The American poet T.S. Eliot wrote:
Joining God as Resident Strangers in the World
The Urgency of Time
In his commentary on Parashat B’har, Rabbi
Agriculture
Liberty and Freedom From Religion in America
This week's double portion, B''har/ B'chukotai includes this famous phrase that appears on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia: "Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof" (Leviticus 25:10). The bell holds specialy significance for Americans, especially American Jews.
Steadying the Hand of Our Neighbor
The phrase on the Liberty Bell is just one of the many maxims woven throughout B'har/B'chukotai that promote the establishment of a just society.Another, is Leviticus 25:35: "If your kin, being in straits, come under your authority, and are held by you as though resident aliens, let them live by your side."
The Sound of Shofar: Leading Us to Revelation and Freedom
Count off seven sabbath years — seven times seven years — so that the seven sabbath 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 of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. (Leviticus 25:8-10)
In this week's portion, the Jubilee year is established. Called yovel, our parashah explains how every forty-nine years — seven weeks of seven years — in the seventh month, on Yom Kippur, the shofar of freedom is to be sounded throughout the land for all its inhabitants. This iconic verse to proclaim freedom throughout the land is inscribed on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.
Yovel: A Call to Renewal and Connection
While last week's parashah, Emor, contains a command for the people to keep Shabbat, resting every seventh day, B'har continues with the theme of rest by introducing the sabbatical year, a period of revitalization for the land, set to occur every seven years. It isn't until we set a precedent of rest for humanity and for the earth that we can arrive at the observance of the Jubilee year, distinguished as a time of release, a time when all the earth and the people who dwell on it can return to a more natural state of being, free of external burdens, able to connect more fully to God and the sources of holiness in their lives.
In Which the People and the Land Are Redeemed
Redemption in Our Land in Our Time
The journey through the Book of Leviticus, which comes to a close this week with the double portion B'har/B'chukotai, is one that prepares the Israelites to dwell in the Land of Israel.
For God's Sake
Parashat B'har begins in a very unusual way. "The Eternal One spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: . . ." (Leviticus 25:1-2).
Just Paying Attention Is Holy
The biblical text speaks to us in a time post Sinai. Moses has already shared what he received while standing before God.
The Law of the Sabbatical Year
What does it mean to lie fallow? How do we distinguish fallowness from sterility? What will nourish us during this time of no creativity? When will we bloom again?
The Gift of Shabbat
In his book The Gifts of the Jews, the non-Jewish author, Thomas Cahill, explains that the idea of the Sabbath was a gift that transformed civilization (New York: Knopf Publishing Group, 1
When It’s Hard to Believe Life Will Get Better
In this week's double parashah, B'har/B'chukotai, we read (among many other topics) of the mitzvah to observe the yovel, the fiftieth "Jubilee" year.
Residents with Me
A few verses later in the description of the Jubilee, our Torah offers another context for these unusual laws.
Parashat B'har: Can the Torah offer us an approach to these challenging times?
The torah can teach us important insights during challenging times. Explore more with Torah for Teens!
