By: Chaya Sora Jungreis-Gertzulin

Parshas Behar… The mountain…. Har Sinai… Mount Sinai.

As Shavuos is approaching, the lessons of Sinai are ever so relevant and meaningful.

The parsha opens with HaShem speaking to Moshe “beHar Sinai”, instructing Bnei Yisroel regarding the laws of Shemita. “U’vashana hasheviis Shabbas Shabboson yiheyeh lo’oretz, Shabbos laHaShem…, But the seventh year shall be a Shabbos, a rest for the land, a Shabbos for HaShem…” (Shemos 25:4) A year to let the land lie fallow.

The word Shemita means to withdraw ownership, to give the land a total rest, a Shabbos. A mitzva that requires the farmer to take a complete break from working his field, and put it all in HaShem’s hands. To say, I’m not going to work my fields this year, but I know that with HaShem’s help, all will be good. To have a heart filled with emuna and bitachon.

We, who are not farmers living in Eretz Yisroel, can also learn from this mitzva the powerful traits of unwavering faith and trust in HaShem. Shemita also teaches us the importance of nosei b’ol im chaveiro, to help carry another’s load. To feel their “pekel”, to empathize with, to genuinely feel another’s challenges, even their pain and suffering, thereby easing their burden.

What starts by lightening another’s load, has a transformative effect not only on the recipient, but on the benefactor as well. B’ol chaveiro. While one may not even be familiar with the person he is helping, by virtue of giving and caring, one connects to another, becoming his chaver, his friend.

A few days ago, I read an amazing story of now nosei b’ol im chaveiro can be taken to the highest of high. Just before this past Pesach, someone in Lakewood, while parking his car, backed into and dented the car behind him. Wanting to do the right thing, he pulled out a piece of paper, wrote his name and phone number, together with a short message, and placed it under the wiper of the damaged vehicle.

The next morning, he received a phone call. “Is this so and so?” the caller asked. After replying in the affirmative, the caller then asked “How are you making Pesach?” “I don’t understand” was the response. The caller continued, “Maybe you didn’t realize it, but the reverse side of the paper you slipped under my windshield was your bank statement, and I couldn’t help but notice that it showed a negative bank balance. I just wired $5,000 into your account. Have a wonderful Yom Tov.” And with that, the caller hung up.

A person who truly cared and lived as a nosei b’ol im chaveiro.

Behar. So many lessons from Sinai. I think of the entire nation, standing around the mountain. Together, they cried out Na’aseh V’nishma, we will do and we will listen. By preceding “we will listen” with “we will do”, Am Yisroel put their total faith in HaShem and His Torah, accepting its laws unconditionally. They were in – no matter what.

At the time of mattan Torah on Har Sinai, Rashi explains that the Torah uses the singular expression vayichan, and (he) the nation encamped, to teach us about the unity that Klal Yisroel felt at that loftiest moment. They were an am echad, one nation, “k’ish echad, together as one person, b’Lev echad, with one heart.” One people, one heart, one Torah, the strength of Am Yisroel.

I recently heard a clip demonstrating the unity of our people. A unity the speaker marveled about. He often thought about the soldiers of the IDF and would be amazed how over the years they have gone to so many places, risking their lives to rescue and evacuate fellow Jews, sometimes even a single Jew. The dangerous missions that often required traveling thousands of miles to hostile countries. From Yemen to Iraq. From Sudan to Ethiopia. From Entebbe to Munich. And more recently, the daring rescue of hostages from the tunnels of Gaza.

The speaker confessed that at times he wondered whether it was worth it all. The question lingered within him, until one day, he posed this question to his barbers, Elan and Avi, who just so happened to be Israelis.

“How do the soldiers go on and on, time and time again? Why do they put their lives at risk?” It didn’t even take a minute. Elan and Avi didn’t even have to think. They looked at him with disbelief. Together – in unison, Elan and Avi blurted out, “anu achim, we are all brothers. Wouldn’t you do anything to save your brother?”

No matter what, a brother is a brother, and we are a nation of brothers. And that, said it all.

A nation is usually defined as a people who share a common land and a common language. But Am Yisroel is a nation like no other. We defy all logic. We are spread out across the globe, speaking different languages, yet we are an am echad. We care. We do. We feel for one another.

Eli Sharabi, a released hostage, was interviewed by the press. He was asked about his post-captivity therapy. Sharabi related that he had seen several therapists. They all asked him to share his experience as a hostage. When he described the pain and torture he endured, each one of the therapists had the same reaction. They cried. This is what it means to feel another’s anguish and heartache. Not just to feel, but to actually cry, to shed a tear for a fellow Jew in pain. To be a nosei b’ol im chaveiro, to lighten the load by feeling for another.

We are approaching the end of Sefira. Days that are designated for us to prepare for Shavuos, z’man mattan Torahseinu – our receiving HaShem’s gift of Torah. One of the best ways we can prepare for Shavuos is to work on ourselves to become better people. To work on our middos, thereby elevating ourselves, not only in our relationship with HaShem, but in our relationships with others.

Rabbi Akiva is widely known for teaching the importance of v’ahavta l’rei’acha komocha, loving one’s fellow as oneself. As we read the parsha of Behar, live the message of Sinai – a nation standing in unity. Live the opportunity of Shemita – to be a nosei b’ol im chaveiro, to lighten the load of those who put it all on the line. And let’s appreciate those who don’t give a second thought to risking their lives for others, because they live by the principle anu achim, we are brothers.

Shabbat Shalom!

Chaya Sora

Chaya Sora can be reached at [email protected]

This article was written L’zecher Nishmas/In Memory Of HaRav Meshulem ben HaRav Osher Anshil HaLevi, zt”l and Rebbetzin Esther bas HaRav Avraham HaLevi