but recall, my first introduction to observance some 16 years ago in East Windsor, NJ.  As vivid as day, I recall Rav Motti Berger at an Aish HaTorah Shabbaton, giving his analogy on Shemittoh.

Rav Berger, in endeavoring to prove that Torah was real, genuine and from Shemayim, would ask how, if Torah was merely a nice document which a group of guys once got together in one guy's basement to write as a set of guidelines for how men should properly live, how could mortal man make such a fantastic promise as Shemittoh?  How could man promise that if we refrain from working the land in the seventh year, we would be provided for during the sixth year to sufficiently cover needs for the sixth, seventh and eighth years?  People who were not previously knowledgeable in Shemittoh and who held that Torah was manmade were hard-pressed to disprove the fact that Torah was given to Moshe from Shemayim.

But alas, we have many of our generation living in Israel and in Chutz L'Aretz as well as a hard-hearted, dictatorial leadership whose blind, causeless hatred for Jewishness, for observance, for Torah has blinded them to the divine, inseparable link between a Jew and His Land -- Eretz Yisrael.

For us, the Land of Israel is a one-of-a-kind, exclusive, prime piece of real estate to be passionately loved, embraced, possessed, tended and cared for.  We see this precious, beautiful land, from Gush Katif to Chevron to the Banias, as a precious gift from G'd to his special bride, his unique people.  We thank Hashem at every opportunity for giving us this glorious land and for the fact that we live here; in Jerusalem, in Chevron, in Tel Aviv, in S'fat, in Homesh and in Gush Katif.

For the haters, the hard-hearted, the superficial among us, including a heartless, self-interested, self-serving dictator, and his monstrous friends like Peres, Barak, Beilin, Sarid, Peretz and others, Eretz Yisrael is merely another piece of real estate, kinda like Los Vegas.  Just another piece of real estate to be swapped to keep a Prime Minister and his sons out of Beit Mishpat (Court) for their curruption, graft and assorted other misdeeds, even as the plan to rake in huge Casino profits at the people's expense as Kassams fall in Ashkelon, Ashdod, Rechovot, Tel Aviv and maybe even Beit Shemesh.

And we ask the haters, what is so special, so Kaddosh about the so-called "Greenline?"  What makes Ramat Aviv or Haifa or Netanya more Kaddosh, more special, more valuable than the rest of The Land with it's connection, it's inseparable link with thousands of years of Jewish heritage, history, service to Hashem and great Tzadikkim?

A while back, and it might have been a year or two ago, I recall our Prime Minister uttering his memorable quote wishing that he had "more time to learn the sources."  Kinda makes one wonder what exactly he, Omri and Gilad did at the Pesach Seder Table besides fress.

This week one might do well to conjure up contrasts; such as between artificiality and disingenuous ness of the Sharon family Seder table and the bright, unshakeable faces I saw in Neve Dekalim on Yom Hatsma'ot or the true "golden Jewish youth" that I was with this past Monday at Tzomet Shimshon near the entrance to Beit Shemesh.  Expulsion -- Not!!  Will never happen!!

In the merit of B'Ezrat Hashem, our collective unity -- "Adat B'nai Yisrael", our emunah and actions, and the proper motivations for them, may we ALL be zocha to have our Tefillah reach Shemayim, unimpeded, ungarbled.  And in recognition that if we all emulate Aaron HaKohen and his consistency and constancy of Avodat Hashem, may we be zocha, as Rabbi Moshe Ungar would say each Thursday evening at his Gemara Shiur back in Philadelphia, in "the old country",  B'Ezrat Hashem, to demand, to compel HaKodosh Borchu to do "what he wants to do, to bring us the Moshiach and the Ge'ula Shlaima, "bimhayra v'yameinu -- speedily, in our time." 

May we see an end to low, dirty politics, political equivocation, perfidy and false cheshbonot; as well as freedom and long life in Eretz Yisrael for Jonathan Pollard and special merit for our brethren currently subject to police harrassment, political interrogation and political persecution. 

IY'H, may it be that come this Rosh Hashana, that we pray thanks to Hashem for the Ge'ula Shlaima and for keeping our Brethren in Gush Katif and the Shomron in their homes and neighborhoods and away from the horror and Chillul Hashem of expulsion.

May we see the "Yom Hashem Al Kol HaGoyim" Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad,
Etmol!!