Posted on 05/31/19
[Ed. Note] Out of the respect and recognition of the impact made by longtime BJL friend and contributor, Reb Shaya Gross, z’l, we will maintain a living memoriam to Shaya through the sweet words and thoughtful insights of his Divrei Torah. BJL readers will remember his weekly column on the Parsha and on various Torah ideas and concepts. These meaningful words will help us remember this special young man who will be sorely missed and for those who did not merit to know him, this will be the most appropriate way for them to become familiar with who he was.
This week’s Parsha discusses the Brachos we will receive when we fulfill all the Mitzvos that we are able to. The first bracha the Torah mentions is that we will be "showered" with Geshem [rain]. On a basic level, this refers to the rain which is the catalyst for the crops to grow.
On a deeper level, we are taught that there are three hundred and forty-three Mitzvos that we can only fulfill in Eretz Yisroel with the presence of the Beis Hamikdash. Three hundred and forty-three is the exact gematriya of Geshem. Hence, when Hashem says if we keep the Mitzvos we are able to, we will get Geshem, it can mean we will be able to fulfill all of the Mitzvos in Eretz Yisroel when we go into the Eretz Yisroel.
With the above idea, perhaps we can now understand the Pasuk in Shir Hashirim which says, ‘I am asleep but my heart is awake.' The words ‘I am asleep’ refers to Galus where we are spiritually asleep, but continues the Pasuk, ‘my heart is AWAKE’, ‘Awake’ is gematriya 270, the exact amount of Mitzvos we can keep even in exile!
[The above is based on a Shiur from Rav Shmuel Brazil Shlita.]
Perhaps that is why people feel sleepy and drowsy on rainy days, as the rain is a painful reminder that we don’t have the true Geshem of the 343 Mitzvos, and are thus spiritually asleep!
May we all work on keeping our hearts awake charged by the 270 Mitzvos we can fulfill even in Galus, and may we then merit soon to become completely awake, by being able to fulfill all the Mitzvos with the coming of Moshiach speedily in our days.