פרשת בהר-בחקתי: Using the Text Comparator screen to find similarities between a קריאה and its הפטרה

ערב ש"ק, כ"א אייר, ל"ו בעומר

 פרשת בהר-בחקתי

Over the generations, people have been captivated by being able to determine the connection between the week’s קריאת התורה and its הפטרה.  Sometimes the connection is obvious and sometimes it is not easy to find.

Base HaSefer provides tools to compare the two קריאות.  This week we will אי"ה introduce a series of articles which will appear from time to time, the goal of which will be to offer practical examples of how to use the software to find the common connections.

In our first entry in this series, we encounter a parsha where it’s not so easy to find links between the kria and its haftara.  As opposed to the rich array of similarities between last week’s parsha and haftara in אֱמֹר, for בחקתי (ויקרא כו:ג - כז:לד, ירמיהו טז:יט - יז:יד) we encounter slim pickings. 

Among all the various comparison methods offered by Base HaSefer for comparing shared words or consecutive words, the only one that remotely binds the two sections within Tanach in a unique way is that the shoresh קדח occurs in each section once (ויקרא כו:אז, ירמיהו יז:ד), making up 25% of the total of 8 occurrences of that shoresh in Tanach.  Still, this small clue might give us a hint as to what’s coming.  Additionally, if we examine the word pattern *קדחת*, this occurs only here and in one other place in Tanach (דברים כח:כב) in the תוכחה of כי תבא.

Since within the Text Comparator, the option to run an LCS analysis (Longest Common Subsequence) often reveals interesting common streams of words in sequence, I looked there but initially couldn’t find anything of note.  Sometimes a reverse-order LCS comparison can reveal undetected commonalities, so I tried that.

Some of the most interesting connections are found when all words of the match are found in a single pasuk on each side.  We again encounter ירמיהו יז:ד, this time in conjunction with ויקרא כו:מא where (not in the same order), we have the shorashim ארץ and איב adjacent to each other.  Interestingly, ויקרא כו:טז,מא are at the very beginning and the very end of the תוכחה and in a way form natural bookends to the תוכחה.

If we go back and do a search on how often this happens in Tanach, we find that it occurs a total of 14 times: one in our haftara and six in our kria. If we specifically look for the adjacent word patterns בארץ איבי* (regardless of order) then the total in Tanach is reduced to seven – the same one in our haftara plus three in בחקתי plus three others.

The repeated traffic we have encountered in ירמיהו יז:ד now causes us to examine the pasuk more closely against both of the aforementioned “bookend” pesukim in בחקתי

(ירמיהו יז:ד) וְשָׁמַטְתָּה וּבְךָ מִנַּחֲלָתְךָ אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לָךְ וְהַעֲבַדְתִּיךָ אֶת אֹיְבֶיךָ בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדָעְתָּ כִּי אֵשׁ קְדַחְתֶּם בְּאַפִּי עַד עוֹלָם תּוּקָד

(ויקרא כו:טז) אַף אֲנִי אֶעֱשֶׂה זֹּאת לָכֶם וְהִפְקַדְתִּי עֲלֵיכֶם בֶּהָלָה אֶת הַשַּׁחֶפֶת וְאֶת הַקַּדַּחַת מְכַלּוֹת עֵינַיִם וּמְדִיבֹת נָפֶשׁ וּזְרַעְתֶּם לָרִיק זַרְעֲכֶם וַאֲכָלֻהוּ אֹיְבֵיכֶם

(ויקרא כו:מא) אַף אֲנִי אֵלֵךְ עִמָּם בְּקֶרִי וְהֵבֵאתִי אֹתָם בְּאֶרֶץ אֹיְבֵיהֶם אוֹ אָז יִכָּנַע לְבָבָם הֶעָרֵל וְאָז יִרְצוּ אֶת עֲוֺנָם

 

In addition to two other similar pesukim in בחקתי:

one pasuk found sandwiched within the תוכחה

(ויקרא כו:לט) וְהַנִּשְׁאָרִים בָּכֶם יִמַּקּוּ בַּעֲוֺנָם בְּאַרְצֹת אֹיְבֵיכֶם וְאַף בַּעֲוֺנֹת אֲבֹתָם אִתָּם יִמָּקּוּ

and one pasuk in the section of נחמה just after the תוכחה

(ויקרא כו:מד) וְאַף גַּם זֹאת בִּהְיוֹתָם בְּאֶרֶץ אֹיְבֵיהֶם לֹא מְאַסְתִּים וְלֹא גְעַלְתִּים לְכַלֹּתָם לְהָפֵר בְּרִיתִי אִתָּם כִּי אֲנִי ה' אֱלֹהֵיהֶם

We now notice the additional צד השוה of the shoresh אף and can add it to the search mix.

• A shoresh search for pesukim containing both קדח and אף ==> yields only our two pesukim of  (ויקרא כו:טז, ירמיהו יז:ד) and two other pesukim in Tanach
• A letter-only search for pesukim containing both the word patterns *קדחת* and *אפ*   ==> yields only our pesukim
• A search for pesukim containing all three shorashim ארץ איב אף  ==> yields only our pesukim (ויקרא כו:לט,מא,מד, ירמיהו יז:ד) and one other pasuk in Tanach
• A letter-only search for pesukim containing all three word patterns בארץ איבי* *אפ*  ==> yields only our pesukim (ויקרא כו:מא,מד, ירמיהו יז:ד) and one other pasuk in Tanach

According to these results, the uniqueness of the commonality between our haftara and kria, and even more specifically between ירמיהו יז:ד and  ויקרא כו:טז,מא  has jumped significantly even yielding one comparison with perfect uniqueness within all of Tanach.

One more interesting thing about the shoresh אף in our current context:

The “bookend” pesukim ויקרא כו:טז,מא  contain the first and last אף in of the תוכחה in בחקתי.  There are midrashim on each of these pesukim that tie their אף (literally meaning “even”) into other expressions found elsewhere of אף with a different literal meaning but with an implied connection:

מדרש הגדול (מובא בספר תורה שלמה) – (שמות כב:כג) "וחרה אפי" נאמר כאן, ונאמר להלן (ויקרא כו:טז) "אף [אני אעשה זאת]". מה אף האמור להלן דבר וחיה רעה, אף אף האמור כאן דבר וחיה רעה...

איכה רבה (א:נז) - אַתְּ מוֹצֵא שֶׁבַּדָּבָר שֶׁחָטְאוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל בּוֹ לָקוּ וּבוֹ מִתְנַחֲמִים..... חָטְאוּ בְּאַף, דִּכְתִיב (יחזקאל ח, יז): "וְהִנָּם שֹׁלְחִים אֶת הַזְּמוֹרָה אֶל אַפָּם", וְלָקוּ בְּאַף, דִּכְתִיב (ויקרא כו, מא): "אַף אֲנִי אֵלֵךְ עִמָּם בְּקֶרִי". וּמִתְנַחֲמִין בְּאַף, דִּכְתִיב (ויקרא כו, מד): "וְאַף גַּם זֹאת בִּהְיוֹתָם בְּאֶרֶץ אֹיְבֵיהֶם לֹא מְאַסְתִּים וְלֹא גְעַלְתִּים לְכַלֹּתָם לְהָפֵר בְּרִיתִי אִתָּם"

As indicated earlier, the תוכחה in בחקתי is bookended with אף.  It’s fitting to point out that the אל אפם of Yechezkel is one of the 18 תיקוני סופרים that are found in Tanach and here אפם is brought as a euphemism for the genuine meaning which would have been implied by אפי - the exact same word form as the וחרה אפי that’s found in the pasuk from ספר שמות.

And now with a hint from the לשון of שמיטה that we find in the linchpin pasuk of our haftara with - "(ירמיהו יז:ד) "וְשָׁמַטְתָּה, we might discern the central core of what led to all the חרון אף.  A neglect of the various times of rest and cessation of מלאכה ordained by ה' as in שבת, מועדים in Behar (and possibly by extension with שמיטה ויובל in Emor).  And emphasized in the תוכחה by:

(ויקרא כו:לד) אָז תִּרְצֶה הָאָרֶץ אֶת שַׁבְּתֹתֶיהָ כֹּל יְמֵי הׇשַּׁמָּה וְאַתֶּם בְּאֶרֶץ אֹיְבֵיכֶם אָז תִּשְׁבַּת הָאָרֶץ וְהִרְצָת אֶת שַׁבְּתֹתֶיהָ (כו:לה) כׇּל יְמֵי הׇשַּׁמָּה תִּשְׁבֹּת אֵת אֲשֶׁר לֹא שָׁבְתָה בְּשַׁבְּתֹתֵיכֶם בְּשִׁבְתְּכֶם עָלֶיהָ

What might lead someone to disregard times for cessation? – lack of בטחון.  In contrast, בטחון leads to ברכה as we see slightly later in our haftara:

 (ירמיהו יז:ז) בָּרוּךְ הַגֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר יִבְטַח בַּה' וְהָיָה ה' מִבְטַחוֹ

And interesting that the sins leading to punishments that are mentioned in the heart of the תוכחה come as a rejection of the section of parshas Behar that we read this week not long before the תוכחה of בחקתי – that בטחון leads to unforeseen ברכה מן השמים

(ויקרא כה:יט) וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֶת חֻקֹּתַי וְאֶת מִשְׁפָּטַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם וִישַׁבְתֶּם עַל הָאָרֶץ לָבֶטַח (כה:יט) וְנָתְנָה הָאָרֶץ פִּרְיָהּ וַאֲכַלְתֶּם לָשֹׂבַע וִישַׁבְתֶּם לָבֶטַח עָלֶיהָ (כה:כ) וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ מַה נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת הֵן לֹא נִזְרָע וְלֹא נֶאֱסֹף אֶת תְּבוּאָתֵנוּ (כה:כא) וְצִוִּיתִי אֶת בִּרְכָתִי לָכֶם בַּשָּׁנָה הַשִּׁשִּׁית וְעָשָׂת אֶת הַתְּבוּאָה לִשְׁלֹשׁ הַשָּׁנִים (כה:כב) וּזְרַעְתֶּם אֵת הַשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁמִינִת וַאֲכַלְתֶּם מִן הַתְּבוּאָה יָשָׁן עַד הַשָּׁנָה הַתְּשִׁיעִת עַד בּוֹא תְּבוּאָתָהּ תֹּאכְלוּ יָשָׁן

One wonders if this connection to פרשת בהר influenced the choice of the haftara for בחקתי since in most years, the haftara of בחקתי must serve as the haftara for the double parsha of בהר-בחקתי.

End note:

חזק, חזק, ונתחזק! – due to the current מגפה, most of us will have missed hearing the entire ספר ויקרא in shul – may we find strength within our homes so that when there is a רפיון of the grip of the חולי from upon us, we will return to קריאת התורה in our shuls with a sense of renewed חיזוק.

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Using Base HaSefer as a tool to find what was written above

Comparing פרשת בחקתי to its הפטרה

In the main menu select Text Comparator (משווה טקסטים)

By clicking on the SELECT SECTIONS buttons that appear on the right and on the left, select the kria for parshas בחקתי on the right side and the kria for its haftara on the left side. (see the Help popup window in the topic: Content Pages > Text Comparator > Options & Settings if you're unfamiliar how to accomplish this selection)

Now, above the settings specific to this screen click the button SHARED TERMS/PHRASES and then select:

• Sort by frequency in: Tanach
• Consecutive terms (n-grams): one

In the search definitions at the right of the screen, select לפי שורש

Click the REFRESH button, see what appears below, pay attention to the words that appear in the upper rows since those will be terms more uniquely common to both the Torah reading and its haftara.  Pay special attention to the %בתנ"ך column.  If each of them has a high percentage on both the right and the left, this indicates a more striking similarity between the two sections of Tanach being compared. (in our case, the shoresh קדח in each selected section had a 12.5% share of all occurrences in Tanach)

Now in the search definitions at the right of the screen, select לפי תיבה - אותיות

Now, in order to find a more specialized form of the shoresh קדח, enter the following into the search bar and click the search icon on the left and view the following results:

Now, in order to run an LCS analysis in reverse-order:

On the top part of the settings specific to this screen, click the button SHARED SEQUENCES (LCS).

Reselect לפי שורש in the search options section on the right of the screen as you did before.

Now click the button SEARCH SETTINGS and click the icon that indicates reverse-order like the following:

Then after closing the settings popup, click the REFRESH button, see what appears below, and scroll to the rows where ויקרא כו:מא is paired with ירמיהו יז:ד and the shorashim ארץ and איב are aligned with each other (rows 29 and 30).

Now that we've noticed such a conjunction between the shorashim ארץ and איב, lets see how often in Tanach we encounter adjacent word forms similar to ours.

In the search definitions at the right of the screen, select לפי תיבה - אותיות

Enter the word *בארץ איבי in the search bar

To the right of the search bar select Advanced (מתקדם)

In the right side of the screen where a vertical list appears with the two terms you entered, make sure the first term is selected for modifying its advanced settings.

Underneath the search bar select the Distances (מרחקים) tab

In the lower right section of the tab, in the section where distance settings between individual search terms appear, drag the left handle of the slider from left to right until the distance (מרחק) setting appears as "0 to 0" to ensure that the terms are adjacent to each other.

In the direction selector to the left of the slider, make sure that +/- is selected to indicate that the adjacent terms don't need to be in any specific order.

Click the search icon on the left and view the following results:

Now that we notice the shoresh אף appearing in some of our pesukim, let's run a few searches that add this term to the mix of terms for which we had searched previously in order to discern the uniqueness of the commonality between the pesukim of the kria against its haftara.

Before running these searches, let's select לא לפי הסדר directly above the search bar so that multiple terms don't need to occur in sequence:

Search 1: Selecting לפי שורש in search settings and searching on אף קדח yields only two pesukim outside of our kria and haftara

Search 2: Selecting לפי תיבה - אותיות in search settings and searching on 

*קדחת* *אף* yields the pesukim of our focus being the only pesukim in Tanach containing this pattern

Search 3: Selecting לפי שורש and searching on ארץ איב אף yields only one pasuk outside of our kria and haftara

Search 4: Selecting לפי תיבה - אותיות in search settings and searching on

*בארץ איבי* *אפ* yields only one pasuk outside of our kria and haftara