Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto’s talks are known throughout the Jewish world. They combine chassidic teachings and philosophy, along with tips for a better life. We have collected pearls from his teachings that are relevant to our daily lives. This week he comments on the Torah section of Bechukotai.
"If you go in My statutes and guard My commandments and do them."
The Midrash Vayikra Rabbah (35:1) cites on this Torah section’s opening verse, “If you go in My statutes”: The meaning follows the verse in Psalms (119:59) "I considered my ways, but my feet brought me to Your testimonies." David said to the Master of the universe, “Every day I made plans to go to this place or that building, but my feet would bring me to synagogues and Torah study halls, as is written ‘but my feet brought me to Your testimonies.’”
We wonder what does it mean "my feet brought me"? King David was an educated, prudent and wise man. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to say “my mind brought me”, because one’s mind determines where one’s feet will go. What does it mean “my feet brought me”, and why doesn’t it say “my mind” instead?
Maybe we can explain it this way. King David was a great and holy man. He devoted his days and nights to the holy Torah and in service of God. The Gemara says in Tractate Brachot (4a) that King David used to say that all of the kings of the East and the West sleep until the third hour of the day, but in contrast to them, “At midnight I rise to give thanks to You” (Psalms 119:62). His whole life revolved around Torah and holiness.
But little by little with the time, King David thought that maybe he needs some time for himself, to go rest, to understand life more, to live life more. His entire day is spent on Torah and commandments, all day long he is involved in serving God. Maybe he need some time for himself? But when he sought to take some time for himself, his feet would bring him to synagogues and study halls.
"I considered my ways, but my feet [raglai] brought me to Your testimonies" can also be explained: King David saw that his physical habits [hergalim] would come with him and interfere with his Torah study, commandments and good deeds. So he stopped them, because it is impossible to devote oneself to both things.
If a person is involved in the holy Torah, he cannot be involved in vanities. If he is involved in vanities, he cannot be involved in the Torah because the vanities will impact his Torah. That's why King David immediately made a stop. He realized that only if you are firmly attached to the Torah can you truly live ("And you who are firmly attached to the Lord your God, all of you are alive today." - Deuteronomy 4:4.) Attachment to God is like breathing. You can’t breathe one minute and not breathe another minute. If you are breathing, you are breathing all the time. If you stop, then you are finished.
Rashi questions the Torah’s repetitive language. It says "If you go in My statutes and guard My commandments and do them." Doing the commandments clearly means to guard them. The Torah is very precise in every word that it uses, so why does it repeat itself?
We can suggest that it is not enough that a person himself follows God's laws and goes in God's way, but he should try with all his might to win over others to also follow God and observe Torah and commandments. Tractate Shabbat (54b) states: If one can protest and doesn’t protest, the sinful act is attributed to him. The verse repeats, "guard My commandments" and “to do them” to show that a person must make himself like a guard and set up a fence and boundaries to ensure that others will keep the Torah too.
A person who thinks that he has fulfilled his obligation only by he himself observing all the commandments, is making a serious mistake. The Gemora says (ibid.) that the sages did not approve that Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria’s cow used to go out wearing a strip of material between its horns. How can it be said about the great Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria that he was not careful about keeping Shabbat? Of course he was, but what happened is that the cow of Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria's neighbors went out on Shabbos with a strip between its horns, and Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria did not sufficiently reprove them. Therefore, the cow with the strip which went out and didn’t meet the sages’ approval was called “Rabbi Elazar’s cow.”
The Torah therefore commands us, "If you go in My statutes and guard My commandments and do them." It is not enough for a person to keep the laws and commandments alone. A Jew must do his best to ensure that his friends, relatives and family members, and the entire Jewish nation, do them as well.
A well known Gemara in Tractate Brachot (20b) relates that when Rav Yochanan fell ill, he wept and said, "There are two roads before me, one to heaven and one to hell, and I do not know which way they are leading me." The commentators explain that surely Rabbi Yochanan had no fear of hell due to his own deeds, but he feared that his sons or students might have become corrupt, and their actions would devolve on him and lead him to hell. A son can give merit to the father and a student to his teacher, but it is also true vice versa. So Rabbi Yochanan was concerned that his disciples might bring him to hell.
In this light, we can also explain the verse stated by King David above, "I considered my ways” (Psalms 119:59): I considered that there are two ways before me, heaven and hell, and I didn’t know which way those who come after me will lead me. Therefore, “my feet brought me” - “my feet” refers to one’s sons and disciples (as our sages say “a son is like the leg of his father”) “to Your testimonies” - meaning, I tried with all my might to supervise those who came after me to make them devoted to Your service. That is the meaning of “my ‘feet’ bringing me to the study halls.”
A person should strive with all his might to get those who are in his circle of influence involved in serving Hashem. A person should strive with all his strength that all his actions be for the sake of heaven. And beyond his own actions, he should strive to bring others to merit so that they will go in God's way and their actions will be done for the sake of heaven.
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel