|
|
May 14, 2004/Iyar 23 5764, Vol. 56, No. 34
Proclaim the Jubilee
Torah study
RABBI STACY ESKOVITZ RIGLER
B'har-B'chukotai/ Leviticus 25:1-27:34
Focal point
"And you shall hallow the 50th year. You shall proclaim release throughout the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: each of you shall return to his holding and each of you shall return to his family." (Leviticus 25:10)
"You shall observe My laws and faithfully keep My rules, that you may live upon the land in security." (Leviticus 25:18)
D'var Torah
According to Thomas Jefferson, "The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time." Jefferson declared that our creator endowed us with certain inalienable rights - among them life and liberty.
These concepts were by no means new. This week, in the double portion B'har/B'chukotai, we are reminded that God gives us not only our lives, but also our freedom and our land. And we are taught that in order for liberty to exist throughout the world, we must be willing to give up material goods and set free those who are beholden to us.
In B'har, we are told that once every 50 years in the Jubilee year we must "proclaim release" (d'ror) to all the inhabitants of the land. We are commanded to return to our original holdings and to release the land we have purchased from other Israelites. We are told to return those bonded in servitude to their families. In doing so, we promote the ideal of freedom.
Today, we can certainly recognize that many nations, including our own, and people throughout the world are plagued and enslaved by debt. Not only does debt bind individuals in servitude as they struggle to pay high interest rates, but it also binds nations in endless cycles of poverty. These are the types of bonds that the Jubilee year was meant to prevent.
If we keep the laws of the Jubilee year, God promises to give us security. The concept embodied in these laws is this: When we are safe and secure, we are fortified to refrain from power plays with our neighbors. Rashi tells us that to live securely means to live without fear of exile; our enemies will not overtake us. Why would it matter to our enemies if this type of economic justice was being carried out in our land? Because external threats are more easily made when there is internal strife. Exile, according to Ramban, comes because of the delaying and perversion of justice. An enemy attack may be punishment for disobeying God's law, but it is also a logical result of ignoring God's laws. When a society is divided, it cannot unite against an enemy.
This week's portion urges us to consider the plight of any oppressed people who cannot move about freely in their own land or are forced to abandon the homes of their ancestors. Without liberty or freedom, we will never live in security in the land.
By the way
"Yet, the deeper our disparities in wealth, the more shattered our families and neighborhoods, the more we fear falling off the career ladder, the more despoiled our earth and water, the more I am convinced that the Jubilee has much to teach us." (Arthur Waskow, "Godwrestling - Round 2")
Your guide
- Whom have we enslaved in our society in the past 50 years? To whom have we extended the ritual of release?
- What is the difference between liberty and security? Can one exist without the other?
Rabbi Stacy Eskovitz Rigler is the director of religious education at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, Penn.
Torat Hayim, produced by the Union of Reform Judaism, is on the Internet at urj.org/torah/index.shtml.
|
|
