It shall be as a consequence (Eikev)
of your listening to these judgments and keeping and performing them, that the
Lord your God will keep for you the covenant and the kindness that he swore to
your forefathers. (Devarim 7:12) Rashi, the classical Biblical commentator
writes on this verse, “If you will listen to the “light/little” Mitzvot that a
person tramples with his heel (Eikev), the Lord will keep etc, He will keep his
promise to you.”
The Kotzker Rebbi, Rabbi Menachem
Mendel of Kotzk, poses a question: Is it
possible to say about the Jewish people that they trample underfoot some of the
mitzvoth (commandments)? Does it not say in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of our Fathers)2:1
“be as careful with a light mitzvah(commandment) as with a heavy one, for you
do not know the reward.” He answers that the only commandment that a person
literally tramples with his heels in order to fulfill is the commandment of
settling the Land of Israel. While walking and working the soil of the holy
land is of a biblically ordained nature, unfortunately many Jews consider this
a light mitzvah which can be ignored. Therefore the Torah, says the Kotzker,
lets us know that if a person properly observes the commandment that one
fulfills with his heel -- walking upon the soil of the land of Israel – God will
likewise keep His promise to do good as it says “The Lord your God will keep
for you the covenant and the kindness”. (Parperaot Latorah vol5 pg 63).
In addition to this interpretation,
I think that even the surface level understanding of Rashi’s comment also sheds
light on a very important point. Rashi hones in on a very common phenomenon in
religious practice, that of only focusing on the big commandments at the
exclusion of the little ones. Another similar
issue linked to the above is that the commandments that we perform most often may
be habitually performed by rote without the sufficient concentration that they
deserve.
One prime example of this is the recitation of
Birkat Hamazon (the Blessing after the Meal) first mentioned in this week’s Torah
reading. The Torah writes, “For the LORD your God brings you to a good land, a
land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, springing forth in valley and
hills; A land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a
land of olive-trees and honey; A land where you will eat bread without
scarceness, you will not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron,
and out of whose hills you may dig brass. And you will eat and be satisfied,
and bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.” (Devarim
8:7-10).
There is a very interesting
connection between Birkat Hamazon and the 9th day of Av, which we observed just
a few weeks ago. Every year, the Jewish people commemorate this day as a
national day of mourning, similar to the way in which an individual mourns for
their closest relatives. The one exception between the customs of mourning a
close relative and mourning the Beit Hamikdash (Temple) is that on Tisha Bav (9th
day of Av ) we do not eat, an otherwise permitted practice during a individual’s
mourning period.
Rav Nachman Kahana, Rabbi of Chazon
Yechezkel in Jerusalem and author of the Mei Menuchot series, asks a question
on this practice. He notes that the whole situation seems to be problematic; if
the 9th day of Av is supposed to be a day of mourning, then why do we fast if
Jewish mourning practices do not call for fasting? His answer is a penetrating insight into the
abovementioned Birkat Hamazon. He writes:
“The first chapter of
the Blessing after the Meal we acknowledge that it is Hashem who provides
sustenance for all things He created, and concludes with the blessing: “Blessed
are You Hashem who sustains all.” In the next paragraph we offer praise to God for
the basic foundations of our Jewish lives; the gift of Eretz Yisrael, the Exodus
from Egypt, Brit Mila (the sacred, eternal covenant between God and the Jewish
people), the gift of life and for the food that sustains us all. This chapter
includes the verse in this week’s Parsha, “And you will eat and be satisfied,
and bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.” The
concluding blessing is, “Blessed are You God for the land and for our sustenance.”
Chapter Three is our prayer to God that He deal compassionately with His people
Israel, and His city Yerushalayim and Zion, and restore the Davidic Monarchy
and Beit Hamikdash. It concludes with the blessing, “Blessed are You God who in
His compassion rebuilds Yerushalayim. Amen.”
The above three chapters have the
halachic status of a Torah based mitzvah. The fourth chapter is a later
rabbinic addition to commemorate the burial of the defenders of the great city
of Beitar, following the destruction of Yerushalayim. It too deals with the
appearance of the Mashiach and ultimate redemption of the Jewish people in
Eretz Yisrael. Our holy rabbis, in their wisdom, declared that Tish’a Be’Av and
its "satellite" days of mourning over Yerushalayim (17th of Tamuz,
3rd of Tishrei, 10th of Tevet) should be days when we refrain from eating.
Because eating would require us to recite Birkat Hamazon, and that permits us
in some small way to identify with the Bet Hamikdash and Eretz Yisrael.”
Rabbi Kahana concludes by remarking
that “Birkat Hamazon (the Blessing after the Meal) is so thoroughly Eretz
Yisrael (The Land of Israel), that I often wonder why it is not deemed to be a
part of the agricultural commandments which are only observed in the land of
Israel.”
In addition to the above
explanation, I would like to suggest an alternative one. I believe that the
reason the Blessing after the Meal is not deemed to be a part of the land
agricultural commandments -- which are only observed by those in the Land of Israel
-- can be explained as follows. It can
be said that the entire idea of the Blessing after the Meal can be divided into
two functions; one is to fulfill the beginning part of the verse, “And you will
eat and be satisfied, and bless the LORD your God.” The second, and equally
important, function is to recognize that God has bestowed upon us, “the good Land
which He has given you.” The reason that the Blessing after the Meal is not
deemed to be a part of the agricultural commandments is because by its very recitation,
those residing outside of the Land are supposed to awaken to the fact that they
are living in an imperfect situation. As Rav Yaakov Emden writes in the
introduction to the siddur (prayer book), “Do not intend to settle down outside
of the land of Israel, g-d forbid. That was our ancestor’s sin, despising the
desirable land, which caused us eternal weeping. And this sin has stood against
us throughout our bitter exile. Not just one enemy has risen up against us, but
peace and tranquility have eluded us in every generation. We have been
persecuted; we have toiled but found no rest; we have been forgotten like the
dead, all because we have completely forgotten about living in the land of
Israel.” Therefore, if the Blessing after the Meal was considered an
agricultural commandment recited only in the Land of Israel, it would be
missing one of its integral functions.
Similarly, the above explanation of
why the Blessing after the Meal is not considered an agricultural commandment
can also shed light why the Rabbis decreed fasting on Tisha Ba’av, a stringency
which is not normally associated with a day of mourning. Since one of the
functions of Birkat Hamazon is to instill in the Jews that they are living in
an imperfect situation, on Tisha Ba’av -- a day of national mourning whose
entire focus is on the loss of the Temple and our subsequent exile -- we do not
need this additional reminder of this
fact. The day of Tisha Ba’av itself is mourning
personified.
Through the merit of taking to
heart and appreciating the “light/little ” commandments, and recognizing that
we are still not all home, may we witness the day “…when the Lord will return
the captivity of Zion, we will be like dreamers. Then our mouth will be filled
with laughter and our tongue with glad song.” (Psalm 126,1-2)
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