Hanna's Dvar Torah

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In this week’s Parasha Behar, we read about the Mitsva of Shmita: The farmers in Israel cultivate their fields for 6 years and the 7^th year is a sabbatical year, where they leave their fields uncultivated and spend their time studying Torah and generally being more spiritual. But what do they eat, since the fields remain uncultivated?

G-d promises that whoever keeps the Mitsvah of Shmita will have a special blessing in their fields during the 6^th year and there will be enough harvest for 3 years (6^th, 7^th and 8^th, cince one year will be needed to harvest whatever was planted in the beginning of the 8^th year)

In your opinion, in which order should this commandment be written? I would say, for instance: when you come to the land of Israel, you will cultivate the land for 6 years and on the 7^th you will do the Shmita. In other words, in chronological order.

The Torah though write in differently. It starts with the 7^th year, Shmita and only then does it mention the 6 years of agriculture activity. Why? In order to remind us of something very important.

The goal of every Jew is not the agriculture work, and generally any work. We did not come to this world in order to earn as much money as we can… We have a spiritual mission, to make this world a better place. A place where we can feel the presence of G-d, through the study of Torah and the practice of Mitsvot.

Thus, in order to clarify the right priorities, the Torah chooses this order. The work is necessary, but the real goal is to get to the 7^th year, where we will be busy exclusively with G-d and spirituality. When we have this in mind, the 6 years take on a new dimension and even the worldly activities become spiritual.

Most of us are not farmers. But we have our own small Shmita, the weekly Shabbat. On the 7^th day, we do not work and dedicate our time to our mission. We light the Shabbat candles, we make Kiddush, we eat a festive meal, we pray, we rest and, most importantly, we remember that we did not come to this world in order to earn money. We have an important mission, and when we fulfill it, we will bring Mashiach now!

Think about what you can do this Shabbat in order to make the world a better place.

Shabbat Shalom,

Hanna

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As you may know, I study pedagogy, specializing in children with special needs. When we do practical training, we meet children with learning disabilities and challenging behaviors… We put great effort in teaching them and thank G-d, we usually succeed in helping them improve. This is not easy, whether we are dealing with learning disabilities or challenges with comportment and faith. Are there children for which nothing that can be done?

This week’s Parasha is called Emor, which means “tell”. According to our sages, this refers to three commandments that the adults must teach the children: 1) The prohibition against eating insects 2) The prohibition against consuming blood 3) The laws of sanctity (for instance the prohibition for Kohanim (priests) to be in contact with dead or cemeteries etc.)

What is so special about those three Mitzvot (commandments) that they require a specific injunction to the adults to teach it to the children? These three Mitzvot have characteristics that could discourage an educator from trying to teach them to the students. But the Torah reassures us that this type of education is possible.

The prohibition against eating insects doesn’t seem very difficult to observe, especially in the Western world. Most of the people do not even have an urge to eat them. It is disgusting to some. They get repulsed by the mere existence of an insect near them… even more so by the thought of eating them.

But if we have a student which is at the level of eating insects, we must not despair. We can and ought to teach them to do the correct thing.

The second prohibition, against consuming blood, was very difficult to observe when it was given, since it was the norm at the time to do so.

Many people think that when a person has already formed a habit and possesses it for a long time, it can not be broken. Is it really so? The Torah explains that with proper education and guidance, even a long-time habit can be changed.   

The third commandment that adults must teach the children concerns the laws of sanctity. These laws are neither logical nor understandable. Why are these actions forbidden? We cannot grasp it. We observe these laws purely out of faith in our Creator.

Are we capable of transmitting such abstract, elusive, supranatural concepts to our students? Many think that we can teach only what is comprehendible with our mind. The Torah tells us otherwise. Even those concepts can be taught.

In other words, there is never a reason to despair in matters of education, either regarding the subjects can be taught, the level of our students or even ourselves. Even if the behavior is immoral, has become a habit or regards matters of suprarational faith.  

Let us not be dejected. There is always room for learning, education and improving. We can make the difference.

Shabbat Shalom,

Hanna

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When our people go through difficult times, it’s very easy to feel the love and the care we have one for each other, even for someone that is not our friend.

At the beginning of the week, during the violent bombardments of Southern Israel, the hearts of all of us were with the inhabitants there. This year, I feel it even stronger. Studying with me are girls from the South, who had to run with their families to the bomb shelters dozens of times in middle of the night instead of sleeping in their beds and continue their everyday lives on the next day. Now, it’s not only “inhabitants of Southern Israel”, it’s my friends.

According to this week’s Parasha Kedoshim, we always need to love our fellow Jews as ourselves. (“you shall love your neighbor as yourself” Leviticus 19:18). Even if we don’t know them personally. Even if we do know them very well and think that they don’t deserve our love. How can we keep this commandment? It sounds unrealistic…

All of us, who know ourselves, know that we are not perfect. We don’t always act in the right way. We still do love ourselves. Somehow, we manage to focus more on our qualities than on our defaults. If we acted improperly, we tell ourselves: “It happens, it’s not terrible. Next time, I will try to do better”.

This is the secret to be able to love the other. If s/he acted improperly, we should say for him/her as well: “It happens, it’s not terrible.” Let’s think and remind ourselves about all the positive things they have inside them. We will certainly find some.

If we start to think about others in the same way we think about ourselves, we will succeed in really loving the other, and not only in difficult times.

Love and brotherhood amongst us will bring Mashiach very soon!

Shabbat Shalom,

Hanna