Torah Portion - May 15, 2008
B’har, Leviticus 25:1–26:2
This week’s Torah portion, B’har, presents three interlocking themes: farming the land using a system of sabbatical years, during which the land rests; creating fair and just economic systems and social safety nets; relating the above to holiness and worship of the One God.
The land’s sabbatical (or Shabbat), called the shmitta year, occurs once every seven years. During the sabbatical year, the land lies fallow in order to acknowledgment that the land does not belong to humanity, but rather humanity belongs to the land. Following every seven cycles of seven years, there is a "Jubilee" year, called the yovel. At this time, all slaves must be let free, certain types of debts are canceled, and ownership of land reverts to its original titleholders.
Biblical slavery was more akin to what would call indentured servitude. One major distinction between the Israelite form of slavery and the one practiced in the
If that declaration sounds familiar, it is because these are the words inscribed upon our Liberty Bell.
Other laws regarding economic justice are decreed in this week’s Torah portion. We are obliged to help other people avoid debt-servitude, and to lend a hand to ensure that others avoid losing their property. Reading this latter principle in an ancient text and reading about people losing their homes to mortgage foreclosures is a chilling reminder that “the more things change, the more they remain the same.”
Interest and oppressive financial practices are also prohibited in B’har. As the text teaches: "If your brother falls low, and his hand falters beside you, then you shall strengthen him—be he a foreigner living within your place, or a resident--and he shall side by side with you." (Leviticus 25:35)
Reading this Torah portion in light of current problems such as economic recession, food scarcity, and environmental crises begs the question: what do the agricultural sabbatical years, during which the land rests; creating fair and just economic systems and social safety nets; and remembering the holiness of the One God have in common?
It is one thing to sit comfortably within our own community and proclaim that God is One. But until we see the image of God in the aspects of the world that are less comfortable---people who are impoverished and hungry because they were treated unfairly; those who are starving because misuse and misallocation of scarce world resources leave them without food---we will not step in to do our part.
Only when each of us does the mitzvah of helping our brothers and sisters when they fall low; of allowing the land and the water to be cleansed and replenished and refreshed---only then will we be truly living according to the precept of the Sh’ma.