Weekly Parsha

Refuah Sheimah: Yehuda Baruch ben Sarah, Stephen Waczkiewicz (Shimon ben Sarah), Yossefa (Josie) "bat Sharon", Rafael ben Gladis e Esther Bracha "bat Sarah".

Continue praying for: Teddy Welz, Miriam (Mariana) "bat Zulay", Adina (Heidi) "bat Sarah" e Yosefa (Josie) "bat Sharon".

Behar

Leviticus 25:1 -26:2

The Torah portion begins with the laws of Shemitah, the Sabbatical year, where the Jewish people are commanded to not plant their fields or tend to them in the seventh year. Every 50th year is the Yovel, the Jubilee year, where agricultural activity is also proscribed.

These two commandments fall into one of the seven categories of evidence that G-d gave the Torah. If the idea is to give the land a rest, then the logical plan would be to not plant one-seventh of the land each year. To command an agrarian society to completely stop cultivating all farm lands every 7th year, one has to be either G-d or a meshugenah (crazy). No sane group of editors would include such an "insane" commandment in a set of laws for the Jewish people; only G-d could command it and ensure the survival of the Jewish people for following it.

Also included in this portion: redeeming land which was sold, to strengthen your fellow Jew when his economic means are faltering, not to lend to your fellow Jew with interest, the laws of indentured servants. The portion ends with the admonition to not make idols, to observe the Shabbat and to revere the Sanctuary.

"When you come to the land which I give you, the land shall rest, a rest for the Almighty" (Leviticus 25:2).

Why is having the land rest ... "for the Almighty"?

Rabbi Yeruchem Levovitz of the Mirrer Yeshiva cites the Raavad (Introduction to Baalai Nefesh) that a fundamental principle behind the commandments is that "they are to remind us constantly that we have a Creator who is our Ruler."

The Almighty gave us this earth, but after using the earth for some time a person can mistakenly think that the earth belongs to him; he can forget that the Almighty is the real owner.

Therefore, there are commandments which contain restrictions to show that the Creator is above us. For this reason, the Torah stresses in this verse that the commandment to rest on the seventh year applies to the land which the Almighty gave us.

The Almighty gave us a commandment to refrain from work on the land on the seventh year to help us internalize the awareness that He is the true boss of the earth.

 It shows a person that the Almighty is the one who gives him the power to work on the other days of the week. This is a weekly reminder that we have a Ruler who is our ultimate Authority.

Logic will take you from point A to point B. However faith in G-d will take you everywhere.

Winners are not people who never fail, but people who never quit!

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Tank

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Rabbi Tank is a professor at the American Jewish College, where he teaches classes on Talmud, Jewish History, and Contemporary Jewish Law. Rabbi Tank is dedicated to finding modern utility and meaning in ancient wisdom texts and is pleased to provide spiritual, cultural, social and educational programming to communities around the world. 

Rabbi Tank was educated at Yeshivas in New York and Miami. He studied Biblical Archeology at Bar Ilan University and Jewish Studies at Harvard University. Rabbi Tank has a Bachelor degree in Business Administration and he is also graduated in International Economic Development from the University of Oxford. 

Rabbi Tank is a Jewish Chaplain actively involved in peace negotiations and relief operations. Rabbi Tank is the director of international affairs at the World Jewish Confederation headquarters in New York and He is member of the White House National Religious Leaders , an Executive Office of the President of the United States in Washington, D.C.

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