​Parshiot Behar-Bechukotai 5786, 2026: "Yemot HaMashiach"

 
Rabbi David Etengoff
 
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
Parashat Bechukotai contains a variety of rewards with which we will be blessed, “if you will follow My statutes and observe My commandments and perform them.” One of these is the removal of wild beasts from the Land. (26:3, 6, Tanach translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach). The Sifra presents two very different interpretations of this bracha:
 
Rabbi Yehudah said: “[Hashem] will remove them [the wild and dangerous beasts] from the world. Rabbi Shimon said: “[Hashem] will control them [the wild beasts] so they will no longer cause injury.” Rabbi Shimon [also] said: “When is there the greatest praise to the Omnipresent One, when there are no injurious creatures or when there are dangerous creatures that longer cause injury? One must say that [Hashem’s praise is most clearly manifest] when there are injurious creatures that no longer cause any damages. (Parashat Bechukotai 1:2:1, translation and brackets my own)
 
In sum, Rabbi Yehudah maintains that Hashem will remove the wild and dangerous animals from the world so that they will no longer pose any threat to humankind. In contrast, Rabbi Shimon asserts that the Almighty will keep the world’s ecological structure intact. He will, however, alter the nature of the heretofore-dangerous animals so that they will live in peace with the rest of the world. The Sifra clearly supports Rabbi Shimon’s opinion, as it continues with one of Yeshayahu’s best-known verses:

And a wolf shall live with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie with a kid; and a calf and a lion cub and a fatling [shall lie] together, and a small child shall lead them. And a cow and a bear shall graze together, their children shall lie; and a lion, like cattle, shall eat straw. And an infant shall play over the hole of an old snake and over the eyeball of an adder, a weaned child shall stretch forth his hand. (Sefer Yeshayahu, 11:6-8)
 
While the Sifra, and other Midrashim (such as Pesikta Zutarta, Parashat Bechukotai 26:6), support Rabbi Shimon’s view that Hashem will literally alter the nature of dangerous carnivorous animals, the Rambam (Maimonides, 1135-1204) did not follow this approach. Instead, he views these verses in Yeshayahu, and parallel passages in Nevi’im, as metaphors for the Messianic Age:

Do not presume that in the Messianic Age any facet of the world’s nature will change or there will be innovations in the work of creation. Rather, the world will continue according to its pattern. Although Yeshayahu 11:6 states: “The wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the young goat,” these words are a metaphor and a parable. … Similarly, other Messianic prophecies of this nature are metaphors. In the Messianic era, everyone will realize which matters were implied by these metaphors and which allusions they contained. (Mishneh Torah, Sefer Shoftim, Hilchot Melachim 12:1, this, and all Mishneh Torah translations, Rabi Eliyahu Touger, underlining my own)
 
The Ra’avad (Rabbi Avraham ben David, c. 1125-1198) pointedly took the Rambam to task for stating that such passages from Nevi’im were metaphors and parables. After all, he contends, does not the Torah explicitly state: “I will remove wild beasts from the Land?” If so, how is possible to imagine that the Prophets’ words were mere allegories?

Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch shlita, the contemporary Israeli posek, and former Chief Rabbi Ra’avad of the Edah HaChareidit in Jerusalem, suggests that the crux of the dispute between the Rambam and the Ra’avad is found in their respective analyses of the phrase, “I will remove wild beasts from the Land.” In Rav Sternbuch’s view, the Rambam maintains that the Messianic times will be a period wherein “the wild beasts will no longer be able to do harm to mankind.” This, Rav Sternbuch suggests, “is not a change in nature, [since it is not] manifestly evident to one and all.” In contrast, he asserts that the Ra’avad championed the view of Rabbi Yehudah, as found in the above-cited Sifra. Namely, “I will remove wild beasts from the Land” should be taken literally, “this means there will longer be any violent animals.” In other words, vicious and carnivorous beasts will simply cease to exist. (Sefer Ta’am v’Da’at, Parashat Bechukotai, 26:6).

Throughout our long and storied history, our people have longed for the arrival of the Mashiach. Over and over again we have asked ourselves the same question: “How will we know when he has finally arrived?” Once again, the Rambam helps us answer this crucial question:

King Messiah will arise in the future and return the kingship of David to its former greatness and glory. He will rebuild the Holy Temple and gather all of the exiles to the Land of Israel. All of the laws will be in effect during his days just as they were in earlier times. We will [once again] offer korbanot (animal offerings) and keep the laws of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years just like all of the other laws stated in the Torah. (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Melachim 11:1)
As clear cut as these words may seem, how will we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the one who accomplishes these holy tasks is indisputably the one and only Mashiach? The Rambam answers:

If a king will arise from the House of David, who, like his ancestor David, diligently contemplates the Torah and observes its mitzvot as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law, and will compel all of Israel to walk in (the way of the Torah) and rectify the breaches in its observance, and fight the wars of God, we may, with assurance, consider him Mashiach. If he succeeds in the above, builds the Temple in its place, and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely the Mashiach. (11:4, underlining and emendations my own)

One of our tasks as ovdei Hashem is to be an or l’amim (light unto the nations, Sefer Yeshayahu 49:6). Little wonder, then, that our hopes and desires for the imminent coming of Mashiach are universalistic ones that embrace a vision of peace for all the nations of the world. Consequently, the Rambam concludes with these inspiring words:

He will then improve the entire world, motivating all the nations to serve God together, as Sefer Tzephaniah 3:9 states: “I will transform the peoples to a purer language that they all will call upon the name of God and serve Him with one purpose.”
 
At that time, the famous words of Zechariah the prophet will be realized and ring true throughout the entire world: “And the Lord shall become King over all the earth; on that day shall the Lord be one, and His name one.” (14:9) May this time come soon and in our days. V’chane yihi ratzon.

Shabbat Shalom
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