Sedra of the Week: This week.. Behar
This week's torah portion reminds us of our agricultural roots.
This week’s reading reminds us of our agricultural roots. Under God’s law, the land must not be overworked, hence a Sabbatical year is instructed for application in the Holy Land.
Until today, Jews keep these laws in Israel, and have also observed parallel and linked practices outside of the Holy Land.
The earliest Jewish communities in the New World of Sephardic descent have continued to farm the land in accordance with Torah principles of agriculture.
The law of freedom links the land to the people by instituting a return of land to its owners in the Jubilee year.
The Jubilee, or 50th year following seven times seven-year agricultural cycles, is proclaimed by the blasting of a horn which returns to full autonomy even the longest-serving
Hebrew servant.
The clarion call of freedom is so important that if the local authorities cannot arrange for the shofar to be blown, the command reverts to each individual, so that the entire country reverberates to the sound of freedom on that Yom Kippur, twice a century.
Apart from the land cultivation and personal freedom, property sales are affected by the Jubilee year, too.
In that year, all holdings of land return to the previous owner. This way, tribal allocations were preserved in the early part of the First Temple era and sales of land at that time were limited to a lease of years remaining up until the next Jubilee year only.
Thus, the land cannot be sold beyond reclaim, so as to protect the divine status of its ultimate ownership.
The fourth link that the land makes with us is with social welfare. If a landowner had to sell his land through poverty, his nearest relative should redeem what was sold, or return to
his holding by compensating the current holder for the expected profit he would expect to make in the years remaining before the next Jubilee year.
The next link is with city planning. Only open country which could be redeemed is sold by a poor landowner. Arable land in
enclosed, city-dwelling areas was not subject to redemption laws.
Care for the land moves us to care for others. The Torah instructs against Jews lending to their brethren on interest or holding any long-term debtor to any oppressive treatment.
Jews are furthermore obligated to relieve the stress of other Jews who become subservient to citizens from another religion.
The ethical commands discussed in this week’s reading culminate in the overarching principle that as Jews we should place freedom from oppression or subservience to other human beings as the highest spiritual value.
• Ariel Abel is rabbi at Liverpool Old Hebrew
Congregation
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
