Parshat Bechukotai
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
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בס"ד
לשכנו תדרשו
Seeking the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land
וכל מעשר הארץ מזרע הארץ מפרי העץ לה' הוא קודש לה
"Help us understand, HaShem our God, to know Your ways, circumcise our hearts to fear You... satisfy us with the pleasures of Your Land, and gather our dispersions from four (corners of the world)..." ('Havinenu' - the abridged Amida)
Kiryat Arba literally means 'the City of the Four', a fact that seems to evoke the concept of the in-gathering of exiles from the four corners of the earth, as a city is an 'in-gathering of people' in one location. Indeed, this name fits very closely with Kiryat Arba's other name, Hebron, which means 'to unite' (lehaber), as the in-gathering of exiles in our Land is a primary factor in unifying our People, as it says, 'who is like Your People Israel, one People in the Land'.
If we examine the word for 'city', 'kiryat', we find that it is very close to the verb root, 'kara', 'to call', used also in context of 'to call to assembly' or 'to call to come close'. Indeed, the book of Vayikra, which we culminate with this week's parsha, means 'to call' as it begins with 'a call' towards Moshe to come close to hear HaShem's teaching to him. Another name for this book coined by our Sages is 'Toras Cohanim', as much of this book is occupied with the commandments for the priests, 'those who are called close and holy to HaShem' in the Mishkan or Bais HaMikdash (see Num. 15, 5), and thus concentrates on the concept of holiness, 'coming close to God', in general.
Even portions of this book which seem to stray from this dominant theme on the priests still follow in accord with the concept of 'the call to come close or assemble'. Take for example parshas Kedoshim, which begins with a call 'to the entire assembly of Israel', as its laws are especially essential for the entire 'assembly' of Israel (see Rashi at the beginning of this parsha). Another example is the portion on the holidays, called 'Mikraei Kodesh', the word 'mikraei' again stemming from the same verb root, 'kara', summoning the People to observe the holidays together at one time, thereby coming close to HaShem. Shmita and Yovel too, appearing at the end of this book, also involve the ingathering and assembly of our People in the Land of Israel as a basic requirement, and the blessings and curses in this week's parsha describe states of 'in-gathering in the Land' versus Exile from the Land in accordance with the People's deeds.
One of the last commandments in this book, brought in our title quote, is the commandment to sanctify Maaser Sheni, which combines both the concept of holiness so dominant in this book and the emphasis on the assembly of Israel in the Land, a dominant theme at this book's end, for a basic requirement for Maaser Sheni, as other laws dependant on the Land, is the assembly of the majority of Israel in the Land (acc. to Rambam). Let us listen to the 'kriya'-call of Kiryat Arba - Hebron, to assemble together as one People in our one-indivisible Land, Land of the Holy Presence, under One God.
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Real Stories from the Holy Land #70:
"One day, I decided to approach soldiers in Hebron and offer them to put on tefilin, similar to Habad's 'tefilin-missions'. Just about 20 minutes later I heard people in Hebron who did not see me or hear me in my 'tefilin-mission' talking about the importance and the impact of these 'tefilin-missions' on Jews, a matter I haven't heard about in years."
Sources: Rambam Trumot, 1, 26
