Behar

📜 The Story

Parshat Behar begins with Hashem speaking to Moshe at Har Sinai, teaching him the special mitzvah of Shmita, the sabbatical year. Every seventh year, the people of Israel must let their fields, vineyards, and orchards rest completely, without planting or harvesting in the normal way. This teaches everyone that the land really belongs to Hashem, and we are only taking care of it.

After counting seven cycles of Shmita, forty nine years in total, a very special fiftieth year arrives called the Yovel, the Jubilee year. On Yom Kippur of that year, the shofar was blown throughout the whole land, and the famous words were declared, proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. In the Yovel year, all Hebrew servants went free and returned to their families.

The Yovel year also brought land back to its original owners. Since the Land of Israel was divided among the tribes and families, if someone had to sell his field because he became poor, the land would return to him or his children in the Yovel year. This kept every family connected to its inherited portion forever.

The parsha also teaches important rules about buying and selling land fairly, and about not cheating one another in business. It commands that when a Jew becomes poor, we must support him and strengthen him, like holding up someone who is starting to fall, so that he does not sink further into poverty.

Finally, Behar forbids charging interest to a fellow Jew who borrows money because he is in need, and it describes the laws of a Hebrew servant, teaching that he must be treated with kindness and respect, since really all of Israel belongs to Hashem, who took them out of Egypt to be His servants.