Behar
Cry Freedom
Parshat Behar – The Jubilee and the Meaning of True Freedom
"And HaShem spoke unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying: Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto HaShem." (Vayikra 25:1-2)
Why does the Torah emphasize that this mitzvah of Shemittah (the Sabbatical year) was said at Mount Sinai?
Rashi brings the famous Midrash: "What does Shemittah have to do with Mount Sinai?" After all, most commandments were given later, in the Tent of Meeting. Why emphasise that this law, of all laws, was given on the mountain itself?
The answer lies in the nature of the mitzvah, and its deep spiritual resonance.
The Torah goes on to describe the Sabbatical cycle culminating in the fiftieth year, the Jubilee (Yovel):
"You shall count off seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; ... Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month... You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants... In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property." (Vayikra 25:8-13)
This system creates not only a rhythm of agricultural rest, but a revolutionary concept of social reset. Land returns to its original owner. Slaves go free. Debts are wiped clean. A human being can never be owned in perpetuity. No one is meant to be stuck in bondage forever.
It is an astonishing system. And it was taught at Sinai.
Sinai and Shemittah: Counting Time Toward Freedom
There is a mirror between the counting of years toward the Jubilee and the counting of days toward the giving of the Torah. As we write this, we are in the Omer period—counting seven weeks from Pesach (freedom from Egypt) until Shavuot (receiving the Torah).
7 x 7 = 49. Then comes the 50th. Sound familiar?
Just as we count seven cycles of seven years until we reach the Jubilee, so too we count seven cycles of seven days until we reach Revelation. And just as the Jubilee proclaims liberty throughout the land, so too the giving of the Torah proclaims liberty to the soul.
Freedom Is Not Emptiness. It Is Purpose.
The Torah is telling us something fundamental. Freedom is not the absence of constraints. It is the opportunity to live with meaning.
Why is the wife of the Kohen not listed in the seven relatives for whom he may become tamei (ritually impure) upon their death?
The Gemara (Yevamot 22b) answers this based on the words, "l'she'eiro ha-karov eilav" ("to his relative who is closest to him"), teaching us that this is his wife. She is the closest relative. Closer even than children. Because she is not a relationship of biology, but of will. Of choice.
The love between a parent and child is (hopefully) deeply ingrained, nearly automatic. But love between spouses is a daily choice. It is free will in its highest form.
That's what Jubilee celebrates. That’s why this mitzvah is taught at Sinai. The deepest purpose of the Torah is not to control the human being but to free the human being to become something higher. To free us from being slaves to our instincts, our addictions, our habits, our society. To free us to choose.
The Jubilee resets society. It gives people another chance. It brings people home. It is the Torah's way of saying: no one gets left behind.
Slaves of God, Not Men
Near the end of the parsha, we are warned not to sell ourselves into slavery. "They are My servants," says God. "Whom I brought out of Egypt."
We are already avadim. We are not free in the abstract. We are servants of God. And that is the deepest kind of freedom.
How so?
Slavery to another human being means your identity is negated. Your time, your will, your body belongs to someone else. But slavery to God is not the same. God doesn’t take your self away. He gives it back. He gives it purpose. The Torah was not given to erase our individuality but to elevate it. As the Mishnah says: "There is no free person except one who engages in Torah."
Freedom as Cosmic Harmony
Think again of the Jubilee: it’s not just people that rest. The land rests. It returns to its proper alignment. It's a cosmic realignment. A re-synchronization with the divine calendar. Everything gets to return to its roots.
And this too mirrors Sinai. Because what happened at Sinai was not merely national legislation. It was the alignment of the finite with the Infinite. A synchronization of our human will with the Divine Will. The people said, "Na’aseh v’nishma" (We will do and we will hear). That was an act of radical freedom. Choosing the yoke of heaven. Becoming eved Hashem.
Freedom Is Not in Choosing Sides
In our world, freedom is often reduced to market preferences or political affiliations. Coke or Pepsi? Red or Blue? That is not the freedom the Torah envisions.
True freedom is the ability to choose beyond the self. To give beyond the instinct to receive. To reset the ego. To become part of something larger.
In fact, as the parsha shows us, real freedom is the nullification of self into the All. The return to the source. That is the very definition of holiness. That’s what Yovel does. It returns everything to the source.
Freedom and Forgiveness
The Jubilee reminds us that no one is permanently broken. Every person, every situation, can be reset. Can begin again.
That’s why it’s announced on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The same way we spiritually return to our root, so too society must be allowed to return to balance. Forgiveness must be encoded into the legal and economic systems, not just the spiritual ones.
A Personal Note: The Greatest Gift
Once, someone gave me a framed embroidery that read:
"The greatest gift a man can give his children is to love their mother."
I didn’t understand it at first. I thought: no, the greatest gift is to love the children!
But over time I learned. A child needs not only love for themselves, but a sense that they came from love. That their home is built on commitment, partnership, shared values.
And I thank God for a friend, Lior, who taught me this with his example. His name means "light" and "purity" in Hebrew. And indeed, his family is a sanctuary of love. He shows how true freedom doesn’t look like personal indulgence. It looks like selfless giving.
Conclusion: Behar and Sinai
That’s why this parsha is said on the Mountain. Because this mitzvah contains the essence of Revelation.
Sinai wasn’t just about laws. It was about aligning ourselves with something higher. And that’s what Yovel is too. A moment when time itself bends back into the Divine Will. When the world gets a reset.
When we count 7 x 7 and reach 50, we are invited into the same space that Sinai opened: the space of transformation. The space of return.
May we merit to return. To freedom. To God. To each other.
"And HaShem spoke unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying: Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto HaShem." (Vayikra 25:1-2)
Why does the Torah emphasize that this mitzvah of Shemittah (the Sabbatical year) was said at Mount Sinai?
Rashi brings the famous Midrash: "What does Shemittah have to do with Mount Sinai?" After all, most commandments were given later, in the Tent of Meeting. Why emphasise that this law, of all laws, was given on the mountain itself?
The answer lies in the nature of the mitzvah, and its deep spiritual resonance.
The Torah goes on to describe the Sabbatical cycle culminating in the fiftieth year, the Jubilee (Yovel):
"You shall count off seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; ... Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month... You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants... In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property." (Vayikra 25:8-13)
This system creates not only a rhythm of agricultural rest, but a revolutionary concept of social reset. Land returns to its original owner. Slaves go free. Debts are wiped clean. A human being can never be owned in perpetuity. No one is meant to be stuck in bondage forever.
It is an astonishing system. And it was taught at Sinai.
Sinai and Shemittah: Counting Time Toward Freedom
There is a mirror between the counting of years toward the Jubilee and the counting of days toward the giving of the Torah. As we write this, we are in the Omer period—counting seven weeks from Pesach (freedom from Egypt) until Shavuot (receiving the Torah).
7 x 7 = 49. Then comes the 50th. Sound familiar?
Just as we count seven cycles of seven years until we reach the Jubilee, so too we count seven cycles of seven days until we reach Revelation. And just as the Jubilee proclaims liberty throughout the land, so too the giving of the Torah proclaims liberty to the soul.
Freedom Is Not Emptiness. It Is Purpose.
The Torah is telling us something fundamental. Freedom is not the absence of constraints. It is the opportunity to live with meaning.
Why is the wife of the Kohen not listed in the seven relatives for whom he may become tamei (ritually impure) upon their death?
The Gemara (Yevamot 22b) answers this based on the words, "l'she'eiro ha-karov eilav" ("to his relative who is closest to him"), teaching us that this is his wife. She is the closest relative. Closer even than children. Because she is not a relationship of biology, but of will. Of choice.
The love between a parent and child is (hopefully) deeply ingrained, nearly automatic. But love between spouses is a daily choice. It is free will in its highest form.
That's what Jubilee celebrates. That’s why this mitzvah is taught at Sinai. The deepest purpose of the Torah is not to control the human being but to free the human being to become something higher. To free us from being slaves to our instincts, our addictions, our habits, our society. To free us to choose.
The Jubilee resets society. It gives people another chance. It brings people home. It is the Torah's way of saying: no one gets left behind.
Slaves of God, Not Men
Near the end of the parsha, we are warned not to sell ourselves into slavery. "They are My servants," says God. "Whom I brought out of Egypt."
We are already avadim. We are not free in the abstract. We are servants of God. And that is the deepest kind of freedom.
How so?
Slavery to another human being means your identity is negated. Your time, your will, your body belongs to someone else. But slavery to God is not the same. God doesn’t take your self away. He gives it back. He gives it purpose. The Torah was not given to erase our individuality but to elevate it. As the Mishnah says: "There is no free person except one who engages in Torah."
Freedom as Cosmic Harmony
Think again of the Jubilee: it’s not just people that rest. The land rests. It returns to its proper alignment. It's a cosmic realignment. A re-synchronization with the divine calendar. Everything gets to return to its roots.
And this too mirrors Sinai. Because what happened at Sinai was not merely national legislation. It was the alignment of the finite with the Infinite. A synchronization of our human will with the Divine Will. The people said, "Na’aseh v’nishma" (We will do and we will hear). That was an act of radical freedom. Choosing the yoke of heaven. Becoming eved Hashem.
Freedom Is Not in Choosing Sides
In our world, freedom is often reduced to market preferences or political affiliations. Coke or Pepsi? Red or Blue? That is not the freedom the Torah envisions.
True freedom is the ability to choose beyond the self. To give beyond the instinct to receive. To reset the ego. To become part of something larger.
In fact, as the parsha shows us, real freedom is the nullification of self into the All. The return to the source. That is the very definition of holiness. That’s what Yovel does. It returns everything to the source.
Freedom and Forgiveness
The Jubilee reminds us that no one is permanently broken. Every person, every situation, can be reset. Can begin again.
That’s why it’s announced on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The same way we spiritually return to our root, so too society must be allowed to return to balance. Forgiveness must be encoded into the legal and economic systems, not just the spiritual ones.
A Personal Note: The Greatest Gift
Once, someone gave me a framed embroidery that read:
"The greatest gift a man can give his children is to love their mother."
I didn’t understand it at first. I thought: no, the greatest gift is to love the children!
But over time I learned. A child needs not only love for themselves, but a sense that they came from love. That their home is built on commitment, partnership, shared values.
And I thank God for a friend, Lior, who taught me this with his example. His name means "light" and "purity" in Hebrew. And indeed, his family is a sanctuary of love. He shows how true freedom doesn’t look like personal indulgence. It looks like selfless giving.
Conclusion: Behar and Sinai
That’s why this parsha is said on the Mountain. Because this mitzvah contains the essence of Revelation.
Sinai wasn’t just about laws. It was about aligning ourselves with something higher. And that’s what Yovel is too. A moment when time itself bends back into the Divine Will. When the world gets a reset.
When we count 7 x 7 and reach 50, we are invited into the same space that Sinai opened: the space of transformation. The space of return.
May we merit to return. To freedom. To God. To each other.