Parashat Behar: Midrash
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ByHadar Institute
Ilustration Credit: Rivka Tsinman

Midrash מִדְרָשׁ

There’s something a bit unusual about the first pasuk in our parashah, which introduces the rules of שְׁמִטָּה (shemittah, the year of release).

ויקרא כ״ה:א׳
(א) וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר יהוה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בְּהַ֥ר סִינַ֖י לֵאמֹֽר׃
Leviticus 25:1
God spoke to Moshe at Har Sinai (Mount Sinai), saying:
We are used to hearing וַיְדַבֵּר יהוה אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵאמֹר (God spoke to Moshe, saying…)! This is the most common pasuk in the Torah; it introduces tons of mitzvot. But do you notice that the pasuk introducing shemittah is different? Why does it mention that God’s speaking happened at Har Sinai? What’s that telling us?
ספרא, בהר, פרשה א א׳
מָה עִנְיַן שְׁמִטָּה אֵצֶל הַר סִינַי? וַהֲלֹא כָּל הַמִּצְוֹת נֶאֶמְרוּ מִסִּינַי?!
אֶלָּא מָה שְׁמִטָּה נֶאֶמְרוּ כְּלָלוֹתֶיהָ וְדִקְדּוּקֶיהָ מִסִּינַי אַף כֻּלָּם נֶאֶמְרוּ כְּלָלוֹתֵיהֶם וְדִקְדּוּקֵיהֶם מִסִּינַי.
Sifra, Behar, Section 1 1
What does shemittah have to do with Har Sinai? Weren’t all the mitzvot taught at Sinai?!
This teaches us that all of the rules and details of shemittah came from Sinai, and that is also true for all other mitzvot. All their rules and details came from Sinai too.
In our parashah, we learn a lot of details about shemittah. This midrash wants us to see that the Torah seems to be emphasizing that God gave these details to Moshe at Har Sinai. And the midrash is also suggesting that the reason the Torah is making this point is to teach us that the same is true for all other mitzvot as well—all of their details also came from God at Har Sinai!
  • What are your favorite mitzvot? How do their details help shape your experience? Can you imagine them without their details? Can you imagine your favorite book or toy or game or experience without all their details?
  • What would Shabbat feel like without all its details? What do the details add?
  • How does it affect the way we do mitzvot to think that even the smallest details can connect us back to Har Sinai?
  • This midrash represents the position of R. Akiva (in Talmud Bavli Hagigah 6a). But R. Yishmael has a different take! He says that Moshe only received the general principles at Har Sinai, and the details came later. Why does it matter? How does our understanding of Torah, Moshe, and the Har Sinai experience change if you follow R. Akiva or R. Yishmael?