Fortifying Our Future

This week's parsha deals with laws applicable to buying and selling properties in Eretz Yisroel. Generally, one may buy his sold property back if the proper conditions are met, even to the chagrin of the buyer. Additionally, the sale is only binding until the year of Yovel. At the Yovel year, the real estate returns to the original owner. A house in a walled city is the one exception to both rules. Here, the seller can only redeem the house for one year, and if he does not buy the house back, the house does not return to the seller at Yovel; it stays in the possession of the buyer. The Meshech Chochmah offers a practical explanation for this exception. The primary advantage of dwelling in a walled city is the fortifi cation it provides against outside forces. The dwellers of the city know the ins and outs of the walled city and have the upper hand over any potential enemy wanting to attack the city. If the sold house goes back to the original owner every fifty years and then possibly sold again for another fifty years, there will be a constant turnover of inhabitants. These newcomers do not yet know the strengths and weaknesses of the city and have to be briefed on how to protect themselves in case they are attacked. Thisinfl ux of newcomers and their lack of knowledge of their whereabouts weaken the inherent strength of a walled city. In order to guarantee safety to the inhabitants of the city, the Torah does not command that the house returns to the original owner. This ensures that the residents dwell in the city long-term and have the proper know-how to protect themselves.

Prevention Medicine

"If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter in your proximity, you shall strengthen him" (VAYIKRA 25:35).

Rashi infers from the words, "you shall strengthen him," that this needy person has not yet reached rock bottom. The posuk is referring to someone who is starting to lose ground and is financially unstable. He needs some help to take hold of his situation. Our obligation is to prevent him from sinking lower and help him get back on his feet and see to it that he is able to support himself again. Rashi gives an analogy to a donkey carrying its burden. If the donkey has not yet fallen, but is just staggering under a heavy load, then it only takes one person to help adjust the load, preventing the donkey from falling. However, if the donkey had already fallen, then it is much more difficult to lift the donkey from the ground with its load, and even five people cannot set the donkey on its feet. It is easier to prevent poverty than to correct it. This powerful analogy from Rashi could apply to another thought as well. Now, we are in golus. The second Beis Hamikdash was destroyed because of sinas chinam, hating other Jews. The Chofetz Chaim, in the introduction to his classic work Chofetz Chaim, writes that loshon hora was the primary cause for sinas chinam. During the Temple era, it would have been easier to correct the problem and save the Beis Hamikdash. The "donkey" was still standing, but was starting to lose its footing. If the Jews that lived at the time of the Beis Hamikdash had started to correct their ways from the sin of loshon hora, they possibly would have saved the Beis Hamikdash from destruction. Now that the Temple is destroyed, the "donkey" has already fallen and it is substantially harder to merit rebuilding the Beis Hamikdash. We must totally correct our ways from the aveira of loshon hora. We must exterminate loshon hora from our society and then we will witness the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash, bimhayra bi'yameinu.