Parsha Points To Ponder

QUESTIONS

1)Why does the Torah use the word V’HAYA (AND IT WILL BE) when introducing our entrance into the Land of Israel? (26:1) Why didn’t it simply say WHEN YOU ENTER THE LAND without the V’HAYA?

2)Why does the Torah suddenly include the Kohanim and Leviim together with Moshe when describing his speaking to the Jewish people about listening to the commands of the Torah? (27:9)

3)Why were the curses at the end of the Book of Vayikra taught in plural while the curses in this week’s parsha (begins with 28:15) are taught in singular?

ANSWERS

1)The Ohr HaChayim answers that we have a tradition which teaches that V’HAYA always connotes something happy. The Torah is teaching us that there cannot be true happiness in a Jewish life unless the person has settled in the Land of Israel, the act described immediately after the word V’HAYA.

2)The Seforno explains that this command relates to studying the laws of the Torah to observe them properly and G-D cemented the idea that the Kohanim and Leviim were responsible for teaching Torah to the nation by grouping them with Moshe for this command.

3)The Kli Yakar teaches that the curses in Vayikra were taught before the Jews were bound together by the pact of being responsible for one another. In that situation, group punishments would only take place if everyone sinned. Therefore, they are written in the plural. However, now after the pact at Mt. Grizim and Eival, even if individuals sinned, the entire nation could be held accountable.  That is captured by the use of the singular.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 1:22 am and is filed under Weekly Question. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.