Pent. Lev. 25:1-26:2
Parshat B’har begins with an entire chapter dealing with use and ownership of land, the rights and obligations of landowners, and the process of selling and mortgaging real estate. It also contains laws both about indebtedness and becoming an indentured servant as a way of repaying debts through work. The chapter also establishes the remarkable practice of Sh’mitah (sabbatical year), allowing the land to lie fallow every seven years, and the Yovel (jubilee year), adding an additional cycle of rest every half century.
While the portion deals primarily with these agricultural cycles, inserted within are a number of other laws, including laws about slavery, idol-worshipping, and Shabbat. Why do these laws follow the laws of Sh’mitah and Yovel?
The idea behind the Sh’mitah year is very similar to the concept of Shabbat. Just as God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, so too do we work for six days and rest on the seventh. On Shabbat we have the time we need to fully appreciate the world we live in. We have the perfect opportunity to remember and acknowledge that God created the world, and continues to sustain it for us.
Further, during the Sh’mitah year, we acknowledge that the earth belongs to God, since God was the one who created it. We realized that we are simply “hired hands” on the earth. We have God’s permission to eat from the produce, but we must remember: “the land is Mine.” (Lev. 25:23)
Yovel comes along after seven complete Sh’mitah cycles. In the 50th year not only is all farming forbidden, but any land that was sold is returned to its original owner. This serves as a reminder to us that though property can be sold and bought, we don’t really own it at all.
Jewish slaves are also set free during the jubilee. This brings home the fact literally, but more importantly figuratively, we can’t own each other, and we shouldn’t be slaves to others. Finally, one who worships idols rebels against the idea that there is one sovereign God who rules over the entire world. In a world full of many gods, each has their own domain. It’s a pantheon of gods that don’t have the time to deal with humans.
So we see that all the commandments in this portion revolve around the same concept: God’s insistence that the Jewish people recognize the fact that God is sovereign, and we are merely caretakers in a world that does not truly belong to us. We have been entrusted to care for the earth and we honor God by doing so.
Shabbat Shalom,
Cantor Korn
Back