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BEHAR-BECHUKOTAI
19 MAY 2012
Leviticus 25:1-27:34
Jeremiah 32:6-27
Jeremiah 16:19-17:14
Luke 4:16-21

This double Torah portion begins with GOD speaking with Moshe on the mountain of Sinai (thus it is called Behar, on the mountain). GOD communicated the laws regarding the sabbatical year, Sh'mittah. Every seventh year, all work on the land should cease, and its produce becomes free for the taking for all, man and beast.

Seven sabbatical cycles are followed by a fiftieth year, the jubilee year, on which work on the land ceases. All indentured servants are set free, and all ancestral estates in the land Israel that have been sold revert to their original owners.

Every Shabbat we are freed from the cares of the material world, and we pursue the spiritual things. Our soul becomes free and we should seek the kingdom of GOD and not what the world gives.

As we see the overriding purpose of the laws, especially the laws of Sh'mittah (Sabbatical year), GOD's people should be reminded that the land was GOD's. Israel had to trust GOD for everything. Just as the Sabbatical Year directs the nation of Israel to spiritual pursuits, it also tells us as individuals to pursue GOD's ways as well.

In Psalm 37:3-4, HaShem tells us to trust Him, do well, dwell in the land, and we will live securely, and He will give us the desire of our heart.

Chazak! Chazak! Venitzchazeik! Be strong! Be strong! And may we be strengthened!

Shavua Tov

Rabbi Z.

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