Should your brother come to ruin and sell his holding,

his redeemer who is related to him shall come and

redeem what his brother sold

(Vayikra 25:25)

And should your brother come to ruin and his hand buckle

under you,

you shall hold him as a resident alien, and he shall

live under you.

(Vayikra 25:35)

And should your brother come to ruin under you and be

sold to you,

you shall not work him the work of a slave.

(Vayikra 25:39)

Know that according to the religion of the Torah of

Moshe as received by the hands of the sages, people are divided into three

categories. The first is the nation from which the Blessed Lord chose the patriarchs

and their subsequent progeny and gave them the Torah and law and judgment by

the hands of His servant, Moshe. The second group consists of all other people who

are not included in Israel

and not obligated by the Torah of Moshe, but in any case they do not behave

improperly so as to overturn the vessel and worship other than the Blessed God

who is all, and they worship only the First Cause to which all belongs. For

that which is everywhere referred to as a goy idolater, the reference is

that that he worships other than the Blessed One, for the term avodah zarah

– strange worship – applies to anything other than the Holy One, for

everything is strange in respect to the Holy One, and therefore one should not

refer to a goy oved elilim – a gentile who worships idols – which would

imply only one who worships statues and they are [considered] gods, but even

the sun and the moon and the angels, all these are 'strange' in respect to the Blessed

One. And when he accepts upon himself the worship of the First Cause he is

called a 'ger toshav' – a resident alien. The ger

toshav' is mentioned in the Torah a number of times – one who does not

observe the Torah of Moshe but does not worship other than Him is called a ger

toshav. In the Torah it is written (Vayikra

25) "And should your brother come to

ruin and his hand buckle under you, you shall hold him as a resident alien",

and Rashi explains "Even if he be an alien or a resident, and what is a

carcasses, …All these constitute a separate category, whoever takes upon

himself to worship no other than the Blessed One, even though he does not

observe the commandments which the Lord gave to Israel, but he does not worship

any other than the Blessed One is included in the category of ger toshav – resident

alien. He is not called a ger tsedek – [lit. "a righteous alien"

– a convert to Judaism] who observes all the commandments of Moshe's Torah, but

he is termed a ger toshav, as we have explained above, and a special law

is applied regarding this category, that it is a mitzvah for him

(The MaHaRaL of Prague;

Be'er Hagolah – the Seventh Well)

A sojourner and a resident etc. – Since the ger tsedek – the righteous alien [the

proselyte] is included in the category of "your brother, the ger toshav

– the sojourning resident – must refer to that spoken by Abraham: "I

am a sojourning resident with you" (Bereishit 23:4) I have come to you

from a foreign land and now I dwell among you; I was not born here and I have

not become a citizen with you – but I dwell with you […] and therefore you

are required to assist the alien who dwells in your midst – who is not yet

included in "your brother" – so that he find his sustenance with you;

you have to support him so that he finds his existence with you – and he shall

live with you.

(RaSHaR Hirsch,

Vayikra 25:35)

Sabbatical & Jubilee Year: "When your brother waxes

poor"

Yehonatan Chipman

 In loving

memory of my mother, Fannie Chipman,

who departed this world 28 years ago, on 24 Iyyar 5745

Upon

reading this portion (Leviticus 25),

attention is most often focused on the Sabbatical year, with its ban on

agricultural labor and the numerous practical halakhic issues which arise as a consequence,

which, since the return of Jews to tilling the soil of the Land of Israel,

beginning with the sabbatical year of 1882,

has been one of the most controversial polemic points among religious Jewry. But

this chapter of the Torah deals with other, far broader issues of economics and

of the responsibility of society to all its members. Beginning with the

institution of the jubilee year, in which all land returns to its original

owners, it presents a series of laws stating what one must do "when your

brother waxes poor": when he is forced to sell his homestead, or his house

within a city, or to borrow money, or to sell himself as a bondsman to pay back

his debts, whether to a fellow Israelite or to a stranger. In general, it is

incumbent upon his family members, near and far, and by extension upon society

as a whole, to take whatever measures are necessary – including substantial

outlays of money – to help him out and to restore him to his former situation.

In brief, the laws here create a wide and extensive social

safety net. In addition to the laws in this chapter one must include another,

more radical one: the cancellation of debts every seven years, as stipulated in

Deut 17:1–11. The

underlying conception is two-fold: first, that the land, and wealth in general,

originate in and belong to God, the source of all goods; "they are my

servants, whom I took out of the land

of Egypt" (v. 42). Ultimately,

property is placed by God in human hands as a surety or pledge; it does not

really "belong" to its supposed owner. Second, and as a corollary: poverty

and indebtedness are seen as accidents, as chance events, which do not detract

from the human worth and dignity of the person who has become impoverished. Hence,

the Torah ultimately provides certain measures (albeit admittedly over a

lengthy period of time) to assure that the poor man will be redeemed from his

difficult situation and assured his rightful share in the Land of Israel.

These rules may be read as a counterpoint and complement to

the social laws of Kedoshim (Lev 19): not to oppress others, not to lie or

cheat, not to delay paying wages, not to hold a grudge or to behave

vindictively, not to stand passively over one's brother's blood, etc. The basic

concept in both Torah portions is that one must not treat one's fellow man as

an object to be exploited, nor as a rival or even mortal enemy in the struggle

to survive in a cruel world, but as a fellow man who, like oneself, was created

in the image of God and redeemed from Egypt. The laws here in a sense complete

the mostly negative proscriptions of Ch. 19;

here we have a series of positive laws requiring that one treat one's fellow as

oneself, specifically in the economic area.

After reading this parashah, the connection between pe'ah – the

leaving of the corner of the field to the poor – and the festival of Shavuot,

as noted in last week's portion (Lev 23:22),

begins to make more sense. If the central theological conception is that God

rules over all and owns all, including the land and the people who dwell

therein, there follow two interrelated consequences: a) that we must

acknowledge this fact in various ceremonial ways, such as the mitzvah of

bringing the first sheaf of new grain (omer) or the first fruits of the

land, to the Temple; b) that we perceive our fellow man in a brotherly, equal

way, sharing with him in God's bounty – hence we must leave the corners of the

field for the poor and indigent. This is the connection between peah and

omer and cognate commandments. Beyond that, there is a link between

Shavuot, as the festival of Torah, to a commandment embodying the concept of

human responsibility and mutuality.

Thus far regarding our text. But the moment one reflects upon the

reality of modern society, one is struck by the contrast between it and the

values of the Torah. In recent years, the aphorism that "man to man is a

wolf" has become accepted in broad circles of the Western democracies as

normative. We live in an age of "Neo-Liberalism," in which global

capitalism has acquired the power to pursue its agenda unfettered and with

impunity. A series of new myths and conventions have given this view a veneer

of intellectual respectability: that the fall of Soviet Communism somehow "proved"

or "vindicated" the validity of the capitalist system, as if

democratic socialism or social-democratic alternatives might be rejected out of

hand; theories of "drip-down" economics, according to which economic

growth and maximal profits for huge corporations will eventually benefit the ordinary

citizen (a theory which patently disregards human greed); the grandiose conceit

of the "End of History"; etc.

Yet, to be honest, there are also difficulties in reading the above

picture as reflecting biblical reality. The late Prof. Binyamin Uffenheimer, in

two articles that relate to this chapter, uses the terms "myth and reality"

or "utopia and reality," to suggest that the picture drawn here was

more of a utopian ideal than a blueprint for society that was ever realized in

actuality.¹ There is no

record in the historical books of the Bible of the practical observance of

these laws, nor is it clear from the halakhic sources whether it was observed

even during the First Temple period; it certainly was not during the period of

the Mishnah and the Talmud. The Torah law canceling all debts every seven years

was found by the Rabbis to be unworkable. The Torah tries to reinforce the dry

law with moral exhortation on this point (Deut 17:7-11), knowing that people would be reluctant to

loan money that they would never get back. By Mishnaic times the Sages

developed a legal fiction to bypass it: Hillel's prozbul, perhaps the

classic example of Rabbinic legislation intend to reverse unworkable or "outmoded"

laws. Similarly, the law in our chapter against taking interest (Lev 25:36-37) is bypassed by a mechanism known

as heter iska, used today by all banks in Israel, including the most

Orthodox.

Rabbinic

aggadah also contains a motif in which poverty is interpreted as the result of

moral shortcomings, e.g., as punishment for profiteering in produce of the

Sabbatical year. Thus, the various personal disasters found in this chapter are

seen by the Talmud (b. Kiddushin 20a)

as a series of steps in such a person's downfall, if he does not repent at each

stage. This reflects an almost Calvinistic-type morality, in which wealth is

seen as a sign of divine pleasure, and vice versa.2

The fundamental question is: Why is it that, of all human shortcomings,

economic greed remains so intractable to religious teaching and law? I do not

pretend that Jews were exempt from the lures of the Yetzer ha-Ra, the "Evil

Urge," in other areas, but it does seem that the Torah succeeded, to a

large extent, in at least creating communal, social norms that people were

reluctant and even afraid to publicly flaunt, e.g., in the laws of Shabbat,

kashrut, and basic sexual morality (at least until the modern age). By

contrast, in matters of economic greed, the Rabbis were essentially forced to

capitulate to popular pressures and reinterpret many basic institutions out of

existence. It is a sad commentary on human nature.

1. See B.

Uffenheimer, "Utopia and Reality in Biblical Thought," Immanuel 9

(1979), 5-15;

idem., "Myth and Reality in Ancient Israel," in The Origins and

Diversity of Axial Age Civilizations, ed., S. N. Eisenstadt (Albany: SUNY

Press, 1985), 135-168, esp. 152-156.

2. See my article published in

this forum: "Between Judaism and Calvinism" [Hebrew], Shabbat

Shalom, Parshat Behar, 2009 / 5769.

Rabbi Yehonatan

Chipman is a translator by profession, specializing in Jewish studies. He

writes a weekly sheet (in English) on the portion of the week and the haftara,

titled "Hitsei Yehonatan". (Anyone interested in ordering a

sample of subscription can write via email to: yonarand@internet-zahav.net.

Holiness in Life is Connected to Covenant and Memory,

not Dead Stones

You shall not make idols for yourselves, or set up for

Mine, the Lord's.

(Vayikra 26:1-2)

Venerate My sanctuary – The Sabbatical year, for it is written, It shall be

holy for you.

(Ibn Ezra

ad loc)

It is My Sabbaths which will bring Me and My rule

home to you wherever you are, and the sanctifying place which will win your whole

life over to My Presence – My Sanctuary, the Sanctuary of My Torah.

Hence, You shall keep My Sabbaths and venerate My sanctuary, Mine,

the Lord's.

Not by means of statue and pillar, not by means of likeness

and memorial stones have we to keep ourselves conscious of God and His rule;

the Sabbaths of God, the Sabbath of Creation and the Sabbath of the Land, the

Sabbatical year and Jubilee, which regulate the whole of our private and public

lives with the thought "God," and by great acts of sacrifice make the

acknowledgment of God real in our lives, as well as the Sabbaths of God in the

wider sense, the appointed seasons of the Lord, the times of gathering and

reunion dedicated to the memory of His rule and management, these are our sign

and covenant, and appointed time. From these, not from molded dead stone, but

from the symbols of acknowledgement, bond and memories woven out of the living

tissue of our active life, not so much from them themselves as from the

influence they have in forming the pattern of our daily lives, from these do we

draw the inspiration which makes us find ourselves at one with God.

(Rabbi S.R.

Hirsch ad loc, Levy translation )

The Patriarchs' Merit and the Patriarchs' Covenant

Following the description of the destruction and the redemption,

it is said: and I shall remember My covenant with Jacob, and even My

covenant with Isaac, and even My covenant with Abraham I shall remember, and I

shall remember the land… Yet, even then when they are in their enemies' land,

I will not reject them or spurn them so as to destroy them, annulling My

covenant with them: or I am the Lord their God. I will remember in their favor

the covenant with the ancients, whom I took out of the land of Egypt

in the sight of the nations to be their God, I am the Lord.

Let us consider those verses: They say that God remembers

the covenant, but say nothing at all about what happened. The covenant is

remembered in God's mind, God who "remembers the covenant." These

verses are understood by popular religious thought to refer to the merit of the

patriarchs: and even My covenant with Abraham I shall remember, and I

shall remember the land – we benefit from the merit of the patriarchs.

All those who make such a connection ignore our Sages'

discussion of the question, "when did the merit of the patriarchs

end?" (Shabbat 55a)… According to the greatest Amoraim, the merit of

the patriarchs has already ended. We gained this land by the merit of our

patriarchs, and due to our sins, we lost it…

The Ba'alei Ha'Tosafot accept this as a plain fact: there is no

more merit of the patriarchs. Rabbeinu Tam points out that while the

merit of the patriarchs has ceased, their covenant has not been annulled

– Scripture testifies that it is still enduring and valid. The notion of covenant

can be understood in two ways. In parashat Noah we read that following the

Flood God made a covenant that the flood would not reoccur, and that the

rainbow was the sign of the covenant, the sign that the order of nature shall

not change. In this case, it is clear the covenant is a divine promise. Nature

bears no obligations and is incapable of taking obligations upon itself.

However, there is also a covenant which is reciprocal… we

see that Rabbeinu Tam understood the term covenant in this second sense. The

covenant between Israel

and its God – or should we say, between the God of Israel and His people –

remains enduring and valid because one side remembers it. Yet, if the

covenant is to be fulfilled, that depends also on the other party to it.

(Prof. Yishayahu Leibowitz, z"l, Herarot Le'Parshiyot Ha'Shavu'a)

The Laws of the Torah Were Intended to

Mold a More Ethical Person, Lest He Be Draw by His Evil Inclination

…It appears to me that with "the thing

vowed and its substitute shall both be holy", as with "and if he who

has consecrated his house wishes to redeem it, he must add one-fifth to the sum

at which it was assessed, and it shall be his" – the Torah understood

man's deepest thoughts and some of his evil inclination, for man's nature tends

to increase of his possessions and safeguarding of his property, and even

though he made a vow and consecrated he is liable to retract and redeem for

less than real value.

The Torah ruled that if

one redeems for himself, he is to add a fifth, and he consecrated the body of

an animal, he is liable to regret and since cannot redeem such an animal, he

might replace it with a less valuable animal, and if you permit him to exchange

bad for better, he may exchange good for worse, saying "It's good".

Therefore the Torah forbade exchange, and if he should so exchange he is to be

fined as is written, ""the thing vowed and its substitute shall both

be holy". All these are in order that one rule over his

inclination and correct his ideas, and most of the Torah's regulations

are but counsel from afar, from the Master of Counsel, for perfection

of ideas and the straightening of acts. And so it is written

"Indeed, I wrote down for you a threefold lore, Wise counsel, To

let you know truly reliable words, That you may give a faithful reply to him

who sent you."

(Mishneh Torah, Rambam, Laws

of Substitution 4:13)

Is Redemption Automatic or Conditional?

Rabbi Eliezer says: If Israel repents, they will be

redeemed, and if not, they will not be redeemed.

Rabbi Yehoshua said to him: If they do not

repent, they will not be redeemed!? Rather, God places a king over them whose

decrees are harsher than those of Haman – then Israel will repent and return to

its better self.

(Sanhedrin 97b)

When the Torah tells us of the great promise and I

shall remember the covenant (Vayikra 26:42), and that

God will not forget the covenant even when we are in the lands of our enemies –

it does not promise us redemption, because we have no right to it. In order for

the covenant, which exists only potentially, to become actual, it is necessary

for the other party to the covenant to act. We are that other party.

This must be stated against the idolatrous belief that we

have been promised unconditional redemption – a notion which is common even

among the public which views itself as faithful to God and His Torah.

The midrash states explicitly: "Three things were given

conditionally- the Land of Israel, the Temple,

and the Kingdom

of David."

The Torah, (and the priesthood of Aaron's family) were given unconditionally.

(Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz: He'arot le'Parashiyot Ha'Shavua pp.

84-5)

[…] our hearts

also have complete confidence that our prayers – including our daily prayer "Return

in mercy to your city Jerusalem"

– never go unanswered, and even though as yet we have not been privileged to

have it answered in actuality, let one not be disheartened. For in truth, all

the prayers of the souls of Israel

affect the spirituality of every individual; each soul in proportion to the

measure of its yearning does he merit the appropriate consolation in his heart,

as is written: "Whoever mourns over Jerusalem

merits and sees her joy". This promise is certainly not intended for

realization in the world to come, for it is written in the present tense – 'he

merits and sees etc.' But only according to the intensity of his yearning and

his longing in his innermost heart does he immediately merit to see and feel

in his heart her joy, in the sense of 'Rejoice, O righteous one, in the Lord'. And

this is the reason that all the prayers are formulated in the present tense – "who

builds Jerusalem", "who causes

salvation to flourish", "who restores His divine presence to Zion", for in truth they are constantly being

answered, as is written "Let Israel

rejoice in its maker; let the children of Zion

exult in their king".

 (Rabbi Tsadok

HaCohen of Lublin:

Pri Tsedek, Parashat VaEtchanan – Article 23)

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