HaAretz Tluya B'Mitzvos

It's been a while since I offered any pearls form Niflaos MiTorasecha. For those who have forgotten (or never knew) this sefer is an anthology of words encoded in the Torah in Roshei Teivos and Sofei Teivos and the striking relevance to the context.

I have two tidbits to present. The first is actually from last week's Parsha and I apologize for my tardiness.

There is only one occurence of the word ציון (Tzion) in consecitive Sofei Teivos in all of Tanach! (No occurrences as Roshei Teivos at all!) It transverses these two psukim (Breishis 18:18,19):

יח-יט- וְאַבְרָהָם הָיוֹ יִהְיֶה לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל וְעָצוּם וְנִבְרְכוּ-בוֹ כֹּל גּוֹיֵי הָאָרֶצ: כִּי יְדַעְתִּיו לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר יְצַוֶּה אֶת-בָּנָיו וְאֶת-בֵּיתוֹ אַחֲרָיו וְשָׁמְרוּ דֶּרֶךְ יְהֹוָה לַעֲשׂוֹת צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט לְמַעַן הָבִיא יְהוָֹה עַל- אַבְרָהָם אֵת אֲשֶׁר-דִּבֶּר עָלָיו:

The code in this pasuk clearly indicates that the gift of Tzion is in the merit of following the path of HKBH and specifically doing צדקה and משפט (righteousness and justice).

The amazing thing is that this message is clearly reflected in the well known pasuk in Yeshaya (1:27) that we read every year before Tisha B'Av on Shabbos Chazon:

צִיּוֹן בְּמִשְׁפָּט תִּפָּדֶה וְשָׁבֶיהָ בִּצְדָקָה:

Rav Aranovsky also points out that the lead word in our pasuk that holds the first letter (צ ) of our hidden word is part of the word הארץ - the land!

The second tidbit is related to this week's Parsha, Chayei Sara. One would expect that a simple word such as פאה would have numerous occurrences in the Torah as Roshei Teivos. This is somewhat true. There are 8 occurrences plus another 27 elsewhere in Tanach. However, the Sofei Teivos is not so plentiful. There are 9 occurrences in Tanach but only one of these is in the Torah. And it is in this pasuk (Breishis 23:9):

וְיִתֶּן-לִי אֶת-מְעָרַת הַמַּכְפֵּלָה אֲשֶׁר-לוֹ אֲשֶׁר בִּקְצֵה שָׂדֵהו בְּכֶסֶפ מָלֵא יִתְּנֶנָּה לִּי בְּתוֹכֲכֶם לַאֲחֻזַּת-קָבֶר:

Rav Aranovsky explains that this seems to referee a well known dispute in the Mishna (Peah 1:3) between the Tana Kamma and Ravi Shimon (ben Yochai) as to whether one must designate Peah at the edge of his field or if it may even be in the middle of the field. The Tana Kamma is lenient (even the middle) and Rashbi is machmir (יתן בסוף).

Rambam (Matanot L'Aniyim 2:12) clearly rules like Rashbi that Peah can only be designated at the edge of one's field.

Our pasuk seems to have this in mind when it encodes the word Peah in thbis pasuk right next to the words אשר בקצה שדהו . It is as if the pasuk is saying that the Peah must be בקצה שדהו - at the edge of the field - just as is the ruling of Rambam!