The parsha of tochacha is immediatly followed by the parsha of archin that deals with the halachos of a person who pledges his value to the mikdash. Why are these two topics juxtoposed? When a person reads the tochacha he/she is liable to become despondant and give up hope, thinking that the punishments are so severe and the demands so difficult. R' Moshe Shternbruch (Ta'am v'Da'as) writes that we learn from the parsha of archin that if a person makes a pledge and does not have enough money to pay the price set by the Torah, instead of paying the full amount the person can pay whatever he/she is able to contribute, heseg yad. The Torah wishes to stress that achieving the impossible is not what the Torah demands; a person simply must achieve the best that he or she can.
The Ishbitzer further explains that the parsha of archin introduces the concept of pidyon, redemption. Not only can a person redeem his own pledge, but even a relative or neighbor can offer redemption on another's behalf. It is this possibility of redemption, whether through one's own efforts or through the help of another, that the Torah wishes to highlight after the tochacha to underscore that no person is every lost or beyond hope.
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It may be significant that the parsha of arachin is one in which the remedy is for a situation that the person himself caused, rather that being for an obligatory mitzvah. Perhaps the lesson can be that a person's redemption from despondency is contingent upon their continuing to strive for a dynamism within their avodah, rather than cowering in passivity.
ReplyDeletenice thought josh
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