27 Feb PARSHAS KI SISA: LEAVE THE WORRYING TO G-D

Leave The Worrying
To — Avinu
BaShamayim [Our
Father In Heaven]
The pasuk [verse] at
the end of the parsha
says, “Three times in the year all males should
appear before the Master, Hashem, G-d of
Israel” [Shemos 34:23]. This is the source of
the obligation to be “Oleh Regel” — to go up
to the Beis HaMikdash [Temple] in
Yerushalayim [Jerusalem] — on Pesach,
Shavuos, and Succos. The next pasuk
continues, “…no man will covet your land
when you go up to appear before Hashem,
your G-d, three times a year” [34:24].
The simple interpretation of these pasukim
[verses] is that the primary thrust of the
command is to be “Oleh Regel”. As a
secondary point, the Torah informs us that
while one is away from home performing this
mitzvah, there is no need to fear that someone
will covet the land.
However, there is also a deeper message. The
Talmud says that one who does not own land
in Eretz Yisroel [the Land of Israel] is exempt
from the command of making the Festival

Pilgrimage [Pesachim 8b]. We cannot apply
the pasuk “no man will covet your land” to
such a person.
This seems grossly unfair. Why should
someone be exempt from “being seen by
HaShem [G-d]” (mitzvas Re’iyah) just
because he does not own real estate? Is the
Torah discriminating against the poor? What
is the connection between going up three
times a year and owning land?
Furthermore, the pasuk uses a strange
expression: “Three times in the year, all males
should appear before the Master (haAdon),
Hashem…” The phrase “Adon Hashem” is a
very uncommon expression. In fact, the only
other place in Chumash where this expression
is used is in Parshas Mishpatim [23:17], again
in connection with this same mitzvah of going
up to Yerushalayim on the Festivals.
The Sforno in Parshas Mishpatim says that
the use of the word “Adon” alludes to the fact
that HaShem is also the Master of the Land, as
it is written “For all the Land belongs to Me”
[Shemos 19:5]. In other words, in the final
analysis, the Ribbono shel Olam [Master of
the World] owns everything.

Through this Sforno, we can
understand a new insight
into the mitzvah of Aliyah
l’regel, going up to
Jerusalem on the holidays.
The mitzvah is not merely to
go up to Yerushalayim and
have a Yom Tov in the
presence of and under the
influence of the Beis
Hamikdash, the Temple. The
purpose of the mitzvah is to
emphasize that I can leave my house, my land
and my property unattended and not worry
about them. Why can I do that? Because,
ultimately, they are not mine. I should worry
about this land? It is not mine to worry about
— it is HaShem’s land. He will worry about it.
He will take care of it.
When a person returns a rental car, he merely
drives up to the return stand, drops off the
keys and drives away. Does he need to worry
about what will happen to the car? Avis
worries about that! It is not your car. It is their
car.
So too, when the Jewish people go to
Yerushalayim for the Festivals, not worrying

about the land is a means of testifying that
HaShem is the Master of the Land, and He
will take care of it.
Consequently, one who does not have land,
can not participate in this mitzvah, because he
cannot demonstrate this confidence in
HaShem’s ownership of the land through his
traveling to Yerushalayim.
The Torah emphasizes this same concept
through the Mitzvah of Shmita, the Mitzvah
of Yovel, and other Mitzvos. All teach the
same lesson — we are not the “baale-bos”. A
person’s beautiful home, on top of the hill, is
not really his, because ‘All the Land belongs
to Me’.