• | Print |
•  Email

Parshat Behar - Bechukotai
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

וקדשתם את שנת החמישים שנה

“Happy are those that You shall chose and bring close to dwell in Your courtyard, we shall be satisfied by the good of Your house the holiness of Your sanctuary.”

This verse is said before a brit mila when a baby boy is brought into the holiness of the covenant between HaShem and Israel. Indeed, this verse carries extra meaning when the brit mila is conducted at the Courtyard of the Ma'arat HaMachpela of Hebron (as is commonly done), where the first circumcision took place. The name ‘The Courtyard’ seems to allude to King David’s connection to Hebron, as our Sages interpret this verse, said by King David in Tehilim, to refer to David himself along with his royal offspring who are uniquely allowed to sit in the ‘Courtyard’ of the Bait HaMikdash, due to their special royal status.

In truth we may say that the concept ‘Courtyard’ alludes to the attribute of royalty, since a courtyard, by definition, is the external facet of an internal dwelling, and royalty externalizes the honor of a people before other nations and the world at large. Interestingly, however, ‘the Courtyard’ of Ma'arat HaMachpela is an internal courtyard, adjacent to the internal chambers of the Patriarchs we discussed in the past. This matter may suggest that in Ma'arat HaMachpela, ‘the Courtyard’, the aspect of King David, is deeply connected to the Patriarchs themselves, as our Sages teach in the Zohar that David ruled first in Hebron in order to connect to the Patriarchs who lie here.

In addition, David is considered the ‘fourth leg/spoke of the Godly Chariot’, so-to-speak, which means that just as the three Patraichs are considered the founders of Judaism so too David is considered a fundamental component of Judaism. This means that David’s unique efforts in bringing Judaism to its fullest manifestation in the world, i.e through conquering the Land of Israel and making landmark strides towards the Temple in Jerusalem and more, all qualified David to represent the real manifestation of Judaism and its ‘externalization’ unto the world and the nations in the form of a just royalty. Our Sages explain that this conceptualization of David is even concertized in halacha by the blessing of the Haftorah which ends with blessing God for being the ‘Shield of David’, just as we say in the Amida prayer, ‘the Shield of Avraham’.

In the past we have shown how David, by first reigning in Hebron and then in Jerusalem, essentially connected the aspects of Hebron and Jerusalem, which parallel the concepts of the natural and the supernatural, and the aspects of seven and fifty, respectively, according to the Arizal. As Jerusalem and Hebron both celebrate their liberation on their Jubilee year, associated with the supernatural number 50, we are reminded of the special relationship between the numbers seven and fifty, apparent in the Sefirat haOmer we count on these very days. During these days we exemplify through our counting the Omer how even the fiftieth day, the ‘supernatural’ Shavuot when the supernatural Torah was given, is built up from the natural process of seven times seven, the Omer Count. This again shows the method of David of first connecting to the natural spiritual power of Hebron inherent in the natural number of seven, thereby paving the road towards the supernatural level of the Temple in Jerusalem.

A Summary of the names of the chambers/locations in Ma'arat HaMachpela Building discussed this year in the book of Vayikra: Chambers of 1. Avraham 2. Yitzhak (this includes all other chambers (that have Arabic names today) opened when Yitzhak’s Chamber is opened) 3. Yakov 4. The Passageway 5. The Slumberers of Hebron 6. The Covenants and 7. The Courtyard.

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

Real Stories from the Holy Land #219

‘I was reciting the Idra Zuta along with additional learning on the journey from Hebron to Meron on Lag Baomer. It ‘turns out’ that just as we reached Meron I finished the Idra Zuta, sayed by R’ Shimon Bar Yohai just before his death, considered the main Zoharic passage to be studied on Lag BaOmer.’ 

Sources: Ps. 65, 5, Shaar HaPsukim Shmuel II, Psahim 117b 

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