חומה for Protection

This week’s Parsha, בהר, discusses the sale of a home in a walled city. Unlike fields that return to their original owner at יובל, the jubilee year, the walled city’s home is sold permanently after one year.

There is a strange Pasuk that needs explanation. The wording and the way that it’s written is, אשר לא חומה, which would mean that it has no wall. This is the כתיב, as it is written. However, the קרי, the way that it’s read, is אשר לו חומה, that it has a wall.

Rabbi Soloveitchik explains that there is a deeper meaning here. Sometimes we might feel that לא חומה, that there’s no wall, or no protection and that we are vulnerable. In reality, if we only had faith, we would see that לו חומה, there actually is a wall. Hashem is the ultimate protector and if we would only trust in Him, we would realize that we are never without a חומה. Shabbat Shalom