By the number of years after the jubilee

you shall buy from your fellow,

and by the number of years of yield

he shall sell to You. The larger the number of years,

the more you shall pay for its purchase

and the smaller the number of years,

the less shall you pay for its purchase.

(Vayikra 25:15-16)

By the number of years after the Jubilee shall you buy – this is the simple meaning for explaining the

text properly: It comes to warn regarding price gouging when buying or selling

land, to be aware how many years remain until the Jubilee, and according to the

number of years and crops which it should produce, let the seller sell and the

purchaser buy, for he will later have to return it during the Jubilee year, and

if there are few years [until Jubilee] and one sells it for a high price, the

purchaser will have been defrauded, and if there remain many years and he

benefits from many crops, then the seller will have been defrauded. Therefore,

one must purchase according to the amount of time, as is written "By the

number of years of yield shall he sell it to you" – according to the

number of years of yield it will remain in the buyer's control shall he sell it

to him.

(Rashi, Vayikra 25:15)

Because observance of the above [commandments] will instill honest character

and all fine traits limiting the passions and diminishing the coveting for

physical possessions, Scripture now tells us "When you sell property to

your fellow or purchase it from the hand of your fellow do not maltreat any man

his brother. By the number of years after the Jubilee, etc".

This means, that – having assimilated the above moral teachings, because of their

honesty and good will they will have no desire for corruption and deceit, and

when they sell or buy something, they will be careful to avoid fraud, buyer and

seller alike, and will take from each other only that which is proper according

to its price considering the number of remaining year, because he is selling or

buying the number of yields, nothing else. Therefore does He conclude by saying

"And you shall not defraud each other, and you shall fear your God in awe,

for I am the Lord your God" for this is the intended purpose of this and

all the commandments. And this too is the intent of "And you shall do My statutes, and My laws you shall keep and do them, and you

shall dwell on the land securely".

(Akeidat Yitzchak – Gate

69)

[Translator's note: Rabbi Yitzchak Arama has taken the verses under discussion and interpreted

them not as commandments but rather as predictions of good behavior

developing from assimilation of the Torah's moral messages].

ll gates are locked, excepting the gates of

wounded feelings.

(Bavli, Bava Metsiah 59b, Soncino ed.)

For the land is mine;

For you are sojourners and resident-settlers with me

Effie Hamiel

Having, in earlier parashiyot,

dealt with commandments regarding holydays to be observed in the future, and

having detailed the personal commitments of the Children of Israel to

fulfilling their part in the covenant and demonstrating their spiritual and moral

superiority over other nations, the Torah now proceeds to deal with issues on

the public and national level. We recall, from the exodus from Egypt and the

giving of the Torah, that the Israelite nation – a nation of God's servants – has,

as a community, additional commitments in the framework of the covenant that

are intended to demonstrate and guarantee the existence of an exemplary and

ideal nation also in areas of economics and society, deriving from the recognition

that everything – our free bodies, our land and our property – are given by Him

and we are all equal before Him. The Torah, in our parasha,

details the laws of Shemitta (the seventh year) and

Jubilee with regard to land, buildings and slaves, and laws of usury.

Our parasha

deals with the Torah's injunction to all of Israel to demonstrate its

continuing covenant with the Lord. The nation lives a life sanctified through

spirituality and morality according to Divine precepts, and in return God

promises the ideal conditions of peace, sustenance, property and liberty. Therefore

the execution of God's commandments assures the realization of these

conditions: on the one hand, the mitzvoth reflect a noble morality beyond

realization by unexceptional nations, and on the other hand, some can be carried

out only by unique Divine providence. No other nations, lacking close divine

providence, can suffer a hiatus in agriculture, return of purchased real

estate, freeing of bought slaves, and forgoing of interest on monetary loans.

All clarifications and punishments to be executed at the hands of God are

carried out only where there exists direct providence. The Jewish people is

intended to be a unique people, a nation sanctified through the holiness of the

mitzvoth; its mission is to demonstrate the moral and economic success of a

nation which lives a life of covenant with God, as it strives to bring all

humanity closer to imitation of the paradigm, to lead it to cognizance of God

and His morality.¹

It is very difficult to maintain a nation of

exemplary holiness, and the Jewish people, even when it dwells securely in its

land, its primary occupation agriculture, keeping direct contact with God in

the Temple and afterwards through the Prophets, did not face up to the great

challenge presented it. The destruction and the exile which resulted in the

cessation of direct contact with God, were caused, in

part, by neglect of the Shemittah commandments (Vayikra

25:32-35). In antiquity,

accumulated possessions consisted mainly of real estate (fields and buildings),

manpower (male and female slaves), and gold and silver. Agriculture in the Land of Israel was exposed to droughts,

disasters of nature and robbery, and therefore economic failure could affect even

the diligent and the talented. Therefore the Torah promulgated compensatory

laws regarding lands, buildings, slaves and loans, while emphasizing the

obligation to cut itself off from the immoral culture of Egypt, that corrupted

not only sexually (Vayikra 8;30),

but also economically and socially, sanctifying class and servitude and

centralizing real estate and wealth in the hands of the ruling elite (Vayikra

25:38, 55)

The face of the economy and society has

changed beyond recognition. Agriculture has shrunk from a dominant to a marginal

branch, and the estates and the tribes of antiquity are beyond identification.

But the messages of the Torah embedded in the mitzvoth of Shemittah, Jubilee, slaves and interest remain eternal. The

Torah calls upon us to adopt the idea of Shemitta in

new ways, to observe a year's Sabbatical for everyone every seven years, a

time-out for rejuvenation, for physical and spiritual renewal. The Torah calls

upon us to organize according the principle of the eternal Jubilee and to

devise methods of diminishing the economic gaps between the wealthy – the real

estate sharks, the tycoons, and the giant corporations – and the poor and the

temporary workers, and to provide new opportunity for those who have failed,

not only through food hand-outs but mainly by providing them with fishhooks, i.e.,

offering them training and tools to facilitate extraction from their depressed

state. The Torah, which does not determine a preferred form of government, does

promise that diligence, initiative and motivation will be rewarded, but, at the

same time, that the rights of citizens to return occasionally to reasonable starting

conditions will be protected, thus preventing excessive societal gaps.²

The Torah calls upon us to consider land as a

deposit for which we are responsible, to organize projects for protection of

the environment and save it from ecological disaster that follows the brutal

destructiveness of industrial man who ceaselessly exploits and contaminates

Nature and her treasures. The Torah calls upon us to support

those financially weak or in minority status, and "the other", be he/she

Levite, indigent, orphan, widow, or stranger and resident alien. The

land belong to the Lord and we are all but strangers and residents upon it; the

majority which rules over society and the economy must refrain from denying the

rights of the minority and the weak, and support them so that they be able to

get back on their feet and take care of themselves. If they cannot, we are

obliged to provide minimal means of livelihood and existence.

1. On

the Jewish people as an exemplary paradigm, see RaShaR

Hirsch, Vayikra 25:10, 18-19)

2. See

C. Y. Hamiel, Limmudim Beparashat Hashavua, Behar 1, pp. 218-221

Dr.

Effie Hamiel researches contemporary Jewish thought

and teaches in the Hebrew

University

**************************************************************************************************

You may prune your vineyard, and gather in its produce, but in the seventh year, the land

to the lord; you shall not sow your field, nor shall you prune your vineyard.

(Vayikra 25:3-4)

The

commandment of the Shemittah year is similar to the commandment of

the Sabbath, since just as the commandment of the Sabbath serves to strengthen

the belief in the peoples' heart that they are a holy nation, so too the

commandment of Shemittah instills in their heart the belief

that their land is a holy land since it rests in that year as God rested on the

seventh day. See Don Yitzhak's (Abarbanel)

pleasant words in his Nahalat Avot chapter

five s.v. galut ba la'olam. Just as God gave

them two portions of food on the sixth day while they were in the wilderness,

so too when they dwelled in their land He would command His blessing towards

them in the sixth year that there should be enough grain for the Shemittah year as well. The land's holiness was

a strong factor keeping the people from making the

land impure or desecrating it with abhorrent deeds. Necessarily, when the land

rested the slaves and animals could also rest a bit from their labors,

similarly to the way slaves and animals rest on the Sabbath. That year's grain

was considered ownerless out of compassion for the poor; thus the wealthy and

the indigent were made equal, and the wealthy man's pride was brought low,

reminding him that all human beings are equal. The cancellation of debts is

also a matter of compassion and grace towards the poor. Furthermore: just as

the people were given other holidays beyond the Sabbath in which to rest and be

joyful for God's sake, so too the Holy Land was given the Jubilee year in

addition to the Shemittah year. Like the Sabbath and the Shemittah,

the Jubilee makes the rich and the poor equal by taking a break from

agriculture, and by making the crops ownerless; in addition, tracts of land

return to their owners and slaves are set free [in the Jubilee year], and this

is a great act of compassion towards the poor and a great reinforcement of

equality among the citizens…

And for your slave and maidservant – It says in parashat Mishpatim: and the poor of your people shall

eat it, and here it adds the slaves and residents who are not Israelites.

Know that I possess a manuscript which has Rashi stating, regarding the verse and for your hired workers and your

residents: "including gentiles" (not converts), and so it is

found by R. Emmanuel Hai Ricci, and in Torat Kohanim Behar parsheta 1.

(ShaDaL Vayikra 25:2-6)

"The land shall observe a Sabbath

of the Lord." – the land shall be free of human labor during the seventh

year… "In the seventh

year the land shall have a Sabbath of complete rest"… therefore did the Torah command

this law, that all kinds of rule and mastery by man shall be free of working

the land, in order that man contemplate that there

is no complete mastery and rule, except by the Master of All, Blessed Be He.

(Rabeinu

Bechayey, Vayikra 25:2)

"At the end of seven years" – the Shmitta year brings Hakhel

and peace, for since there

will be no planting or growth, the poor of his people will eat, because he is

not permitted to hold the produce of the seventh year as a householder, and

this is without doubt the

cause of peace, because all quarrels derive from "What's mine is

mine," "this one says all

of it is mine," and all

this is not so during the seventh year, for not all are equal in matters of

"rise up and act", but in matters of "sit, and refrain from

action", all are equal, and this is indeed the meaning of peace…

(Kli Yakar, Devarim 31:12)

You shall observe my laws and faithfully keep

fruits and you shall eat your fill, and you shall live upon it in security.

 (Vayikra 25:18-19) 

You may live upon the land in security – this refers to external political security.

You shall live upon it in security – this refers to secure internal physical

prosperity.

You shall live… in security – lavetah – it does not say betah,

but rather lavetah. Our very dwelling, the

manner in which we dwell in the land will be our security – it shall grant us

security. It will cause us not to require defense from enemies or measures

against famine. Similarly, you

shall eat your fill; your manner of eating will bring us the

blessing of satiation, That is, if we regulate our dwelling and our eating in

accordance with the laws and rules.

Upon the land – Upon it – the land shall "carry"

us – as opposed to the land

shall vomit out its inhabitants (18:24).

(Rabbi

S.R. Hirsch, ad loc)

You shall observe My laws… that you may live upon the

land in security – for there are two ways in which nations are hated: one stems from

hatred of religion, which divides peoples from each other. The second is hatred

born of jealousy of wealth and status. That is why it says You shall observe My laws.

When you observe the Torah in its entirety providence will rest upon you so

that you shall not experience hate for religious reasons.

And you shall eat your fill – for then you will not have hate stemming

from jealousy, for you shall be full of all good things but no one will covet

your land.

That is what Ezekiel said: I shall be sanctified by them in

the eyes of the nations and they shall dwell upon their land (28:25). You shall live upon it in security, i.e.,

you shall not fear religious hatred. And you shall build houses and plant

vineyards, and you shall be wealthy and full of all good things, and you shall

live in security, that you shall not fear hatred stemming from jealousy and

wealth.

 (R. Meir Simkha MiDvinsk's Meshekh Hokhma, ad

loc.)

You shall not therefore wrong one another, and you shall fear your God,

God.

 (Vayikra 25:17)

Our Rabbis

taught: You shall not

therefore wrong one another; Scripture refers to verbal wrongs… e.g., if

a man is a penitent, one must not say to him, 'Remember your former deeds.' If

he is the son of proselytes he must not be taunted with, 'Remember the deeds of

your ancestors. If he is a proselyte and comes to study the Torah, one must not

say to him, 'Shall the mouth that ate unclean and forbidden food, abominable

and creeping things, come to study the Torah which was uttered by the mouth of

Omnipotence!' If he is visited by suffering, afflicted with disease, or has

buried his children, one must not speak to him as his companions spoke to Job (4), Is

ways? Remember, I pray you, who ever perished, being innocent?

R. Yohanan said on the authority of R. Shimon b. Yohai:

Verbal wrong is more heinous than monetary wrong, because of the first it is

written, and you shall fear

your God, but not of the second. R. Eleazar said: The one affects his [the victim's]

person, the other [only] his money. R. Samuel b. Nahmani said: For the former restoration is

possible, but not for the latter.

(Bava Metziya 58b, based on Soncino translation)

The admonition

addresses all members of the nation together and says: they are not to hurt one

another in any way, each

one is to fear his God, is to know that He is equally the God of each of his

brethren. Thereby is described what is to be the direct result of the

institution of Shemittah and the Jubilee for the whole social

life of the people in the land. Inasmuch as these institutions interweave the

thought "God" into all business transactions, and inasmuch as they

bring the thought continually to mind that all are living together on the same

soil of God, in the same Land of God, where He is the Master and Owner of all

possessions, and that in the exercise of this ownership He demands the tribute

of acknowledging Him in the whole of business life: these institutions

immediately beget the twin thought of these thoughts, viz., that the whole of

one's life takes place under God's Eye, that God is present not only in the

Temple but in the midst of all intercourse between people, that He only bears

and blesses this intercourse and each individual of it in His Land if the

intercourse tends to the happiness of all, where none hurts the other, no one

misuses the position he may have won, or the breath he draws, in the Land of

God, to the loss or mortification of others, and interweaves into every phase

of private and public life that fundamental truth of all truths, with all its

consequences, that I am the

Lord your God.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch on Vayikra 25:17, Levi translation)

For mine are the israelites as slaves

The reason that

freedom will never disappear is explained here in Scripture: "For Mine are

the Israelites as slaves, they are My slaves"; I, in all my person, God,

always willing to renew existence and grant a new future – I am the Lord your

God; I determine your fate and direct your actions, and therefore: "Do not

make for yourselves idols" whose very essence is illusion. As "My

slaves"-in every part of your being and every fragment of your strength – you

have been privileged to receive supreme freedom, and there can be no power

capable of negating your salvation; and one should not request the imagined

graciousness of an idol through imagined adoration. Make no mistake, however,

regarding your relation to me; do not be confused in requesting My blessed and protective closeness, which is the condition

for all your salvation. Do not symbolize My presence

through graven images, and do not hope to bring down My holy presence through

them; for it is not through the idol that my holy presence rests in your midst…

The symbol

bringing to mind My universal providence is "My

Sabbaths"' and the location which sanctifies all your lives, so that My

holy presence rests in your midst, is "My sanctuary" – the Holy Place of My

Torah. Therefore: "My Sabbaths shall you keep, and My

sanctuary shall you revere, I am the Lord".

(RaSHaR Hirsch, Vayikra 26:2)

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