Parshat Behar-Behukotai - With liberty and justice for all!
This week we conclude the reading of the book of Leviticus/ Va'yikra with the reading of the double parashah/portion Behar-Behukotai (Vayikra/Leviticus 25:1 - 27:34). I would like to focus primarily on a concept found in the first part, Parshat Behar . For in Behar , God gives Moses the instructions concerning the Sabbatical/ Shabbaton and the Jubilee/ Yovel . Moses is told that, once they are settled in the land of Canaan, every seventh year the land must "rest" completely. One is not allowed to plant, sow or reap at all. No real harvest may take place. The people may gather whatever grows from plants seeding themselves the previous year, but that is all. They are not to sow or reap anything. Just as the people need a rest every seven days, so too the land needs a Shabbat in order to replenish itself. After the conclusion of seven cycles of seven years, in the 50th year the Jubilee/Yovel is to be announced with the blast of a shofar....