28 Elul 5770
September 7 2010
     

 

  
Behar - Bechukotai
This week€™s double Torah portion consisting of €œBehar€ and €œBechukotai€ formally conclude the book of Vayikra, Leviticus. In the first of the parshas, Behar, we are taught the laws of €œShemitta€ - The Sabbatical year. That is, every seventh year is a year of rest for the land (cf. every seventh day is €˜Shabbat€™). Additionally, every fiftieth year was known as the €œYovel€ - Jubilee year, which was similar to a regular Shemitta year, but in addition to the prohibition on working the land, Hebrew slaves were set free, all land deals became void and were returned to their original owners.
An additional prohibition in parsha Behar is the prohibition on taking interest from a fellow Jew.
Shemitta - a Modern-Day Approach:
No doubt, one can imagine the financial and economic hardships that Shemitta may produce. Farmers would be out of their source of livelihood and fruits and vegetables would be both scarce and at a high premium!
As such, some authorities have introduced a €œHeter Mechira€ - a sale which allows the fields to be €˜sold€™ to non-Jews, and in that way, Jews would then be permitted to work the fields and sell their produce. This is similar to the €˜sale€™ of Chametz prior to Pesach in which the chametz is €˜sold€™ to a non-Jew, notwithstanding that it remains in one€™s possession with having full intention to be used after Pesach. A true legal fiction. The validity of the Heter Mechira is subject to much debate and hinges upon whether or not the mitzvah of Shemitta is biblical or rabbinical in our day and age.
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The mitzva of Shemitta is certainly one that can set the bar concerning having faith in God by observing mitzvot. God asks farmers to divest themselves from their source of income for an entire year and allow anyone to trespass the field eating whatever may have remained from the previous year€™s growth! Those who observe this mitzvah are truly partners with God in mastery over the land. God promises a plentiful harvest to those who make the effort to keep this mitzva.
Dvar Torah - Taking Interest:
"You shall not take any interest from him" Why is it prohibited to lend money to a fellow Jew and charge interest? Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin explains that the most important thing we have in life is time. Time is what puts everything into perspective. In truth, we should be sad at every passing moment, for each one brings us closer to "the day of reckoning." But someone who lends money and charges interest has the exact opposite feeling. Every second that passes brings him great joy, because he is making more interest on his money.
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The second parsha, Bechukotai, heavily emphasizes the results of observance or rejection of the Torah and its mitzvot. We are told that proper observance of the mitzvot will lead to peace and prosperity and all forms of material success. A gloomy and doomy picture is painted if we choose not to observe the Torah.
But wait a sec! The Talmud (Kiddushin 39b) teaches that there is no reward for doing a mitzva in this world, and that it all comes in the next world! So what is the parsha talking about when it discusses rewards and punishments? Commentaries suggest that the parsha refers to collective, not individual, rewards and punishments. This seems to €˜fit in€™ seeing that the Parsha uses the plural in describing rewards and punishments.
 
 

 

 

  
           
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