• | Print |
•  Email

Parshat Noach
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Cleaving to the Holy Presence In Our Holy Land

"The Land Dried"

"To HaShem is the Land and all its contents, earth and all its inhabitants. For He has founded it upon seas, and upon rivers He has established it" (Ps. 24)

This famous hymn of Tehilim is also coined 'the Prayer of Sustenance' in context of the prayers of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. Interestingly, however, not even one word in this psalm mentions 'sustenance', wealth, or the like. Rather, the topic of this psalm is clearly the Majesty and Honor of God, Who owns all possession. In essence, by 'giving Honor' to God so-to-speak in this psalm we evoke God's Honor upon us, as it says, 'for those who honor Me I (God) will honor'. This honor bestowed upon us is strongly tied to the manifestation of wealth and sustenance from Above, as it says 'at its (the Torah's) left is wealth and honor'. Also, on a simple earthly level it is understood that wealth brings honor. Ultimately, the ideal motive of asking God for sustenance and/or wealth should be to give honor to God, i.e to have a sound mind to serve and honor God and also to sanctify God's Name before all so all will say, 'this is the worthy honor and wealth deserved by the servants of God'.

The opening verse of this psalm which talks about 'the Land and all its contents' is interpreted by our Sages to specifically hint to the Land of Israel (even though the entire Earth's contents also belong to God of course). They explain that this Holy Land is 'founded upon' seven seas and 'established upon' four rivers. Last week we discussed the 'four rivers' of the Land of Israel, the 'four rivers' of the World emanating from the Garden of Eden, and how these rivers are evoked in Hebron. This week will shall discuss this same parallelism in context of the 'seven seas', since this week's parsha discusses how the seas were once again distinguished from the dry land after the Flood.

The 'seven seas' of the Land of Israel discussed in the Talmud (Baba Batra 74b) are: 1. Lake Kineret ('sea' in this context refers to a large body of water even of freshwater), 2. The Dead Sea, 3. The Red Sea, 4. 'Hilta' - The Antioch Valley/Lake (apparently dried today in Lebanon - according to the Kaftor Vaferach), 5. 'Sivchi' - The Hula Valley Lake/Swamp (today it is dried), 6. 'The Spanish Sea' - this is the most obscure, but it probably refers to the part of the Mediterranean Sea directly opposite Spain and set apart from the 'Regular Mediterranean' by the protruding port of Sidon (the Phoenicians sailed from Sidon's port to Spain), 7. The ('Regular') Mediterranean. On a worldly level, famous are the seven oceans that encompass our globe (mentioned in the Midrash as well).

We find numerous times that Hebron is tied to the concept of 'seven years', such as Kaleb's visit in parshat Shlach, and also in David's first rule in Hebron for seven years. The concept of 'year' in the Torah appears as a culmination point as in the term 'the Festival of Gathering (Sukkot) the culmination of the year'. Similarly, a sea is the culmination point and 'in-gathering' of the rivers that lead up to this sea, as is illustrated in the first verses of Ecclesiastes (read on Sukkot). Therefore, it follows that the 'seven years' of Hebron allude to the seven seas of the Land of Israel and of the World. On a deeper level, the Arizal teaches that during David's 'seven year' rule in Hebron he connected to the Holy Presence in Hebron associated with these 'seven years'. This Holy Presence is called the 'Honor of God' (see Onkelos Shmot 21, 21) as we have explained at length in the past.

Therefore, we can conclude that by connecting to Hebron we follow in the footsteps of King David, giving honor to our Godly Patriarchs, giving honor to God, and thereby channeling into the Source of Wealth and Honor of the Servants of God our King.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Real Stories from the Holy Land #193

'One time I prayed to receive/buy a computer that suited my needs for Torah study. Soon after, a friend of mine gave me a computer, without me asking him for such, free of any charge...' A.G

Sources: Baba Batra 74b, Shaar Hapsukim Shmuel II  

Comments, questions, and/or stories,email  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.