Behar-Bechukosai: Komemiyus!

A revolutionary educator and builder of Torah, the famed Alter of Slabodka, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, zt’l, reoriented the focus of avodas Hashem on gadlus ha-adam, the inherent greatness of the human being. The Alter’s son-in-law and successor, Rav Yitzchak Eizik Sher, zt’l, transmitted the derech of Slabodka to the post-War generation of bnei Torah in Eretz Yisrael. A role model in middos development and gaon in Torah, “Reb Eizik” provided inspiration, instruction, and spiritual guidance to students throughout the land.

Among those drawn to Reb Eizik was a young student at Yeshivas Chevron who had the privilege of escorting Reb Eizek home from yeshiva after davening each day.

One morning, as they reached the door of Reb Eizek’s apartment, the Rosh Yeshivah shook his head and declared, “Nisht azoi, not like that….” Reb Eizek then turned around and began to make his way back to the yeshivah. When they arrived, Reb Eizek nodded to the young man and said, “Noch amohl, again” and began to walk back home, following the same route they always took. The young man looked quizzically at the RoshYeshivah.

Rav Eizik then adjusted his frock, rolled back his shoulders, stood up straight, and looked the bachur in the eye: “Azoi, like this… geit a general, the way a general walks…” Standing tall and proud, together the Rebbe and talmid walked home.

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Our sidrah describes the “posture” in which Hashem took us out of our constricted state of slavery in Egypt: 

“I am Hashem, your G-d, Who took you out of the land of Egypt from being slaves to them; and I broke the pegs of your yoke and led you upright.” (26:13)

Rashi quotes Midrash Toras Kohanim and says that komemiyus, upright, means erect in stature due to your relief from bondage. After generations of suffering and slavery, Hashem delivers us from exile, and not just physically, but by restoring our posture, our “stature.”

Rabbi Meir says: In the future, the Jewish people will have the stature of two hundred cubits, equivalent to two times the height [komot] of Adam the first man, whose height was one hundred cubits. Rabbi Meir interprets the word komemiyus as two komos, or levels (Bava Basra, 75a), implying that in the future, the Jewish people will have the stature of two hundred amah, cubits, equivalent to two times the height [komos] of Adam HaRishon, whose height was one hundred cubits. Beyond this change in our physical size and stability, our Gemara teaches that in the end of days, Am Yisrael will transcend the level of existence that we had at the point of the creation of mankind.

Sefas Emes unfolds this insight. Each of us is made up of two komos: the physical level and the spiritual level. Our physical body, whose height we can measure on the outside, is the vessel. Our spiritual soul, the light within the vessel, has its own kind of stature. Although there is a tension between the priorities and needs of the physical and spiritual, by observing mitzvos and committing to living Yiddishkeit with passion, we can achieve balance of these two komos and achieve the fullness of our potential by standing tall. We can assume our ultimate form and express our inherent spiritual level of greatness. This is the essence of standing in our komemiyus: upright, with pride in our identity, observance, and in the posture of our inner greatness.

Throughout more than half-century of leadership, The Lubavitcher Rebbe launched campaigns toward cultivating “gaon Yaakov,” restoring authentic Jewish pride based on a return to Jewish identity, practice, values, ritual, and tradition. The Rebbe assumed the mantle of leadership in the shadow of the Holocaust, and breathed new life, hope, and confidence into a broken nation emerging from darkness and the brink of decimation. The Rebbe’s spiritually radical model of “Mitzvah Campaigns” still challenges members of our community to step out of their comfort zones and share our wealth of knowledge, opportunities, and blessings with others. From asking men on the street to lay tefillin and women to light Shabbos candles, to holding massive Lag Ba’Omer parades and public Menorah lightings, the Rebbe made it his mission, and every Jew’s mission, to reach out and reveal the greatness, the treasure, of every Yiddish neshamah.

Participating in Jewish life, fulfilling mitzvos, and being empowered by Jewish education and engagement, gaon Yaakov can even manifest geopolitically, as a national sense of self-respect, empowerment, and pride. This is komemiyus: full-stature living.

This week Am Yisrael celebrates Yom Yerushalayim, marking the miraculous restoration of numerous essential physical and spiritual levels in our development as a sovereign nation in our Homeland. The victories of the Six-Day War revealed Divine providence and gaon Yaakov, authentic Jewish pride, another step toward the fulfillment of daily prayer: “Hasten and bring upon us blessing and peace quickly from the four corners of the earth and speedily lead us upright to our homeland!” In our days, we are witness to (and participants in!) awesome military miracles and open Divine intervention. May Hashem bless us with continued progress toward the geulah sheleimah, and may all of Knesset Yisrael return from our exile with our heads held high, not in apologetic meekness.

P.S. The young man who escorted Reb Eizek each day and learned the lesson in gadlus ha-adam, Rav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi, zt’l, one of the preeminent roshei yeshivah in Yerushalayim, one of our generation’s great progenitors of the honor of Torah. n

Excerpted from Rav Judah’s upcoming “Baderech: Along the Path of the Torah” (Summer 2026/5786).

Rav Judah Mischel is executive director of Camp HASC, the Hebrew Academy for Special Children and the author of the “Baderech” series. Rav Judah lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his wife, Ora, and their family.