Questions — Parshah Behar
Leviticus 25
When did Moses get up on the mountain? Has this been left out of the narrative, or does this chapter not follow the previous chapter chronologically? If so, why is the message of this chapter placed.here? There is a question about why the agricultural laws are introduced in the desert. There are good interpretations of this. What are some of them?
“When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a Sabbath of the Lord…” Is the land a living thing with its own consciousness? Is this just a difficult concept about our behavior/responsibilities that is easier to describe this way? Is this like the way that our domesticated animals are supposed to be free from labor on Shabbat?
Is the Sabbatical year a practice that is enacted for the first time in the seventh year after the Israelites enter the land, or does it begin in the first year that they are in the land? How does this idea interact with the prohibition against cutting down fruit trees in war time?
We are not supposed to eat the aftergrowth of the harvest? How do we determine what is aftergrowth?
A comment in Ets Hayim makes the point that the Sabbatical year was meant to cause the rich to understand the dilemma of poverty? Abraham’s question to God over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah seems to apply here. Is there a lesson of the Sabbatical year, and if so who is it meant to teach and what?
Who sounds the horn of the Jubilee year? Who is the “You” here? Why does it need to be added, “sound the horn loud.” Some records come with the instruction “Play Loud.”? What is the intention of “Loud”?
The horn is sounded on Yom Kippur. When in the day and where? It seems like this would be from within the Temple, but perhaps it is meant to be sounded throughout the land. Is only one horn to be sounded or many in places far enough aware that the sounding would not otherwise be heard? How was the message of the Jubilee year spread? Is there one how that is sounded from place to place over time?
Is the observance of the Jubilee year a kind of atonement? Is it the Yom Kippur of the collective of the Israelite people? Isn’t that a service that the High Priest is supposed to accomplish annually as described in the Avodah Service and in an earlier parshah?
What is implied by the phrase, “each of you shall return to his family”? This could be understood narrowly that those who were sold into slavery and were freed should return to their family homes. Could it mean more and be a call for reconciliations between family members who have parted company under harsh circumstances and disagreements as well?
How does one wrong a person in the transfer of property? Is this limited to the specific idea in the text that the valuation of a property should be based on the number of years until the next Jubilee year, or does it have additional requirements?
In verse 25:20 the phrase “Ve-Khi Tomru,” is translated by Ets Hayim as “And should you ask.” This is an odd addition. It does not seem to be needed as God is already in the midst of an explanation. Could the phrase better be translated as “And since you will ask”? “Should,” makes it seem that the security that God will provide will come only if we question God. This doesn’t seem right. Is God admitting that the observance of the Jubilee year in combination with the Sabbatical years seem to demand more from the people than any reasonable person could accept? Is this a sign of God’s understanding of our needs? Is this an addition to God’s words made by Moses?
Verse 25:23 implies that ownership of land in the Land of Israel is reserved to God and that our “ownership” of parts of it is only an act of agency that God has initiated with us. How does this match with the laws of agency as described in Talmud? The verse concludes, “you are but strangers resident with Me.” How does this match up with the idea of the Jewish people as Chosen people? If we are gerim to God in the Land of Israel, what are we to God when we are not even in the land?
A person is so poor that they cannot redeem themselves by the Jubilee year, what help is it that they will be returned to their holding? What will keep them from losing it again? Is the simple return of one’s holding sufficient to bring justice to the land?
What is different about walled cities that the right of redemption is restricted there? Does the walling of a city separate it from the quality of being tribal land? Because the laws of redemption change within a walled city, are there any restrictions that would prevent a city from building walls and changing its status? How does Torah understand the idea of a city and the process of urbanization?
The Levites can’t sell the land around their cities. Does this land have to remain as a green belt or can it be built up. What restrictions exist on the use of that land?
25:33 describes a case where a person goes from being an independent person to a share-cropper under the authority of another. This is reminiscent of what happened to the Egyptians during the famine in Sefer Shemot. 25:38 closed this section with an emphasis of centrality expressed through the usual formula “Ani Adonai Eloheihem,,,” The exact formulation is unusual. 1) who brought you out of Egypt 2) to give you the land of Canaan 3) to be your God. The Hebrew is unpunctuated, so the grammar of the sentence is open to interpretation, however it is certainly possible to read this verse as having all three clauses as separate clauses. Each seems to depend on the previous clause. Does God need to take the people of Israel and/or give over the land of Canaan in order to be the God of Israel?
Does Torah object to slavery at all? Is the objection only in the case of the Israelites, in that they are essentially God’s property already and not really subject to your ability to legally sell or own them? Henry George saw the Jubilee year as a thorough remedy for economic injustice and inequality. Torah doesn’t seem to be as hopeful. It assumes that there is always at least the possibility that inequality will exist and become exacerbated over time? Is Torah radical or conservative in its outlook towards inequality?
Chapter 26: Verses 1-2
Why is this section separated from what follows as the end of Be-Har and not a part of Behukotai? The last section of the discussion of slavery relates to non-Israelites holding Israelites as slaves/ Is this what prompts these verses? Is there an implication that allowing this kind of slavery to exist inside the bounds of the Land of Israel will lead to defilement of the land with idolatry? Why the concern with the sites of idolatry versus the Mikdash rather than specific practices?
