BEHAR
"If your brother becomes impoverished...............(25:35)
The first half of Parshat Behar deals with various laws regarding "Shmita" . In short, the commandment of "Shmita" is that in the 7th year all agricultural activities ceases, and the land of Israel lies fallow.( There are numerous laws regarding "Shmita" which is beyond the scope of this Parsha sheet.) The Parsha then continues regarding numerous laws of the poor. A questioned is asked, whats the connection between "Shmita" and the laws of charity? If the Torah places them next to each other, then we assume a connection exists? I would like to , BEZRAT HASHEM, propose the following original answer: When the farmer reaches the 7th year , he is confronted with a dilemma regarding "Shmita". It's often very difficult to allow one's source of income to lie dormant, namely one's land. This takes much faith and courage. Yet, it can cause a person much anxiety about one's livelihood. G-d is keenly aware of this fact, and promises in verses 25:19-22 that the person that keeps "Shmita" will be blessed with abundance
As we pointed out, Shmittah is an intesnive emunah course. Not only that, but it is one of the proofs that the Torah is, indeed, from HaShem - and that it could not have been made by man. How so? For it seems impossible that humans could have made up the mitzvah of Shmittah. How could we get together and tell people that they must keep their lands fallow for a year, promising that God will give them three years’ worth of crop from the sixth year? If such a thing could not be guaranteed then anyone who observed this law would die of starvation - there would be no-one left to keep this mitzvah! Only HaShem could command such a mitzvah and give people the necessary crop yield to survive the year. And this promise has been fulfilled countless times across history. For example, in 1957 the Jewish Agency decided to plant orchards in kibbutz Moshav Kommemiut, which the Moshav accepted on condition that they would observe the Shmittah. At the end of the Shmittah of 1959, a representative from the Ministry of Agriculture told the Moshav’s Rabbi (Rav Mendelsohn) that their orchard had flourished more than all the orchards which had been worked during the Shmittah year. And a similar story is told about a farmer who kept Shmittah during the 1950s and miraculously saw that the tremendously destructive widespread locust infestations of those times did not descend upon his field.
Parashas Behar/Bechukosai – The Gift and The Curse :
This week we have another double Parasha which also happens to be the final instalment from the book of Vayikra. Parashas Behar begins with the rules of the Shemittah and Yovel year (the 'sabbatical' and 'jubilee' years for the land) and then moves on to give over the rules concerning the selling and purchase of land (within Israel), the redemption of this land during the Yovel year (will discuss more below) and eventually we are told guidelines pertinent to preventing poverty which includes the prohibition against charging interest to a fellow Jew and generally trying to help him. Parashas Behar ends with some directions on slaves and in particular the treatment of Jewish slaves and the mitzvah to try and redeem one if he comes into the hands of non-Jews. Parashas Bechukosai
The opening pasuk of Behar singles out that the mitzvah of Shmittah - and all of its details - was relayed to Moshe at Har Sinai. Though this was true of all mitzvos, Shmittah has one difference to it. Whilst the full details of other mitzvos were told to Moshe on Har Sinai and later fully relayed to the people from the Ohel Mo'ed, in the case of Shmittah the entire mitzvah was told at Har Sinai. Why is Shmittah different?
One answer is that Shmittah is an intensive bitachon-course. In leaving one's field fallow for a whole year at HaShem's Command, one shows utter and complete reliance upon HaShem and recognition of Him as the ultimate
In this weeks parasha we read about shmita. If we look closely at the pesukim leading up to shmita the torah uses a language that it is our land. For example in posak beis its says “when you come to the land I will give to you” In posak gimmel it says “ for six years you may sow your field and for six years you may prune your vineyard and you may gather in its crop” i.e. its your land now that I given to you. we see the Torah is telling us in passuk beis, gimle, dald and hey, again and again that it is our fruits that were reaping. Why stress that it’s ours precisely when we are told we will have to leave it? In fact, the fact that we have to let it grow free is a proof that the land is not ours. Why tell us that is ours and then say by shmita that the produce shall be yours to eat?!
Perhaps the torah is telling us that the two are related
Our sedra of Behar concerns the Shmittah year; a year in which fields are to be left fallow and loans cancelled (conditions apply). The culmination of the Shmittah cycle is the fiftieth year; the Yovel - which is a ‘Shmittah rollover’ of sorts. The Yovel shares halachos with Shmittah vis-à-vis not working the land, but has the added dimension of the fact that when the Yovel comes along, slaves go free and land returns to its original owners (again, conditions apply; read the small print!). We are told (25:9) that on Yom Kippur of the Yovel year, a shofar is to be blown throughout the land, and this shofar-blowing even is allowed to take place on Shabbos (Rashi 25:9). Given that there is a specific mitzvah to blow the shofar in the Yovel year, one would assume that there is a connection between the shofar and the Yovel. Indeed, Rashi[1] tells us that the Yovel actually derives its name from the blowing of a shofar. A name defines a concept or object, so it would be fair to assume that the shofar is something integral within and essential to the concept of the Yovel year. What exactly is the connection between the shofar and the Yovel?
The Sefer Hachinuch[2] explains what the ‘reason’ for the
Parshas Behar discusses the many aspects of Shemitah and Yovel, detailing how Bnei Yisroel must abstain from working the land in the seventh and fiftieth years of the calendar cycles.
This raises the obvious issue of what the nation will eat for sustenance during the Shemitah and Yovel years if they are unable to work the land. The Posuk recognizes this issue, stating, “Ki Tomru Mah Nochal BaShanah HaSheviis,” “If you will say, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year?’”(25:20). The Torah responds that the sixth year’s crop will provide an overwhelming abundance in order to support the people during the seventh and eighth years.
While this promise does resolve the Posuk’s issue, the Torah seems to be asking the wrong question in the first place. Why do we need this query about what will be eaten during the seventh year; why could the Torah not just have said that the bounty from the sixth year would supply for the seventh?
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