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This coming week, we will observe Lag Ba’Omer--traditionally considered to be the yahrzeit of the sage of the Mishnah and Zohar--Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. The Gemara (Shabbat 33b) relates the well-known story of Rabbi Shimon’s 13 years as a fugitive from the Romans, during which he hid in a cave with his son and studied Torah. For 13 years, the two scholars had nothing to eat but the fruit of a carob tree. Upon being reunited with his relative, Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair, Rabbi Shimon expressed how fortunate he felt that he was able to study Torah single-mindedly, with no material distractions, during all those years.

Rabbi Yosef Chaim David Weinberg z”l (1955-2020; Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Be’er Avraham-Slonim, whose yahrzeit also falls on Lag Ba’Omer) notes that Rabbi Shimon’s attitude and experience are consistent with his position that a person should devote himself entirely to Torah study and his needs will be provided for (see Berachot 35b). A person The Real Shabbat is even exempt from prayer, says the Gemara (Shabbat 11a). R’ Weinberg suggests that this exemption is given because a person The Real Shabbat has no needs for which to pray; he is already assured that his needs will be met.

The Gemara (Berachot 35b) states that Rabbi Shimon’s way is not for everyone; most people need to combine Torah study and work. Nevertheless, writes R’ Weinberg, everyone can be The Real Shabbat for a short time–setting aside an hour or some other amount of time when he studies Torah and nothing in the world can distract him. We say in Ma’ariv: “We will rejoice with the words of Your Torah . . . For they are our life!”--thus declaring that we share Rabbi Shimon’s ideals, and we must follow through in practice. (She’eirit Yosef)

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“You shall sanctify him, for he offers the food of your Elokim.” (21:8)

The Kohanim were divided into 24 Mishmarot / “watches,” each of which served in the Bet Hamikdash for one week at a time. Each Mishmar was further divided into family groups, each of which served for one day of his Mishmar’s week. Thus, the average Kohen served in the Bet Hamikdash only twice a year, one day every 24 weeks.

R’ Avraham Elkanah Kahana Shapira z"l (1914-2007; Rosh Ha’yeshiva of Yeshivat Mercaz Harav and Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel) asks: Because a Kohen worked two days a year, he should be shown honor and given tithes all year round?!

He answers: In order to be fit to represent the Jewish People in the Bet Hamikdash on two days of the year, the Kohen must work on himself every day of the year. For that, he deserves honor! (Imrei Shefer p.147)

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“You shall not desecrate My holy Name . . .” (22:32)

Rabbeinu Yonah Gerondi z”l (1210-1263; Spain) writes: Know that the greatest losses that the general populace experiences are caused by the tongue, for people say Hashem’s Name in vain, and also without proper awe. Our Sages explained the phrase (Yeshayah 1:3), “Yisrael does not know,” as a reference to this phenomenon. In addition, people are not careful about the cleanliness of the place where they mention Hashem’s Name, and they also are not careful to have clean hands when they do so.

R’ Yonah continues: The Gemara (Nedarim 7b) ostracizes one who says Hashem’s Name in vain, and such a person is not trusted to take an oath. The Gemara also says that a person who hears someone say Hashem’s Name in vain is obligated to ostracize him, and if he does not, he himself (the one who heard the Name being said in vain) is ostracized by Heaven. (Sha’arei Teshuvah 3:61)

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“You shall not eat bread or roasted kernels or stalks until this very day, until you bring the offering of your Elokim.” (23:14)

R’ Nosson Yehuda Leib Mintzberg z”l (1943-2018; rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva in Yerushalayim and Bet Shemesh, Israel) writes: The Torah’s prohibition on eating Chadash / the new crop before the Omer sacrifice is brought applies to the grain in three different states: bread, kernels, and stalks, as our verse indicates. It is wondrous to note, R’ Mintzberg observes, that we have three Mitzvot that involve separating the “Reishit” / “first” of the produce, corresponding to the three states just mentioned: When the grain is still on the stalk, we have a Mitzvah to separate the Omer. When the kernels have been removed, we have a Mitzvah to separate Terumah. Finally, when it is made into bread (dough), we have a Mitzvah to separate Challah. This reminds us that, no matter what state the grain is in, it all comes from Hashem. (Ben Melech Al Ha’Torah)

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“But on the tenth day of this month it is Yom Ha’kippurim / the Day of Atonement; there shall be a holy convocation for you . . .” (23:27)

”On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Sukkot ...” (23:34)

Why does Sukkot follow so closely after Yom Kippur? R’ Don Segal shlita (Yerushalayim and Brooklyn, N.Y.; a leading contemporary teacher of Mussar) explains:

During the High Holidays, in general, and on Yom Kippur, in particular, a person reaches awesome heights. If he needed to re-enter everyday life immediately after Yom Kippur, he would lose everything that he had gained in the preceding days. Therefore, Hashem gave us Sukkot to ease the transition. Eat--but in the Sukkah. Sleep--but in the Sukkah. Relax--that, too, in the Sukkah. In this way, every mundane activity becomes a Mitzvah, and we are witnesses to the fact that we can elevate ourselves in everyday life. What we gained on Yom Kippur does not need to be lost. (Chovat Ha’adam Al Iggeret Ha’Ramban p.50)

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“Outside the Curtain of the Testimony, in the Tent of Meeting, Aharon shall arrange [the Menorah], from evening to morning, before Hashem, continually . . .” (24:3)

Our Sages say that the Menorah testifies that the Shechinah/ Divine Presence rested on the Jewish People. How so?

R’ Kalman Chaim Meitkes z”l (Skolka Maggid; Lithuania and New York; died 1932) explains: Commentaries write that the Shechinah rested on the Aron / Holy Ark, causing it to shine so brightly that a Kohen could walk in the otherwise dark Sanctuary by its light. The Menorah’s purpose was to create a second light source, so that the Kohen would not benefit from the light created by the Shechinah’s presence. Thus, the need for a Menorah testifies that the Shechinah rests on the Jewish People. (Chemdat Chaim)

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Shabbat

“You shall count for yourselves--from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving--seven weeks, they shall be complete.” (Vayikra 23:15--in this week’s Parashah)

Rashi z”l explains: “From the day after the Shabbat” means “from the day after the first day of Pesach.” [Until here from Rashi]

The Gemara (Menachot 65a) relates that a sect known as the Tzedukim (Sadducees) insisted that Shavuot must always fall on Sunday because, they claimed, our verse places the beginning of the Omer-counting on Sunday (“from the day after the Shabbat”). They rejected the Torah She’be’al Peh / Oral Law, and they therefore rejected the tradition cited by Rashi that “Shabbat” in our verse refers to the first day of Pesach.

Granted that such is our tradition, but why, in fact, does the Torah call the first day of Pesach “Shabbat”? R’ Yaakov Moshe Charlap z”l (1882-1951; rabbi of Yerushalayim’s Sha’arei Chessed neighborhood and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Mercaz Harav) explains:

Midrash Tehilim relates that the guardian angel of the Egyptians argued to Hashem before the Splitting of the Sea, “How are these (Bnei Yisrael) different from these (the Egyptians)? These are idolators and these are idolators!” The Midrash relates Hashem’s answer, but we must understand the angel’s question, for the Gemara and Midrashim indicate in a number of places that Bnei Yisrael’s act of setting aside and slaughtering the Korban Pesach was itself a rejection of idolatry. How, then, could the angel argue, “These are idolators”?

R’ Charlap answers: Bnei Yisrael’s rejection of idolatry in the waning days of the exile in Egypt was not of their own initiative. Rather, it was the product of the overwhelming Presence of G-d that they experienced. Thus, argued the angel, Bnei Yisrael are, at their core, still idolators.

R’ Charlap continues: This explains why the first day of Pesach is called “Shabbat.” What distinguishes Shabbat from the festivals is that man has no input into when Shabbat comes (unlike the festivals, whose timing Bet Din can influence by making leap months and leap years). That first Pesach also, when Hashem took Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt, took place when Hashem was “ready,” with no input from Bnei Yisrael. Indeed, the angel had a valid argument that Bnei Yisrael were not deserving, for their abandonment of idolatry was, in a sense, forced on them by the fact that they witnessed Hashem’s revelation.

Why did Hashem “force” their Teshuvah? R’ Charlap explains: Hashem wanted to demonstrate His love for the Jewish People--a love that is not conditioned on our good deeds. The Tzedukim, having distanced themselves from Hashem, had no conception of this love; therefore, they could not understand that the Exodus was “Shabbat-like” in its timing, and they could not interpret “Shabbat” as referring to Pesach. (Mei Marom Vol. XV p.73-74)

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