Parshat Behar: Leviticus 25:1 – 26:2

This week’s Torah portion Behar deals with the ideals of the sabbatical year and the Jubilee year. Once every seven years and once every fiftieth year (after a cycle of 7 times 7 years) there are special rules applicable to the Israelites but only after they dwell in the sacred land of Israel. These rules did not apply as long as they were outside of the Holy Land.

We are all familiar with the sabbatical concept of the land. Every seven years we let the land lie fallow. We give it a Sabbath just as each week the seventh day is a Sabbath for humanity and animals. And in the fiftieth or Jubilee year the land reverts back to its original tribal owners keeping the original tribal distribution of land. These rules help us understand an important Jewish concept: the land belongs not to individuals but to God.

We are reminded of the verse from the book of Psalms: The earth is God’s and the fullness thereof the world and they that dwell therein. For God hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. (Psalm 24)

God is the ultimate owner of not just the Holy land – although it is seen as holier than the land beyond those boundaries. But God owns the whole earth. God is the creator and God’s plan is the plan to be executed. Thus for six years we are lent the land, to use it and to be good stewards and then in the sabbatical year we are to return it as it were to God. Then in the fiftieth year though land may have been bought and sold, we are reminded sharply that the land must revert to those who were given the rights to the land.
Why bother with this detail? Again this is God’s doing. God controls the title and access to the land and this is cleaned up every fiftieth year.

In verse 25:23 we are reminded that “the land must not be sold beyond reclaim for the land is Mine. You are but strangers resident with Me. Throughout the land that you hold you must provide for the redemption of the land.” If ever we needed a clear idea of whose land it ultimately is God reminds us in this portion.

Why is this significant even if we don’t live in the land of Israel today?

It reminds us of some very important ideas about how we are expected to treat the land that we live on. We must not squeeze so much out of the land that it can never be fruitful again. Instead the land we build on, farm on, garden on, walk on and live on was created by God. Our planet as a whole demands our attention because it is on loan to humanity. We have a responsibility to care for our world and the land. It is a reminder that there is something greater than ourselves that we Jews call God and that something greater is at stake than just our own ideas of what to do and how to be. In the 12 step world we call this acknowledging a Higher Power. In the world of religion and spirituality we call this connecting with the Divine Source of the Universe.

So here in spring and as we enter the summer and many of us plant gardens and window boxes let us be reminded that the earth is but lent to us and let us redouble our efforts to care and manage our use of the earth in Godly ways.

Posted by Eric at May 13, 2009 09:08 AM