Blog - Torah Insights

Two Cities, Two States of Being 

There are two locations in the land of Israel discussed in this week’s Torah portion. In the opening verses of the portion, we read about the ceremony that the Jewish people were to perform as soon as they entered the land: the declaration of the blessings and the curses between the two mountains Gerizim and Abal: 

Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse.

The blessing, that you will heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today;

and the curse, if you will not heed the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn away from the way I command you this day, to follow other gods, which you did not know.

And it will be, when the Lord, your God, will bring you to the land to which you come, to possess it, that you shall place those blessing upon Mount Gerizim, and those cursing upon Mount Ebal. (Deuteronomy 11:26-29)

Gerizim and Ebal surround the city of Shechem, which has a problematic history for the Jewish people. The outskirts of Shechem was the place where the sons of Jacob kidnapped and sold their brother as a slave. Quoting the Talmud, Rashi comments on the word Shechem and states: “A place destined for misfortune. There the tribes sinned, there Dinah was violated, there the kingdom of the house of David was divided”.

Later in the portion, the Torah describes another place, “the place G-d will choose”; a place where the Jewish people will go to celebrate the three annual pilgrim holidays and the place where they will gather to celebrate and consume the tithings of their produce: 

You shall tithe all the seed crop that the field gives forth, year by year.

And you shall eat before the Lord, your God, in the place He chooses to establish His Name therein, the tithes of your grain, your wine, and your oil, and the firstborn of your cattle and of your sheep, so that you may learn to fear the Lord, your God, all the days. (Deuteronomy 14:22-23)

These two places, Shechem and Jerusalem, represent two stages in the spiritual development of the collective Jewish people as well as every individual Jew. When we first enter the land of Israel, when we first begin our journey to reach a state of meaning, holiness, and closeness to G-d, we encounter the two mountains of Gerizim and Ebal, where we have to exercise our free choice to decide between good and evil, between the blessing and the curse. At the beginning of our spiritual development, we are pulled between the power of the holy and the seductive lure of negativity. When we first enter Israel, we are in Shechem, the place where struggle, failure, and ultimately correction are possible.  

And then we reach Jerusalem. 

Historically, Jerusalem was selected as “the place G-d will choose”, more than four centuries after the people entered the land. Jerusalem represents the deeper place in our soul and psyche where there is no inner struggle, only a wholesome experience of awareness and celebration of our connection to G-d. In Jerusalem, there is no struggle between the positive and the negative, between the physical and the spiritual. In Jerusalem, celebrating and consuming our grain and wine and eating the meat of the offerings is, in fact, a holy experience. In Jerusalem, our deepest core emerges. In Jerusalem the physical and spiritual parts of our life are integrated with one desire to serve and celebrate our connection to G-d.    

The Great Voice That Has No Echo 

Describing the revelation at Mount Sinai and the voice that the people heard, Moses says:  

The Lord spoke these words to your entire assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the opaque darkness, with a great voice, which did not cease. And He inscribed them on two stone tablets and gave them to me. (Deuteronomy 5:19)

The Hebrew words "Vlo Yasaf", translated here as "(the great voice) that did not cease", is one of the tricky words in Hebrew that are difficult to decipher because they have two opposite meanings." Vlo Yasaf", could mean (1) it did not cease, meaning it is ongoing. Or "Vlo Yasaf" could mean (2) it did not repeat, implying that the voice only happened once. Indeed, Rashi offers these two possible interpretations for this verse:  

Which did not cease: Heb. וְלֹא יָסָף, interpreted by the Targum: וְלָא פְּסָק "and it did not cease"... for His voice is strong and exists continuously. Another explanation of וְלֹא יָסָף: He never again revealed Himself so publicly [as He did on Mount Sinai. Accordingly, we render: and He did not continue].

The Midrash offers another interpretation, consistent with the second meaning - "it did not repeat". The Midrash explains that the great voice that the Jewish people heard at Sinai, did not have an echo. 

What is the significance of the voice at Sinai not having an echo? Wouldn't the powerful, booming voice of G-d create an enormous, awe-inspiring echo? An echo is formed when the sound waves hit a surface in which they cannot be absorbed; the sound waves bounce off the resistant substance and create an echo. When the Midrash says that the voice of Sinai had no echo, it indicates that the physical world did not resist the voice. Every aspect of the creation absorbed and internalized the word of G-d. 

Like every part of Torah this, too, is a message for our life. The Torah we study is not relegated to an abstract idea or thought-provoking belief system. The Torah permeates each and every part of our life, and infuses it with holiness. That is why the Ten Commandments address not only abstract belief systems: belief in one G-d, rejection of idolatry, and commemorating the Shabbat, but also mundane life: honor your parents, treat human life with dignity, and respect other people's property. The Ten Commandments cover the full gamut of The human experience, from the abstract to the practical, because the Torah has no echo; it permeates every part of our lives.

Where Do You Get Your Oil?

The Torah seems to spend a lot of time discussing the lands that the Jewish people conquered and settled east of the Jordan River, outside the borders of the original land of Israel. 

One of the cities mentioned in this week’s Parsha, Argov, or, as the Mishnah refers to it, Regev, was a city known for the quality of its oil, which was the second best in all the land of Israel. As the Mishnah tells us: 

Tekoa was the primary source of olive oil (for use in the Temple. The oil obtained from the city of Tekoa was the first grade and choicest among oils). Abba Shaul says, ‘Second best to Tekoa was Regev on the east bank of the Jordan River. (Mishnah, Menachot 8:3)

Like every word, law, and episode in the Torah, the discussion about the location of the choicest oil for the temple has a deeper spiritual meaning as well. 

Oil represents wisdom, enlightenment, and humility; the ability to put one’s ego, perspective, and limitations of self aside, in order to connect and be absorbed in something greater than self. The first opinion of the Mishnah implies that the oil for the temple, the ultimate state of negation of self and absorption within the holiness of G-d, can come only from the land of Israel, the land chosen and sanctified by G-d Himself. Only an extraordinary holiness can overwhelm the sense of self and pull the person into a greater spiritual experience and perspective. 

Abba Shaul disagrees.

True, Tekoa, in the land of Israel, is the “primary source of olive oil”, yet there is a “Second best to Tekoa”. The lands east of the Jordan, which were added to the land of Israel by the initiation, effort, and actions of the Jewish people, represent “man-made” holiness. This spiritual enlightenment and perspective is one that a person can create through their own effort and meditation. Abba Shaul teaches that the self-transcendence that a person can create through their own effort is “second to”, and therefore in the same category as, the holiness and inspiration that G-d created from above. 

The first opinion of the Mishnah teaches that the “oil” is accessible only through an extraordinary experience. Abba Shaul teaches that one can generate extraordinary inspiration within the ordinary experience. 

Perhaps this explains the fascination of the Torah with the lands east of Jordan. While a more intense and loftier holiness is available in Israel, the lands east of the Jordan represent a greater novelty, the ability to create holiness through human effort and enterprise. The lands east of the Jordan represent the ability of the Jewish people to generate holiness, not only in the land of Israel but in every part of the earth.

Adopted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Likkutei Sichos Devarim 24:3

The Meaning of the Land of Israel 

The story seems straightforward. Two tribes approach Moses and ask to be settled outside the land of Israel, in the lands which the Jewish people conquered east of the Jordan river. At first Moses is furious and frightened at what he sees as a potential reenactment of the episode of the spies forty years earlier. He suspects that the request is motivated by a fear to enter the land and is a rejection of the land of Israel. Moses agrees to their request only when the two tribes promise to lead the rest of the Jewish people in  battle for the conquest of Israel. If they keep their promise, Moses told them, they would be entitled to the land east of the Jordan. 

A careful reading of the discussion between Moses and the two tribes reveals, perhaps, that Moses was not just negotiating a deal with the tribes, but rather he was emphasizing to them the true meaning and value of the settlement in the land of Israel. 

The two tribes tell Moses that they have abundant cattle, and they describe the lands east of the Joradan as “a land of livestock”:  

The land that the Lord struck down before the congregation of Israel is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock." They said, "If it pleases you, let this land be given to your servants as a heritage; do not take us across the Jordan." (Numbers 32:4-5)

One of the major problems with their request is that it offers a glimpse into their perception of the land of Israel. If Israel is merely a place for the Jeiwsh people to settle and build a life for themselves, then indeed, there is no superior value to Israel over the lands east of the Jordan. On the contrary, for people who raise cattle, the lands east of the Jordan are better. 

In his response to the two tribes Moses keeps repeating one phrase: “before the Lord”:

Moses said to them, "If you do this thing, if you arm yourselves for battle before the Lord, `and your armed force crosses the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven out His enemies before Him, (32:20-21)

Moses was telling them that the value of Israel is primarily in the fact that it is the Holy Land, the land where one senses the presence of G-d, the land where we are “before the Lord”.  

Only once they understand and internalize the unique holiness of Israel does Moses allow them to embark on their spiritual purpose, which is also the purpose of each of us who live outside the borders of the land of Israel, namely, to spread the awareness of G-d that is native in Israel to the lands outside of Israel.  

Not Once, But Twice Everyday 

The daily offering in the temple was offered twice every day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. As the Torah relates in this week’s portion, G-d conveys the message to the people of Israel through Moses: 

And you shall say to them: This is the fire offering which you shall offer to the Lord: two unblemished lambs in their first year each day as a continual burnt offering. The one lamb you shall offer up in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer up in the afternoon. (Numbers 28:3-4)

Similarly, there is one other commandment that we are commanded to perform not just every day but twice every day: the commandment to recite the Shema, the declaration of the most fundamental principle of Judaism, the unity of G-d.  

In general, life can be divided into two phases: morning and evening. Morning represents the times when the figurative light is shining, we feel the blessings in our lives, we are filled with joy and enthusiasm, and we sense the Divine presence at our side. Life, however, contains moments and experiences of “evening” and “night”, moments of pain, darkness and despair, when we feel abandoned, alone, and G-d’s embrace is not felt. 

Judaism’s most important principle, the unity of G-d, means not only that there are no other G-ds, but rather that there is nothing that exists independent of G-d, and that G-d permeates all of reality. The mystical meaning of the verse in Genesis, “and there was evening and there was morning one day” is that both the figurative “evening” and the figurative “morning” are part of the “one”, the oneness of G-d. 

Twice a day, we declare, and in the tomes of the temple, we express through the daily offerings, that G-d is present and available both in the morning and in the evening, both in the times when we can sense his presence and in the moments when he can be felt through faith alone. 

“The one lamb”, representing complete devotion and connection to the one G-d, is offered in the morning and in the evening.  

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, 12 Tamuz, 1984 

Is Love Blinding? 

Do you see the faults of the people You Love? 

People fall in love, and when they do, they are blind to the faults of their beloved. They are oblivious even to faults that seem obvious to others. Such is the intoxicating power of exhilarating love.

Inevitably, however, the lovers awake to reality. They learn that, spoiler alert, the person they love is human and, like the rest of us, is imperfect. How do they respond then? Some resent the faults; some learn to make peace with them; others feel betrayed, deceived by the blinding love. 

In this week's Parsha, Billam, the greatest gentile prophet who was hired to curse the Jews, tries to remind G-d of the faults of his beloved Jewish people; alas, he fails completely. In his frustration, he declares:   

He {G-d} does not look at evil in Jacob, and has seen no perversity in Israel; the Lord, his God, is with him, and he has the King's friendship. (Numbers 23:21)

What is the meaning of "He does not look at evil in Jacob?" There are three interpretations of the verse, each representing a deeper level of love. 

Rashi begins by directing it to the Targum Onkolos's Aramaic translation of the Torah. According to Onkelos, it is absurd to think that G-d sees no iniquity in Jacob; after all, the Torah is full of episodes where the Jewish people are less than perfect. Instead, Onkelos explains that the verse refers to the most severe sin, the sin of idol worship.

He does not look at evil in Jacob: According to the Targum {Onkelos it means: I have looked. There are no idol worshippers in Jacob}.

According to Onkelos, G-d certainly sees the faults of the Jewish people, yet he can still love us because we are free of idol worship, the severest of all sins.

Rashi, however, introduces a second interpretation, a deeper level of love, which he refers to as "beautiful":

Another interpretation: Its literal meaning can be expounded beautifully. The Holy One, blessed is He, does not look at evil in Jacob. When they transgress His word, He does not deal punctiliously with them to scrutinize their wicked deeds and their iniquity in violation of His law. 

According to the second interpretation, we, of course, possess faults, yet G-d chooses to not focus on them. No one is perfect, but when people love each other they focus on each other's positive qualities and choose not to direct their attention toward the negative qualities. 

And finally, we reach the deepest level of love where there is no need to look away from any part of the other person. As the Rebbe explained:

He does not look at evil in Jacob: The reason G-d does not look at the evil in Jacob is because He looks at the Jew as having already fulfilled his potential to reorient the animal concerns of his consciousness (his animal "soul") toward Divinity. He thus transforms the animal soul into a positive force in his Jewish life, harnessing its raw power to pursue its interests in the service of his higher, Divine consciousness (his "Divine soul"). 

(Adapted from the Rebbe by the Kehot Chumash)

The third level of love is deep enough to allow us to view every aspect of the other person through the lens of love. For when we look at the other person's fault, we see not the current incarnation of the fault but rather the potential of the deeper connection and positive growth that can emerge from it. 

When The Jewish People Began to Sing On Their Own

At first glance, it is a very sad story. 

This week's Torah portion is a collection of somber episodes, among them the passing of Miriam and Aaron, who, together with Moses, led the Jewish people with love and dedication for more than forty years. It seems that even after an entire generation had passed, they were back to square one; once again, the Jewish people complained about the lack of water, questioning why Moses and Aaron led them out of Egypt. And, in a heartbreaking scene, as a result of Moses and Aaron striking the rock instead of speaking to it, it was decreed that Moses and Aaron would not lead the Jewish people into the promised land. 

Yet, when we take a more careful look, we can see that in many ways, this week's portion alludes to the profound success of Moses' mission. We look at the Jewish people in this week's portion the way parents often look at their teenage children who superficially seem utterly uninterested in the perspective and values of their parents, yet, in truth, under the rebellious spirit, the children are listening. The influence of their parents is germinating and taking root, and in time, will emerge and flourish. Specifically in this week's portion, we notice that the Jewish people have internalized Moses' influence. 

Toward the end of the portion, we read of the messengers dispatched to Sichon, the Emorite king, requesting permission to pass through his land. The verse states: 

​​Israel sent messengers to Sihon the king of the Amorites, saying: (Numbers 21:21) 

Rashi points out, that in the book of Deuteronomy, when Moses retells this story, Moses ascribes the sending of the messengers, not to Israel but to himself:

Israel sent messengers: Elsewhere, the sending [of messengers] is ascribed to Moses, as it says, "So I sent messengers from the desert of Kedemoth" (Deut. 2:26)... These verses supplement each other; one holds back [information by not informing us who authorized the sending of the messengers] and the other reveals [that Moses sent them]. Moses is Israel, and Israel is Moses. 

After all these years of complaints, of tension between Moses' effort to raise the people to a higher vision and consciousness and the Jewish people's fear, insecurity, lack of faith, and pettiness, we read these powerful words. The visions are aligned, the teachings have been internalized, "Moses is Israel and Israel is Moses". 

Forty years earlier, when the Jewish people crossed the sea, Moses led the Jewish people in the song of the sea: 

Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and they spoke, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for very exalted is He; a horse and its rider He cast into the sea. (Exodus 15:1)

The Talmud explains that the verse "Moses and the children of Israel" implies that Moses sang the words, and the Jewish people repeated the words Moses spoke. 

Forty years later, in our Parsha, the Jews once again sang a song of praise about water. They sang the song of the well: 

Then Israel sang this song: "'Ascend, O well,' sing to it! (21:17)

This time, however, the verse does not mention Moses. This time, the people did not repeat the words Moses was saying. By this time, Moses had taught them to sing on their own. 

Can Anyone Be a Levite? The Unconventional Takeaway From the Korach Story

Present Within Nature 

The episode of the biblical spies is a dramatic and tragic story. The spies dispatched to scout the land of Israel returned to the Jewish people in the desert and convinced them that they would be unable to conquer the land. The subsequent complaints led to G-d’s decree that the entire generation would perish in the desert and only their children would merit to enter the promised land.  

We cannot read the story without addressing the obvious question: how is it possible that the very people who experienced the miracles of the exodus from Egypt, the splitting of the sea, and the journey through the desert, would deny G-d’s ability to conquer the land? 

The Torah describes their claim: 

But the men who went up with him said, "We are unable to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. (Numbers 13:31)

Rashi explained that the word translates as “(stronger) than we”, in fact, means “(stronger) than He”, stronger than G-d himself:  

for they are stronger than we: Hebrew מִמֶּנּוּ, [which may also be interpreted as, they are stronger than he.] They said this in reference to the most High , as it were, [as if to say that the people are stronger than He.

It seems impossible that the spies and their audience would claim that the inhabitants of Canaan were more powerful than G-d! 

The Talmud (Sotah 35a) explains their claim. They said: ”Even the Homeowner, , is unable to remove His vessels from there, as it were.” They acknowledged that G-d is the “homeowner”, G-d is the creator and he can shatter the laws of nature, probabilities and statistics. Yet, they argued, the conquest of the land, which they were expected to achieve through a natural battle using military might and tactics, is different. Nature, they argued, is “His vessels”. While G-d can suspend the laws of nature when he chooses to, He values the laws of nature and allows them to play out in a natural way. The miracles of the exodus, therefore, are necessary for the chances of their success in a natural war. 

When Moses prays for forgiveness for the sin of the spies, he evokes not the name Hashem, which describes G-d’s compassion, revelation, expression, but rather, surprisingly, the name A-do-nai which is the name describing G-d’s disciple and power of concealment. Moses says: “Now, please, let the strength of the A-do-nai be increased.” Moses understood that the mistake of the spies was that they misunderstood the quality of G-d expressed by the name A-do-nai. They understood that G-d can express his infinite might by performing miracles, but they did not understand that G-d is present within the limited, finite, laws of nature which He created. Moses pleads that the name A-do-nai be strengthened. That the Jewish people recognize and perceive that presence and salvation of G-d present not only in the open revealed miracles but also in the daily natural events in our lives. 

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Likkutei Sichos 18 Shelach 4      

Until The Flame Will Rise By Itself 

"When you raise". What a beautiful name for a Parsha. Reading the opening verses of the Parsha, however, it is hard to see what exactly is being raised. The Torah states: 

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and say to him: "When you raise the lamps, the seven lamps shall cast their light toward the face of the menorah." (Numbers 8:2)

The opening commandment is to light the candles of the Menorah; why, then, does the Torah employ the verb "when you raise", instead of the straightforward "when you ignite"? Rashi explains that "when you raise", refers to the flame which rises upward, and the verse indicates that the priest who lights the candles must ensure that the wick takes hold of the flame to the extent that "the flame rises by itself": 

When you light: Hebrew בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ, lit., when you cause to ascend. Since the flame rises, Scripture describes kindling in terms of ascending. He is required to kindle the lamp until the flame rises by itself.

In his last talk on this Parsha, the Rebbe focused on the spiritual message of three of the words in Rashi's commentary: "the flame", "rises", "by itself".  

The flame: A person, like a candle, possesses the ingredients for light: a vessel, a wick, and oil. G-d provides us with the personality, skill and talent we need to bring light to our surroundings. But we alone can ignite the flame. We alone can create the warmth and the passion that will illuminate our own life and the lives of those around us.

Rises: The command "raise the lamps" is a continuous calling. We must continuously strive to grow and ascend. We must not be satisfied with the light we have already generated. "Raise the lamps" is the Torah's calling to continuously seek to intensify our commitment and to raise ourselves to ever greater heights, thereby increasing the potency and the extent of the light we produce.  

By itself: we must provide encouragement, inspiration, and light to the people around us until they internalize the inspiration and they too begin to shine on their own. This represents Judaism's insistence on a positive and optimistic view of reality. The insistence that ultimately, the Divine light will become internalized within ourselves, within the people in our circle of influence, and within the reality of the entire world. Ultimately, the world itself will "raise a flame by itself". The struggle to bring light to the world will ultimately transform the nature of the world itself, and the physical reality will itself be infused with holiness and light.  

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Behhaloscha 5751 (1991)

Count or Raise? 

Translation is a tricky business. Very often, when a word is translated to another language, some of its cultural, philosophical, and spiritual connotations can be lost. 

One example would be the first commandment of the Book of Numbers, when G-d commands Moses and Aaron to count the Jewish people. The verse states: 

Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by families following their fathers' houses; a head count of every male according to the number of their names. (Numbers 1:2)

The literal translation of the Hebrew word for "take the sum" {"Seu Et Rosh"}, is "lift up the head". Biblical Hebrew has multiple words for counting, such as "Lispor" or "Lifkod", so why does the Torah use the unusual term "lift up the head" instead of a more direct word for counting? 

The great 17th-century sage and Kabbalist known as the Holy Shalah explains that the purpose of the census was to "raise the head", to raise and elevate the importance of each individual. The sages explain that this census was associated with the temple's construction in the desert, "when He came to cause His Divine Presence to rest among them, He counted them". The Torah's message to each and every individual is that bringing G-dliness into this world, transforming the world into a home for the Divine presence, is dependent on every individual. Every individual must "raise up his head" and realize that the purpose of creation is in his or her own hands. 

As the Talmud teaches and codified by Maimonides: 

A person should always look at himself as equally balanced between merit and sin and the world as equally balanced between merit and sin… if he performs one mitzvah, he tips his balance and that of the entire world to the side of merit and brings deliverance and salvation to himself and others.

Discovering the Romance 

What is a marriage? Is it a contract of shared commitments and responsibilities or is it an expression of love and romance? 

The final portion of the book of Leviticus reads like a legal contract laying out the covenant between G-d and the Jewish people. If we follow the commandments of the Torah, then God will provide for us and bless us:

If you follow My statutes and observe My commandments and perform them, I will give your rains in their time, the Land will yield its produce, and the tree of the field will give forth its fruit. (Leviticus 26:3-4)

However, if we choose to violate the contract and abandon the Torah, we will be struck by terrible calamities, outlined in a painfully detailed description.

Yet the Kabbalists look at this Parsha, and they see the poetry, the love, and the romance hidden between the lines of the formal contract. Toward the end of the rebuke, the verse states despite the terrible rebuke, G-d will not annihilate his people: 

But despite all this, while they are in the land of their enemies, I will not despise them nor will I abhor them to annihilate them, thereby breaking My covenant that is with them, for I am the Lord their God. (Leviticus 26:44)

The Zohar focuses on the word "annihilate", "Lichalotam", and points out that the way the word is written in Torah is strikingly similar to the word bride, "Kallah". Read this way, the verse is saying that because the Jewish people are G-d's bride, not only will they survive, which is a given, but "I will not despise them nor will I abhor them"; the bride is always beautiful and beloved to G-d despite all external circumstances. The Zohar offers a beautiful parable: 

This is like a man who loves a woman who lives in a market of tanners , were she not there, he would never have entered there. Since she is there, seems to him like a market of spice merchants, where there are all the best odors in the world. (Zohar, Bechukotai 115b)

In the Talmud, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai teaches that the Divine presence is with the Jewish people in all their exiles: 

It is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai says: Come and see how beloved the Jewish people are before the Holy One, Blessed be He. As every place they were exiled, the Divine Presence went with them. (Talmud Megillah 29a)

In this passage in the Zohar, Rabbi Shimon's son, Rabbi Elazar, says something far more profound. Not only is G-d with His people, but because of His profound love, He experiences only the pleasurable fragrances of the spice market. Indeed, the entire purpose of the exile is for the Jewish people to transform the world from a space of a figurative "tanners market" to a market of fragrant spices.  

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Toras Menachem Tiferes Levi Yitzchok, Bechukosai

Are we Spiraling out of Control? 

The Torah Portion of Behar begins and ends with opposite extremes. It begins with the mention of Mount Sinai: “And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai”, then continues to describe the commandments of the sabbatical and jubilee years, which represent a time of peace and serenity, when the land is at rest, and liberty is proclaimed throughout the land. 

However, very quickly, the Torah turns to a series of laws, which, as the sages noted, represent a spiral descent into poverty and servitude.

Rashi, quoting the sages of the Talmud, explains that the order of the portions represents the admonishment against ignoring the laws of the sabbatical year, which will, in turn, bring about financial pressure and destitution.   

The passages {in this whole Portion} are written in a meaningful order: At first, Scripture admonishes us to observe Shemittah; then, if one covets money and becomes suspect of {unlawfully doing business with produce of} Shemittah, he will eventually {become destitute and} have to sell his personal belongings therefore, Scripture juxtaposes to it, “And when you make a sale”. If he still does not repent, he will eventually have to sell his inheritance (25:25). If he even then does not repent, he will eventually have to sell his home, and if even then, he does not repent, he will eventually have to borrow money with interest. Now, the later the scenario in this passage, the more severe it is; if he still does not repent, he will eventually have to sell himself {to his fellow Jew as a servant}; and if he has still not repented, not enough that he had to be sold to his fellow Jew - but he will {be forced to sell himself} even to a non-Jew. (Rash, Leviticus 26:1) 

The Portion begins with the mention of Sinai, the place where we received the Torah, in order to inform us of the purpose of the Torah which was given at Sinai. The ultimate goal of the Torah is to guide a person not so that he remain in a figurative desert, secluded from the temptations and pressures of civilization, but rather, the purpose of the Torah is to guide a person who will affect the world and create a home for G-d within the most mundane space. 

The purpose of the Torah is to apply Divine wisdom, holiness, and compassion, specifically within the natural world, which, left to its own devices, can deteriorate into a place of pain and difficulty. The purpose of Sinai is to empower us to overcome the obstacles in our path and to transform the natural world into a place of holiness and kindness.

This message is captured by the maxim of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, whose day of passing we celebrate on Lag Baomer, as quoted in the Ethics of our Fathers: 

Rabbi Shimon would say: There are three crowns—the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood and the crown of sovereignty—but the crown of good name surmounts them all. (Ethics of our Fathers, 4:13)

Greater than the crowns of Torah, priesthood, and Kingship, is the crown of a good name, which is acquired as a result of the performance of good deeds. Because, indeed, the purpose of the crown of Torah is to impact and transform the natural word. 

Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Lekkutei Sichos, 17 Behar - Lag-Baomer