Double Parsha Behar-Bechukotai (Leviticus 25-27)

Double Parsha: Behar-Bechukotai

Day#1: Leviticus 25:8-18

(Part 2-Study Notes)

(Leviticus 25:8-10)

HaKadosh Baruch Hu then commands that we are to count off 7 weeks of years. This Is a fancy way of saying 7 x 7 years, which equals 49 years.

In the 7^th month (Tishrei), we shall sound the horn. If you recall from last week’s parsha study, this is likely the celebration of Rosh Hashanah On the 1^st of the month, which would be the start of the 50^th year. Again, Rosh Hashanah starts a calendar year, but not the festival year.

When the 50^th year begins, we are also to sound a trumpet on the 10^th of Tishrei—or on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Then the 50^th year will be hallowed.

Throughout the land of Zion, we must “proclaim the release (liberty)” for all its inhabitants. The 50^th year will be a year of “jubilee”.

“Jubilee” in Hebrew is yobel, which means “ram” or “ram’s horn”.  Like the ram caught in the thicket in Genesis 21, whereby Yitzchak Avinu was set free from Avraham Avinu’s hand, so there will be freedom for all in the jubilee at the sound of the ram’s horn.

During this year of “liberty,” all Jews who were in slavery “shall return to his holding and each shall return to his family.”—often these Jewish slaves are those people who are so poor they must sell themselves into slavery (either to fellow Jews or to goyim) in order to survive.

(Leviticus 25:11)

The 50^th jubilee year must be a sabbatical year for the land. HaKadosh Baruch Hu commands that during the jubilee, Jews must not:

1. Sow our field

2. Reap the after-growth, nor

3. Harvest untrimmed vines.

(Leviticus 25:12)

Instead, “you (all Jews) may only eat the growth direct from the field.”—as mentioned above, there is to be no harvesting. If we eat of the land, it must be in the field.

(Leviticus 25:13-17)

HaKadosh Baruch Hu continues by communicating (from Mt. Sinai) that in the year of Jubilee, every Jew “shall return to his holding.” Meaning, ever Jew will return to the property that HaKadosh Baruch Hu to him or her and their family and tribe.

Thus, when we live in the Holy Land and sell our property to our fellow Jew (commonly translated as neighbor) or if we buy property from a fellow Jew, HaKadosh Baruch Hu commands that we shall not wrong one another in the transactions. More specifically, HaKadosh Baruch Hu decrees that the selling price and the buying price must be based on the Jubilee year.

If we buy property, the number of years since the last jubilee must be deducted from the asking price. When we sell property, we are only to charge for the number of crop years remaining until the next jubilee. These pricing rules for property in the Holy Land are set by HaKadosh Baruch Hu BECAUSE the sale price is equal to the number of remaining harvests until the jubilee year. At the time of the jubilee, the buyer will release the land back to the seller and the property will again become the seller’s possession.

(Leviticus 25:17)

HaKadosh Baruch Hu makes clear that in the above transactions, we are not to wrong one another  instead we are to “fear God; for I the LORD am your God.”

This statement by HaKadosh Baruch Hu makes clear that when Jews settle in the promised land, we are simply strangers in HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s land. Any land we have is on loan to us from heaven.

Furthermore, the Jewish people are the firstfruit of Hashem’s harvest (Jeremiah 2:9). The land that He harvested to gather in His chosen people is the entire globe, generally, and Zion specifically. Thus, when the Jewish people settle in the land promised to us through the eternal covenants made with our an, we are essentially simply “renting space” in Hashem’s holy dwelling place. (See Leviticus 25:23-24).

Therefore, any land we buy or sell in Zion actually first belongs to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. So, we should not wrong our fellow Israelite in any transaction of said land. We should treat our fellow Israelite as if we are buying or selling HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s land, not our own.

(Leviticus 25:18)

HaKadosh Baruch Hu ends today’s portion with the command that “you shall observe My Laws and faithfully keep my rules” SO THAT “sou may live upon the land in security.”

As we have learned previously, when the Jewish people keep mitzvot, blessings are promised to come. When we break mitzvot, curses are promised instead. Here we can understand that one of the biggest blessings for a Jew is to dwell in Zion—when our ancestors sinned, the exiles occurred as a consequence. Part of the promised Jewish redemption, therefore, will involve teshuvah en mass of the global Jewish population. Indeed, HaKadosh Baruch Hu promises that the Redeemer (HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself) will come to those in Yaakov Avinu who perform teshuvah.”

This teshuvah brings blessings—the biggest of which is the promised ingathering of all Jewish people from out of exile back into Zion. Once there, the final Redemption will me marked by unending shalom. Never again will we be harassed, murdered, attacked, killed, not run out of our Holy Land—all evils will cease and all Jews will be secured under the hopah of HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s presence—our eternal refuge; never again will we leave Zion, Jerusalem, nor any part of the Holy Land.

This global jubilee will release every Jew still held captive and still tormented in exile. Every stolen possession will be redeemed and returned. Every penny of our robbed riches will be restored. Judgment will again agree with justice, when HaKadosh Baruch Hu returns to reign.

May that day come quickly and speedily in our time!

Am Yisrael Chai!

Kimberly Davis