The first Medrash Rabbah in Parshas Bechukosai links the opening pasuk of the parsha, “If you will follow My decrees and observe My commandments and perform them; then I will provide your rains in their time, and the land will give its produce and the tree of the field will give its fruit” (Bamidbar 26:3) with the pasuk in Tehillim “I considered my ways and returned my feet to Your testimonies.” (Tehillim 119:59).
The Medrash comments: Dovid said, “Master of the Universe, every single day I make a mental calculation and say to myself that I am going to such and such a place.” The Medrash, in other words, is concentrating on the expression Im Bechukosai Teleichu (if you will WALK in My statutes). This is a strange expression. We might expect it to say “If you will OBSERVE my statutes.” Based on the use of the verb Teleichu (walk), the Medrash cites the pasuk in Tehillim which relates that each morning Dovid HaMelech would wake up and think to himself of all the places where he was going to go that day. But Dovid concluded that despite his thoughts and plans, his feet would always bring him to Houses of Prayer and Study. Regardless of his mental thoughts, his feet would automatically always take him to theBeis Medrash.
That is the Medrash Rabbah as we have it. The Kesav Sofer, however, quotes a different version of this same Medrash. In the version that the Kesav Sofer cites, Dovid HaMelech is saying that every morning he woke up planning to go to the theaters, the circuses, and the stadiums but instead his feet took him to the Houses of Prayer and Study.
We can better understand Dovid waking up in the morning and saying “I need to go shopping, I need to go to Walmart, I need to go here, I need to go there, etc.” We can understand some optional errands on his agenda that would take him here and there. But why would Dovid HaMelech want to go into the theaters and circuses and stadiums? This is harder for us to understand. Why would he want to do that?
The Kesav Sofer offers two interpretations. One interpretation is that Chazal say that in future times, all stadiums and theaters are going to be converted into Houses of Study and Prayer. Dovid HaMelech is saying “Ribono shel Olam, I can’t wait for that day to happen. I want to be able to go to the CONVERTED theaters and stadiums.” The Ribono shel Olam says “No! That will only happen in the distant future. In the meantime, your feet will take you to the real Houses of Study and Prayer.”
That is the first interpretation of the Kesav Sofer. But then he gives an incredible second interpretation: Dovid HaMelech wanted to go to the stadium. He wanted to go to the theaters. Why was that? It is because he wanted to see how athletes act and how sports fans act. He wanted to observe the devotion that an athlete puts into his profession.
When we read about people who are superior athletes, it is amazing to see how many hours a day they spend training to perfect their skills. Such swimmers or gymnasts—sometimes young children—who are competing for Olympic medals, spend an incredible amount of time training with intensity before their competition. It is their life! They spend eight or ten hours a day for years at a time!
Those are the athletes themselves. But also consider the sports fans: The obsession people have for sports cannot be fully described. I know a little bit about the Orioles and the Ravens. Okay, I can’t say I am such a Tzadik that I am totally aloof from that. Fine. But on the radio, it is incredible what happens on the “sports channels.” People can talk about their teams and analyze all the players 24 hours a day, seven days a week! “Draft Day” is like a “three-day-Yom Tov.” It is not even a game! They spend three days speculating who a franchise MAY take to play on the team in the future. Then there is all the analysis—did they choose right or did they not choose right! Maybe they should have picked someone else!
Dovid HaMelech wanted to see what constitutes dedication and what constitutes total involvement in an avocation! What does it mean to love something with all your heart? He said, “I want to go to the theaters and to the circuses because I know that there, I will see examples of total dedication to an avocation—and from there I want to learn how to apply such dedication to my own learning and my own Service to Hashem!”
There is a famous vort from the Chofetz Chaim. At a Siyum Masechta we say “We toil and they toil; we toil and receive reward, they toil and do not receive reward, we run and they run…” The Chofetz Chaim asked “Who cares that ‘they run’? Who cares how ‘they toil’?” He gives the same answer: If someone wants to know what true toil is—look at them! If someone wants to know what true passion is—look at them! This is the type of compassion and commitment we need to bring to our own Avodas HaShem (Divine Service).
That, says the Kesav Sofer, is the interpretation of this Medrash, according to his version of the text.
R' Frand
