📋 Shiur Overview
Summary of the Shiur – Erev Shabbos Kodesh Behar Bechukosai
The Order of the Shiur and the General Approach
The order of the shiurim this year is: Wednesday and Thursday we learn Shemonah Perakim, tikkun hamiddos, and Friday we bring out a deeper, more inward understanding according to the way of the Zohar and the way of Kabbalah.
This week and next week, the main avodah has been the campaign for the beis hamidrash – to sustain the financial foundation for a whole year. But in this itself lies also a pnimiyus hadevorim – it cannot be that it lacks an inner meaning. The connection between the campaign and Sefiras HaOmer is brought out below.
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Sefiras HaOmer, Shemittah and Yovel – One Sugya
The sugya we are learning is Sefiras HaOmer, built on the Ramban al HaTorah (derech ha’emes) and the Zohar which goes in the same way. Even though we are now learning Parshas Behar Bechukosai, this is truly the same sugya of Sefiras HaOmer – because shemittah, yovel, and Sefiras HaOmer are all one approach.
The Pasuk “Vesafarta Lecha Sheva Shabbosos Shanim”
The pasuk says: “Vesafarta lecha sheva shabbosos shanim, sheva shanim sheva pe’amim.” Rabbeinu Bachaye asks: Why does the pasuk need to be so lengthy? Sheva shabbosos shanim – that comes out to sheva shanim sheva pe’amim, everyone can calculate it themselves! The answer: The pasuk wants to bring out that you should not just count seven years. You should count the level called “sheva shanim sheva pe’amim” – the level of shemittah and yovel you should count, not just a counting.
The Ramban and Ibn Ezra
The Ibn Ezra says that here stands “sod yemos olam ramuaz bamakom hazeh.” The Ramban in his derasha “Toras Hashem Temimah” brings the Ibn Ezra and gives him a tremendous compliment: “Ve’ein besefarav davar hamorah al kabbalaso hatovah yoser mizeh” – there is no better place where we see that the Ibn Ezra truly received correctly.
(Side discussion: The Ramban’s Relationship with Ibn Ezra)
The Ramban has, as he writes in his introduction, “chatichus megulah ve’ahavah mesuserres” with Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra. Many times he criticizes him – that the Ibn Ezra writes secrets but did not himself understand his own secrets. But here he gives him a haskamah: The Ibn Ezra correctly understood the secret of shemittah and yovel, which is the secret of yemos olam, which is the same secret of Sefiras HaOmer, the same secret of other mitzvos that go with sefiras shivah – especially the two mitzvos that go until 49.
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The Particular Portion of Each Neshamah
One of the things that stands in sefarim, especially in Arizal regarding Sefiras HaOmer: A person must find out his derech prati – his particular portion in Torah, in Yiddishkeit, in avodas Hashem. The sefarim call this the chelek – the reason why the neshamah came down to olam hazeh.
If a person doesn’t know his chelek, he is confused. When a person reaches “lechach notzarti” – this is a geulah pratis, a great redemption. In a general way, everyone can say “lechach notzarti” – to be an honest Jew, a good person, to master his hispa’alus, to be metaken his nitzotzos. But to know which are your portions – that is already a great redemption.
Sefiras HaOmer – The Way to Find Out the Chelek
One of the kavanos of Sefiras HaOmer according to the Arizal is to find out the chelek. The Arizal says: If someone knows his shoresh, he should be machnia himself according to shoresh nishmaso. But the deeper meaning is: Through the derech of Sefiras HaOmer one finds it out.
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The Secret of Korban Minchah
It is mekubal (and there are proofs for this, among others the Yismach Moshe says approximately so): The subject of korban minchah is – to receive a teshuvah (an answer). Every korban has a function; korban minchah is how one is doresh es Hashem.
The Proof: Minchas Sotah and Minchas HaOmer
A sotah – a Jew has a doubt, he doesn’t know if she is nitma’ah or not. This is a doubt in halachah, or a doubt in life – he doesn’t know if he should divorce or not, doubts in avodas Hashem, doubts in derech hachaim. The way to receive a teshuvah is called bringing a minchah. This is the pe’ulah of minchah.
Therefore every korban tzibbur comes with minchos – the kohen, as manhig Yisrael, must know from the minchah how to conduct himself in hanhagos haklal vehaprat on that day.
Minchas HaOmer – A General Minchah
Minchas HaOmer is a special minchah, a minchas bikkurim, which the entire Klal Yisrael brings once. The Zohar adds that this is a bedikah for the eishes chayil, for the Shechinah – to check if chas veshalom she is nitma’ah: “Vetamei nefesh veniksah venizre’ah zara.” From this korban minchas HaOmer one counts 49 days.
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Yetzias Mitzrayim = Klaliyus, Sefiras HaOmer = Peratim
Yetzias Mitzrayim means klaliyus – every Jew goes out from Mitzrayim, he wants to arrive at his geulah, but he doesn’t yet have any further redemption.
Sefiras HaOmer means peratim – one finds out chelkam bachaim. Every Jew finds out through the fact that he expands the matter of minchas HaOmer, he counts 49 – sheva pe’amim besheva. One can say as if every Jew truly belongs to one day of sefirah.
Why Does Everyone Count All 49?
Because kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh. Just as the Arizal says about vidui: If someone doesn’t know which chet is his, he says a general vidui – ashamnu bagadnu – all the letters. Not everyone did all the sins, but within Klal Yisrael one says a general vidui so that he should remember what he did. The same with Sefiras HaOmer.
The Arizal: 49 Types of She’arei Dinim
The Arizal says: There are 49 types of she’arei dinim – 49 types of problems in the world. If someone knows which is his shoresh haneshamah, he doesn’t need to sing all of them – only one. But in the siddur they inserted all of them, for those who don’t know.
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Geulah Pratis – Which Day Is Your Day?
The concept amidah al da’ato – this means geulah pratis. Which of the days of sefirah is truly yours? There is a machlokes Rishonim whether Sefiras HaOmer is 49 mitzvos or one mitzvah. According to the pnimiyus one can understand: Essentially a Jew only needs to count one day – his day. All Jews together, each one counts his day, and it comes out that the entire sefirah was counted through a partnership of Klal Yisrael.
From this comes out a remez: When someone forgets a day of sefirah, we conduct ourselves that he continues counting without a berachah – because he doesn’t know which day is his true day, and perhaps he forgot precisely that day. But if someone knows which day is his, he is essentially exempt from all other days, and he can count with a berachah on that day even when he forgot other days. (This is only a remez, not a halachah lema’aseh, only according to Kabbalah.)
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Kinyan Halachah – Two Meanings
The First Meaning: Rising from Level to Level
A person must be a holech in order to be worthy of his portion in Torah. The difference between a person, an angel, and an animal is – a person changes, rises from level to level. This is the same matter as Sefiras HaOmer, where one rises from Malchus shebeMalchus until Binah shebeBinah. (The Zohar goes in this order; in the siddur stands a reverse order, but this is not the place to elaborate.)
The Second Meaning: Walking with the Torah
Halachah means how one walks with the Torah. How does a person find his portion in Torah? Only when he walks with it, he lives with it, he brings the Torah into his entire conduct of life – “behishalchecha tancheh osach, beshochbecha tishmor alecha, vahakitzosa hi tesichecha.” He must integrate the Torah into his entire walking, into his own way – “lech lecha baderech,” “bedarko.”
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Answer to the Question of “Arbitrary” Hints
When people argue that hints, gematrios, combinations are arbitrary – “it can be different, add, subtract” – the answer is: This is my halachah. I’m not speaking of a general thing that the whole world must be this way. I’m speaking of my own way, and through this I find my portion in Torah – which mitzvos I need to do more, which parts of avodah, which ways of learning, with which people, in which place. This is the secret of halachah.
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The Campaign and Sefiras HaOmer – An Inner Connection
It is not for nothing that already three-four-five years the custom is that every year erev Shavuos we are occupied with establishing the financial foundation of the beis hamidrash. The halachah says: A good thing that was practiced three times becomes a neder – this means that when a person sees that something repeats itself, this is a sign that here lies his portion.
To make the campaign in the days between Lag BaOmer and Shavuos, in the second half of Sefiras HaOmer – this shows that here lies something. And this is connected with the second of Sivan – the birthday – which falls in the same period. This is not a “maybe” – one must bring it out.
Second Half of Sefirah – A New Aspect
In Kabbalah sefarim (Avodas Yisrael and others) it says that the last two weeks of sefirah, after Lag BaOmer, is a new aspect, a second half.
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Ramban on “Veshavtah Ha’aretz Shabbos LaShem” – Shemittah, Shabbos, and Yovel
Rashi’s Explanation
Rashi asks: What does “Shabbos LaShem” mean? The land rests – for You, Hashem? Rashi answers: “Keshem shene’emar beShabbos Bereishis” – just as “veyikchu li terumah” means “li lishmi,” for honor, so too “Shabbos LaShem” means for the honor of Hashem, leshmah. Shemittah is for the honor of Hashem, just like Shabbos Bereishis.
The Ramban’s Question on Rashi
The Ramban doesn’t understand Rashi’s explanation. Every thing is leshem Hashem – avodah, mitzvos, everything. Why does it need to say specifically here? The Ramban looks at how the way the Torah lays down a mitzvah, how it tells it, brings out the secret, the pnimiyus – even when the content is the same. “Shabbos LaShem” must mean something specific.
The Ramban’s Explanation – “LaShem HaGadol”
The Ramban says: The Sifri means that shemittah and Shabbos go on the same approach, with one difference: Shabbos points to “shita alfei shenin havei alma” – the seven thousand years of the world. But yovel points to a higher level – chamishim sha’arei binah.
“Shabbos LaShem” doesn’t mean just “LaShem” – but “LaShem HaGadol.” What does “Hashem HaGadol” mean? There is a comprehension, a sefirah, a measure of God called “the great God.” Michlal de’icha katan – there is a “Hashem HaKatan” as it were, smallness, a small comprehension. “Hashem HaGadol” means gadlus Hashem – Hashem Himself has a greatness within Him. The Arizal calls it mochin degadlus; the Ramban calls it Sefiras HaTiferes; the Rashbi – Sefiras HaBinah.
On this stands: “Bishvu’ah amarti, mizmor shir le’asid lavo, sheyekablu Shabbos menuchah lechayei ha’olamim.” Chayei ha’olamim – this is the “Hashem HaGadol.” Not just “Shabbos LaShem” but “Shabbos LaShem HaGadol” – an aspect of Shabbos HaGadol, the higher levels, even higher than the regular Shabbos.
(Side note: Jewish Calculations)
When one counts things – also in practical matters like the campaign – one must hear that Jewish numbers, Jewish calculations were already made in order to arrive at an approach. There is a secret, a structure, a higher structure on which everything stands – just as “sheva shanim sheva pe’amim” points to the seven sefiros, to the seven yemos olam.
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The Ramban’s Question: Why Is Shemittah So Severe?
The Ramban poses a sharp question: Every mitzvah has its own level of reward and punishment – there are chayavei kerisos, chayavei misos beis din, malkos, etc. Usually this makes sense – mitzvos that are more severe have a greater punishment. But shemittah? Shemittah has no obligation of misos beis din, no kares – it’s just a lav, whoever eats shemittah fruits transgresses a lav. And yet the Torah says that for shemittah comes galus – “az tirtzeh ha’aretz es shabsoseha” – and this is also brought in the Nevi’im. What is so severe about a lav that doesn’t have a heavy punishment, that for it should come galus?
The Ramban’s Answer: Shemittah Is a Foundation of Faith – Just Like Shabbos
The Ramban answers: Shemittah is not just a mitzvah – it’s from yesodei haTorah. Just like Shabbos: Shabbos has an obligation of sekilah, a mechalel Shabbos is like a goy, because Shabbos points to the foundation of faith of chiddush ha’olam – that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world. Everything revolves around this, therefore Shabbos is so severe. The Ramban brings this from the Rambam.
If so, says the Ramban, shemittah is also a hint to chiddush ha’olam – to the same foundation. The Ibn Ezra says that shemittah hints to the fact that the world will stop seven times, and it will enter into yovel, and everything goes back to the source. Because it hints to the foundations of faith, therefore it is so severe.
(Methodological Note About the Ramban)
Here lies an interesting point: The Ramban asks a question according to peshat and answers an answer according to sod. He does this many times. Because the Ramban truly understood that when he says “sod” he doesn’t mean just an added Kabbalah – he means that one doesn’t truly understand the Torah without certain concepts and foundations that make sense of things. This is “derech ha’emes” – not just a secret, but the true peshat.
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What Kind of Punishment Is Galus? – A Fundamental Investigation
In Torah there are different levels of punishments – death, lashes, kares. Which level is galus? The answer: Galus is not a level in the regular system of punishments. Galus is something else entirely.
We see that galus comes for avodah zarah, for transgressing kol haTorah kulah, but also for shemittah. The Ramban brings the Mishnah in Avos: “Galus ba al” – inui hadin, shemitas ha’aretz, etc. What is the common denominator?
Galus Is Not a Punishment – It’s Being “Out of Sync” with the Greater Cycle
The foundation: When we speak of galus, we’re not speaking of a simple punishment for a simple sin. There are greater cycles in the world – not everything is connected to “I did a mitzvah or a sin today.” Galus and geulah – this is the sod haketz, the secret of the entire subject. There is no single sin for which one is obligated galus. A person can do many sins and galus still won’t happen, and he can do smaller sins and need to go into galus.
Galus happens when a person is “out of sync” with the greater cycle – he is disconnected from the overall order.
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The Parable of an Individual Person – Galus on a Personal Level
To understand this matter, a parable is brought from an individual person: A person grows up in a family, a community, a place. Which sin causes him to have to move from his city? A divorce is a type of galus – “vayegaresh es ha’adam” – the language of divorcing a wife, leaving Gan Eden. There is no specific sin that does this. A person can do great sins and remain in his place, and smaller sins can throw him out.
Which type of sins bring galus? – Those that are defective in the thing itself. Just like with a sotah: A woman who goes with strange men – perhaps it’s not the greatest sin on the list, but if you want to be in this home, you must align yourself with the order of this place. If you do things that make you “out of sync” with the proper order, you don’t belong there.
Galus Is Also a Tikkun – “Meshaneh Makom Meshaneh Mazal”
Galus is mechaper avonos. In the new place there isn’t the problem. He fought with the family, with the community – he goes to a second city, meshaneh makom meshaneh mazal. What does “mazal” mean? Mazal means the cycle that a person is in sync with – the greater cycle where he lives, like shemittah, like yovel.
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The Ramban’s Foundation: In Eretz Yisrael Rules the Cycle of Shechinah/Binah
In Eretz Yisrael rules the cycle called Shechinah, called Binah, called the cycle of shemittah and yovel. If you’re in conflict with this – “ha’aretz taki eschem” – the cycle itself throws you out. You go to a second place where there is a different cycle, and there you will manage.
This is what the Ramban means when he speaks of yemos olam – from sheshes yemei bereishis until olam haba, the entire order of 49,000 years. This is a general thing, not just a punishment for a sin – it’s the cycle.
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The Zohar in Behar: A Slave Goes Out in Shemittah – And the Ramban’s Language
The Zohar in Parshas Behar says that a slave goes out in shemittah and in yovel. In yovel – yes, we know this. But in shemittah? According to halachah a slave goes out after six years when he became a slave, not in shemittah! This is one of a list of questions that people had on the Zohar – that it doesn’t match the halachah.
But – the Ramban himself writes explicitly: “Gam ha’eved yesh lo shemittah veyovel.” The Ramban doesn’t mean that a slave literally goes home in shemittah – he knows the halachah. He means that this is the same idea – the slave’s going out after six years is his own shemittah, his personal cycle.
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The Difference: General Cycles and Particular Cycles
Here returns the foundation from the beginning: Just as there is a cycle in general (shemitas ha’olam), there is a cycle in particular (shemitas atzmo). When a person is “out of sync” with himself, he is in galus – not from Eretz Yisrael, but from his family, from his own nefesh even – he becomes confused, his plans don’t work, he needs to find a different cycle that works for him. This is the aspect of eved sheyotzei beshemittah – his own shemittah.
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The Connection to Lag BaOmer
This is also the matter of Lag BaOmer: A person has as it were finished sefirah at thirty-three. The custom of mourning of sefirah ends at Lag BaOmer according to Minhag Ashkenaz. Why? Because we have finished. Those who made the customs understood that there are different customs in sefirah – there are those who begin then, there are those who begin then – because everyone has his own sefirah, just like a slave who goes out in shemittah – not shemitas ha’olam, but shemitas atzmo, his own.
This also explains why there are so many different customs in Sefiras HaOmer – one begins mourning then, another then – because each one understands when his sefirah is, when his personal cycle begins and when it ends.
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The Secret of Shemittah and Yovel – Generality and Particularity: Three Levels
This is the secret of shemittah and yovel on three levels:
1. Eretz Yisrael cries out the general shemittah – the great cosmic cycle.
2. For every slave it cries out the particular shemittah – his personal liberation.
3. For every Jew it cries out that he has his own cycles – and if he falls out, he must have a way back in.
This is connected with what was learned earlier about shivas yemei taharaso – that the person goes back into his seven days that he can fix, he has a framework of avodah in these days.
Precisely why this is so – that is still a separate discussion. But this is the order – our avodah that we do in these days.
📝 Full Transcript
Counting of the Omer, Shemittah and Yovel, and the Inner Secret of the Omer Offering
Introduction: The Order of the Lectures
Rabbosai (gentlemen), today is erev Shabbos Kodesh (the eve of the holy Sabbath), Parshas Behar-Bechukosai.
We have said that the order of this year’s lectures is to bring out a more inward understanding of what we learn on Thursday and Wednesday in the lectures on Shemonah Perakim (Maimonides’ Eight Chapters on Ethics), on the topics of tikkun hamiddos (character refinement), to bring it out deeper on Friday al pi derech haZohar (according to the way of the Zohar), al pi derech haKabbalah (according to the way of Kabbalah).
The Inner Dimension of the Campaign
We also need to bring out now, this week the lectures were, perhaps one cannot call them lectures, but the main work this week and next week has been about the campaign that we are conducting in order to sustain the beis hamedrash (house of study) for a whole year. And there is certainly in this also the pnimiyus hadevarim (the inner dimension of the matters), it cannot be that there is no pnimiyus hadevarim in this. That is one thing.
The Topic of Counting the Omer
The second thing is that we are learning the sugya (Talmudic topic) of Sefiras HaOmer (the counting of the Omer) here, built upon learning the Ramban al haTorah (Nachmanides’ commentary on the Torah), the derech ha’emes (the way of truth), and the Zohar (foundational work of Kabbalah) which goes in the same way, built upon this, or both, there are perhaps chilukim (distinctions), one must still arrive at them if one has arrived. But we are going in the same sugya, and now is the time for it.
Parshas Behar-Bechukosai and Sefiras HaOmer: One Topic
Even though we are now learning Parshas Behar-Bechukosai (Torah portions dealing with the sabbatical and jubilee years), we learn the Ramban al haTorah following the Zohar, that this is truly the same sugya as Sefiras HaOmer.
The Verse “And You Shall Count for Yourself Seven Sabbaticals of Years”
“Vesafarta lecha sheva shabbosos shanim sheva shanim sheva pe’amim” (“And you shall count for yourself seven sabbaticals of years, seven years seven times” – Leviticus 25:8).
Says Rabbeinu Bachya (13th century Spanish commentator), why does the verse need to explain it to us this way? Seven sabbaticals of years comes out to seven years seven times, I can calculate it myself, whoever knows mathematics can calculate it themselves.
Rather, says Rabbeinu Bachya, here the verse means to bring out that you should not count just seven years, you should count the madreigah (spiritual level) that is called “seven years seven times,” and the madreigah that is called shemittah veyovel (sabbatical and jubilee years), this is what you should count, not just count. This is what Rabbeinu Bachya says about why the verse is lengthy, and apparently he learns this as pshat (the simple meaning).
The Ibn Ezra and the Secret of the Days of the World
And the Ramban who said that it states here, in Ibn Ezra (Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, 12th century Spanish commentator), who says that here stands sod yemos olam ramutz bamakom hazeh (the secret of the days of the world is hinted at in this place).
The Ramban in his drashas Toras Hashem Temimah (the sermon “The Torah of God is Perfect”) says that he brings this piece from Ibn Ezra and he says “ve’ein bisfarav davar hamoreih al kabbalaso hatovah yoser mizeh” (“And there is nothing in his books that indicates his good tradition more than this”). The Ramban often has, as it states in his hakdamah (introduction), “chatichus megulah ve’ahavah mesuteres” (“revealed pieces and hidden love”) with Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra, and here he gives him a tremendous compliment.
The Ramban’s Relationship with Ibn Ezra
He also has a dispute with Rabbi Avraham about his sodos (secrets), Rabbi Avraham writes secrets, often he says that he himself did not understand his own secrets, and why doesn’t he understand the secret here, vechadoimeh (and the like).
Here the Ramban says that regarding this piece from Ibn Ezra there is no better place where you see that Ibn Ezra truly was mekabel (received) the kabbalah (the tradition), in other words, this is a haskamah (approbation) from the Ramban on the kabbalah of Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra. The kabbalah of Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra was correct, because he correctly understood the secret of shemittah veyovel, which is the secret of yemos olam (the days of the world), which is the same secret as Sefiras HaOmer, the same secret of other mitzvos (commandments) that go with sefirah deshiv’ah (counting of seven), but bifrat (especially) the two mitzvos that go until forty-nine, as we learned last week.
The Connection Between the Campaign and Sefiras HaOmer
All these things are connected. It is not for nothing that our order is not from today, already three, four, five years I think, that every year erev Shavuos (the eve of the holiday of Shavuos) we are engaged in establishing the yesod hamamoni (the financial foundation), the foundation of the financial foundation of our beis hamedrash for a whole year. It is becoming more and more that this is the time for this, but it is already an old minhag (custom) of a few years of our own beis hamedrash, of ours.
A Good Thing Practiced Three Times
And when a Jew sees, a Jew sees the halachah (Jewish law), davar tov shenohag shalosh pe’amim ve’ert a neder (a good thing practiced three times becomes a vow). What does it mean it becomes a vow? The meaning is that when a person sees, it is difficult to… from people, one of the things that stands in the books, especially even in Sefiras HaOmer, it states in the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, 16th century master Kabbalist), a person must find his derech perati (individual path), his particular chelek (portion) in Torah, his particular chelek in Judaism, his particular chelek in life, in avodas Hashem (service of God).
The Portion of Every Soul
The books call this the chelek (portion), the reason why the neshamah (soul) came down, the reason why the neshamah is here ba’olam hazeh (in this world). One must be able to hear the chelek, one must be able to hear the thing, otherwise a person is confused.
Personal Redemption: “For This I Was Created”
As long as a person… it is a geulah pratis (personal redemption), a great personal redemption, not Pesach (Passover), not Shavuos (the holiday of Weeks), matan Torah (the giving of the Torah). A great part of personal redemption is when a person knows “lechach notzarti” (“for this I was created”).
This is the… truly be’oifen klali (in a general way) everyone can, it is no chochmah (wisdom) to say “lechach notzarti” to be an honest Jew, to be a good person, to moshel zein (rule over) one’s hispa’alus (emotional reactions), to metakein zein (repair) the tikkunim (repairs) and nitzotzos (sparks) that are one’s portion, however one wants to say it. But to know which are your portions, what is truly the portion, this is a great redemption for a person.
Sefiras HaOmer and Finding One’s Portion
And one of the kavanos (intentions) of Sefiras HaOmer, in the Arizal, is to find this out. Not exactly to find this out, if someone knows, he should be machni’a zein (subjugate oneself) according to shoresh nishmaso (the root of his soul). But I am mefaresh (explain) that if so it means that through the way of Sefiras HaOmer one finds this out.
The Secret of the Meal Offering
I also learn that this is the secret of minchas ha’omer (the Omer meal offering). I think there was a lecture about this two years ago or sometime. A minchah (meal offering) I have a kabbalah (tradition), I no longer know from where, but I have a kabbalah, mekubal beyadeinu (we have received as a tradition), and I have found on this later re’ayos (proofs), I think the Yismach Moshe (Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, 19th century Chassidic master) says approximately this, and I have found actual proofs in mefarshim (commentators), I don’t remember now, but it is mekubal beyadeinu that the noseih (topic) of korban minchah (meal offering), korban minchah is made to receive a teshuvah (answer/response).
The Effect of the Meal Offering
Every korban (offering) has a certain tafkid (role) that it does. Korban minchah is how one is doresh es Hashem (seeking God).
Ah, the re’ayah (proof) is “acharei teshuvah” (after an answer), it is from minchas sotah (the meal offering of the suspected adulteress) and minchas ha’omer. I don’t need a greater proof.
Minchas Sotah: Doubt in Law and in Life
When a Jew has a safeik (doubt), a doubt in halachah even, like a sotah (suspected adulteress), he doesn’t know if she was nitma’as (became impure) or not, or also a doubt in life, he doesn’t know if he should get’n (divorce) or not, a doubt. Or a Jew has other sefeiykos (doubts), doubts in avodas Hashem, doubts in derech hachaim (the way of life), there is about how to receive an answer, and the way is called a minchah, to bring a minchah.
Minchah, the segulah (special quality) of minchah, not the segulah, the pe’ulah (action/effect) of minchah is to receive the answer. This is the secret of korban minchah, and about this there is korban tzibbur (communal offering), every korban comes with minchos tzibbur, already, every korban truly comes with minchah veniskeha (meal offering and libation), every korban has, truly certainly every korban tzibbur, the kohen (priest) must be the manhig Yisrael (leader of Israel), he must know from the korban minchah how to conduct himself, how to conduct himself behanhagos haklal vehapratt (in the leadership of the community and the individual) in those days.
Minchas HaOmer: A General Minchah
Uvifrat (and especially) there is a korban called minchas ha’omer, which is a special korban, minchas bikkurim (the first-fruits meal offering), that the klal (community) brings. One can even ask, it is gepaskent (ruled in Jewish law) that every Jew should bring bikkurim (first fruits), truly from Shavuos, what the chachamim (the Sages) call bikkurim from peiros ha’ilan (fruits of the tree), truly every Jew brings individually, but the minchas ha’omer the chachamim learned mikra malei (from the full text of Scripture), every Jew brings, but Klal Yisrael brings only once. But this is a minchah klalis (a general meal offering), a minchas ha’omer, like minchas sotah, and the Zohar compares it that this is a bedikah (examination) for the eishes chayil (woman of valor), for the Shechinah (Divine Presence), to bodeik zein (examine) if chalilah (God forbid) with us, if she is nitma’ah (became impure), vetamei nefesh venikesah venizre’ah zara (“and if she was defiled, she shall be cleared and shall conceive seed” – Numbers 5:28).
The Exodus from Egypt = Generality, Sefiras HaOmer = Details
And the meaning is that from the korban minchas ha’omer one counts 49 days.
The meaning is this, that the klal, every Jew besoch Klal Yisrael (within the community of Israel) goes out from Mitzrayim (Egypt), he wants to arrive at his geulah (redemption), but he still doesn’t have any further redemption, he can from klalim (general principles), we learned earlier, Yetzias Mitzrayim (the Exodus from Egypt) means klalus (generality), Sefiras HaOmer means peratim (details).
What Does Details Mean?
What does details mean? That one finds out chelkam bachaim (their portion in life), every Jew finds out through the fact that he is marchiv (expands) the matter of minchas ha’omer, he counts from this 49, sheva pe’amim besheva (seven times by seven), and one can say ke’ilu (as if) every Jew truly belongs to one day of counting, so one can say.
All Israel Are Responsible for One Another
Adrabah (on the contrary), everyone must count all 49 days, it is simple because kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh (all Israel are responsible for one another), if one doesn’t know, as the Arizal says about other things, that if one doesn’t know he says vidui (confession), that there is a confession for all tzaddik alef-beis (the righteous alphabet – referring to the alphabetical acrostic of the confession), why? Every person has only sinned in one thing, most people have not done all of ashamnu bagadnu (“we have been guilty, we have betrayed” – the confession prayer), and these are truly devarim klaliyim (general matters), but al cheit (“for the sin” – the detailed confession) is details, not everyone has done the other, but besoch Klal Yisrael, if one doesn’t know one says a general confession, he should remember what he did. This is the same bechinat (aspect) of Sefiras HaOmer.
The 49 Types of Gates of Judgments
But truly, the Arizal says if one knows, the Arizal says that there are 49 types of sha’arei dinim (gates of judgments), types of problems that exist in the world, if one knows which is his shoresh haneshamah (the root of the soul), one doesn’t need to sing all of them, one only needs to sing one, and in the siddur (prayer book) they have inserted all of them, and we have made clear that it is not enough to say that it is a mashal im a nimshal (a parable with its application), or that it is the same “kemo shehu lema’alah kein hu lematah” (“as it is above, so it is below”), just as by a person there are various middos (character traits), so too by the Almighty, or the deeper things that the mekubalim (Kabbalists) say, that a person who conducts himself in the middos hachesed (traits of kindness) is me’oreir (awakens) by the Almighty the middos hachesed.
The Campaign in the Days Between Lag BaOmer and Shavuos
To make the campaign in the days between Lag BaOmer (the 33rd day of the Omer) and Shavuos, in the second half of Sefiras HaOmer. It appears that something lies here. I was actually born in this tekufah (period), Beis Sivan (the second day of the month of Sivan) I was born, so it appears that it makes sense perhaps from this hakavannah (the intention). One must bring it out, it is not a perhaps.
Kinyan Halicha: How One Finds One’s Portion in Torah
Two Meanings in Kinyan Halicha
And kinyan halicha helps with this. This is the meaning, he says such a Torah on a standing walking. And my father added that he interpreted it this way, and I want to interpret it differently, according to my holy father, what is the inner meaning, what is the word of this a kinyan halachah, kinyan halicha, what is the matter of halicha, that he doesn’t mean just with some word, he said some scholarly word, a kinyan halicha.
My Father’s Interpretation: A Person Must Be a Walker
But my father argued that according to the inner meaning what he means is, that a person must be a walker, in order for a person to merit his portion in Torah he must be a walker, which stands in all the books, the difference between a person and an angel and an animal, a person changes, a person is a walker, a person is not always the same thing, a person ascends from level to level.
This is certainly the same matter as Sefiras HaOmer, one ascends from level to level, from Malchus of Malchus until Binah of Binah, the simple meaning of the Zohar that goes in this order, in the siddur stands a reverse order, but now is not the time to elaborate on this. And this is what he interpreted.
My Own Interpretation: Halicha Means Going with the Torah
I want to interpret a bit differently, I think a bit differently, that halicha, halicha, or what the halachah is, the halicha is how one goes with this. How does a person know what is his portion in Torah? Certainly he needs what he ascends, no contradiction.
Personal Redemption: Which Day Is Your Day?
But how does a person know, the standing, this is called personal redemption, personal redemption, there was a lecture about personal redemption and general redemption before Pesach, personal redemption is what I say mine, the standing on his understanding, what is his portion, which of the days of the counting is truly for him?
The Dispute of the Early Authorities and the Inner Meaning
Yes, there’s a dispute among the Rishonim whether it’s forty-nine mitzvos or one mitzvah. I know the entire dispute. According to the inner dimension, one can understand it as if essentially the Jew only needs to count one day of the counting, meaning that if that person would know which day is his day, he would only need to count that day. And it’s a partnership – every Jew, all of Klal Yisrael together, he counts, I count my day, you count your day. It’s a clever thing – it turns out that everyone has counted the entire counting. And the rest of the days he can forget.
The Law of Forgetting a Day – A Hint
What we conduct ourselves according to the halachic rulings, at least that if one forgot a day, one doesn’t count with a blessing, because you don’t know which day is truly your day to count. Therefore, if you don’t know, it could be that you forgot precisely that day. One who knows which day is his day to count, then other days when he forgot, in my opinion, according to Kabbalah – I don’t want to say a halachah, but according to the hint it comes out – I’m only saying this in the manner that one should extract it – according to the hint it comes out that he doesn’t need to count, he doesn’t need to be afraid, he can count with a blessing that day. All other days he is essentially exempt. It’s just such a hint of “zeh l’umas zeh” (this corresponding to that), the power mentioned above in my humble opinion and understanding.
How One Finds His Portion in Torah
So what do I think? How does a person find his portion in Torah? Only when he goes with it. What does it mean he goes with it? He goes with this meaning and he lives with it, that he goes in his way, “b’darcho” (in his way), “lech lecha b’derech” (go for yourself on the way), as the Gemara says, “lech lecha b’derech v’lo b’derech mitzvah” (go for yourself on the way and not on the way of mitzvah).
If one only goes on the way of mitzvah, then he does all the mitzvos, 613 mitzvos – certainly that is the way of a Jew in general. But one who wants to find his way in Torah needs to take the Torah with him, “b’hishalech’cha tancheh osach b’shochb’cha tishmor alecha v’hakitzosa hi sichecha” (when you walk it will guide you, when you lie down it will watch over you, and when you awake it will speak with you). He needs to try to bring in, to integrate – “integrate” is too small a word – to bring in the Torah into his entire walking journey, into his entire life path, according to how he goes, he goes with it.
The Answer to the Question of “Arbitrary” Hints
And one needs to understand here, there is a problem when people say, “Okay, you’re saying a hint, you need to make a combination, and ‘sit and do not act,’ you made a gematria with a hint, it’s arbitrary, it could be different, add to it, it could be different.”
About whom are we speaking? This is my walking, I don’t have any other walking. I’m not speaking generally that the entire world must be this way. I’m speaking of my walking, how it is. And only in this aspect do I find my portion in Torah. I want to know which mitzvos I need to do more, which parts of service, which parts of Torah, which ways of learning, with which people to learn, and in which place to learn, etc. etc. This is the secret of walking.
The Second Half of the Counting – A New Aspect
This is so. How does this connect to the topic of the days of this time, this period, the second half of the counting, one can call it. In Kabbalah books it says, in Avodas Yisrael he elaborates about this, you have a new aspect, the second last two weeks of the counting, more or less after Lag B’Omer. Because sefiros, one needs to, one can open this up, but I don’t want to get stuck on this now. I want to say another word about the continuations that we’re learning, about the topic of the seven sefiros and the sefiros of the eternal days. And I want to say this way, perhaps we’ll connect everything, but one doesn’t need to elaborate on everything and be obligated to just that.
Ramban on “V’shavsa Ha’aretz Shabbas LaHashem” – Shemittah, Shabbos, and Yovel
Rashi’s Interpretation: “Shabbas LaHashem” Means in Honor of Hashem
The Ramban, here in the parshah, speaks about the verse “v’shavsa ha’aretz shabbas laHashem” (and the land shall rest a Sabbath to Hashem). And the Ramban argues with Rashi. Rashi says “shabbas laHashem,” “k’shem she’ne’emar b’Shabbos Bereishis” (just as it is said regarding the Sabbath of Creation). Rashi apparently understood that “shabbas laHashem” is difficult for him. What does it mean “v’shavsa ha’aretz shabbas laHashem”? The land is Shabbos, actual cessation, stopping work – the land stops for You, Almighty? What is the meaning?
Rashi says, everything is “laHashem.” Just as “v’yikchu li terumah” (and they shall take for Me an offering) – there too the Ramban argued that it doesn’t mean this way according to Kabbalah – “v’yikchu li terumah,” Rashi interprets “li lishmi” (for Me, for My name), that means in honor. “Li lishmi” means in honor. In honor of Shabbos is in honor of Hashem, just as Shabbos Bereishis is in honor of Hashem. The Shabbos that one makes every week is in honor of Hashem, so too the shemittah is in honor of Hashem. This is for the sake of Hashem, this is for its own sake. This is apparently the simple interpretation of how Rashi understood.
The Ramban’s Question: Why Is It Written Specifically Here?
And the Ramban says, he doesn’t understand what Rashi is saying, this is not the simple meaning of the Midrash. For the sake of Hashem, everything is for the sake of Hashem. Service is for the sake of Hashem. Why does it need to say here for the sake of Hashem?
That is, the Ramban brought out that the language that appears in the verses – there are also very many things that the inner dimension, the way of truth, he asks such a question. One could say, okay, this means, this is what it means. Why does it say it precisely here? Well, it could truly say it everywhere, and here it says it. What difference does it make to you? It’s not a question.
The Torah’s Way of Presenting a Mitzvah Brings Out the Secret
But the Ramban looks at it, just as the Torah, as the Rabbeinu Bachya says earlier, if the Torah presents an entire calculation, it must be that the Torah wants to bring out something from this way. We spoke about this in previous shiurim many times, about the way the Torah presents a mitzvah, how it tells it – even if the content is the same, it brings out the secret, brings out the inner dimension. “Shabbas laHashem” must mean something, it’s not just a thing. And we need to do this too.
Connection to Jewish Calculations
I thought to say a connection to the topic from the beginning, that when one counts things, there’s one who counts and makes all kinds of ways and methods and he speaks so much money and so much money. One needs to hear that Jewish numbers, Jewish calculations, were already made in order to arrive at some process. There is some process in this, there is some secret in this, there is some structure, a higher structure upon which everything stands. Just as “sheva shanim sheva pe’amim” (seven years seven times) which points to the seven sefiros, to the seven eternal days, etc. etc.
The Ramban’s Interpretation: Shemittah and Shabbos Go on the Same Track
The Ramban says, this is not the meaning of the Midrash, not the meaning of the Sifri. The Sifri means something else entirely. The Sifri means to say this: When the Sifri says that Shabbos is “k’shem she’shaninu b’Shabbos Bereishis” (just as we learned regarding the Sabbath of Creation), it means to explain to us that shevi’is, shemittah with Shabbos go on the same track, they travel on the same track.
What is the same track? Only with one difference. As I explained last week, Shabbos, this is the matter of “shisa alfei shanin havei alma” (six thousand years the world exists), the seven thousand years of the world. But, what does it mean, but Yovel points to a higher level which is called the fifty gates of understanding, which means an even higher level.
“Shabbas LaHashem” Means “Shabbos to the Great Name”
And this is the meaning of “shabbas laHashem.” “Shabbas laHashem,” and “laHashem” doesn’t mean just “laHashem,” rather the Ramban says “laHashem HaGadol” (to the Great Name). One needs to search and figure out precisely what is the meaning of “laHashem HaGadol.”
What does this mean? There is, so to speak, it’s very interesting. The Ramban also understood it this way. There is “HaShem HaGadol,” “HaShem HaGadol v’HaNora” (the Great and Awesome Name). The Ramban understands, so to speak, not that the Almighty is great. There is a perception, there is a sefirah, a measure of God which is called “the great God.” There is a person who has a small God, “HaShem HaKatan” (the small Name) so to speak. There is “HaShem HaGadol,” which implies there is a small one. He has smallness, he only knows upon what such smallness stands.
“HaShem HaGadol” means the greatness of the Name, the Name itself has a greatness within it. The Arizal called it “mochin d’gadlus” (consciousness of greatness), or the Ramban calls it “sefiras haTiferes” (the sefirah of Beauty), the Rashbi calls it “sefiras haBinah” (the sefirah of Understanding).
Chayei HaOlamim – The Aspect of the Great Shabbos
“HaShem HaGadol,” upon this stands, he says, “bishvu’ah amarti mizmor shir l’asid lavo she’yikablu Shabbas menuchah l’chayei ha’olamim” (with an oath I said, a psalm, a song for the future to come when they will receive the Sabbath of rest for eternal life). Chayei ha’olamim (eternal life), this is “HaShem HaGadol,” not just “shabbas laHashem,” but “shabbas laHashem HaGadol,” it’s an aspect of the great Shabbos, the higher levels that we explained last week, even higher than the regular Shabbos.
Shemittah, Exile, and the Greater Cycles of the World
The Ramban’s Question: Why Is Shemittah So Severe?
Now the Ramban explains, if so, one needs to understand what is the severity of shemittah. It’s an interesting thing.
All mitzvos, every mitzvah has its reward and punishment. It does say in the Mishnah “she’ein atah yodei’a matan secharan shel mitzvos” (that you don’t know the giving of reward for mitzvos), but one sees that different mitzvos have different levels of reward and punishment. You have those liable to kares (spiritual excision), forbidden fat is liable to kares, those liable to death penalties by the court, etc. etc. Each thing has its level of reward, of punishment. And usually, usually one understands this, usually it makes sense. Mitzvos that are more severe have a greater punishment, and the like. This is how it works, usually, apparently simply.
But here there is a mitzvah, shemittah. Shemittah doesn’t have an obligation of death by the court, it doesn’t have an obligation of a negative commandment, it doesn’t have an obligation of kares. It’s basically a negative commandment. Whoever eats shemittah transgresses a negative commandment, that’s the whole thing. And on this negative commandment the Torah says that exile comes, “az tirtzeh ha’aretz es shabsoseha” (then the land will be appeased for its Sabbaths). How many times it says in the Torah and in the Prophets that on this negative commandment comes exile.
And the Ramban finds it difficult, what is so severe? One truly needs to understand, what is the simple meaning? I don’t know what the simple meaning is at the moment.
The Ramban’s Answer: Shemittah Is a Foundation of Faith – Just Like Shabbos
The Ramban says, the answer is this: Why does exile come on this? Because this is a foundation, not just a thing, not just a mitzvah, it’s from the foundations of the Torah.
The Parable of Shabbos
Just as Shabbos, everyone knows that the Rambam already explained, or others before him, perhaps in Chazal, why the severity of Shabbos? One who desecrates Shabbos is called like a non-Jew, and Shabbos has an obligation of stoning, it has truly a great severity, and stoning is like in the punishments, but it’s certain that it has even more than that. One sees that a desecrator of Shabbos is like a non-Jew, there are things that are even more than that.
The Ramban says, the Ramban explained this, and he brings it from the Rambam, the Rambam says he wrote that hints to this, one needs to think if it’s the same thing that the Ramban understood or different, that the reason is because Shabbos points to the foundation of faith of the renewal of the world, and upon this turns the entire world, so obviously therefore Shabbos is so severe.
Shemittah Also Points to the Renewal of the World
The Ramban says, do you understand if so, that truly the same thing is regarding the matter of shemittah. The same thing is regarding the matter of shemittah, that shemittah also points to the renewal of the world.
What does renewal of the world mean? And now here one needs to understand such an interesting thing, it’s truly awesome.
A Methodological Note: Question According to Simple Meaning, Answer According to Secret
He says, he asks a question according to the simple meaning and he answers an answer according to the secret. Yes, the Ramban does such things many times, because the Ramban truly understood that the secret – when the Ramban says secret he doesn’t mean just anything, there are more Kabbalah and more worlds things. He means to say that one doesn’t truly understand the Torah except when one adds certain concepts and certain foundations which make sense of the things, and this is the way of truth, and not just a secret.
But it’s truly all difficult. To say that it’s a hint in the Mekubalim, the Ibn Ezra says that shemittah is a hint to the fact that the world will stop seven times, and it will enter into Yovel, and everything will return to the source. Because of this it’s a foundation of faith, and because of this one who transgresses shemittah is so severe.
It’s crazy, how can he say that the reason is according to the secret, because according to the secret it hints to foundations of faith? I mean, I mean that the answer is that yes, it’s correct, one needs to think in a different way about this, but yes, it’s correct. In other words, if it would be a severe matter, everyone knows that Yisrael is Shabbos, everyone knows that Shabbos, so to speak, it says in the Torah, Shabbos so to speak. So obviously whoever transgresses Shabbos is liable to stoning, so his law is like a non-Jew, so he’s a bit of a heretic, a bit of a denier of the act of Creation.
But now, the Ramban is explaining, he’s not asking, because what is truly the truth? Shemittah truly doesn’t have a severity of kares and of stoning. Whoever transgresses shemittah doesn’t become a public desecrator of Shabbos, there’s no such thing as a public desecrator of shemittah. But what yes, the Torah says that when one transgresses shemittah, exile comes.
What Kind of Punishment Is Exile? – A Fundamental Investigation
What kind of punishment is exile? Which level of punishment is exile? One needs to ask such an investigation. There are so many levels of punishments in the Torah, there’s death, lashes, which level is exile? It’s the whole thing. But it’s not a level.
And it’s truly crazy, because one sees in other places in the Torah one sees, exile comes for idolatry, for transgressing the entire Torah comes exile. But then one sees, he brings, the Ramban even brings a Mishnah, “galus ba al” (exile comes upon) other things, perversion of justice, because of the resting of the land. And it’s built on this verse, he brings the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos, which is based on the verse. So what is the simple meaning? There are certain sins that bring exile.
Exile Is Not a Punishment – It’s Being “Out of Sync” with the Greater Cycle
The answer is, that when one speaks about exile, one is not speaking just a thing. Exile, as we spoke in the previous shiurim about this, there are cycles, greater cycles in the world. Not everything has to do with I did today a good thing, a mitzvah or a sin. There are greater cycles in the world.
The topic that is called exile and redemption, this is the secret of the end, the secret of the entire topic, is not just I did a sin, am I liable to exile. There is no sin whatsoever for which one is liable to exile. You can do many sins and exile still won’t happen.
Exile happens… Exile is a deficiency, yes, certainly, in a certain sense the exile must be on the entire order. But the exile happens when something goes wrong, one is “out of sync,” you can say, the person is disconnected from the general order.
The Parable of an Individual Person – Exile on a Personal Level
Just as one can say, when one always speaks of an individual person it’s easier to grasp what is meant, yes. What does it mean liable to the obligation of exile? Which exile? A person grew up in a certain family, in a certain community, in a certain place. Yes, you’ll say which sin, which type of sin, let’s say what one can see, which sin causes that a person should need to move away from his city? I know, need to change family, and the like.
Divorce Is a Type of Exile
An aspect of exile, a divorce is a type of exile, yes? The first divorce it says “vayegaresh es ha’adam” (and He drove out the man), “megareshin” (they divorce), the language of divorcing a woman, it’s going out from the Garden of Eden.
You can’t say that there’s a sin, you’ll ask what is that exile for shalom bayis (domestic peace)? Which thing will make that he should be able to remain settled in his city, and he can be with his friends, with his family? No sin, there’s no such thing. A person can do great sins and he doesn’t get thrown out to go into exile, and he can do small sins, or certain ones are in our eyes smaller sins, and he needs to go into exile.
Which Type of Sins Bring Exile?
Which type of sins does one need to go into exile? Those that are damaging to the thing. Yes, for example, one speaks precisely like by a sotah (suspected adulteress), that a woman is a sotah, that she has even a husband, she goes with others, she speaks with other strange men, you’ll ask how great is the sin? I don’t know, you have a list of sins how great. It’s true, it’s also dependent on regularity, on certain details, but even according to the simple understanding of this, it may not be such a great sin. There are other ways of reckoning that it’s a greater sin.
But you want to be with this husband, you want to be in this house, in this place, you must adjust yourself, you must be part of this place. If you do certain things where you fall out of sync, you no longer fit with the proper order of this place, you don’t belong there.
Exile Is Also a Rectification – “Changing Place Changes Luck”
Exile is also a rectification, yes, exile atones for sins. Exile means to say, either, the exile won’t be able to be what he doesn’t live, but one says that the exile, therefore there is the side that one says that the exile needs to be ideally, and the exile is a rectification, yes, exile atones.
That means, now in the new place there isn’t the problem. He got into conflict with the family, with the community, he goes to a second city, “changing one’s place changes one’s mazal.”
What does “changing mazal” mean? What is this mazal? Mazal means the kind of things where a person is in sync with the cycle, the greater cycle in which he lives, the cycle like Shemittah, like Yovel.
The Ramban’s Foundation: In Eretz Yisrael the Cycle of Shechina/Binah Reigns
This is what he says, that in Eretz Yisrael the cycle that reigns is called the Shechina, which is called the Binah, which is called the cycle of Shemittah and Yovel. You get into conflict with this, the world goes against you, “the land will vomit you out,” writes the Ramban, yes, it will take back, it will itself, the cycle will throw you out, and you go to a second place, there is a different cycle there, you’ll manage there.
This is the explanation that the Ramban says regarding the severity, and this is what he means by “yemot olam,” yes, Olam Haba, Olam Haba is certainly the essence of faith, but we’re not just talking about Olam Haba, we’re talking about how the world begins from the six days of Creation and ends with Olam Haba, with the entire order of the 49,000 years that exist. So this is a comprehensive thing, it’s not just that one committed a sin, he says this is the cycle.
The Zohar in Behar: A Servant Goes Free in Shemittah – And the Ramban’s Language
And regarding this, this is what the Ramban means to say that this is a sin that is the truth, and the Ramban also says here, and we’ve already spoken about this once, that the Zohar here in Parshat Behar, I think I remember there are other places in the Zohar, which says that a servant goes free in Shemittah and in Yovel.
In Yovel a servant goes free, we know, but in Shemittah, it’s not true that a servant goes free in Shemittah, a servant goes free after six years from when he became a servant, not in Shemittah.
The Ramban’s Language: “Also the Servant Has Shemittah and Yovel”
And what does the Ramban say explicitly, the language of the Ramban is “also the servant has Shemittah and Yovel.” And we see here the Zohar that people, one of the difficulties, there is a list, the Ramban has already answered many times many difficulties, a list of difficulties that people have, mainly difficulties that people had on the Zohar, that it doesn’t align with the halacha, mainly things, I certainly won’t preface now but just so, so one of the difficulties is the difficulty that the Zohar in Parshat Behar says that a servant goes free in Shemittah, and it’s not true that a servant goes free in Shemittah.
And a wondrous thing, I discovered that the language of the Ramban is the same thing, the Ramban says that a servant has Shemittah. What does he mean to say, he doesn’t mean to say that a servant goes home in Shemittah, he knows the halacha, he only means to say that this is the same idea.
The Distinction: General Cycles and Particular Cycles
But what is the distinction? Let’s go back to our beginning discussion, that just as there is a cycle in general, there is a cycle in particular. When a person is “out of sync” with himself, he is in exile, he goes into exile with himself, not from Eretz Yisrael, but from his family, from his own soul even, he becomes confused, his plans, he finds a different cycle that works for him.
This is the aspect of a servant who goes out in Shemittah, which I’ve said many times, this is also the concept of Lag BaOmer, a person has finished, as it were, he has finished counting at the thirty-third, as we say, the custom is indeed a custom of mourning from the Omer, he has finished according to Ashkenazic custom, and he writes in that one finishes at Lag BaOmer.
The Connection to Lag BaOmer
Why? Because we have finished. Those who made the customs understood that there are many customs in the Omer, there are those who begin then, there are those who begin then. As each one understands, he has his counting, just like a servant who goes out in Shemittah. Which Shemittah? Not the Shemittah of the world, his own Shemittah, he has his own.
A Servant Who Goes Free in Shemittah – The Individual Shemittah of Each Person
The Aspect of a Servant Who Goes Free in Shemittah and Lag BaOmer
This is the aspect of a servant who goes free in Shemittah, as I’ve said many times. This is also the concept of Lag BaOmer, that a person has finished, as it were, he has finished counting at the thirty-third.
The Ashkenazic Custom – The Ending at Lag BaOmer
We say the custom, there are Ashkenazic customs that are brought in books, that they finished Lag BaOmer. The Ashkenazic custom, they write at once, one finishes at Lag BaOmer.
Why? Because we have finished. Those who made this custom understood, and therefore there are many customs in the Omer, you begin then, you begin then, each one understands when his counting is.
His Own Shemittah – The Personal Shemittah of Each Servant
Like a servant who goes out in Shemittah, which Shemittah? Not the universal Shemittah, his own Shemittah, he has his own Shemittah. He goes away with his own Shemittah, then will be his Shemittah, he doesn’t need something else.
The Secret of Shemittah and Yovel – General and Particular
And this is the secret of Shemittah and Yovel, that Eretz Yisrael cries out the general, universal Shemittah, and it cries out for each servant the particular, individual Shemittah, and it cries out for each Jew that he has his cycles, that if he falls out he needs a way in.
The Seven Days of Purification – The Return in the Seven Days
Just as we learned the seven days of purification, he goes back into his seven days that he can repair. And this is our way, we have the spiritual work that we do in these days.
Exactly why this is so, that’s another discussion, but this is the structure, we should be able to have a good Shabbat.