Parshat Shelach 5785
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha, after the sin of the Meraglim, the requirement of bringing wine libations, Nesachim, along with the sacrifices, and the mitzvah of separating Challah. The Medrash Rabbah (17,2) on our parsha quotes a pasuk from Koheles in explaining the connection between the different mitzvos of our parsha. The pasuk says (Chapter 9, Pasuk 7), לך אכל בשמחה לחמך ושתה בלב טוב יינך כי כבר רצה האלוקים את מעשיך. The Medrash teaches that לך אכל בשמחה את לחמך is a reference to the mitzvah of Challah. And the continuation, ושתה בלב טוב יינך, is a reference to the mitzvah of Nesachim. The concluding words of the pasuk, כי כבר רצה האלוקים את מעשיך, refer to Bnei Yisrael entering Eretz Yisrael.
An important theme of sefer Bamidbar brought in the Sefarim is the transition Bnei Yisrael experienced when they entered Eretz Yisrael. In the desert, their life was one of miraculous sustenance from the heavens. First and foremost, they received the Torah, מן השמים. Their food was the mahn, לחם מן השמים. Their water was provided by the miraculous Be’er which followed them through the desert.
This changed when they entered Eretz Yisrael. Now, their food was to be grown in the ground; their bread was now לחם מן הארץ. And even the focus of their Torah was now Torah Shebe’alpeh, the transmission of the oral law from teacher to student. Their life changed from an emphasis on the heavens downward, in the desert, to a life in Eretz Yisrael where their efforts were in taking the land and its produce and raising them heavenward.
When Adam Harishon sinned, he was banished from Gan Eden. Adam, who himself was created from the ground (Chapter 2, Pasuk 7), עפר מן האדמה, was told that on account of his sin, the ground would be cursed. The pasuk says (Chapter 3, Pasuk 17), ארורה האדמה בעבורך בעצבון תאכלנה. The earth will be cursed on your account and you will eat its produce in great pain and suffering.
The Sfas Emes teaches that this situation changed when Bnei Yisrael were chosen as the nation of Hashem and Eretz Yisrael was singled out as the choicest of lands. At this point, the land evolved from being cursed to being blessed, יצא מכלל ארור לברוך. Eretz Yisrael was blessed, and the עפר מן האדמה was no longer cursed; it was purified with the selection of Am Yisrael as the nation of Hashem. Now Bnei Yisrael could enter Eretz Yisrael and perform the mitzvah of Challah.
The mitzvah of Challah began immediately upon Bnei Yisrael entering Eretz Yisrael, as the pasuk says (Chapter 15, Pasuk 18), בבאכם אל הארץ (see Rashi). The next pasuk states, והיה באכלכם מלחם הארץ תרימו תרומה לד'. When you enter Eretz Yisrael you will be able to begin the process of lifting your fruits up from the ground towards the heavens, as the pasuk says תרימו תרומה לד'. And the Sfas Emes applies to this pasuk the words of the Medrash Rabbah (13,5), whenever a pasuk says והיה it is suggesting שמחה and joy. In the blessed land of Eretz Yisrael, instead of בעצבון תאכלנה, you will have a reality of והיה באכלכם מלחם הארץ. You will eat in joy instead of pain.
This is why the Medrash darshens the pasuk in Koheles, לך אכל בשמחה לחמך as being a reference to the mitzvah of Challah. And the mitzvah of Nesachim also allows us to take our grapes grown in the land of Eretz Yisrael and bring it up on the Mizbeach. And here as well, there is great joy. The Gemara in Berachos 35A teaches אין אומרים שירה אלא על היין. The Levi’im would sing when the Karbanos were brought precisely at the time of the wine libations, the ניסוך היין. Hence the Medrash darshens the words ושתה בלב טוב יינך as referencing the joy and song of ניסוך היין.
Why were these mitzvos, Challah and Nesachim, associated with joy? The Sfas Emes answers that there is great joy when we take produce of this world and bring it back to its source, to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. When we take our wheat and produce dough, we take the ראשית, the first part and give it to the Kohen. When we grow grapes, we make wine and use it for ניסוך היין on the Mizbeach. When we grow olives, we use the oil from the olives for the meal offering, and raise it up as a קרבן מנחה to Hashem. We are fulfilling a basic obligation of ours in this world; returning everything to its source.
This is the Avodah of Eretz Yisrael, and hence the Medrash darshens the words כי כבר רצה האלוקים את מעשיך to reference Bnei Yisrael entering Eretz Yisrael. All mitzvos on the individual, חובת הגוף, apply equally everywhere. But the mitzvos of the land, מצוות התלויות בארץ, are specifically obligated in Eretz Yisrael. These are the מעשים which Hashem wants from us; to live in our life in the opposite direction from the Dor Hamidbar. While they received all their bracha direct from the heavens, we must acknowledge that everything in our physical world comes from Hashem, and raise the produce of the land up in order to serve Him. And the place where this Avodah takes place is in Eretz Yisrael.
Good Shabbos
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