The Constant

This week’s parshah deals primarily with laws that relate to an individual’s estate in the land of Israel. When the Jews finally conquered and inherited the land of Israel, each of the twelve tribes was given its own portion throughout the country. And within every tribe, every person inherited their own particular portion of the land. In this week’s parshah we learn about different situations in which one must, for certain reasons, sell his portion (either land, or his house) to another. The Torah tells us:

“If your brother becomes impoverished and sells part of his ancestral heritage, his redeemer who is closest to him shall come and redeem his brother’s sale. If a man will have no redeemer, but his means suffice and he acquires enough for its redemption…he shall return to his ancestral heritage” [Leviticus: 25: 25 - 27]

In his commentary on this verse, Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi, 1040-1105, famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentary on the Torah) tells us:

“ ‘If your brother becomes impoverished’ – This teaches that a person is not permitted to sell his field except when under the pressure of poverty.

‘PART OF his ancestral heritage’ – But not all of it; The Torah teaches proper conduct that he should leave a field for himself”


Every Jew has his own unique share in the land of Israel, and his connection to it is not merely physical, but spiritual as well. The entire land was given to the Jewish nation as a gift from God, therefore each individual must recognize that his own special portion was given to him by God himself, and he must treat it accordingly. The Torah therefore stresses that we are not allowed to sell any part of our portion without a significant reason. It is God’s gift to us! Only under extreme forceful situations, where we have no other choice, are we permitted to give up our piece of land for money. And still, even then we are told to hang on to some remnant of our portion, in order to sustain our physical and spiritual attachment to part of the gift that God has bestowed upon us. And even in such a situation, the Torah pushes us to constantly make an effort to regain our portion; whether it’s through a close one who buys it back (redeems) for us or whether we are able to muster up enough money to buy it back ourselves.

I think this concept can be expanded and can serve as a fundamental lesson in our religious level in life.

Being born as Jew, we have all been endowed with another spiritual heritage from God; our soul. We are put into this world to deeply understand and connect to our individual souls in order to develop a close relationship with God. We must internalize that our soul, our life source, is a gift from God; this is what we have to meditate over when we wake up every morning and proclaim “I gratefully thank You (“Modeh Ani”), O living and eternal King, for You have returned my soul within me with compassion — abundant is Your faithfulness” (*see footnote*). Because our souls are our own unique portions from God Himself, we are to treat them properly; we are to infuse them with Torah and good deeds constantly. We must strive for this always.

Unfortunately, all too often a person falls short of this connection to his soul, and ultimately of his connection to God. There are times in life where someone reaches that feeling of connection and may even spend a considerable amount of time cultivating it and strengthening his commitment to Judaism and to God. But then he loses it. This may be for many reasons; someone becomes too influenced by his job, his studies or his group of friends. Slowly but surely, all that work he spent on his soul wears off and he only realizes it when it’s too late; he has become spiritually impoverished.

In such a situation, it is so easy to convince oneself that all he had worked for was for naught, and that there remains no reason for him to start over and pursue his spiritual endeavors. It is so easy to give up and let it all go. But no! The Torah tells us that, despite our unfortunate state of poverty, we must hold on to something! Anything! Whether it’s maintaining some sort of prayer schedule, or putting on Tefillin everyday, or learning Torah once a week, or even just saying our “Modeh Ani” every morning. Do something! Don’t let go entirely! It is in these impoverished situations that one must maintain a constant, in order to provide himself with some degree of stability so that one day he will slowly work his way back up and “return to his ancestral heritage”. Whether it’s by associating oneself with a close family member/friend/role model who will redeem him, or by pushing oneself on his own to redeem himself; by maintaining this constant, one can be redeemed.

May we all merit to find the constant in our lives, and continuously walk on the path of returning to our ancestral heritage.


Good Shabbos,

NZL


*The word "Modeh" in the "Modeh Ani" prayer does not necessarily mean to "Thank". "Modeh" very often is defined as an act of acknowledgement, and therefore what we are truly saying is "I am acknowledging before You, O living and eternal King, that You have returned my soul within me with compassion — abundant is Your faithfulness”