Behar

Eric Stober, May 17, 2003, Iyar 15, 5763

Parashat Behar is a portion of the Torah that is about the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee year. The Sabbatical year, Shmita, which happens every seventh year, is like the Sabbath that happens every seventh day. Instead of resting our bodies, we rest the land by not harvesting or using it. The Israelites are allowed to eat whatever grows in the uncultivated land during the year of rest.

The Jubilee year, Yovel, happens every fiftieth year. During the Jubilee year, the land must come to a complete rest as in the Sabbatical year. The Israelites also had to return to the original property that their families inherited at the time of Joshua. If the land had been sold over the previous 50 years, it didn’t matter – everyone went back to their original plot. Also, all slaves, were released during the Jubilee year. Over the years many commentators have expressed their ideas about the Sabbatical and Jubilee year.

I will describe a few of them. Rashi, a scholar during the Middle Ages, suggests that the Sabbatical year is much like the Sabbath every week. Instead of resting our bodies, we rest the land. Rashi probably didn’t know much about cultivation or agriculture in the modern sense but he did know that the land needs rest like our bodies and that the land can grow more after resting.

Another commentator, Aharon Halevi, makes an important point when he said that the land doesn’t yield by itself, but God commands it to produce. God gives without asking for returns by providing us with food during the Sabbatical and Jubilee year. People should imitate God’s goodness and try to give to others without asking for anything in return.

Nehama Leibowitz felt that the Jubilee was a measure to maintain the even distribution of wealth. The best way to have justice and equity was to return the land to its original owners every fifty years. In this way the land and wealth wouldn’t just fall into the hands of the rich.

The equalization of rich and poor, the feeding of the hungry and the returning of the land to its original owners are all based on important ideas of Jewish ethics.

In the past a portion of my allowance was held back and donated to a charity of my choice. Now that I am Bar Mitzvah I would again like to apply these ethics in order to live my life in a generous way. By not caring if someone is rich or poor, treating everyone well, and not asking for anything in return I feel that I will make a difference. This is a great lesson to learn for Jews of all ages.

Shabbat Shalom.