Parashat Behar Planning is bringing the Future into the Present.

The Parasha begins with the Pasuk….

דַּבֵֵּ֞ר אֶל־בְּנֵֵ֤י יִשְּרָאֵל֙ וְּאָמַּרְּתָָּ֣ אֲלֵהֶֶ֔ם כִֵ֤י תָבֹֹ֙או֙ אֶל־הָאֶָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶֶׁ֥ר אֲנִִ֖י נֹתֵָּ֣ן לָכֶֶ֑ם וְּשָבְּתָָּ֣ה

הָאֶָ֔רֶץ שַּבִָ֖ת לַּיהֹוָָֽה׃

“Speak to the People of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I give to you, the land shall observe a Shabbat of Hashem.”

This week’s Parasha introduces us to one of the mitzvot that applies only to the Land of Israel, the mitzvah of Shemita.

Shemita mirrors the Shabbat day of rest, by commanding us to observe a Shabbat of and for the Land.

Just as we refrain from working on Shabbat, Hashem commands us to count seven years and to rest the land on every seventh year.

Between last week’s Parasha, where we are commanded to count the Omer and this week’s Parasha, where we are commanded to count the Shemita-

Boy, we are commanded to do a lot of counting!

But I suggest that there is more to the picture than just counting….

As the hidden meaning behind counting is really planning…

There is one significant difference between these two acts of counting, and I believe it is a point that we can all learn from…

The counting of the Omer is written in the plural…. - וסְּפַּרְּתֵֶ֤ם לָכֶם

But here, in this Parasha, the command is written in the singular tense וְּסָפַּרְּתָָּ֣ לְּ ך

The Rabbi’s learn from this that the counting of the Omer is a responsibility of each person individually, each man for himself, a duty of the” many”.

In the case of Shemita, we learn that the counting is the responsibility of the Bet Din, specifically the Supreme Court, the Sanhedrin.

It is not each person’s responsibility- it is the responsibility of this one court, the Sanhedrin, to perform the counting for the Nation.

Is there really a difference between the two? You count, I count, we count… what’s the difference, as long as it gets counted??

The difference is important as the difference is in the focus of the counting.

When we are counting as individuals, we worry about one day at a time- I counted today, I can now count tomorrow…focusing on the present moment…

But Shemita is different- the important principle here is in leadership... How so?

As private people, we worry about tomorrow and the day after- But the Sanhedrin counts in years, they count in the long term, focusing their attention on what is ahead, the future.

Leaders, if they are wise leaders, think about the impact of their decisions, on the effect their decisions will have in many years from now…

For myself, the one point I always remembered after traveling to China for the past 40 years, was that the Chinese leaders always had a plan, a 25-year plan as they called it, never planning for tomorrow specifically.

They sought ideas and answers for the future of their country, having the patience to watch a long-term plan come to fruition.

Jewish history is full of such long-term planning and thinking as well…

For example, Moshe, on the eve of the Exodus from Egypt, focuses the people’s attention on how they will tell the Story of their Exodus to their children in the years to come.

Why? Because he wanted the children to learn and remember their past thru education- one of the most empowering insights of the Jewish religion. Or, the Rabbis of the early eras, who formulated the תורה שבעל פה , into the Mishnah and Gemara for the purpose of formulating a structure of the laws of Judaism, Or how these Rabbinical leaders formulated our prayers into the Siddur as we know it today. These leaders did what no others were able to accomplish by organizing and refining a way of life for future Jews. Great leaders understand that the future is based on the study of the past, and then think long term and build the future. I believe, great Jewish leaders would always ask: How will our decisions affect the entire Jewish Community 25,50 or even 100 years from now? Our task, as we are all leaders in our own right, is to think and build not solely for ourselves, but for our children, our grandchildren and even our great grandchildren. The leadership challenge in Parashar Behar teaches us to count the years, not the days, and to have a keen knowledge of the past, while always keeping your eyes firmly fixed on the future, for the future belongs to the people, who prepare for it today

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