Two Minute Torah Podcast

Behar-Behukotai 5772 by David Kaplinsky

Shalom I'm David Kaplinsky, KOACH Intern at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Welcome to KOACH's Two Minute Torah!

The joint parshiyot of Behar and Behukotai this week pack a punch, with such features as complex laws pertaining to harvesting and selling land, the enumeration of the blessings that come along with obeying those laws, and—especially—the curses heaped upon us if we do not do so. One of these laws is the Shemittah, the Sabbatical year, which is the seventh year where you do not harvest your land or claim ownership of your land's produce. The second law is that of the Yovel—the Jubilee Year—the 50^th year in this cycle where all ancestral lands are returned to the original possessor's family and Jewish slaves are freed. Yet in all this complexity, one verse encapsulates the principle behind these laws. In Vayikra Chapter 25, verse 23, God emphasizes to the Israelites that "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are sojourners and residents with me."

Still, why is it important that the Torah spend so much time laying out the many laws, blessings, and curses that prevent the mindset of being in total control of the land? Well, in part, we have to look at the historical context. Land was not only the physical source of life for the Israelites, but also their occupation. Furthermore, the field and its yield were also the major forms of wealth at the time. Beyond this, many other cultures in the region connected agriculture with idol worship. Putting all this context information together, we see the great potential there was for people to think that acquiring the land meant indissoluble ownership, as well as the possibility that the Jews might end up worshipping the land—their wealth—as the source of life.

So the fact that in Behukotai, God promises to GET ANGRY when those laws are disobeyed is not very surprising. He promises measure for measure punishment, giving back the mean spirit of the apathetic attitude of the Israelites in his punishments. Two weeks ago, in parshat Kedoshim, God established with us a relationship of holiness and commitment, charging us to sanctify the mundane because that is how God himself acts. For the Israelites to give in to the lure of wealth in their land, they would not be sanctifying the mundane for God's sake—they would be making the mundane their new God.

But it can go the other way. The Torah also says that Sanctifying the land (wealth)—by recognizing that it is ultimately God's—leads not only to continued abundance, but peace and the promise of God's presence resting among us.

Yet believing the idea that abundance does not come from focusing directly on physical output is difficult for us in our twenty-first century, competitive world. We live in a time where greed predominates, and obtaining wealth is seen as the ultimate goal. But we as Jews can be kedoshim, distinct, by understanding the impermanence of physical wealth and valuing it as a gift God shares with us, but does not give completely. And ultimately, we can value our fellow human beings more than our temporary possessions, allowing us to attain the true peace the Torah promises. Shabbat Shalom!