This week’s Parsha starts by discussing the laws of Shmitah ( 7 year agricultural cycle) that were given at Har Sinai to Moshe. Rashi asks, why does the Torah mention Har Sinai in relation to the rules of Shmitah. What is the connection and relationship between the two?
Often times the significance of our actions and the impact of our ideas are not fully comprehended immediately. For example there are many deep connections between the Torah and the founding fathers of the United States although they are separated by over 3,000 years. The founders of this great nation were inspired by the events of the exodus and the entire Chumash. A passage from this week’s Parsha about freedom being proclaimed throughout the land appears on the liberty bell.
In Texas, when my family got central air conditioning, the large outdoor unit was installed near the driveway but it was sticking out about half a foot into the driveway near the door to the house. This seemed like a strange mistake.
A few weeks later someone followed my mother home one night in a car and pulled a gun on her as she got out of her car. The thief demanded her purse, she threw it at him and ran for the door. The gun went off and three shots were fired. Because of God's protection my mother was untouched, the bullets were later found lodged in to the central air unit, the part that was sticking out.
We don’t always understand the reason why everything is the way it is . We might have a partial understanding but the true significance and implications of our actions, especially the Mitzvot we do, might only come to light thousands of years later.
Bonus Story
On the west coast of Africa missionaries present a French speaking tribe with Bible's. The tribe begin's to study the text and becomes fascinated with it. The missionaries are pleased until the tribe's people start asking certain questions, like "If Jesus was Jewish and followed the Torah and kept the mitzvoth why don't we, we want to be like Jesus, we want to be Jewish! This upset the missionaries greatly, they then explained that the Jews were an idea, not a real civilization. The tribe pointed to the laws of Shmitah and said, no they are a real nation with agricultural rules.
Often times the significance of our actions and the impact of our ideas are not fully comprehended immediately. For example there are many deep connections between the Torah and the founding fathers of the United States although they are separated by over 3,000 years. The founders of this great nation were inspired by the events of the exodus and the entire Chumash. A passage from this week’s Parsha about freedom being proclaimed throughout the land appears on the liberty bell.
In Texas, when my family got central air conditioning, the large outdoor unit was installed near the driveway but it was sticking out about half a foot into the driveway near the door to the house. This seemed like a strange mistake.
A few weeks later someone followed my mother home one night in a car and pulled a gun on her as she got out of her car. The thief demanded her purse, she threw it at him and ran for the door. The gun went off and three shots were fired. Because of God's protection my mother was untouched, the bullets were later found lodged in to the central air unit, the part that was sticking out.
We don’t always understand the reason why everything is the way it is . We might have a partial understanding but the true significance and implications of our actions, especially the Mitzvot we do, might only come to light thousands of years later.
Bonus Story
On the west coast of Africa missionaries present a French speaking tribe with Bible's. The tribe begin's to study the text and becomes fascinated with it. The missionaries are pleased until the tribe's people start asking certain questions, like "If Jesus was Jewish and followed the Torah and kept the mitzvoth why don't we, we want to be like Jesus, we want to be Jewish! This upset the missionaries greatly, they then explained that the Jews were an idea, not a real civilization. The tribe pointed to the laws of Shmitah and said, no they are a real nation with agricultural rules.
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