This article was written by Yael Stochel, summer inchworm 2019
GrowTorah Core Value: Incubating Emunah, Stewarding the Earth
In Parshat Reeh, Moshe instructs Bnei Israel to pronounce a blessing and a curse atop two mountains – Gerizim and Ebal. Why do these mountains matter, and how can they relate to our garden? The parsha goes on to reiterate several mitzvot, including shmita. What stands out in this version of shmita, and what does it mean for us?
Lesson Title: The Blessing and the Curse
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch
Gerisim and Ebal are two peaks of the Ephraim range of mountains which still show a striking contrast in their appearance. Gerisim to the south of the valley of Shechem presents a smiling green slope rising in fruit-covered terraces to its summit, Ebal on the north side, steep, bare and bleak, some 2,900 ft. high, slightly higher than Gerisim. The two mounts lying next to each other form accordingly a most speaking [sic] instructive picture of blessing and curse. They both rise on one and the same soil, both are watered by one and the same fall of rain and dew, the same air breathes over both of them, the same pollen wafts over both of them and yet Ebal remains in barren bleakness while Gerisim is clad to its summit in embellishment of vegetation. In the same way, blessing and curse are not conditional on external circumstances but on our own inner receptivity for the one or the other, on our behavior towards that which is to bring blessing.
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
How does Rav Hirsch relate the ideas of reward and punishment to ecology?
- The two mountains' divergent ecologies demonstrate the blessing and curses they represent
Though the two mountains are treated similarly, they nevertheless differ. What does this teach us about how we can use our circumstances to foster faith in Hashem?
- internal v. external receptivity
Living the Lesson
The next halakha pertaining to Jerusalem is: And one may not establish garbage dumps in it. The Gemara explains that the reason is due to the repugnant creatures that are attracted to such heaps and impart ritual impurity upon their death. The baraita states: And one may not build kilns in Jerusalem. The reason is due to the unsightly smoke produced by kilns. The Sages sought to preserve the beauty of Jerusalem and the Temple.
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
How must spiritual places be treated?
- protected from pollution
In the garden, where we learn about the land and Torah, how should we treat our surroundings?
How can we apply this principle from the Gemara to sanctify and cleanse everywhere we go?
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
How should beauty and variety be celebrated and used to appreciate Hashem?
How does doing so help us develop our relationship with Hashem through nature?
GrowTorah Core Value: Tzedakah
Lesson Title: Helping the Needy
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
Why does the Torah worried that people won't lend to the needy with shmita coming?
- cancellation of debts, "insecure" investment, anxiety over having enough himself
How can we ensure that we are constantly using our land and blessings to benefit others as well?
Living the Lesson
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
What approaches did Rav Hana take to helping those in need?
- constant giving, avoiding embarrassment
How can we ensure that our garden in a place that benefits anyone in need?
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
How does Hillel the Elder's decree indicate the importance of preventing greed?
- realism – creating a new system to secure loans to make sure people still give them; ordaining a new law/prozbul to make sure of this
How can we ensure that we don't become too possessive of our garden and instead share with others?