Parshat Vayigash
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Seeking the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
"וְכִלְכַּלְתִּי אֹתְךָ שָׁם כִּי עוֹד חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים רָעָב פֶּן תִּוָּרֵשׁ אַתָּה וּבֵיתְךָ וְכָל אֲשֶׁר לָךְ"(בראשית מה)
"Bless upon us, HaShem our God, this year and all kinds of its produce for goodness, and bestow dew and rain for blessing on all the face of the earth; and make abundant the face of the world and fulfill the whole of Your goodness... Blessed are You HaShem who blesses the years."
The request for rain in Shemoneh Esreh, while beginning this week in the Diaspora, has already been said in the Land of Israel for close to two months since the 7th of Heshvan. In general, we see a higher sensitivity to the need for rain in the Land of Israel than the Diaspora, as the Torah teaches us that this Land is not like the Land of Egypt which receives water from the Nile, but rather is dependent on rainfall, a matter that strengthens the need for prayer and greater faith, as befitting this Land of Faith.
Nevertheless, Torah does not maintain that residents of the Land of Israel should pray alone, but also mandates regulations in commerce, agriculture, and more in order to provide for good sustenance for the residents of the Holy Land. The importance of sustenance in the Land of Israel is highlighted in this week's parsha in our title quote, which shows that in lack of proper sustenance, Jewish settlement in the Land is under danger of exile, God forbid, as our ancestors went into exile as result of the famine in the Land.
One example of such regulations in commerce is the ruling brought from the Talmud in the Rambam and Shulhan Aruch: "It is forbidden to do business (earn a profit from selling second-hand) in Eretz Yisrael with articles on which our lives depend (i.e the staple products: flour, oil, wine). Instead, one person should bring from his produce heap, and another person should bring from his produce heap, so that they sell cheaply. In places where oil is abundant, it is permitted to do business with oil."
The poskim extend the permit on oil to all products that are abundant, so it is difficult to find a case where this law is applicable today, although we do see that the government today does subsidize basic necessities, a matter that seems in accordance with the spirit of halacha (even if not instituted with that intention).
Nevertheless, we learn from this law, along with others, that the material well-being of the residents of the Land of Israel is a matter that concerns Torah, for as we have shown many times before, the settlement of the Land of Israel is a great mitzvah/value in Torah and in the Divine plan to greaten the power of the Holy Presence in our Holy Land.
It is also Hebron which stands as a symbol of our People's most ancient source for both spiritual and material devotion to our Holy Land in the purchase of the Field of Machpela by Avraham our father for 400 silver pieces.
Real Stories from the Holy Land #47: "One week, I lost my cell-phone's charger. A day or two later, my cell-phone's case broke, and a little bit later that week I lost the cell-phone itself. Since so many unusual things regarding my cell-phone happened at such a short period of time, I decided to examine my ways in regard to speech, etc. and repent. Suddenly, the next week my cell-phone was found by the same people who the previous week said they searched thoroughly and didn't find it..."
Sources: Bava Batra 91a and Yad Rama there, Rambam Mechira 14, 4, Hoshen Mishpat 231, 23
