By Hillel
ben David (Greg Killian)
II. When does the
yovel year begin?
V. How do we count for
the yovel year?
VI. When is the next
yovel year?
VII. Torah
requirements for the yovel year
The Agricultural and
Historical Significance
Every fifty years, after seven Sabbatical cycles of seven years, HaShem's
people observe the yovel, or jubilee, year. At such a time, both the
forty-ninth and fiftieth year are to be considered holy, and we are to abstain
from working the land, free our slaves, and let the purchased properties revert
back to their original tribal owners.
When is the next jubilee year?
For those who would like to know when the last jubilee (yovel) year was, or
when the next Jubilee year will be; please review the following chart: yovel1. This charts
shows what our sages have taught regarding the year of the jubilee.
Just like Shavuot comes on the fiftieth day of
the Omer, and represents a departure from the natural world into the supernatural realm, so too does the yovel
year signal an opportunity to rise above nature. The Encyclopedia Americana
says:
"The [Jubilee] law as a whole
was distinctly Theocratic; it vindicated the absolutism of YHVH;
it meant that Hebrews were the servants of Him, and
could not therefore continue to be the slaves of their fellowmen; the land
belonged to Him, and was only lent to the Hebrew tribes
and families, who could not therefore be driven out by any human
arrangement."
The yovel year is dependent upon the shmita, or
Sabbatical, year. As such, you will see these two mitzvot linked throughout Torah. Both of these mitzvot
are related to time, just as the Sabbath and festivals are related to time. Time
is important to HaShem.
Today, without the Temple, the mitzva
of the Sabbatical year and yovel cannot be observed the same way. Many farmers
do observe the Sabbatical year, and have reported
miraculous bumper crops in the sixth year, as promised by the Torah. To
supplement the incomes of such brave farmers, additional funds have been
established to ease the financial stress of keeping the Sabbatical year even in
these times.
Now, lets look at what the Torah says about the yovel.
The first mention of yovel in the
Torah, and hence its creation, is in:
Shemot (Exodus) 19:10-13 And HaShem said to Moses, "Go to the people and
consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their
clothes And be ready by the third day, because on that day HaShem will come
down on
Only when the yovel
is drawn out may they go up the mountain... but, I thought yovel meant jubilee, what gives? Lets answer this question by
looking at Strong's definition of this word:
3104 yowbel, yo-bale'; or
yobel, yo-bale'; appar. from 2986; the blast of a horn (from its continuous
sound); spec. the signal of the silver trumpets; hence the instrument itself
and the festival thus introduced:-Jubile, ram's horn, trumpet.
Strong’s suggests that a yovel is
a shofar.
Thus we were allowed to climb the mountain after the shofar sounded. We learn
from this, that the yovel year get its name from the sounding of the shofar. A
ram's horn is called a yovel. yovel, as a ram's horn,
was also used in Joshua chapter six.
Why does the Torah use singular verbs when
discussing the Sabbatical year, but plural ones for
yovel? The laws of yovel only apply when all the tribes are in the
Arachin 32b But did
they count the years of release and Jubilees [after the return from
Once Sancherev, the Assyrian, exiled Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh, the
laws of yovel no longer applied. Since yovel applies only when all the Jews are in the land of Israel,
the Torah uses the plural. However, the Sabbatical year is observed even if
there is only one Jew in the
There is a distinction between the plural "lachem" and the
singular "lecha". Regarding Sefirat HaOmer,
the counting of the omer, the pasuk states "You shall count for
yourselves" (Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:15). With regards to shmita and yovel, the pasuk states "you shall count
for yourself" (Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:8). Chazal explain that the plural
used in Sefirat HaOmer indicates that each and every individual is commanded to
count, whereas the singular used when describing the counting towards the Sabbatical and Jubilee years means the mitzva is incumbent only on the Beit Din Gadole, the
Sanhedrin, in Jerusalem.
The freedom proclaimed in the yovel year was
primarily for the slaves. Why does the Torah say, for all its inhabitants?
Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and
proclaim liberty throughout all
the land unto all the inhabitants thereof:
it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his
possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
Though being sold into slavery is demeaning the Torah demands that the
master treat his slave with great sensitivity and dignity. Thus, the Gemara says:
Kiddushin 22a Our Rabbis
taught: ‘Because he is well with thee’: he must be with [i.e., equal to] thee
in food and drink, that thou shouldst not eat white bread and he black bread, thou drink old wine
and he new wine, thou sleep on a feather bed and he
on straw. Hence it was said: Whoever
buys a Hebrew slave is like buying a master for
himself.
Consequently, in the Jubilee year, "all inhabitants," both the
slaves and the masters, enjoy a period of freedom.
The Torah commands, "You shall consecrate the fiftieth year." How
is this done? At the beginning of the year the Beit Din Gadole (Sanhedrin)
declares, "This year is kadosh (sanctified)." Holiness without a land
is a mere spiritual conception, figurative and unreal. Kedusha, holiness, is
expressed in the physical. The supreme expression
of kedusha in Israel is expressed in the agricultural mitzvot: firstfruits, tithes,
fruit from newly planted trees, Sabbatical and yovel years, and challah, the portion of
bread separated for the priests.
We may note here that, generally speaking, any manifestation of kedusha,
holiness, brought about by a person, starts off with great force and then
becomes gradually weaker. HaShem, who is able to
direct reality towards a certain end, can create the opposite, a holiness which
becomes increasingly stronger. (This is the difference between Shabbat and the pilgrimage festivals
and between shmita and yovel [the Sabbatical and
Jubilee years]. The physical parallel can be found
in the area of speech. As man shouts his voice
becomes weaker and weaker, whereas HaShem's voice grows steadily stronger, as we learn in the Torah's description of
the Sinai experience. In the same way, mourning which originates in man becomes less
stringent as we move away from the day of tragedy whereas our mourning which
reflects that of the Shechina culminates at its peak, on the day of tragedy
itself.
Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:8-22 "'Count off seven Sabbaths
of years--seven times seven years--so that the seven Sabbaths of years amount
to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet
sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh
month; on the Day of Atonement sound the
trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty
throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each
one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and
do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a
jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is
taken directly from the fields. "'In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to
return to his own property. "'If you sell land to one of your countrymen
or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other. You are to buy from your
countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to
sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. When
the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few,
you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the
number of crops. Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am
HaShem your God. "'Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. Then the land
will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. You
may ask, "What will we eat in the seventh year
if we do not plant or harvest our crops?" I will send you such a blessing
in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three
years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop
and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.
So, the Torah indicates that we start on the tenth day of the seventh
month, Tishri 10. Now, this is a bit odd; how can we
have a year starting in the middle of a month? The Talmud
helps us to understand:
Rosh HaShana 2a MISHNAH. THERE ARE FOUR NEW
YEARS.[6] ON THE FIRST OF NISAN[7] IS NEW YEAR FOR KINGS[8] AND FOR FESTIVALS.[9] ON THE FIRST OF ELUL[10] IS NEW YEAR FOR THE TITHE OF CATTLE.[11] R. ELEAZAR AND R. SIMEON, HOWEVER, PLACE THIS ON THE
FIRST OF TISHRI.[12] ON THE FIRST OF TISHRI[13] IS NEW YEAR FOR YEARS[14], FOR RELEASE AND JUBILEE YEARS,[15] FOR
Rosh HaShana 7b But what
of Jubilees which do not commence with the evening,[20] and yet are reckoned in? — This follows the view of R.
Johanan b. Ishmael the son of R. Johanan b. Beroka, who said that the Jubilee
commences with the New Year. R. Shisha the son of R.
Idi said: In fixing the number, [the Tanna] reckoned only New Years that are
not inaugurated with some ceremony,[21] but he does not reckon those that are inaugurated with a
ceremony.[22]
Rosh HaShana 8b AND FOR
JUBILEE YEARS. [is the New Year for] Jubilees on the first
of Tishri? Surely [the New Year for] Jubilees is on the tenth of Tishri, as it is written, on the day of atonement shall ye make proclamation with the horn?[23] — What authority is here
followed? R. Ishmael the son of R. Johanan b. Beroka, as it has been taught:
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year.[24] What is the point of these words? [It is this]. Since it
says, On the day of atonement [ye shall make
proclamation ],[25] I might think that the year is sanctified only from the
Day of Atonement onwards. Therefore it says, And ye shall sanctify the fiftieth
year. This teaches that it is sanctified from its inception. On this ground R.
Ishmael the son of R. Johanan b. Beroka laid down that from New Year to the Day of Atonement slaves were neither
dismissed to their homes nor subjected to their masters, but they ate and drank
and made merry, wearing garlands on their heads.[26] When the Day of Atonement came, the Beth din sounded the
horn; slaves were dismissed to their homes and fields
returned to their original owners. And the Rabbis [ — what do they make of this
verse]? — [They say it teaches that] you are to sanctify years but not months.[27]
Another [Baraitha]
taught: ‘It is a Jubilee.[28] What is the point of these words? — Since it says, And
ye shall hallow the fiftieth year,[29] I might think that, just as it is sanctified from its inception onwards, so it remains sanctified [for a time] after its termination. And there would be nothing to
wonder at in this, seeing that we [regularly] add from the profane on to the
holy.[30] Therefore it says, it is a Jubilee to you, the fiftieth
year, [to show that] you are to sanctify the fiftieth year, but not the
fifty-first year.[31]
So, now we see that the yovel year begins on the first
day of the seventh month, Tishrei 1, but the
slaves do not return to their own land till the shofar
is sounded on the tenth day of the seventh month, Tishrei 10.
One of the primary themes of the yovel year is the emphasis on ownership:
Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:23-55 "'The land must not be sold permanently, because
the land is mine and you are but aliens and my
tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide
for the redemption of the land. "'If one of
your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest
relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. If, however, a man
has no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient
means to redeem it, He is to determine the value for the years since he sold it
and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to
his own property. But if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he
sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year
of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go
back to his property. "'If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the right of redemption a full year after
its sale. During that time he may redeem it. If it is not redeemed before a
full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to
the buyer and his descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee.
But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as open
country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.
"'The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the
Levitical towns, which they possess. So the property of the Levites is
redeemable--that is, a house sold in any town they hold--and is to be returned
in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their
property among the Israelites. But the pasture land
belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.
"'If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself
among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can
continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear
your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. You must not
lend him money at interest or sell him food at a
profit. I am HaShem your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the
The Torah emphasizes that the land and His people both belong to HaShem.
His people do not belong to a slave master, they belong to him! The land does
not belong to anyone, it belongs to HaShem, and He gives it to whomever He
pleases!
As The Owner of the land, He sets the price for the use of His land:
Vayikra (Leviticus) 27:16-24 "'If a man dedicates to HaShem part of his family
land, its value is to be set according to the amount of seed
required for it--fifty shekels of silver to a homer of barley seed. If he
dedicates his field during the Year of Jubilee, the value that has been
set remains. But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, the priest will determine the value according to the number
of years that remain until the next Year of Jubilee, and its set value
will be reduced. If the man who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, he
must add a fifth to its value, and the field will again become his. If,
however, he does not redeem the field, or if he has sold it to someone else, it
can never be redeemed. When the field is released in the Jubilee, it
will become holy, like a field devoted to HaShem; it will become the property
of the priests. "'If a man dedicates to HaShem
a field he has bought, which is not part of his family land, The priest will
determine its value up to the Year of Jubilee, and the man must pay its
value on that day as something holy to HaShem. In the Year
of Jubilee the field will revert to the person from whom he bought it, the
one whose land it was.
Since HaShem owns the land, He can also determine whan it should change
hands, and when it should not:
Bamidbar (Numbers) 36:1-4 The family heads of the clan of Gilead son of Makir, the
son of Manasseh, who were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph, came and spoke before Moses and the leaders, the
heads of the Israelite families. They said,
"When HaShem commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites by lot, he ordered you to
give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. Now suppose
they marry men from other Israelite tribes; then
their inheritance will be taken from our ancestral inheritance and added to
that of the tribe they marry into. And so part of the inheritance allotted to
us will be taken away. When the Year of Jubilee for the Israelites
comes, their inheritance will be added to that of
the tribe into which they marry, and their property
will be taken from the tribal inheritance of our forefathers."
If a home in a walled city is sold, when can it be
redeemed? Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:29, only within the first year after the sale.
Afterwards, even in yovel it does not return.
After selling an ancestral field, when can one redeem it? Vayikra
(Leviticus) 25:24 - Anytime after two years following
the sale until yovel. In the beginning of yovel it returns to the family
automatically.
After selling a home in a city without walls, when can one redeem it?
According to Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:31, anytime until yovel, when it returns
automatically.
The time period associated with the yovel year, are
found repeatedly in the Torah. To understand the yovel period, it would be
useful to review those related time periods.
Torah speaks of several periods of time which are associated with seven:
Y The week - seven
days long.
Y Pesach, the Passover - seven
days long.
Y Shmita, or Sabbatical, year -
every seventh year.
Y yovel, or jubilee, year - after seven shmita years
Y Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks -
after seven weeks.
Y Sefirat ha'omer, the counting of the
omer - lasts for seven weeks.
Torah also speaks of various purification processes which also illustrate
seven units of time:
Vayikra (Leviticus) 12:2 "Say to the Israelites: 'A woman who becomes
pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days,
just as she is unclean during her monthly period.
Vayikra (Leviticus) 15:19 "'When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the
impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her
will be unclean till evening.
Vayikra (Leviticus) 15:24 "'If a man lies with her
and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he
lies on will be unclean.
Bamidbar (Numbers) 19:11 "Whoever touches the dead body
of anyone will be unclean for seven days.
Bamidbar (Numbers) 19:14 "This is the law that
applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who
is in it will be unclean for seven days,
Bamidbar (Numbers) 19:16 "Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has
been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who
touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
Vayikra (Leviticus) 13:2-6 "When anyone has a swelling or a rash or a bright
spot on his skin that may become an infectious skin disease, he must be brought
to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons who is a priest.
The priest is to examine the sore on his skin, and if the hair
in the sore has turned white and the sore appears to be more than skin deep, it
is an infectious skin disease. When the priest examines him, he shall pronounce
him ceremonially unclean. If the spot on his skin is white but does not appear
to be more than skin deep and the hair in it has not turned white, the priest
is to put the infected person in isolation for seven days. On the seventh day
the priest is to examine him, and if he sees that the sore is unchanged and has
not spread in the skin, he is to keep him in isolation another seven days. On
the seventh day the priest is to examine him again, and if the sore has faded
and has not spread in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is
only a rash. The man must wash his clothes, and he will be clean.
Chazal understood that each of the times that the Torah speaks about a time
period of seven, it is relating this event to all other events with a time
period of seven. It is beyond the scope of this paper to explore all of these
relationships, but I have grouped many of the periods of seven, together, for
study in my paper titled: 7chart.
* * *
The Hizkuni believes that Sefira and Shavuot are somehow
reminders for the "really" important mitzvot of Shmita
and yovel. Every seventh year is considered a shmita year, meaning that land in
Eretz Yisrael may not be worked and that all debts owed
by Jews to other Jews are canceled. Every fiftieth
(or 49th; this is a controversy – See yovel1 to
understand the various opinions) year is considered yovel, meaning that all
Jewish slaves are freed and that all land which has
changed hands in the years since the last yovel now returns to the hands of its
original owner. What clues the Hizkuni
in to the connection between Sefira / Shavuot and
shmita / yovel? There are several likely possibilities:
1.The pesukim which command shmita and yovel are remarkably similar in language to those which command Sefira and Shavuot. The
language seems to beg comparison between these two sets
of mitzvot.
2.Structurally, these two sets of mitzvot are
uniquely parallel: each has seven sets of sevens, with
a climax at the fiftieth day/year.
More fundamentally, however, where does the Hizkuni get the idea that shmita and yovel are so important that it
is necessary to institute a parallel set of mitzvot to serve as annual
reminders of the entirety of the cycle? In part, the Hizkuni answers this question, pointing
out correctly that the sections of the Torah which curse those who neglect the mitzvot (the "tokhaha") do reserve special
wrath for the neglect of Shmita (see VaYikra 26:34, for example). Still, as a peshat reading, it seems strained to suggest that Sefira
and Shavuot are not significant in their own right and serve only to remind us
of other mitzvot. As tempting as the linguistic and structural parallels may
be, there is no indication that one set of mitzvot is merely a reminder for the
other.
* * *
Chazal interprets the law of of the slave who does
not want to go free:
Shemot (Exodus) 21:5-6 "But
if the servant declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children and do not
want to go free,' Then his master must take him before the judges. He shall
take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he
will be his servant for life.
This means that when an "eved ivri", the Hebrew
servant, agrees to work forever, that
it applies only til the end of the seven cycles of
shmita, i.e. the yovel year.[32]
* * *
Just as there are two types of holiness in the days and the months, Shabbat and festivals, so
too there are two types of holiness in the years themselves. The seventh year
is a Shabbat of the land. Its holiness is "fixed" like Shabbat. The
holiness of yovel is like the holiness of the festivals. Its holiness
represents a partnership of HaShem and
If the shofar is not blown at the beginning of
the yovel year then the year is not yovel. If the slaves are not set free, the
year is not yovel. If the fields do not return to their original owners, the
year does not have the status of yovel and it is permitted to reap and sow like
an ordinary year.[33]
* * *
Parshas Behar 5758
by Rav Lipman Podolsky
and
American Friends of
Yeshivat Hakotel
"Give Me
The similarity between the forty-nine days of the Sefirat
HaOmer, and the forty-nine years of the shmita-yovel cycle is absolutely
striking, forty-nine steps of development, followed by a fiftieth period of
sanctity and celebration. Is this mere coincidence, or is the Torah conveying
to us a hidden message?
The Midrash clearly connects the two: "...count forty-nine days, and sanctify the
fiftieth, just like yovel (Sifra 167:8)." The Ramban emphasizes it
further: "the number of days from the day of waving (the Omer offering) until Yom Tov (Shavuot) is as the number of years of the shmita until
the yovel; the reasoning for both is identical." Thus, it behooves us to
clarify this connection, and then to try to
assimilate this understanding into our observance of the mitzva
of Sefirat HaOmer and preparation for Shavuot.
First let us elucidate the concept of yovel. The Torah says, "And you
shall count for yourselves seven sabbaths
of years... forty-nine years. And you shall cause the shofar
to sound in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month... And you shall
sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty
throughout all the land to all its inhabitants; it shall be a jubiee for you,
and you shall return every man to his possession, and every man to his family
(Vayikra 25:8-10)." yovel intimates a year of freedom
for all, for both slaves, and for portions of land.
What exactly does freedom mean? It cannot mean independence from authority, for if that were true then all fields
should be rendered ownerless, not only those that had been purchased. Rather,
the idea is that until this point, the slaves and sold lands were subjugated to
an unnatural state, to foreign dominion. For nearly fifty years, they anticipated
their return to their families and to their rightful owners.
Thus, the idea of yovel is the return to one's original condition, the
optimum state. Reuven's field of inheritance had
been sold to another's possession, and it had been held in escrow for all this time. Now the field returns to it's natural, primordial
predicament. So too, the Jewish slave, fifty years
before, had been a regular, HaShem serving Jew. But
due to certain circumstances, he had been sold as a slave, a state completely
contrary to the "freedom of religion" every Jew
deserves. "For the children of Yisrael are Mine
as slaves, they are My slaves[34], and not slaves to
slaves[35]."
When yovel arrives the Jewish slave becomes once again a freeman, a man
devoted only to the service of HaShem, and not to a human master. Thus, liberty
takes on a new meaning. It does not mean ownerless, rather it means belonging
to the rightful, natural Master. With regard to fields the legitimate owner is
the heir of he to whom the parcel was originally allocated by HaShem in the
wilderness. With people, the Master is HaShem Himself. When one returns to his
natural state, to the state originally intended for him by HaShem, he is said
to be free.
The Ramban gives us a deeper look at verse 2: He says that the yovel
symbolizes the entire history of existence, from creation
until the end of time (the phrase, "and he shall serve him forever[36]," refers to
yovel). Originally, man was created in an existence of
absolute spirituality, a reality in which the presence of HaShem was palpable. In
Gan Eden, Adam possessed no
internal Yetzer Hara, the lines between good and evil
were clearly delineated, and Adam had no desire other than to bask in the
ecstasy of his intimate relationship with his
Creator.
After eating from the tree
of knowlege, Adam internalized the Yetzer Hara, thereby enslaving himself
and his descendants to physical existence. HaShem
hid Himself behind the veneer of the visible universe, and man had to struggle
intensely to perceive Him. Man thus became a slave to his Yetzer Hara. At the end of days, when Mashiach
shall arrive, we will return to the Source, the natural condition of man, an
existence unencumbered by a Yetzer Hara[37], an existence in which
our sole desire will be to derive pleasure from HaShem's infinite perfection[38]. Only then will we be
truly free. This is the idea of yovel according to Ramban.
How does this relate to the forty-nine days of the Omer?
As we have already said, Adam was created a freeman. The Shechina enveloped him constantly. As soon
as he sinned, the Shechina retreated, and Adam was
left in the grip of the Yetzer Hara. No matter what strategy he employed, not
matter how hard he struggled, Adam was incapable of
returning to the garden. No Teshuva sufficed. Just as
the Jewish slave whose ear has been pierced, Adam found no way to emancipate
himself. Like one with a chronic disease for which there is no cure; all roads
of return had been blocked.
This situation continued for twenty-six generations. Then came the receiving of the Torah at Har Sinai. "I created
the Yetzer Hara, and I created the Torah as its antidote[39]." The Torah is the
only treatment for the affliction of the Yetzer Hara. Man had finally been
supplied the prescription with which to combat the bondage of his evil
inclination, to overcome it, and to return to his original state, that of freedom. "There is no freeman except he who
studies Torah[40]." By engaging in
Torah study, one breaks the shackles of his physical
imprisonment, enabling him a spiritual existence
even on this earth, "kimei shamayim al ha'aretz, like heavenly days upon
earth[41]."
This should be our attitude as we count the Sefirat
HaOmer, preparing ourselves for receiving the Torah on Shavuot. For forty-nine days we look impatiently to
that day when once again we will become imbued with that special quality that
affords us the ability to protect ourselves from harm, and to purchase our freedom. Just as a Jewish
slave pines for the day that he will merit to return
home to his family, to his natural habitat, and to his True Master, so is it
with us. On Shavuot that special light will shine once again, offering us an
auspicious opportunity to achieve that which our ancestors achieved so many
years ago, and a chance to reaffirm our link with the Jewish
people throughout the millenia.
But there is one fundamental difference between yovel and Shavuot. On yovel
the slave doesn't have to do anything to acquire his freedom. It is automatic.
On Shavout, however, nothing dramatic takes place. We don't even have any
special mitzvot on that day (unless you count
cheesecake as a mitzva). On Shavuot the Yetzer Hara does
not evaporate into nothingness. Rather, on Shavuot we are presented with the
capacity to defeat the Yetzer Hara. "There is no freeman except he who
studies Torah[42]." It is not
sufficient to receive Torah; one must know how to use it. And by using it, we
slowly but surely cure ourselves of our disease called the Yetzer Hara.
Perhaps, deep down, this is what Patrick Henry meant when he proclaimed,
"Give me liberty..." Perhaps.
Ki Hem Chayeinu... For they (the words of Torah) are our life!
(C) 5758/1998 by Rav Lipman Podolsky and
American Friends of Yeshivat Hakotel
The counting of the yovel year seems to be a bit
confusing. If you will study the yovel1 chart, you
will see that there are various opinions as to when we start the count.
However, there is also a controversy as to whether we count fifty and then start
at year one, or whether the fiftieth year of one cycle
is also the first year of the next cycle. To begin to understand how to count, lets
see what the Talmud says:
Rosh HaShana 9a And the
Rabbis [ — what do they make of these words]?[43] — [They say]: You are to count the fiftieth year, but
you are not to count the fifty-first,[44] to exclude the view of R. Judah, who said that the
fiftieth year is reckoned both ways.[45] We are here told that this is not so.
And how do we know [from
the Scripture] that we add from the profane on to the holy?[46] — As it has been taught: In plowing time and in harvest time thou shalt rest.[47] R. Akiba, [commenting on this,] said: There was no need [for
Scripture] to specify the ploughing and harvest of the Sabbatical
year, since this has already been mentioned [in] thy field thou shalt not
sow etc.[48] What must be meant therefore is the ploughing of the
year before the seventh which is passing into the seventh,[49] and the harvest of the seventh year which is continuing
into the period after the seventh year.[50] R. Ishmael said: Just as ploughing is optional,[51] so the harvest [here referred to] is an optional one,
excluding the harvesting of the ‘Omer, which is a
religious duty.[52] Whence then does R. Ishmael derive the rule that an addition is to be made from the profane on
to the holy? — From what has been taught: And ye shall
afflict your souls on the ninth day:[53] I might think [literally] on the ninth day. It therefore
says, In the evening.[54] if in the evening, I might think, after dark? It
therefore says, ‘or, the ninth day’.[55] What then am I to understand? That we begin fasting
while it is yet day; which shows that we add from the profane on to the holy. I
know this [so far] only in regard to the inception [of the holy day]; how do I
know it in regard to its termination? Because it says, from evening to evening.
So far I have brought only the Day of Atonement under
the rule; how do I know that it applies to Sabbaths
also? Because it says, ye shall rest.[56] How do I know that it applies to festivals?
Because it says, your Sabbath. How am I to understand this? That wherever there
is an obligation to rest, we add from the profane on to the holy.
Rashi indicates that we count seven shmita years and then we consecrate the fiftieth year.
This fiftieth year is not the first year of the next cycle.
Tosafot says: ‘You are to count the fiftieth year (as fiftieth to the
Jubilee), but you are not to count the fiftieth year as one (to the following septennate)’.
Nedarim 61a The
scholars propounded: What if one vows, ‘Konam, if I taste wine a Jubilee’:[57] Is the fiftieth year [counted] as before the fiftieth or
as after?[58] Come and hear: For a conflict of R. Judah and the Rabbis
has been taught: And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year:[59] you must count it as the fiftieth year, but not as the
fiftieth and as the first year [of the following jubilee].[60] Hence they [the Sages] said: The Jubilee is not part of
the [following] septennate. R. Judah maintained: The Jubilee is counted as part
of the septennate. Said they to R. Judah, But Scripture saith, six years shalt thou sow thy field,[61] whereas here there are only five![62] He replied: But on your view, Surely it is said, and it
shall bring forth fruit for three years.’ whereas here
there are four![63] But it can be referred to other Sabbatical
years; hence mine too[64] must be thus explained.
To answer this question, we need to understand that there is some
discussion among thew Sages, on this issue (see yovel1).
Do we start counting when Joshua entered the land? Or, do we start to count
when the Israelites returned to the land after the Babylonian captivity? Or, do
we start when
Why didn't they celebrate the festival of Succoth?
Ezra-Nechemiah
(Nehemiah) 8:17 The entire community returning from captivity built
succoth, tabernacles, and dwelled in those succoth, for since the days of
Joshua son of Nun the Children of Israel had not
done so until that day, and there was exceedingly great joy.
This enigmatic passage describing the first Succoth celebrated by Jews
returning to Eretz Yisrael from Babylonian captivity
under the leadership of Ezra prompts the unavoidable Talmudic
challenge: "Is it possible that in the days of David the Jews did not build and dwell
in Succoth, only in the days of Ezra?"
Two differing approaches are offered by the Sages.
Both agree that Jews certainly built Succoth during the period of time between Joshua
and Ezra (close to a millennium), but they
disagree as to what subtle message is communicated in this passage.
One approach is that the message is a comparison between the arrival of
Jews in Eretz Yisrael in the days of Joshua and their
arrival in the days of Ezra. Just as in Joshua's time they began calculating shmita and yovel and practicing tithing, so did they
begin again to do so in the days of Ezra. This is cited as a source for the
position that the initial sanctification of the land by Yehoshua came to an end
with the exile to
To help you count the yovel years, consider the following:
Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning
of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the
fourteenth year after the fall of the city--on that
very day the hand of HaShem was upon me and he took
me there.
Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 40:1, According to the Talmud[66], this was a jubilee
year, while the release years (shmitot) and jubilee
years did not commence until the land had been divided. The calculation is then
as follows: The Temple was built four
hundred and eighty years after the Exodus, which was four hundred and forty years after their entry into
Eretz Israel. The
The Israelites crossed the
The Israelites returned from captivity in 3408 a.m.
The last Sabbatical year will be in 5999 a.m.
The Kabbalistic yovel year will commence in 6000 a.m.
The Rambam calculated that the next yovel year would be in 5765[68]. There is a difficulty
with this opinion: Halachicaly, we accept that we
can determine shmita years by dividing the current
year by seven. All those years which are evenly divisible by seven are shmita years. So, the last shmita year was in
5754, and the next will be in 5761. Since, in Tishri of 1998 (September 21,
1998), we will begin counting 5759, then we know that we have a disconnect
between the Rambams yovel year calculation and the shmita year calculations. If
the next shmita year is in 5761, we would expect that the next yovel year to be
in 5762. Why then does Rambam say 5765?
In addition, the laws pertaining to a Jewish slave
only apply when yovel, is in effect. Added to the fourteen years mentioned
above of capturing and apportioning the land, this means that these laws will
only begin to be applicable sixty four years after they enter the land. The
Jewish people, obviously do not realize that so much time will elapse until
these laws are applicable, but HaShem certainly
knows. Why then must this mitzva be the first one HaShem
gives to Moshe, is it really so urgent?
Sanhedrin 97b Elijah
said to Rab Judah, the brother of R. Salia the pious: ‘The world
shall exist not less than eighty five jubilees,[69] and in the last jubilee the son of David will come.’[70] He asked him, ‘At the beginning or at the end?’[71] — He replied, ‘I do not know.’ ‘Shall [this period] be
completed or not?’[72] - ‘I do not know,’ he answered. R. Ashi said: He spoke
thus to him, ‘Before that, do not expect him; afterwards thou mayest await
him.’[73]
According to the Talmud the yovel year did not
come into effect automatically, with the advent of the fiftieth year, but the
Bet Din had to see to it's implementation and officially proclaimed it by
sounding the shofar[74].
It was the duty of the Bet Din to count the
years of the Sabbatical year as one counts the omer. The duty of counting the omer fell on every Israelite, whereas the counting of Sabbatical years
fell only on the Bet Din[75].
Although, the Torah records that the yovel release of slaves and the return
of the land took place on Yom HaKippurim, the yovel
was regarded as starting on Yom Teruah (Sifra). At
the beginning of the yovel year, in addition to sounding the shofar, a special prayer was recited which included Malkhuyyot, Zikhronot,
and Shofarot, as on Yom Teruah[76].[77]
Rosh HaShana 8b AND FOR JUBILEE YEARS. [is the New Year for] Jubilees on the
first of Tishri? Surely [the New Year for] Jubilees
is on the tenth of Tishri, as it is written, on the day of atonement shall ye make proclamation with the horn?[78] — What authority is here
followed? R. Ishmael the son of R. Johanan b. Beroka, as it has been taught:
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year.[79] What is the point of these words? [It is this]. Since it
says, On the day of atonement [ye shall make proclamation ], I might think that
the year is sanctified only from the Day of Atonement onwards. Therefore it
says, And ye shall sanctify the fiftieth year. This teaches that it is
sanctified from its inception. On this ground R. Ishmael the son of R. Johanan
b. Beroka laid down that from New Year to the Day of Atonement slaves were neither
dismissed to their homes nor subjected to their masters, but they ate and drank
and made merry, wearing garlands on their heads.[80] When the Day of Atonement
came, the Beth din sounded the horn; slaves were
dismissed to their homes and fields returned to their original owners. And the
Rabbis [ — what do they make of this verse]? — [They say it teaches that] you
are to sanctify years but not months.[81]
Sanhedrin 97b The world
will endure not less than 85 yovel years, and on the last yovel the Son of
David will come.
There is a tradition that the Jews spent seventy
years in Babylonian captivity because they failed to observe seventy yovels.[82]
Yovel years were not observed after the Babylonian captivity.[83]
Avodah Zarah 9b Said R.
Huna the son of R. Yahoshua (Joshua): If one does not know what the year is in
the Sabbatical cycle of seven
years, let him add one year [to that in the era of the Destruction] and let him
put aside the hundreds as Jubilee Cycles and convert the remainder into
Sabbatical Cycles [of seven years each] after adding
thereto two years for every complete century; what is
left over will give him the number of the given year in the current Sabbatical
Cycle. As a mnemonical sign [for adding two years for
every century, think of the verse]. For these two years hath the famine been in the land.
* * *
The Torah commands:
Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:10 You shall sanctify the fiftieth year.
How is this done? At the beginning of the year the Beit Din declares,
"This year is Kadosh.(holy)"
* * *
Rosh HaShana 9a And the
Rabbis [ — what do they make of these words]?[84] — [They say]: You are to count the fiftieth year, but
you are not to count the fifty-first,[85] to exclude the view of R. Judah, who said that the
fiftieth year is reckoned both ways.[86] We are here told that this is not so.
And how do we know [from
the Scripture] that we add from the profane on to the holy?[87] — As it has been taught: In plowing time and in harvest
time thou shalt rest.[88] R. Akiba, [commenting on this,] said: There was no need
[for Scripture] to specify the ploughing and harvest of the Sabbatical year, since this has already been mentioned
[in] thy field thou shalt not sow etc.[89] What must be meant therefore is the ploughing of the
year before the seventh which is passing into the seventh,[90] and the harvest of the seventh year which is continuing
into the period after the seventh year.[91] R. Ishmael said: Just as ploughing is optional,[92] so the harvest [here referred to] is an optional one,
excluding the harvesting of the ‘Omer, which is a
religious duty.[93] Whence then does R. Ishmael derive
the rule that an addition is to be made from the profane on to the holy? —
From what has been taught: And ye shall afflict your souls on the ninth day:[94] I might think [literally] on the ninth day. It therefore
says, In the evening.[95] if in the evening, I might think, after dark? It
therefore says, ‘or, the ninth day’.[96] What then am I to understand? That we begin fasting
while it is yet day; which shows that we add from the profane on to the holy. I
know this [so far] only in regard to the inception [of the holy day]; how do I
know it in regard to its termination? Because it says, from evening to evening.
So far I have brought only the Day of Atonement under
the rule; how do I know that it applies to Sabbaths
also? Because it says, ye shall rest.[97] How do I know that it applies to festivals?
Because it says, your Sabbath. How am I to understand this? That wherever there
is an obligation to rest, we add from the profane on to the holy.
* * *
Arachin 13a R. Ashi
said: He does not count the six years until Ezra had
come up and dedicated [the Sanctuary].[98] For it is written: Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem.[99] And it is also written: And this house was finished on
the third day of the month Adar, which was in the
sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.[100] And a Tanna taught: About the same time
in the following year Ezra with his exiled community
went up [to the Land], as it is said: And he came to
* * *
Sources:
Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot
Shmita Veyovel, 10:4,8
1) We perform no agricultural work in Eretz Yisrael in the
last year of every seven years, that we consider all produce which grows
(by itself) that year ownerless and allow the poor and the animals to take it;
2) We cancel all loans between Jews in this seventh year;
3) We treat the last year of every fifty years just like we treat a seventh
year, abstaining from agricultural work etc.;
4) We free all Jewish slaves in this fiftieth year;
5) We return to the original owners all land which has been sold in the
past forty-nine years.
Lets look at the effect of these mitzvot on us:
they shatter the illusion we might otherwise begin to believe that the
'reality' of earning our bread is the real
reality and that worshipping HaShem is a nice addendum
but is not part of the hard-nosed real world. There is perhaps nothing more
hard-nosed and real than shmita and yovel. Imagine if this were to happen next
week, the government announces that all work is to stop for the next year, all food which grows is deemed ownerless, all debts are
canceled, all land returns to the people who owned it half a century ago. Sound
like a recipe for economic chaos and disaster? Exactly! By mandating this
behavior, the Torah punctures our illusion of reality and shoves it aside
before a more real reality: we are
forced to recognize that we own what we do only by the generosity of HaShem and that the economy is completely instrumental;
it is not at all important in any axiological sense, it is there only to
facilitate our service of HaShem.
This lesson is so important that it is followed by a series of warnings
about what will happen if we do not keep the mitzvot
of shmita and yovel: the blessings and curses[105]. The fact that the
blessings and curses is aimed primarily at reinforcing our observance of shmita
and yovel is supported by several features of the text. Most basically, the
Torah's placing the blessings and curses immediately after the mitzvot of
shmita and yovel intimates that the warnings apply most directly to these
mitzvot.
The connection between shmita / yovel and the
blessings and curses is strengthened further by the 'bookends' with which the
Torah surrounds the section on shmita and yovel and the blessings and curses.
We note that the Torah begins the parasha with the news that what we are about
to learn was delivered by HaShem to Moshe at Sinai. Then come the mitzvot of
shmita and yovel. Then comes the, and just after the blessings and curses, the
Torah places another bookend, reporting that what we have just read was what
HaShem communicated to Moshe at Sinai. (Another such bookend appears at the end
of Parashat BeHukotai, sealing Sefer VaYikra.) What
the Torah may be hinting again by placing bookends before shmita / yovel and
after the blessings and curses is that these warnings are aimed at neglect of
these mitzvot in particular.
Further and more explicit evidence of the connection between the blessings
and curses and shmita / yovel can be found in the text of the blessings and
curses itself. As the blessings and curses begins, it sounds like a general
warning about neglecting any of the mitzvot: (26:14-15) "If you do not
listen to Me, and do not do all of these mitzvot; if you despise My laws, and if your souls revile My statutes, by not doing
all of My mitzvot, thereby abrogating My covenant .
. . ." However, as we move toward the end of the blessings and curses, it
seems clearer that the phrase "all of these mitzvot"
refers not to the mitzvot as a whole, but to "these mitzvot" which
have just been discussed: shmita and yovel. After the
Torah describes how the rebellious nation would be driven out of its land:
"Then the land will enjoy
its Sabbaths [=shmita years], all the days of its abandonment,
with your being in the land of your enemies; then the land will rest, and enjoy its
Sabbaths! All the days of its abandonment, it shall rest the rests it did
not rest during your Sabbaths [i.e., during the years that were supposed to
have been shmita years], when you lived upon it!" (26:34-35).
"The land shall be abandoned of them, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths
in its abandonment from them, and they [the nation] shall expiate for their sin, since they despised My statutes and their souls
reviled My laws" (26:43).
We commit sins, unnamed at the beginning of the blessings and curses, but
by the end it seems apparent that the abandonment of the land and the consequent
cessation of its cultivation through agriculture atones
for the sins. The best conclusion: the sins referred to
by the blessings and curses are the neglect of shmita
and yovel. Our not ceasing working the land during shmita requires our exile
from the land so that it can rest on the Sabbaths we
have denied it; our not canceling loans during shmita requires that we become
impoverished and powerless; our not returning land to its owners during yovel
requires that we be denied ownership over even our own land; our not freeing
Jewish slaves during yovel requires that we ourselves be taken captive and sold
as slaves by those whom HaShem sends to conquer us; midah
keneged midah, measure for measure.
MEETING THE CHALLENGE:
The Torah knows how difficult it is to keep shmita
and yovel. It is certainly a tall order to take a forced sabbatical, to resist
the urge to try to make the maximum profit by planting during this year, and to
trust that HaShem will provide enough food to
compensate for this year's lack of harvest. It is a tremendous challenge to
forgive all loans to Jews every seven
years. It is certainly no simple matter to release one's hold on one's real
estate empire and return the parcels of land to their owners, and in a society
which accepts slavery, it is almost 'unrealistic' to expect that slave owners
will release their Jewish slaves in response to a Divine command. But this is
what shmita and yovel demand.
The Torah prepares us for the challenge of shmita and yovel in various
ways. One way is the blessings and curses, a warning of the dire consequences
of neglect: disease, destruction, disaster, death. Other indications that the
Torah expects these mitzvot to run into resistance, and other ways in which the
Torah tries to strengthen us, are amply provided by the text itself. First, the
Torah anticipates our fear that if we do not plant in the seventh year, we will
starve:
Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:20-21 If you shall say, "What shall we eat in the seventh year? After all, we shall not be
planting or gathering our produce!" I shall
command My blessing for you in the sixth year, and it will provide produce for three years.
Next, the Torah anticipates that canceling all loans to Jews will prove a
very unpopular mitzva, and duly warns and encourages us:
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 15:7-10 If there shall be among you a pauper, from among your
brothers, in one of your gates, in your land, which HaShem your God is giving
to you--do not harden your heart and do not close your hand to your poor
brother; instead, completely open your hand to him and
lend him enough to provide whatever he lacks. Beware lest there be an evil
thought in your heart, saying, "The seventh year, the year of shmita
[literally, 'cancellation'] is approaching," and your shall look
ungenerously upon your poor brother, and you shall not give to him, and he
shall call out against you to HaShem, and there will be sin
in you. You shall surely give to him, and let your heart not be bitter when you
when you give him, for because of this thing HaShem,
your God, shall bless you in all of your works and in all of your efforts.
HINTS FROM THE RAMBAM:
The Rambam's Hilkhot shmita ve-yovel (Laws of
shmita and yovel) provides subtle but crucial confirmation that shmita and
yovel are mitzvot that we accepted as a nation somewhat
reluctantly. Instead of warnings and exhortations, these indications are
assumptions which are built into the halakhic
system:
Chapter 1, Law 12 -- One who plants during the seventh year, whether
purposely or accidentally [i.e., with or without the awareness that it is the
seventh year and that planting is forbidden], must uproot what he has planted,
for the Jews
are suspected by [halakha] of violating the laws of the seventh year, [!!!] and if we were to
permit leaving the plant in the ground if it had been planted accidentally,
those who had planted purposely would just claim to have planted accidentally.
Chapter 4, Law 2 -- All plants which grow wild during this year are
rabbinically prohibited to be eaten. Why did they
[the rabbis] decree that they be forbidden? Because of the sinners: so that one
should not go and secretly plant grain and beans and garden vegetables in his
field, and then when they sprout he would eat them and claim that they grew
wild; therefore they forbade all wild plants which sprout during the seventh
year.[106]
Chapter 9, Law 16 -- When Hillel the Elder saw that the people were
refusing to lend money to each other and were transgressing the verse written
in the Torah, "Beware lest there be an evil thought in your heart . .
.", he established for them the "pruzbul," [a special contract]
which would prevent the cancellation of their debts to each other . . . .
Clearly, shmita and yovel are difficult mitzvot,
and they require the Torah's encouragement.
TWO SIDES OF A COIN:
We have seen that the blessings and curses appears closely connected to the
mitzvot of shmita and yovel (or, more precisely, the
neglect of these mitzvot) and that the Torah and halakha
take pains to encourage observance of these mitzvot and prevent abuses of the
halakha. But now that we have zeroed in these mitzvot as the focus of the
blessings and curses, we return to the question with which we began: what is
the purpose of the blessings and curses? Does the Torah expect us to be
frightened by these threats into properly keeping shmita and yovel? Perhaps
threats work in some cultures (or in all cultures in some centuries), but from
our perspective in the 20th century, and considering that most of us are
products of Western culture to a significant degree, threats don't usually have
much effect. (If this is not obvious to you, take a look around and try to
estimate what percentage of the Jewish people remain faithful to the mitzvot of
the Torah, despite the many warnings and exhortations the Torah offers.) Since
the Torah is an eternal and Divinely authored
document, we must be able to find significance in it in all generations and in all cultures. So what does message
does the blessings and curses communicate to us?
Surprisingly, the blessings and curses may teach us the same lesson as
shmita and yovel themselves attempt to teach us.
In the 'normal' course of life, we go about our business, doing our best to
achieve some level of material comfort. The world either rewards our efforts or
doesn't, but either way, we are eternally and tragically prone to two enormous
errors: 1) we begin to believe that making money and achieving domination over
material and people are ultimate goals in their own right, and 2) we begin to
believe that credit for our success or failure (but particularly our success)
goes entirely to us. shmita and yovel come to prevent or correct these errors:
completely interrupting the economy with a mitzva which arrives every few years
has a nasty way of sucking all of the wind out of the pursuit of wealth and
reminding us that in any event we are not in control of the system.
But there is another option. shmita and yovel are only one way of helping
us maintain our awareness of these truths and therefore forcing us to look
outside wealth and power to find the goals of our lives. Although shmita and yovel are obligatory, in some sense, they are
a 'voluntary' way of reminding ourselves of where our ultimate attention should
be directed. If we choose to reject shmita and yovel and insist that the
economy (and our pursuit of wealth and power) will march on no matter what, HaShem has other options for reminding us of these
truths. We can either choose to puncture the economic facade every seven years of our own volition, shattering our own
mounting illusions and taming our growing greed, or HaShem
will do the puncturing for us. Either way, we will remain inescapably aware of
what HaShem wants us to know, but we get to choose whether to take the 'bitter
pill' ourselves, or have our figurative national limbs amputated by plague, invasion, destruction, exile,
and oppression.
That this is one of the deeper meanings of the blessings and curses is
hinted by the Torah and by the Rambam's interpretation of it. The blessings and
curses uses the word "keri" several times to describe the unacceptable
behavior of the Jews in rejecting shmita and yovel; HaShem
promises powerful retribution. But, amazingly, we still have the potential to
miss the point. Apparently, nothing
can guarantee that someone who refuses to see HaShem's control of the world
will suddenly open his eyes. Shmita and yovel are good
options, but we can choose to ignore them. Destruction and punishment are more
highly aggressive options, but they too can fail at their task if we do not see
our misfortune as HaShem's "plan B" for getting us to look away from
the material world and ourselves and toward Him and His goals for us:
Rambam, Laws of Fast
Days, Chapter 1:
Law 1 -- It is a positive biblical command to cry out and to blow with trumpets over every crisis which comes upon the
community .
Law 2 -- This practice is among the paths of repentance, for when a crisis
comes and they cry out over it and blow the trumpets, all will know that it is
because of their evil deeds that evil has befallen them . . . and this will
cause them to [try to] remove the crisis from upon them.
Law 3 -- But if they do not cry out and blow, and instead say, "This
disaster which has occurred to us is just the way of the world,"
"This crisis simply happened by coincidence," this is the way of
callousness, and causes them to maintain their evil ways, and then the crisis
will grow into further crises, as it says in the Torah [in the blessings and
curses in our parasha], "You have behaved with Me as if all is 'keri'
[happenstance], so I shall behave with you with wrathful keri
[happenstance]," meaning, "If I bring upon you a crisis to make you repent,
if you then say that it is a meaningless coincidence, I will add fury to that
occurrence [and punish you further]."
As the blessings and curses begins, HaShem warns
that He will punish us for ignoring shmita and yovel; according to the
interpretation we have been developing, the point is not so much to punish us
as to provide a less friendly way of achieving what shmita and yovel were
supposed to achieve (26:14-17). Our planting will
yield nothing (as our voluntary non-planting during shmita should have done)
and our security will be destroyed by diseases which blind and confuse us. Our
sense of control and mastery will be shattered by defeat at the hands of our
enemies. If we still do not respond, we are punished further (18-20): HaShem
will "smash the pride of your power"; He will turn the sky and ground
into unyielding metal, and our attempts to violate shmita will amount to
nothing. At this point the Torah introduces the word 'keri': "If you
behave with Me with keri" (21), if you ascribe these disasters to global
warming or acid rain or ozone depletion or any other cause other natural
process unconnected with the theological lesson of shmita and yovel, "I
will add to your suffering seven times for your sin." Because we refused to make our food available to the animal as commanded during shmita,
the animals will help make us suffer and topple the sense of domination and
order we have imposed on the world. HaShem sarcastically asserts that He will
respond to our claim of 'keri' with more of that 'keri'; if we believe it is
all just part of the natural process, then we will just keep getting more of
that 'natural process' until it dawns on us to wonder whether something is
amiss. Eventually, we are to be exiled, and then
"the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths." Again, HaShem speaks with bitter
sarcasm: if we refuse to accept shmita and yovel, and if we reject our
suffering's meaning, then finally at least the unthinking land will understand and will celebrate shmita
when there is no one left to pick up a shovel and violate the Sabbath of the land.
In this light, the blessings we find just before the blessings and curses,
which are promised to us if we keep shmita and yovel, also take on new meaning.
These blessings are not simply rewards for good behavior and obedience, they
are in fact only possible if we keep shmita and yovel. We can be allowed to
enjoy material success, military victory, personal fertility, and other
blessings only if we keep shmita and yovel because otherwise these blessings
begin to compete with HaShem for our attention. Only
if we 'voluntarily' impose shmita and yovel on ourselves and remind ourselves
of the ultimate goals to which we are to dedicate ourselves can we be trusted
to properly interpret the meaning of our success.
The end of the blessings and curses promises that no matter how bad things
get, HaShem will never abandon us completely. But this is comforting only now
that we have seen the blessings and curses in empirical historical Technicolor.
In our century, now that HaShem has shown us a smile of gracious generosity,
may we think creatively and seriously to find personal ways to remind ourselves
of our ultimate goals and to prevent ourselves from being blinded by greed and
egotism.
Question: The Torah commands,
"You shall sanctify the fiftieth year (Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:10)."
How is this done?
Answer: Vayikra (Leviticus)
25:10 - At the beginning of the year the Beit Din Gadole declares, "This
year is Kadosh."
Question: Where does the yovel
year get its name?
Answer: Vayikra (Leviticus)
25:10 - From the sounding of the shofar. A ram's horn
is called a yovel.
Question: Which two
"returns" are announced by the shofar during yovel?
Answer: Vayikra (Leviticus)
25:10 - The return of the land to its original owner, and the
"return" (freedom) of the slave from
slavery
Question: In verse Vayikra
(Leviticus) 25:14, to what does "al tonu" (don't harm) refer?
Answer: Vayikra (Leviticus)
25:14 - "Ona'as mamon", harming someone financially.
Question: In verse Vayikra
(Leviticus) 25:17, to what does “don't harm” refer?
Answer: Vayikra (Leviticus)
25:17 harming someone with words.
Question: After selling an
ancestral field, when can one redeem it?
Answer: Vayikra (Leviticus)
25:24 - Anytime after two years following the sale until yovel. In the
beginning of yovel it returns to the family automatically.
Question: If a home in a walled city is sold, when can it be redeemed?
Answer: Vayikra (Leviticus)
25:29 - Only within the first year after the sale. Afterwards, even in yovel it
does not return.
Question: After selling a home
in a city without walls, when can one redeem it?
Answer: Vayikra (Leviticus)
25:31 - Anytime until yovel, when it returns automatically.
Question: On the third day of creation, the plants only grew up to the surface of the
ground. On the sixth day, after Adam was created, he
prayed for rain and plants began to appear on the
earth's surface. Why on the third day did they only grow up to the surface and
not further?
Answer: The first day of creation was the 25th of Elul,
with man being created on Rosh Hashanah, the first of
Tishrei[108]. According to the Midrash[109], "the Torah
preceded the world by 2000 years." In accordance with the Torah command
designating every fiftieth year to be yovel (the jubilee year, in which farmers
in
"He tells His words to Yaakov, His laws and His judgments to Israel"
(Tehillim (Psalms) 147:19). Our sages explain this
to mean that whatever HaShem commands us to do in the
Torah it is because He Himself "fulfills" the deed as well (Shemot
Rabbah 30:9). To show how He, too, observes the mitzva of yovel, HaShem created
the plants on the third day, but didn't allow them to penetrate the ground as
it was still the yovel year. On the sixth day of creation,
the first day of the new year following the yovel, when farmers would once
again be allowed to work their fields, HaShem answered Adam's
prayers for rain and made the plants emerge and flower on earth.
If one makes a condition that a sale would not be revoked on the yovel, is
the sale revoked at the time of the yovel?[110] According to the Gamara, this condition is invalid.
YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH
PROJECT (VBM) ****************************************
ROSH HASHANA
****************************************
To our surprise, Chumash appears to have left out the two
primary aspects of the holiday which we call Rosh Hashana:
* that it marks the beginning of the NEW YEAR,
and
* that it is a Day of Judgement. This shiur attempts to uncover them.
INTRODUCTION
Chumash contains only two brief and ambiguous references to Rosh Hashana:
1) In Parshat Emor: "On the SEVENTH month,
on the first day of that month, you shall have a day of rest - ZICHRON
TRU'AH..." (Vayikra 23:23-25)
2) In Parshat Pinchas: "On the SEVENTH month
... You shall have a YOM TERUAH...". (Bamidbar
29:1-6)
In both of these Parshiot, the Torah commands us to observe a holiday on the first day of the SEVENTH month without
even hinting as to why this day or month is special.
Furthermore, the Torah tells us to observe this day as a ZICHRON TRU'AH, or YOM
TRU'AH, without explaining precisely what these phrases mean! How does the
SEVENTH month ('MID-year') become the NEW year? How does YOM
TERUAH become a day of judgement?
To answer these questions, we must first explain the biblical concept of a
'year'.
THE BIBLICAL YEAR
Although it is commonly assumed that Rosh Hashana marks the anniversary of HaShem's creation of the world, this specific issue is a controversy in the Talmud between R' Eliezer and R' Yehoshua[111]. According to R'
Yehoshua, who claims that the world was created in Nisan (the first month), is
there nothing special about the first of Tishrei (the seventh month)? And even
according to R' Eliezer, who claims that the world was created in Tishrei, why
should the anniversary of the Creation provoke a yearly 'Day of Judgement'?
In Chumash itself, we find TWO yearly cycles. The cycle which begins in
Nisan is best known, for the Torah explicitly commands us to count all of the
months from Nisan ("parshat ha'chodesh"/
see Shemot 12:1-2). However, the cycle which begins in Tishrei is less well
known, for it is only implicit. Nonetheless, a quick analysis of several
mitzvot and psukim can show how obvious it really is. The most obvious proof is
from the mitzva of "shmita": "Six YEARS you shall plant your fields... and gather your produce, but on the seventh YEAR the land
shall have complete rest... (Vayikra 25:3-5)
Although the Torah does not specify the precise time of year when this
cycle begins, it can be inferred from the law of the
"yovel" year which follows: "You shall count seven cycles of seven years... then
you shall blow the shofar on the SEVENTH MONTH, on
the tenth day of the month... (Vayikra 25:8-9)
If the yovel year begins on the SEVENTH MONTH, then obviously the entire shmita cycle must begin in the SEVENTH month. In
addition to this textual proof, there is a very logical reason why the shmita
cycle should begin in the SEVENTH month. As we know, the mitzvah of shmita
relates to planting and harvesting one's field. Since the fall season (i.e. Tishrei) marks the end of the harvest season and the
beginning of the next year's planting season, it makes sense that the shmita
cycle begin in Tishrei. In other words, in addition to the yearly cycle which
begins in Nisan, and relates to the Exodus and our
national redemption, another yearly cycle exists which begins in Tishrei and
relates to the natural cycle of the agricultural year. Proof of this
'agricultural cycle' is found in the Torah's presentation of the "shalosh
regalim": "Three times a year you shall hold a festival
for Me: Observe chag ha'matzot... in the spring...
chag ha'katzir, when you first reap your grain harvest, and chag ha'asif - AT
THE END OF THE YEAR - when you GATHER YOUR PRODUCE (fruit harvest) from the
fields..." (Shemot 23:14-16)
Here, the Torah specifically states that the harvest holiday, better known
as Succoth, is the END OF THE YEAR. [Parshat Emor states specifically that this holiday is to
be celebrated in the SEVENTH month. (See Vayikra 23:39!)] If the previous year
ends in Tishrei, the new year must also begin in Tishrei.
Our final proof is found in the
Torah's presentation of the mitzvah of HAKHEL, which
connects both the shmita cycle and Succoth to the END OF THE YEAR: "At the
END of every seven years, at the turn of the SHMITA cycle, on CHAG HA'SUCCOTH... you shall read this Torah..."
(Dvarim 31:10-11)
Once again we find that the Torah
considers the time of year of Succoth as the end of the agricultural year. Thus
far, we have proven that the SEVENTH month is indeed the beginning of the NEW
YEAR, i.e. the agricultural new year. Based on this understanding, we can now
explain why it becomes a day of judgement.
RAIN - AND THE NEW YEAR Before we continue, we must review the different
stages of the agricultural year in the
* The fruit harvest begins in the summer months of Tamuz and Av, and
continues until Tishrei.
With this in mind, we can proceed. Due to the nature of this cycle, the ultimate success of the agricultural year
hinges on the amount of RAIN that falls in the months of Cheshvan and Kislev
(late autumn and early winter). This early rainy season is so critical that the
first three chapters of Mesechet Taanit describe in detail the public fasts
which are declared should the first rain be only a few weeks late! Should more
than a month go by without rain, more severe public fasts are declared, SIX brachot are added to "shmoneh esray" -
including ZICHRONOT AND SHOFROT, similar to the brachot added on Rosh Hashana!
[I recommend that you scan through the mishnayot of
Mesechet Taanit in order to appreciate this point.]
It is not coincidental that on these fast days we daven as on Rosh Hashana. As mentioned above, the month of Tishrei
marks the beginning of the new agricultural year, and thus the forthcoming
rainy season. It is precisely this rainy season which DETERMINES THE FATE OF
THE ENTIRE YEAR. Insufficient rain in the autumn leads to thirst, drought, famine, and disease in the spring and summer. Thus, from
nature's perspective, it is the early rainy season
which determines 'who will live and who will die, who by thirst and who by
famine, who by war and who by disease...'. Due to the importance of this early
rain, man will do everything in his power to make sure that indeed it will
fall. In ancient
After stating the land's DEPENDENCE on RAIN FROM HEAVEN for its water
supply, the Torah informs us that God Himself oversees this rainfall: "It
is a land which the Lord your God LOOKS AFTER [doresh otah], always He keeps
HIS EYE on it, from - REISHIT Hashana - the year's
beginning to the year's end." (Dvarim 11:12) [See previous shiur on Parshat Ekev.]
Interestingly enough, this is the only time in Chumash where we find the
name ROSH HASHANA (=REISHIT HASHANA); precisely in
the context of the rainy season, at the start of the agricultural year!
This theme develops in the next parsha - "v'haya im shmoa" (the
second parsha of daily kriyat shma!): "Should you listen to my mitzvot... then I will grant the RAIN
for you IN SEASON (lit. at the proper time) -'YOREH u'MALKOSH' - the early rain
and the late rain... BEWARE, should you go astray... then God will shut the heavens so that there WILL BE NO RAIN..." (Dvarim
11:13-16)
Yet again, we find that the amount
of rain which falls, especially during the critical season, is a DIRECT
function of HaShem's "hashgacha", and thus, a direct result of our
religious behavior.
Based on this interpretation, the biblical importance of celebrating a holiday on the first day of Tishrei now becomes clear.
As we anticipate the forthcoming agricultural year and its critical rainy
season, we dedicate a special day in which we abstain from work
("shabbaton"/ Vayikra 23:23) in order to gather
together ("mikra kodesh") and proclaim HaShem's DOMINION over the
entire Creation. Based on our deeds, and our
willingness to serve Him, He will determine the fate of the forthcoming year.
Our fate lies in HIS hands, NOT in the hands of nature or any other god. [We
therefore dedicate the month of Elul to repentance, in
preparation for this day, in order to prove to HaShem
that we are indeed worthy of a good judgement (according to the guidelines of
parshat "v'haya im shmoa").]
Up until this point, we have uncovered the biblical reason why the SEVENTH
month is considered the beginning of a NEW year and a time of judgement. In
anticipation of the rainy season and its influence on the fate of the
agricultural year, the Torah commands Bnei Yisrael
to set aside a special day in which we must recognize that the fate of the
forthcoming year will be determined by HaShem. With this background, we can
better appreciate the significance of the special mitzva which the Torah
commands us to keep on this day: 1) ZICHRON TRU'AH (in Parshat
Emor) 2) YOM TRU'AH (in Parshat
Pinchas) Why does the Torah command us to sound a TRU'AH specifically on
this day?
"YOM TRU'AH" IN THE BIBLE Today, a shofar
is considered a 'religious artifact', usually purchased at the local
"sforim" store or Judaica shop. Back in the time of the Bible, things
were a little different. Then, a shofar would have
been sold by the local 'arms dealer', for it was used as the primary
communications tool in war. Military commanders and officers used the shofar to
communicate important signals to their troops (e.g. Gidon and his 300 men /
Shoftim 7:16-20). Similarly, civil defense personnel used the shofar to warn
civilians of possible attack and to mobilize reserves (see Amos 3:6).
Therefore, in a manner similar to one's gut reaction to the sound of a siren
today, the sound of a tru'ah in biblical times meant immediate danger. Hearing
that sound was associated with going to battle or being under attack, i.e. a
situation where one's life is on the line. For example, the prophet Tzfania
uses the phrase YOM SHOFAR U'TRU'AH to describe a situation of war and terrible
destruction. "At that time [on the YOM HASHEM], I
will search Yerushalayim with candles and I will punish
the men... who say to themselves 'GOD DOES NOT REWARD NOR DOES HE PUNISH' [i.e.
no hashgacha!]... The great day of the Lord is
approaching... it is bitter, there a warrior shrieks. That day shall be a day
of wrath, a day of trouble and distress ("tzarah u'mtzuka"), a day of
calamity and desolation...., YOM SHOFAR U'TRU'AH ..." (Tzfania 1:12-16)
According to this pasuk, "yom tru'ah"
and "yom shofar" clearly imply a day of
imminent danger and war.
The prophet Amos also refers to the shofar in a similar context:
"Should a shofar be sounded in the town, would its people not be
frightened (ye'cheradu)? Could misfortune come to a town if God had not caused
it?" (see Amos 3:6 and its context) [See also Yoel 2:1-3,11-14 &
2:15-17, & Yirmiyahu 4:3-8.]
Therefore, the Torah instructs us to make a "yom tru'ah" on the
first day of the seventh month in order to create an atmosphere which simulates
the tension and fear of war. We are supposed to feel on this day, just as we
would on a day of war - that our lives are truly in danger. This explains
"yom tru'ah". What is the meaning of
"zichron tru'ah"?
ZICHRON TRU'AH Luckily, there is a pasuk in Parshat
Bha'alotcha which ties together these two words: "Should war take
place in your land...- v'HA'RAY'O'TEM - you must sound
a TRU'AH with the trumpet (b'chatzotzrot), v'NIZ'KAR'TEM - and you will be
REMEMBERED by the Lord your HaShem, and He will save
you from your enemies." (Bamidbar 10:9)
Should war break out, HaShem
commands us to sound a TRU'AH in prayer to HaShem - in anticipation of that
war. In doing so, we are recognizing HaShem's hashgacha over the outcome of the
forthcoming battle, and thus show Him that we deserve His special providence.
This parallels the situation on the first of Tishrei.
In anticipation of the forthcoming rainy reason, we must sound a TRU'AH in
order to remind ourselves that HaShem will determine the fate of the year and
ask for His special providence. Therefore, this day is not only a YOM TRU'AH - a day of AWE on
which our lives are judged, but also a ZICHRON TRU'AH - a day on which we must
sound the shofar in order that HaShem will REMEMBER us.
SHOFAR SHEL AYIL Even though Rosh Hashana is
commonly referred to as the JEWISH New Year, it is actually the NEW YEAR for
ALL mankind. Nonetheless, Am Yisrael is first to
declare God's kingdom on this day, for it is our national duty to proclaim His Name. As we begin the year by sounding the TRU'AH, we
specifically use a shofar from an "ayil" (a ram) - the symbol of
"akeidat Yitzchak", a testimony of our total
devotion to HaShem. In doing so, we remind the Almighty of His choice of
Avraham Avinu and His special relationship with his children, in order that He
NOT judge us like any other nation; but rather as His own special Nation.
shabbat shalom & shana tova,
menachem
===========================
FOR FURTHER IYUN
A. In Chodesh Tishrei, the 'seventh' month, we find many "chagim"
which relate to nature, especially the 'seven' days of
Succoth marking the culmination of harvest season of
the previous year. We also find three days of
'Judgement', Rosh HaShanah, Yom
Kippur, and Shemini Atzeret.
1. Compare the korban musaf of each of these three chagim. (one par, one
ayil, seven kvasim and one seir l'chatat).
2. In what way are these chagim connected? Note the use of the word
"zeh" and "ach" in Vayikra 23:23-40.
3. According to Chazal, when are we judged for water? How does this relate
to the above shiur?
4. Relate this to the tfila of the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur! (It's in your machzor at the end of the
seder avodah.)
B. Why does HaShem need Am Yisrael to proclaim him king? The one thing
HaShem, k'vyachol, can NOT do is make himself king. A kingdom is meaningless if
there are no subjects. A king becomes king when and because he is accepted by
his subjects. Similarly, only when HaShem is accepted and recognized by man
does He become Melech. 1. Relate this to our davening on Rosh
Hashana.
2 Explain changing "E-l HaKadosh" - to "Melech
Hakadosh" according to this concept.
C. The Jewish New Year, the New Year special and unique to Am Yisrael is
actually Nisan - "HaChodesh Hazeh lechem Rosh Chodashim Rishon hu lachem
lchodshei Hashana" (Shmot 12:1-2). Yitziat Mitzraim (which took place in
Nisan) marks the birth of the Jewish Nation.
1. What aspects of Pesach and Chag HaMatzot emphasize that we are a special nation,
different than other nations.
2. What aspect of the chagim in Tishrei, relate to all mankind. (Note 70
parim on Succoth etc. - see also Zecharya chap 14)
D. TKI'AH / TRU'AH - AC/DC A short explanation concerning the biblical
difference between TKI'AH and TRU'AH. TKI'AH implies a straight note (like DC
current), while TRU'AH implies an oscillating - up & down - note (like AC
current). A TKI'AH usually indicates a public rejoicing or an 'all clear
signal', while a TRU'AH usually indicates a warning of some sort. [Those of you
who were in
E. It seems strange that the yovel year should begin on Yom Kippur (see Vayikra 25:8-10). It should begin on the
first of Tishrei - Rosh Ha'shana. 1. Relate the laws
of yovel to the laws of Yom Kippur to find a thematic
connection between them. Could this be the reason why Yom Kippur was chosen to
proclaim the yovel? 2. Why do you think that Chazal learn many halachot of shofar and Rosh
Hashana from the laws of yovel? 3. See Mesechet Rosh Hashana 33b-34a. Relate
this Gemara to the above shiur.
* * *
The
Parshat HaShavua
Yeshivat Har
Etzion
PARASHAT BEHAR
Behar-Bechukotai
- The Ownership of God and Man
I) Relationship to Sefer Vayikra
As opposed to the preceding parshiot which Moshe received in the ohel mo'ed, the three chapters of Behar
and Bechukotai (25-27) were given "behar" -
at Sinai (25:1, 26:46, and 27:34). The placement of these Sinaitic chapters in
Sefer Vayikra can be attributed to the their connection to themes of the Sefer.
Ibn Ezra (25:1) parallels the exile threatened as
punishment for neglect of the "shmita"
(sabbatical year) laws (26:34-5) to the same fate linked
in chapter 18 to improper marital practices. Additionally, Behar's stress on
interpersonal responsibility (25:6,10,14,39,49) mirrors that of Kedoshim's list
of "kedusha" commandments. (Chapter 19. See especially the parallel
between verses 25:14,17 and verse 19:33.) Thirdly, Bechukotai's discussion of
sanctified objects in perek 27 can be seen as parallel to the voluntary
offerings whose delineation opens Sefer Vayikra.
II) Interrelationship
The Ramban (27:1) addresses the interrelationship between the three chapters. Although all three chapters were of
Sinaitic origin, verse 26:46 divides the three into two
units. The first unit includes the commandments of chapter 25 and the curses of
chapter 26. The curses were included in the commandment revelation because they
share a cause and effect relationship with the commandments. The neglect of the
shmita laws, which open chapter 25, bring the curses (26:34-5). The second
unit, chapter 27, deals with the laws of sanctified objects.
The Ramban points out that the commandment sections of each unit ordain
"yovel" (jubilee year) as the emancipation point for sold or
sanctified objects. I think that a closer examination of the commandments found
in Behar and Bechukotai
will considerably enhance our appreciation of the Ramban's linkage.
III) Behar - Chapter 25
A) Two Themes
Although Behar opens with the shmita laws
(25:1-8), verse 9 and onward focus on yovel. What's more, four out of the five units that follow the completion of the shmita /
yovel laws include a reference to yovel.
1. (25:25-28) The return of sold land.
2. (29-34) The return of sold houses.
3. (39-46) The emancipation of Jewish-owned
slaves.
4. ((47-55) Foreign-owned slaves.
In all four cases, the yovel reverses the
previous sale. The last verse of the parasha, "You shall observe my Shabbatot and fear my mikdash,
I am HaShem" (26:2), seems to break the yovel
theme of the rest of the parasha. Ibn Ezra and Chizkuni are so influenced by
the centrality of the yovel theme that they explain this verse in reference to
shmita and yovel as well, shmita being "shabbat
ha'aretz," and yovel being "kodesh" (25:10,12).
yovel's frequent appearance makes the presence of the chapter's
"yovelless" center unit (35-38), which prohibits usury, seem
anomalous. I think the presence of the usury prohibition most clearly expresses
a second theme present in the chapter - the special consideration Jews are expected to show their brethren. This theme is
reflected not only by the usury prohibition, but also by the following unit
(fourth overall) that contrasts the laws of Jewish slaves with those of gentile ones.
The unit of slavery (39-45) subdivides into two sub-units. Each sub-unit
opens and closes with a matched phrase - the first by "he shall not be
sold/work as a slave" (39,42) and the second by "you shall not work
him 'befarekh' (with rigor/ to break his spirit)." (43,46) The first
sub-unit mandates that a Jewish slave be freed at
yovel; the second sub-unit contrasts this special dispensation with the
management of a gentile slave who may/must be
enslaved indefinitely. (See further study questions.)
The limitation of the period of a Jew's enslavement, as opposed to that
of the average slave, most emphatically reflects the Torah's insistence in the
framework of the two sub-units that he basically is not
to be treated as a slave. The unique, super-erogatory treatment of a Jewish
slave is confirmed by the formulation of the concluding verse - "And your
brothers - the sons of
The unique compassion Jews must show one another already appears within
the framework of the initial exposition of the yovel laws. The Torah inserts four verses that deal with fraud (14-17) in an
artificially created space between the presentation of the shmita
/ yovel laws (1-13) and their justification
and summary (18-24). Just as in the slave unit, the mini-unit blends into the
context by using adherence to yovel laws as the example of a proper sale.
The Torah reinforces the relationship between the third and fourth units
and the fraud mini-unit, all three based on Jewish social responsibility, by
including the phrase - "And you shall fear your God" in all three of these units (17,36,43) and nowhere else in the
chapter.
Thus, the four units that follow the shmita/yovel
laws can be divided into two groups which make two independent points. The
first two units deal with the sale of property and mandate that the sale not be
final. The yovel liberation and the redemption possibility, the central
component added by the first two units, express the limitation in one's
ownership - "the land may not be sold forever for the land is mine; you are
strangers and sojourners with me. And in all inheritance
land you shall grant redemption (23-4)." The
second group of two units deals with the compassion that must be shown to other
Jews - whether freemen or slaves. The second of the two units mentions the
yovel emancipation as an indication of the fact that no Jew
should be treated as a slave.
B) The Relationship Between the Two
The two distinct themes - yovel and the special
treatment of Jewish brethren - are related both
conceptually and textually. Conceptually, both are reflections of the limits
God's underlying ownership places on man's. Just as "the land may not be
sold forever for the land is mine," (23) so too no Jew
can be owned "for they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt." (42) Additionally,
recognition of the fact that even one's basic freedom
from the bondage of
The Torah intertwines the two themes in the fifth unit (47-55) applying
both to a Jew who, out of desperation, enslaves himself to a gentile. Ideally the slave's relatives, even distant,
should show compassion and redeem their brother. The redemption clause,
heretofore (in the first two units, which dealt with property) an expression of
the man's restricted land ownership now reflects the responsibility fellow Jews
have to enslaved brethren.
If no one redeems the slave, the Torah adds two
stipulations. "The gentile may not rule over
him with vigor in your sight" (53), for one should find a foreigner's lack
of compassion for another Jew as intolerable as his
own. Additionally, the slave must be freed at yovel - "for the Jewish
people are my servants that I brought out of Egypt;
I am HaShem - their God" (55).
IV) Chapter 27 (Bechukotai) and Parashat Behar
Chapter 27 applies Behar's theme of God's exclusive ownership to
"hekdesh" (objects owned by the Temple).
The chapter stresses the unacceptability of a Jew being owned by distinguishing
between the dedication of property and self-dedication. That the two types of
dedication are meant to be contrasted rather than understood as a continuum may
be seen by the fact that they are separated by a mesora-break (after 27:8), the
ONLY one in the perek. Dedication generally applies to the object actually
dedicated. Although the possibility of redemption generally exists, it is
merely an option. What's more, it meets with a penalty - an extra fifth is adas
a surcharge. Otherwise, the object remains hekdesh and may be purchased by
another. A Jew's self dedication, though, has only one resolution - personal
redemption; another's acquisition or a permanent state of hekdesh-ownership are
not considered possible. Even hekdesh cannot possess another Jew.
Likewise, the Torah limits the scope of hekdesh's hold on property.
Although an animal fit for sacrifice or a "cherem" fall inextricably
under hekdesh's control, land that is dedicated returns to it's original owner
through redemption or, in certain circumstances,
yovel. Hekdesh fairs no better than the commoner; it's control is likewise
undermined by God's underlying ownership.
"Bekhor" (first born animal), singled out as an exception (26),
fits well within the framework of the chapter. God's execution of yetziat
mitzraim grants Him ownership of man, and therefore hekdesh's ability to
control man is limited. It also grants him ownership of all firstborns and,
thus, preempts man's sanctification.
Thus, it is not merely the mutual mention of yovel that characterizes the
two chapters, but the joint limitation of ownership of both land (the
redemption clause) and man (the dedication being a vow, not a transfer of
ownership).
Further questions:
1. "You shall enslave them (non-Jewish slaves) forever"
(25,46). R. Akiva (Gittin 38b) interprets this as a
prohibition on the emancipation of non-Jewish slaves, although in context it
could easily have been interpreted as merely excluding the MANDATORY emancipation
at yovel. How does his interpretation strengthen the underlying theme of the
contrast between slaves, as explained in the shiur?
2. Halakhically, redemption applies to any Jew
sold as a slave (Kiddushin 14b). Explicitly,
however, the Torah mentions it only in regard to a female slave (Shemot 21:4)
and, in our parasha, in regard to a slave sold to a non-Jew (25:48). Why are
these two cases stressed? What does this indicate about the context for this halakhic institution?
3. Are shmita and yovel "religious"
institutions (about God's ownership of the land) or social institutions (about
equality and freedom)? Read carefully the opening of
the parasha and compare to Shemot 23, 10-12 (Shemot 23:12 is about Shabbat - but notice the context of Shabbat in that
verse!) and Devarim 15:1-2; 12-18.
4. Yovel, including even counting the fiftieth year separately, depends
on "kol yoshveha aleha" - having the Jewish people as a whole living
in Eretz Yisrael. This is the only mitzva hateluya
ba-aretz with this stipulation. Why is the mitzva dependent not only on kedushat
ha-aretz, but also on the presence of the people in the land?
By Rav Yaakov
Translated by Zev Jacobson
Each of the chagim (holidays) has a dual significance
which is rooted and expressed in the duality of our calendar. The Jewish calendar is based on the movement of both the
sun and the moon, in contradistinction to the solar calendar of ancient
Correspondingly, each holiday has both a historical and an agricultural
significance. Pesach commemorates Yetzi'at Mitzrayim
(the Exodus) and marks the beginning of the barley harvest. Shavuot commemorates Matan Torah (the Giving of the
Torah) and marks the beginning of the wheat harvest. Succoth
commemorates the wanderings of
The combination of these two cycles into one unit is
an assertion of faith: HaShem, who is responsible for
the creation of the world and who causes plants to grow, is the one who
controls history. The God of Nature is He who redeemed
us from
The Torah (Devarim 16:1) assigns great importance to the period of the year
when Pesach must be celebrated - Chodesh Ha-Aviv (Spring). The Festival of Freedom, which commemorates the unique historical event
of the Exodus, must coincide with the start of the annual agricultural season -
the harvest. What is the connection between the
two?
For the six months from Succoth
until Pesach, the farmer is a slave to his land. He
must clear the fields of stones, plough, sow and water without seeing the
fruits of his labor. However, when the middle of Nisan comes, a dramatic change
takes place. The farmer is transformed from one who "sows in tears"
to one who "reaps in joy." He is now master of his land and earns his
daily bread from it. This new-found freedom commences on Pesach when the barley
harvest begins, as beforehand one is not permitted to benefit from the current
year's grain. Thus, the two freedoms - agricultural and historical - go
hand-in-hand. A barley offering (korban omer) is
brought in the Temple on the second day of Pesach,
expressing our recognition that it is God who causes the rains to fall and the
grain to grow, just as it is He who redeemed us from bondage.
We are commanded to count fifty days from Pesach
until Shavuot (Vayikra 23:15-18). This is called Sefirat Ha-Omer (counting of the Omer) and is so termed
because it commences on the day that the Omer is offered. From the verses in
the Torah, it seems that the significance of this counting relates purely to
the agricultural cycle: we mark off the days between
the barley offering of Pesach and the wheat offering (shtei ha-lechem - the two
loaves) which is brought on Shavuot.
Since barley ripens before wheat, these fifty days represent the interlude
when only barley is being harvested. The farmer eagerly anticipates the new
crop that he will soon harvest. In the words of our Sages, he waits as "a
bride awaits her wedding day."
Barley is used primarily as animal fodder; it is the
superior wheat that will serve as food for him and
his family. Furthermore, the barley offering permits the current year's grain
to be eaten only outside of the Temple; whereas the
wheat offering permits it to be used in the
However, our Sages identify Shavuot as the date
of the giving of the Torah, and it is the historical significance of the day
that lends the central meaning to the analogy of a "bride anticipating her
wedding day." The Exodus is compared to an engagement between HaShem and Israel. By redeeming us from bondage, He chose us to be His
people, His beloved (see Shir Ha-Shirim, Yirmiyahu 2:2, and Hoshea ch. 2).
However, the union was only sealed at the foot of
Every year, we relive this feeling of longing and anticipation. We eagerly
await the festival of Shavuot when our covenant with HaShem is re-affirmed and renewed. We
hope and pray that the bread of affliction - the poor
man's bread of Pesach - is transformed into the
full, rich loaves of the Shavuot service. Thus, Sefirat Ha-Omer as a period of
transformation and longing is relevant in both the agricultural and the
historical senses. The satisfaction and fulfillment of Shavuot is also to be
experienced in both these realms, although the Sages place more emphasis on the
historical overtones of the day. Note, however, that the focus of the
historical experience is not merely recollection of the past, but reliving it
in the present.
It is somewhat puzzling that while the Torah speaks directly of both
aspects of Pesach - agricultural and historical - it focuses solely on the
agricultural significance of Sefirat Ha-Omer and
Shavuot. In fact, it is the Sages who calculate that Matan Torah took place on
the selfsame day that we are commanded to offer the shtei ha-lechem. Why does
the Torah not mention the historical significance of the day at all?
While it is true that there is no direct mention of Shavuot as the
commemoration of the revelation at Sinai, the connection is very strongly
hinted at in the verses by the use of Sefirat Ha-Omer
as the link between Pesach and Shavuot, as will be explained.
Sefirat Ha-Omer is very similar to the mitzva of Sefirat Ha-yovel, whereby
we are enjoined to count 49 years and consecrate the 50th year as the yovel
(Jubilee). This similarity is expressed both in the verses themselves (compare
Vayikra 23:15-16 to 25:8-10) and in the laws relevant to
the actual counting. (For example, with regard to Sefirat Ha-Omer, we are
commanded to count seven sets of seven days - each set
comprising a week; with regard to Sefirat Ha-yovel, we are commanded to count
seven sets of seven years - each set comprising one shmita
cycle where the ground is worked for six years and left untouched in the
seventh year. In both cases it is a mitzva to count each day or year AND each
individual set.) It is clear that the similarity between the two is not
accidental and by taking a closer look at Sefirat Ha-yovel, we can better
understand Sefirat Ha-Omer.
On Yom Kippur of the fiftieth year, a shofar is blown throughout the land to proclaim the
yovel year. Another term for shofar is "yovel," and hence the name of
the year. The basis of this practice has its roots in Matan Torah, where HaShem announced His presence with "the powerful
sound of the shofar" (Shemot 19:19) and signified that His presence had
departed from the mountain by a long shofar blast ("bimshokh
ha-YOVEL," Shemot 19:13). The sound of the shofar
on yovel parallels the shofar at Sinai and, thus, the counting of the yovel is
strongly reminiscent of the build-up to Matan Torah.
Furthermore, on the Succoth following the shmita
year, there is a mitzva of Hakhel (Gathering) where
every able-bodied man, woman and child is enjoined to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and gather together to hear words of Torah from
the mouth of the king (Devarim 31:10-12). The purpose of Hakhel, in the words
of the scriptures, is: "In order that you may hear and in order that you
may learn to fear the Lord your God." This, too, is cited as the purpose
of Matan Torah (see, e.g., Shemot 20:18), where the entire nation congregated
to hear the words of HaShem.
In the yovel year, this assumed greater significance, as all slaves were
freed on Yom Kippur and were, thus, able to
participate in the communal acceptance of the Torah that took place on Hakhel.
Thus, the Sefirat Ha-yovel was in fact a countdown to the freedom
from slavery and embracing of the Torah. By way of comparison, it follows that
Sefirat Ha-Omer expresses the same idea.
The special nature of the Sefira - preparation for the bond between God and
His people - is strongly hinted at by the Korban Ha-Omer itself. There are only
two instances when an offering of barley is brought: the Omer
offering and the Sota offering (brought by a woman whose fidelity to her
husband is under suspicion). The period between the exodus and the Revelation
at Sinai is one of trial. The betrothed (Israel) is tested to verify the extent of her loyalty
to the groom (God). Only once her unquestioning faithfulness has been proven
can the union be finalized.
In a similar vein, we find only two places where the
name of God is cast into water: At the sota ceremony[112] and at Mara. (After
crossing the
The allusion to the Sota ceremony makes it clear that
This is the message of the Omer - in order to be worthy of the gifts of
HaShem, both on a material (agricultural) plane and on a spiritual plane (Matan
Torah) - we must prepare ourselves correctly.
©
Virtual Jerusalem, Ltd., 1995-1996. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Sources: Hilchot Melachim 11:1. Shmita V'yovel 10:8.12:16
Parshat Behar teaches about the special laws of Shmita
(the 7th year) and yovel (the 50th year).
In the laws discussing Mashiach,
the Rambam tells us that Mashiach will bring back the laws of shmita and yovel
just as they were before. But before that, the laws of shmita and yovel do not
fully apply.
This is because the posuk says that we need kol yoshveha
-- all the Bnei Yisrael-- living in Eretz Yisrael. Mashiach
will lead all the Bnei Yisrael out of galut and back to
Eretz Yisrael. Then we will be able to keep all the mitzvot of the Torah fully.
Sources: Rabbeinu Bachaye 25:47
After seven shmita
cycles of seven years each, the 50th year is declared yovel. Yovel also hints
to the geulah (redemption). In the 50th year, the
shofar is blown and all slaves are set free. In the
same way, the Bnei Yisrael will be set free from our slavery in galut (exile).
There is a second way that yovel hints to the geulah. The
word yovel is just like the word yovilu. The word yovilu is written in Tehillim
(76:12): all the nations "yovilu shai" -- will bring gifts to HaShem when the geulah comes.
* * *
PARSHA BEHAR
In the Sedra of Behar, instructions are given
about the observance of two special kinds of sanctified year-the seventh year (Shmita or `release') when the land was rested and lay
fallow; and the fiftieth year (yovel or 'Jubilee') when the Hebrew slaves were emancipated and most property
reverted to its original owner. The two institutions were connected, the
Jubilee being the completion of seven seven year cycles. it was not, itself, counted as a year in the
seven-yearly reckoning. The Jubilee lapsed as a practical institution when some
of the Tribes went into exile. But we can distinguish
three periods in its history: (i) a time when the
Jubilee was observed, (ii) a time during the second Temple
when it was not observed but was still counted for the purpose of fixing the
seven-year cycle, and (iii) a time (like the present) when neither Temple
stood, and the seven-year cycle was counted without reference to the Jubilee.
The Sicha explores the spiritual meaning of the seventh and fiftieth years, and
thus gives an inward interpretation to the three
periods, and the religious consciousness they represent.
1. THE JUBILEE
"And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty
throughout the and unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto
you; and you shall return every man unto his possession, and you shall return
every man unto his family." 1 In this connection, the Talmud states: "When the tribes
of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Menasseh went into exile, the Jubilees
were abolished, as it is said, `And you shall proclaim liberty throughout the
land unto all the inhabitants thereof-that is (only) at the time when all its
inhabitants dwell upon it, but not at the time when some of them are
exiled."2
Despite the fact that the Jubilee-as a time of emancipation of slaves and
restitution of property-lapsed, the (Babylonian) Talmud
notes that even during the period of the second Temple,
"They counted the Jubilees to keep the years of release holy."(3)
Every seventh year was a year of release ('Shmita'), a sabbatical year for the
land when it was `released' from cultivation and lay fallow. In this cycle,
according to the Rabbis,(4) the fiftieth year was not counted, so that they had
to continue counting the Jubilees in order to be able to observe the Shmita
years of release in their proper time: to ensure that release was observed in
the seventh year after the Jubilee rather than after the forty-ninth year.
Tosefot(5) raises an objection: the Jerusalem
Talmud states, "At a time when the Jubilee is not observed as a year of
release, neither do you observe the seventh year as a release."(6) If so,
during the second
Rashi's opinion is that the seventh year was observed during the
But according to Tosefot, the two Talmuds conflict,
the Babylonian asserting that the seventh year was obligatory under Torah law, independently of the Jubilee, in disagreement with the
Jerusalem Talmud.
2. THE SPIRIT AND THE LAW
The legal decisions of the early Rabbis, the Tannaim and the Amoraim, were
not made merely as a result of a this-worldly reasoning. They were men of great
spiritual insight, who saw matters in a spiritual light and then translated
their vision into intellectual and legal terms. Since their souls differed in
the visionary heights they were able to reach, so also their practical
decisions differed, and this was the source of their legal disagreements.
Seen in this way, we might say that the disagreement (according to Tosefot)
between the Jerusalem and Talmuds as to whether the Shmita
year of release was required by Torah law during the second Temple period, has its origin in the different levels of
spirituality these two works represent. The Babylonian
is the lower level. " `He hath made me to dwell
in dark places'-this, said Rabbi Jeremiah, refers to the Babylonian
Talmud."
At the higher level of the Jerusalem Talmud, it
required the sanctity of the Jubilee to complete the sanctity of the shmita year. At the lower, Babylonian, level, the
seventh year was complete in itself even without the Jubilee.
3. THE LAPSING OF THE JUBILEE
When the
While the
Why, then, is there a difference between the way we count the year of
release now, and in the Second Temple, when the Jubilee had ceased to be
observed?
Using our previous concept, we might say that while the
4. THE INNER MEANING OF THE SEVENTH AND FIFTIETH YEARS
To understand all this, we must discover the equivalents of the seventh and
fiftieth years in the religious life of man. The seventh year, the time of release,
represents the "acceptance of the yoke of the kingdom of heaven". This is when man suppresses his ego in
obedience to G-d (bittul ha-yesh).' His ego still exists, and continually needs
to be silenced. That is why, as every seventh year
approached, its claim would be heard: `What shall we eat
on the seventh year? Behold, we may not sow, nor gather in our increase."
Even though on each previous occasion it had seen for itself the fulfillment of
G-d's promise, "I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and
it shall bring forth produce for the three
years," it always renewed its anxieties.
The Jubilee, on the other hand, represents the complete abnegation of one's
being to G-d (bittul bi-metziut). There is no longer a contending ego. Instead
of serving G-d through an effort of willpower, one serves through
understanding, an understanding so complete that it breaks through the curtain
of self-deception that separates man from G-d. It is the `year of freedom', meaning, freedom
from concealment and from the ego that holds man in its chains.
5. TWO KINDS OF OBEDIENCE
Each of these levels has a certain merit vis-à-vis
the other.(16) Bittul bi-metziut, or the obedience that comes from
understanding, has the advantage of being extensive. It encompasses the whole
man in its orientation towards G-d.
Bittul ha-yesh, or the obedience that comes from an effort of will, has the
advantage of being intensive. It is an intense spiritual struggle within the
soul of man.
To give an analogy: there are two kinds of
relationship between a servant and his master. There is the `simple' servant,
whose real desire is to be free, but who serves because he accepts the burden
of his situation. And there is the `faithful' servant, who serves his master
out of love and a genuine desire to obey. Whereas the obedience of the latter
is more complete, since his whole nature affirms his service, the obedience of
the former is more intense because it is a result of a deliberate subjugation
of part of his character. It cost him more in terms of inward effort.
6. THE THREE AGES
We can now see the full significance of the three
periods in Jewish history with respect to the Jubilee and the year of release.
When the first Temple stood, both were observed,
that is, Jewish spirituality combined obedience through love and understanding
with obedience through effort and subjugation. Love lay even in their
subjugation; their effort was also with understanding. The love which
transcends the self returned to fill the self.
At the time of the
But when the
7. A DISAGREEMENT EXPLAINED
So now we no longer see the things of the spirit with the clear light of
understanding. We are forced to act against our reason, in a gesture of
reluctant obedience. True inwardness is beyond us. And yet, the ultimate
inwardness never departs. The essence of the soul is always present. In the
current spiritual darkness of exile, it still works its subconscious,
subliminal influence.
And this is the ultimate source of the disagreement between the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds as to whether the year
of release is a matter of Torah or of Rabbinic Law
in our time; that is to say, whether it still] exists in its own right, or
merely as a Rabbinic remembrance of times past,(17)
when the Jubilee was celebrated.
To the Babylonian Talmud, the product of exile, the observance of the seventh year and its
corresponding service of "acceptance of the yoke of the
The Jerusalem Talmud, with its higher spiritual
awareness, still felt the Jubilee and its service as a continuing, if
subliminal, presence. So they saw the year of release as still connected with,
and observed in remembrance of, the time when it
belonged together with the Jubilee, when the first
(Source: Likkutei Sichot Vol. VII
Pp. 170-174).
1. Vayikra 25, 10.
2. Arachin, 32b; Rambam, Hilchot Shmita Veyovel 10, 8.
3. Arachin, ibid; Rambam, ibid 3.
4. Arachin, 33a.
5. Arachin, ibid.
6. Sheviit 1, 2; Gittin 4, 3.
7. Gittin, 36a.
8. Cf.Biurei Hazohar, Vayishlach, 20b.
9. Cf. lntroduction to Tanya, Part, 1. Zohar, Part nl, 245a.
10. Sanhedrin, 24a.
11. Rambam, ibid, 5.
12. Cf. Taamei Hamitzvot Lehaarizal, Behar; quoted in
Derech Mitzvotecha,35b.
13. Cf.Likkutei Torah,Behar,42d.
14. Vayikra 25,2O.
15. ibid, 21.
16. Cf., for more extensive treatment of the theme,
Likkutei Sichot, Vol. IX, pp. 72ff.
17. Gittin, 36b.
* * *
Further reading:
Maimonides, "Yad Hachazaka", Talmud Torah, 3:10.
Maimonides, "Laws of shmita and yovel", 13:13.
* * *
This study was written by Hillel ben David
(Greg Killian).
Comments may be submitted to:
Greg Killian
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[1] Ezra II, 64.
[2] Lev. XXV, 10.
[3] Though the Jubilees had been abolished, years of release were still observed, consequently they had to count the Jubilees in order to be able to observe the years of release in their proper time. For the year of Jubilee was not included in the seven years cycle. They therefore had to know when the year of Jubilee arrives to be able to fix the next year of release, which was to be the eighth year following the year of Jubilee.
[4] In the cycle of seven years.
[5] Both as the year of release and the beginning of the next seven year cycle.
[6] I.e.,the year is reckoned to commence at different dates for different purposes, as the Mishnah goes on to specify.
[7] The first month of the Jewish calendar (in Biblical times known as ‘the month of Abib’, or the springing corn), commencing in the latter half of March or the earlier part of April.
[8] If a document is dated with a certain year in a king's reign, the year is reckoned to have commenced in Nisan, no matter in what month the king came to the throne. The Gemara discusses what kinds of kings are meant — whether Israelitish or other.
[9] The meaning of this is discussed infra in the Gemara.
[10] The sixth month of the Jewish calendar.
[11] For purposes of tithe it was necessary to specify the year in which cattle were born, because cattle born in one year could not be given as tithe for cattle born in another, v. Lev. XXVII, 32.
[12] So that according to these authorities there were only three New Years.
[13] The seventh month.
[14] The meaning of this is discussed infra in the Gemara.
[15] I.e., from the first of Tishri in these years ploughing and similar operations were forbidden. V. Lev. XXV, 4, 11.
[16] For reckoning the years of ‘uncircumcision’. V. Lev. XIX, 23.
[17] I.e., those gathered after this date could not be used as tithe for those gathered before. Cf. n. 6.
[18] The eleventh month.
[19] For tithing the fruit. V. notes 6 and 11.
[21] Lit. ‘depend on an act’. I.e., the New Years which begin with the advent of the day itself.
[22] The prohibition of the new corn for personal consumption and for offerings respectively is raised only by the offering of the Omer and the two loaves.
[23] Lev. XXV, 9. referring to the Jubilee.
[24] Ibid 10. These words are apparently superfluous, it having already been said, and thou shalt number forty-nine years.
[25] Lev. XXV, 9. referring to the Jubilee.
[27] Cf. infra 24a.
[28] Lev. XXV, II.
[29] Ibid 10. These words are apparently superfluous, it having already been said, and thou shalt number forty-nine years.
[30] V. infra.
[31] The word ‘it’ being specific.
[32] Rashi 21:6 and Vayikra 25:8-11
[33] From PARTNERS IN TIME
[34] Vayikra 25:55
[35] Bava Metzia 10b
[36] Shemot 21:6
[37] Succah 52a
[38] Rambam, Hilchot Melachim 12:5
[39] Kiddushin 30b
[40] Avot 6:2
[41] Devarim 11:21
[42] Avot 6:2
[43] They have no need of this lesson, seeing that they do not consider the year sanctified from its inception. (Cf. Tosaf. s.v. ibcru 8b).
[44] Lit. ‘the year fifty and first’. So our texts, the meaning being, according to Rashi, that you are not to reckon the fiftieth year as fiftieth to the Jubilee and first to the next septennate. Tosaf., by a slight change of wording, renders: ‘You are to count the fiftieth year (as fiftieth to the Jubilee), but you are not to count the fiftieth year as one (to the following septennate)’, which is a smoother reading.
[45] As fiftieth to the Jubilee and first to the next septennate.
[46] .I.e., add a little from the ordinary week-day on to the holy day.
[47] Ex. XXXIV, 21
[48] Lev. XXV, 4.
[49] Ploughing under trees in the sixth year which will benefit them in the seventh.
[50] Stuff which grows of itself and reached a third of its growth in the seventh year.
[51] As there is no ploughing, which is considered a religious duty.
[52] R. Ishmael takes the words ‘in plowing time etc.’ to refer to the Sabbath, and learns from them that the ‘Omer to be brought on the second day of Passover may be reaped on Sabbath, v. Mak. 8b.
[53] Lev. XXIII, 32.
[54] Ibid.
[55] And after dark would be on the tenth.
[56] Lev. XXIII, 32.
[57] Ran observes that since the former problem is left unsolved, a day’ would be the equivalent of ‘one day’ (since when in doubt the more stringent interpretation is adopted), and consequently a jubilee as one jubilee, and the problem cannot arise. Therefore he must have vowed ‘this (the) jubilee’.
[58] On the former supposition it is forbidden; on the latter it is permitted.
[59] Lev. XXV, 10.
[60] I.e., that year is the fiftieth, the jubilee, and it cannot be counted also as the first of the following fifty and seven year. cycles.
[61] Ibid. 3.
[62] Since there is no sowing in the jubilee year.
[63] The forty-eighth year produce must suffice for itself, the forty-ninth, which is a Sabbatical year, the fiftieth, which is Jubilee, and until the harvesting of the fifty-first. This is a difficulty on any view, R. Judah's included: he posits it merely to prove that the Biblical statements about the Sabbatical year do not in any case apply to the Jubilee period, even on the view of the Rabbis.
[64] I.e., the verse by which you desire to refute me.
[65] Erachin 32b
[66] Ar. 12a
[67] The Soncino Talmud footnote
[68] Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot shmita Veyovel, 10:4,8
[69] Of fifty years.
[70] [Messiah. The belief in his Davidic descent is already mentioned in the Psalms of Solomon XVII, 21.]
[71] Of the last fifty years.
[72] I.e., if at the end of the jubilee, shall it be at the beginning of the fiftieth year or at the end thereof?
[73] He will certainly not come before then, but may delay a long time afterwards.
[74] Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:9
[75] Sifra, Be-Har 2, 106c
[76] Rosh Hashanah 29a
[77] Encyclopedia Judaica on Sabbatical years.
[78] Lev. XXV, 9. referring to the Jubilee.
[79] Ibid 10. These words are apparently superfluous, it having already been said, and thou shalt number forty-nine years.
[80] In sign of their approaching freedom.
[81] Cf. infra 24a.
[82] from Mishna comments on RH 1:1
[84] They have no need of this lesson, seeing that they do not consider the year sanctified from its inception. (Cf. Tosaf. s.v. ibcru 8b).
[85] Lit. ‘the year fifty and first’. So our texts, the meaning being, according to Rashi, that you are not to reckon the fiftieth year as fiftieth to the Jubilee and first to the next septennate. Tosaf., by a slight change of wording, renders: ‘You are to count the fiftieth year (as fiftieth to the Jubilee), but you are not to count the fiftieth year as one (to the following septennate)’, which is a smoother reading.
[86] As fiftieth to the Jubilee and first to the next septennate.
[87] I.e., add a little from the ordinary week-day on to the holy day.
[88] Ex. XXXIV, 21.
[89] Lev. XXV, 4.
[90] Ploughing under trees in the sixth year which will benefit them in the seventh.
[91] Stuff which grows of itself and reached a third of its growth in the seventh year.
[92] As there is no ploughing, which is considered a religious duty.
[93] R. Ishmael takes the words ‘in plowing time etc.’ to refer to the Sabbath, and learns from them that the ‘Omer to be brought on the second day of Passover may be reaped on Sabbath, v. Mak. 8b.
[94] Lev. XXIII, 32
[95] Ibid.
[96] And after dark would be on the tenth.
[97] Lev. XXIII, 32.
[99] Ezra IV, 24.
[100] Ibid. VI, 15.
[101] Ibid. VII, 8. R. Ashi holds that the statement ‘the same happened with the second Temple’ refers also to the termination of the jubilee and explains it by deducting six years from the total of 420.
[102] Jos. XIV, 7.
[103] Ibid. 10.
[105] Vayikra (Leviticus) 26
[106] See also 4:27, 8:18
[107]
Ohr Somayach - In-Depth
Questions on the parsha and Rashi's commentary. Parshas Behar
For
the week ending 13 Iyar 5755, 12 & 13 May 1995
[108] Rosh Hashana 8a
[109] Tehillim (Psalms) 90:4
[110] See Bechorot 52b
[111] see Mesechet Rosh Hashana 10b-11a
[112] The woman accused of adultery.