Behar Bechukosai
The passuk states by the klalos, “והשלחתי בכם את חית השדה ושכלה אתכם, and I will send against you the wild animals of the field, and they will make you barren.” Rashi writes Hashem will not only punish people who do not heed the Torah by sending wild animals against them, but He will even send domesticated animals against them. This is derived from the passuk in Parshas Haazinu which states, “ושן בהמות אשלח בם, and the tooth, hinting at the biting of animals I will send against you.”
The Gemara quotes Rebi Shimon ben Elazar who said, “You don’t have to guard a day-old child from the weasel and from mice, whereas the mighty giant Og Melech haBashan who’s dead, needs to be guarded from them. This is hinted at in the passuk which states, “ומוראכם וחתכם יהיה על כל חית הארץ, and your fear and scare will be upon all the wild animals of the land.” The Maharsha points out that there is a double usage of fear, ‘ומוראכם’ and ‘וחתכם.’ Since ומוראכם would have been sufficient, this implies that there is something to darshin from the additional word וחתכם. The lashon חתתם is like ‘חיותכם, your life.’ As long as a person is alive his fear is placed upon beings; however, once he dies, his fear ceases to be felt. Rav Papa said that a lion doesn’t pounce upon two people as it states “ומוראכם וחתכם” in the plural form. The Gemara relates a story where a lion fell upon two people which the Gemara explains that a wild animal doesn’t reign over a person until he appears as an animal. This is hinted at in Tehillim with the words, “אדם ביקר בל ילין נמשל כבהמות נדמו, a person cannot guarantee his importance to remain overnight until the morning as they are considered like an animal. The Maharsha writes the lashon נמשל means to “מושל, rule,” an animal will rule over a person by attacking and injuring him. The person was punished with the death-penalty by Shamayim and therefore seemed to the lion as an animal, who ruled over him.
The Maharsha writes that the fear of a person upon animals is because of a person’s neshama that is inside him, which is the tzelem Elokim. When a person learns Torah and performs mitzvos, he brings light and a shine to his body and as Rabbi Avigdor Miller would say that the neshama is expressed with its shine on a person’s forehead. When a person appears as an animal it reflects that his neshama has left him and he is “darkened” to seem comparable to other animals.
May we learn Torah and perform mitzvos and merit for our neshama to shine bright light and protect us!
