A Blessing of Prosperity

Question

Hi Rabbi,

I was wondering how it can be determined that the Torah was truly given by the Almighty and not by a person? Thanks and Shabbat Shalom.

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Answers

  1. The Just Ask! - AskTheRabbi.org Team

    When a university student who was brought up in a secular family has an opportunity to spend some time in a Yeshiva or Seminary, whether it be in Jerusalem or elsewhere, it is an opportunity to ask any question about Judaism. The question you ask here is actually one that a student recently asked me. Here is one answer I gave the student.

    I suggested that we study together the mitzvah of shemita — Israel’s Sabbatical year. It is the Sabbatical year in Israel now, when the entire land is left to “rest.”

    No human being would have the nerve to instruct an entire country to close up agricultural production for a year. The people would starve. Only a Creator can say, “Keep shemita and don’t worry. I will send My blessing, and in the sixth year the land will produce enough food for you, your families and your animals for three years.”

    Rabbi Yeshaya Karelitz (known fondly as the Chazon Ish) was a leader of the previous generation. He wrote that the special blessing of abundance applies even nowadays. He explained that the special blessing of prosperity that is written in the Torah is a general one for the country. It promises that we will have the abundance necessary to be able to exist. If we leave it to nature, a country not producing would starve. God guarantees us, however, that He will ensure our continued economic existence. How each farmer fares though, is determined by his individual situation.

    Here’s a story of one person. A farmer by the name of Baruch Horan of Rosh Pina reported seven years ago that despite very little rain during the rainy season that year, his crops grew double in size. He harvested the crops just in time, just before the arrival of heavy rain after Passover that would have destroyed his crops had he left them in the field. Because of the weather conditions, there was a scarcity of grain in the marketplace and the agricultural prices were higher than usual. He ended up receiving triple what he got the previous year.

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team