{"id":45695,"date":"2018-07-09T18:51:26","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1023\/"},"modified":"2022-07-15T14:37:30","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T11:37:30","slug":"wall-1023","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1023\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20220710-to-20220716"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1023","date_from":"20220710","date_to":"20220716","book":"Leviticus","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"106399","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"2","name":"Parashat Balak: Getting The Best of Both Worlds, by Aharon Ariel Lavi ","post_title":"Parashat Balak: Getting The Best of Both Worlds, by Aharon Ariel Lavi","slug":"parashat-balak-getting-the-best-of-both-worlds-by-aharon-ariel-lavi","old_id":"106399","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":84106,"post_title":"Aharon Ariel Lavi","slug":"aharon-ariel-lavi","old_id":"84106","first_name":"Aharon Ariel ","last_name":"Lavi ","description":"Aharon Ariel Lavi is the founder and director of Hakhel: The Jewish Intentional Communities Incubator in the Diaspora. Lavi is a professional community organizer and serial social entrepreneur. He is co-founder of Garin Shuva on the Gaza border; the Nettiot Intentional Communities Network, reengaging Haredi Ba\u2019aley Teshuva into society; and MAKOM: the national umbrella organization of intentional communities in Israel. ","short_description":"Aharon Ariel Lavi is the founder and director of Hakhel: The Jewish Intentional Communities Incubator in the Diaspora. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":84107,"alt":"","title":"aharon ariel lavi","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":150,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":150,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":150,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":150,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":150,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/aharon-ariel-lavi.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":150}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1023","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Where is the sweet spot between conserving and respecting the past (cycles), and progressing towards a new reality (linearly)?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Parashat Balak is one of the two weekly portions in the Torah named after a significant non-Jewish protagonist. The first one is Yitro, named after Moses\u2019s father-in-law, who was the architect of the ancient Hebrews' internal social structure. The second one is Balak Ben-Tzipor, the King of Moab, a nation which was a distant relative of the People of Israel (both share a great-grandfather from the times of Abraham).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In our <\/span>parasha<\/span><\/i>, the Israelites camp east of Canaan and prepare to enter the promised land. The only problem is that the Moabites, and others, dwell along the Eastern border, and although Moses assures them he has no intention of threatening their sovereignty, they will not let the Israelites pass.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Balak is terrified and summons the wizard Balaam, who was known for his magical ability to curse and destroy whole nations. Unlike Yitro, Balak\u2019s purpose is to rebuff the Israelites. Balaam orders him to build seven altars and sacrifice seven oxen, yet he warns him that he can only say what God puts in his mouth. Balaam ends up blessing the Israelites several times, instead of cursing them, and Balak sends him away.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The obvious connection between this <\/span>parasha<\/span><\/i> and shmita is the repetitive use of the number seven. But it goes deeper than that. If we examine the cultural chasm between the Moabites and the Israelites, one thing that stands out is the basic perception of time, and the way it is reflected in the sabbatical year mechanism.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For example, what are the next three items in the series: 2, 4, 6, 8? Chances are you said: 10, 12, 14. If we were to ask the same question in ancient Moab, the answer would probably be: 6, 4, 2, 4, 6, 8 and so on. Both answers are mathematically correct. They simply express two different paradigms.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The ancient paradigm was cyclical and saw contemporary reality as nothing but a duplication of what preceded it and a pattern for what will follow it. Therefore, for example, loans in the ancient world were not used for investment but rather for regular consumption. The concept of investing today in order to create a different future tomorrow simply did not exist. The alternative paradigm is more linear and sees progress instead of repetition. It was first proposed by the Bible, and shmita is a key symbol of it. Jewish thought respects cycles as well, of course, but shmita cycles are more like a spiral in which every cycle ends at a higher point than where it began.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When we look at our reality today, which sometimes seems like it\u2019s moving aimlessly, we can ask ourselves where is the sweet spot between conserving and respecting the past (cycles), and progressing towards a new reality (linearly)? Hint: if we do it slowly, step by step, and move forward by trial and error, we can get the best of both worlds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

*This is the Torah reading for Diaspora communities. Israeli and Diaspora communities will become \"synced\" again at Parashat Devarim.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

This year is the shmita year: Shmita means a sabbatical year for the Earth but also for ourselves, our communities, and our world. Each week we continue to share thoughts on how the weekly parsha can help guide our thinking around shmita themes of work and rest, wealth and debt, responsible land use, fair labor practices, private and public property ownership, and physical and spiritual revitalization.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

See here for more information on the Hazon Shmita project, and its blogs.<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"A Weekly Series: The \"Shmitah Parasha\" Blog","tile_main_caption":"Balak*: Getting The Best of Both Worlds, by Aharon Ariel Lavi","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"in conjunction with Hazon.org","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1023"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"368","name":"Parasha","old_id":"768"},{"term_id":"494","name":"Shmita","old_id":"894"}]},{"order":2,"id":"45814","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Wisdom Beyond the Mountains of Darkness ","post_title":"Wisdom Beyond The Mountains Of Darkness","slug":"wisdom-beyond-the-mountains-of-darkness","old_id":"45814","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"112","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A surprising midrash on the council of women, the nature of justice, the value of animals - and Alexander the Great!?","post_main_content_content":"

Leviticus 22:27 \u201cWhen an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall stay seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as an offering by fire to the Lord\u201d has been the beginning of a Torah reading since Talmudic times (see Rashi to Megillah). In expounding this verse, the Midrash (Leviticus Rabbah 27:1) somewhat surprisingly includes two stories about what Alexander of Macedon learned when he ventured beyond the \u201cMountains of Darkness\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

It turns out that a midrashic interpretation of our Torah verse is presented only at the conclusion of these two entertaining and instructive narratives. First, Alexander comes to a land inhabited only by women. \u201cThey meet him saying: \u2018If you vanquish us you will be known as having defeated women. But if we are victorious, you will be known as having been defeated by women.\u2019 He inscribed on their city gate, \u2018I, Alexander of Macedon, was ignorant until I came to the land of women and learned counsel from women.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\r\n

He then continued on to [North] Africa\u2026He announced: \u2018I have come to learn of your laws.\u2019 Just then two men came before the African king for judgement. One related that in a carob-tree he had purchased he found a treasure which he wanted to return to the seller. The seller replied that when he sold the carob-tree he relinquished possession of all in it. The African king resolved the problem by having the buyer\u2019s son marry the seller\u2019s daughter so that both families should benefit from the treasure. Alexander replied that where he ruled both men would be beheaded, and the king would take the treasure. The African king exclaimed that where people behave like that, the sun must shine and the rain must fall only for the sake of their cattle.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The African king\u2019s comment is reflected in what now follows \u2013 a midrashic interpretation of the verse, \u201cMan and beast You save, O Lord\u201d (Psalms 36:7). From this we learn that the laws of man and beast are similar. Of man it says, \u201cOn the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised (Leviticus 12:3), while about the beast is says, \u201cWhen an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall stay seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as an offering by fire to the Lord\u201d (Leviticus 22:27).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Alexander the Great mosaic,\u00a0\u00a0circa 100 BC\u00a0 \/ wikipedia<\/a>
\r\n
\r\n<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":45815,"alt":"","title":"Alexander_the_Great_mosaic","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg","width":1024,"height":614,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-300x180.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":180,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-768x461.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":461,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-1024x614.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":614,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":614,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":614,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":614,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-700x420.jpg","home_baner-width":700,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Wisdom Beyond The Mountains Of Darkness","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A surprising midrash on the council of women, the nature of justice, the value of animals - and Alexander the Great!?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":45815,"alt":"","title":"Alexander_the_Great_mosaic","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg","width":1024,"height":614,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-300x180.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":180,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-768x461.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":461,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-1024x614.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":614,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":614,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":614,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":614,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Alexander_the_Great_mosaic-700x420.jpg","home_baner-width":700,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"112","date":"20260202","wall_id":"112"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"600","name":"Women","old_id":"1000"},{"term_id":"774","name":"Africa","old_id":"1174"}]},{"order":3,"id":"45720","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"How One Word Changes Everything ","post_title":"How One Word Changes Everything","slug":"how-one-word-changes-everything","old_id":"45720","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":44687,"post_title":"Tamar Kamionkowski","slug":"tamar-kamionkowski","old_id":"44687","first_name":"Tamar","last_name":"Kamionkowski ","description":"Dr. Tamar Kamionkowski serves as professor of biblical studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College where she has trained rabbis for over 20 years. She holds a B.A from Oberlin College, an M.T.S from Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D in Near Eastern and Judaic studies from Brandeis University. Tamar is the author of Leviticus: A Wisdom Commentary (Liturgical Press, 2018), Gender Reversal and Cosmic Chaos: Studies in the Book of Ezekiel (Sheffield Academic Press, 2003) and co-editor of Bodies, Embodiment and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures (T&T Clark, 2010).","short_description":"Dr. Tamar Kamionkowski is professor of biblical studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College where she has trained rabbis for over 20 years.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":44688,"alt":"","title":"tamar kamionkowski","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699.jpg","width":287,"height":292,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-208x300.jpg","medium-width":208,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699.jpg","medium_large-width":287,"medium_large-height":292,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699.jpg","large-width":287,"large-height":292,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699.jpg","1536x1536-width":287,"1536x1536-height":292,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699.jpg","2048x2048-width":287,"2048x2048-height":292,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-e1543326019699.jpg","post_full_size-width":287,"post_full_size-height":292,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/tamar-kamionkowski-292x420.jpg","home_baner-width":292,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"111","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Holiness becomes dynamic, changing, and a new theology is born","post_main_content_content":"

Leviticus 21 begins by stating that no priest should desecrate himself. The Hebrew word for \u201cdesecrate,\u201d <\/span>chillel<\/span><\/i>, never appears in the earlier chapters of Leviticus. This may be surprising because chapters 1-16 address all sorts of impurities that can have a negative impact on God\u2019s holy places and things. Chapters 1-16 do not address desecration because the theology of those chapters is that holiness is stable and static. God is holy, the priests are holy, sacred vessels are holy. A priest may incur ritual impurity, but he is still holy by virtue of his status.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

By contrast, Leviticus 20 and 21 use the word \u201cdesecration\u201d ten times! The insertion of this new word into the book of Leviticus suggests that a new theology emerges in the second half of the Book of Leviticus. The fact that God\u2019s name and the priests can be desecrated means that holiness is no longer perceived as stable and static. While many biblical scholars believe that we ought to understand the word \u201cdesecrate\u201d metaphorically, I believe that the meaning is literal. Just as Leviticus 19 taught that people ought to strive toward holiness, Leviticus 21 teaches that wrongdoing can actually diminish holiness in the world.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This new principle is an overlay upon the theology of Leviticus 1-16. This perspective teaches that in addition to the ritual impurities that threaten to drive God\u2019s presence from the community, our actions in the world and our interactions with other people have a real impact on God\u2019s relationship with us.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I find a modern analogy useful in understanding this idea. When members of a community are at their best - treating others with respect and fulfilling their obligations \u2013 everyone feels the positive energy and that energy fuels more positive and healthy relationships. When there is dysfunction in a community, when members of the community are not at their best, the energy in the community is depressing.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Leviticus understands this dynamic within a religious context so that generative energy is akin to holiness and dejection in a community is like desecration.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":92088,"alt":"","title":"pro1-right and 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One Word Changes Everything","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Holiness becomes dynamic, changing, and a new theology is born","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":92088,"alt":"","title":"pro1-right and 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and Disability in the Presence of God ","post_title":"Ability And Disability In The Presence Of God","slug":"ability-and-disability-in-the-presence-of-god","old_id":"45710","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38047,"post_title":"Shoshana Michael Zucker","slug":"shoshana-michael-zucker","old_id":"38047","first_name":"Shoshana Michael ","last_name":"Zucker ","description":"Shoshana Michael Zucker is a translator and editor by profession, but would much rather be learning and teaching Torah. A graduate of Barnard College, she made aliyah in 1983 and now lives in Kfar Saba where she is an active member of the Masorti Congregation Hod veHadar. ","short_description":"Shoshana Michael Zucker is a translator and editor and lives in Kfar Saba \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38048,"alt":"","title":"Shoshana Michael Zucker","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","width":231,"height":310,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker-224x300.jpg","medium-width":224,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","medium_large-width":231,"medium_large-height":310,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","large-width":231,"large-height":310,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","1536x1536-width":231,"1536x1536-height":310,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","2048x2048-width":231,"2048x2048-height":310,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","post_full_size-width":231,"post_full_size-height":310,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","home_baner-width":231,"home_baner-height":310}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"111","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Inclusion has both contemporary relevance and Talmudic precedence","post_main_content_content":"

Leviticus 21:17\u200e\u200f is disturbing: \u201cSpeak to Aaron and say: No man of your \u200eoffspring \u200ethrough the ages who has a defect shall \u200ebe \u200equalified to offer the food of his \u200eGod.\u201d \u200eThis introduction is followed by several verses listing many specific disabilities. \u00a0\u200e<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If all people are created in God\u2019s image, how could serving God be contingent on \u200ean individual\u2019s physical condition?\u200e<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Apparently, the question is not new. In the Babylonian Talmud (Megillah 24b), Rav \u200eHuna taught: \u201cA man whose eyes run should not lift up his hands [to give the priestly \u200eblessing].\u201d \u200eDespite this, actual practice in Rav Huna\u2019s own neighborhood did allow \u200esuch a person to bless the people. Similarly, \u201cRabbi Yo\u1e25anan said: A man blind in one \u200eeye should \u200enot lift up his hands,\u201d but allowed more lenient practice where he lived. \u200eThe Talmud resolves these contradictions, \u201cThe townspeople were accustomed to \u200ethem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That helps but only a little. The rabbis were willing to soften the rule, but only for \u200e\u200e\u201cinsiders.\u201d In a world that strives for broad accessibility, the Torah and the Talmud \u200eseem to fall short of both ethical behavior and common decency.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When the Temple was standing holiness was concentrated in one place.\u00a0<\/span>There was more centralization, \u200eseverity \u200eand emphasis on externals (not to mention the actual physical work that the \u200epriests needed to do). The \u200everse from Leviticus made a certain amount of sense in its \u200etime and place.\u200e<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In a world without a Temple, holiness is more diffuse, but also became more \u200econcealed. Rabbis took over \u200ethe mantle of leadership, and endeavored to help the \u200epeople maintain a connection to the Holy. To this end they needed to bridge the gap between \u200etheir commitment to the text and real people\u2019s lives. In the process, they permitted the \u200einclusion of people with disabilities who were otherwise part of the community.\u200e<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The modern world is more open to a fuller range of human experience, and our \u200ecommunity is larger. As people with wider variety of physical abilities and challenges \u200eare visible and \u200epresent in the public sphere, people everywhere are \u200eaccustomed (or \u200e becoming accustomed) \u200eto their presence. Therefore, the \u200eprecedents set by Rav Huna \u200eand Rabbi Yo\u1e25anan pave the way to allow all adults a place to participate in \u200ecommunal, religious \u200elife.\u200e<\/span><\/p>\r\n

illustration: 3Daliashutterstock.com<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":45754,"alt":"","title":"wheelchair","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","width":354,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair-300x297.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":297,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","medium_large-width":354,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","large-width":354,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","1536x1536-width":354,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","2048x2048-width":354,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","post_full_size-width":354,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","home_baner-width":354,"home_baner-height":351}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Ability And Disability In The Presence Of God","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Inclusion has both contemporary relevance and Talmudic precedence","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":45754,"alt":"","title":"wheelchair","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","width":354,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair-300x297.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":297,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","medium_large-width":354,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","large-width":354,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","1536x1536-width":354,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","2048x2048-width":354,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","post_full_size-width":354,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/wheelchair.png","home_baner-width":354,"home_baner-height":351}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"21","chapter_main_number":"111","date":"20260201","wall_id":"111"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"370","name":"Divine\/human","old_id":"770"},{"term_id":"480","name":"Holiness","old_id":"880"},{"term_id":"769","name":"Disabilities","old_id":"1169"}]},{"order":5,"id":"45808","color":"#faeed8","size":"2","name":"What Ought to Be Beautiful in the Eye of the Beholder? ","post_title":"What Ought To Be Beautiful In The Eye Of The Beholder?","slug":"what-ought-to-be-beautiful-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder","old_id":"45808","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"112","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"God\u2019s acceptance of the \u201cblemished\u201d is conditional on our being accepting","post_main_content_content":"

Rabbi Abba bar Yudan said: Everything that God disqualified in animals, he endorsed in people. For animals, he disqualified the blind or broken or maimed, but in man he endorsed the broken, downtrodden heart (Vayikra Rabba 7). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbi Abba's is a beautiful idea, but it seems to ignore some inconvenient statements in the last chapter. There, the Torah lists exactly the same blemishes which disqualify an animal as disqualifying people- the <\/span>kohanim<\/span><\/em>. It's hard to imagine that Rabbi Abba had an easy time reading those verses, not because they posed a contradiction to his \"liberal, Western\" values, but because he saw them as contradicting values he gleaned from the Torah itself. But the verses in our chapter provide us with the resolution to this contradiction.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What exactly is problematic about an animal with a blemish? Is it considered an insult to God, as Rashi suggests in his commentary on priestly disqualifications? This isn't the explanation that the Torah offers. Rather, the idea the Torah repeats 5 times over the course of 10 verses is that the animal must be '<\/span>liretzonchem<\/span><\/em>'<\/span><\/i>- it must pleasing <\/span>to you<\/b>. <\/i><\/b>If someone brings an animal which <\/span>they see<\/b> as imperfect, they will view their own sacrifice, their own act of religious worship, as incomplete, as blemished, as unsatisfying. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What is true for the sacrifice is equally true for the priests, who are evaluated in terms of the service they can give. A \"blemished\" priest isn't prevented from enjoying holy food, only from acting as the messenger of the people, and this, only because of how the people will look at him.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The problem of a blemish, then, is reflective of people's perceptions, not of inherent spiritual disqualification. It is descriptive, not prescriptive. This understanding isn't just fanciful apologetics; it has halachic teeth. The contemporary application of the laws of blemishes is in the context of the priestly blessing. Based on the Gemara, the halacha states that blemishes are a problem only to the extent that they bother people in the community. In a place where people have learned to accept an atypical physical appearance, either from their personal acquaintance with the individual, or the peculiar norms of the community, the priest may fulfill his priestly duty.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So if the laws of blemishes merely reflect people's perceptions, what is the ideal vision that we should be striving for? This, Rabbi Abba offered us, and, following him in the Midrash, Rabbi Alexandri:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A regular person, if someone serves him with broken vessels, he is insulted. But God- the vessels that serve him are broken as it says 'God is close to the broken hearted\" etc.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Anna Lo\/shutterstock<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":45820,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_1051896014","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014.jpg","width":5184,"height":3456,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"What Ought To Be Beautiful In The Eye Of The Beholder?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"God\u2019s acceptance of the \u201cblemished\u201d is conditional on our being accepting","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":45820,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_1051896014","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014.jpg","width":5184,"height":3456,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_1051896014-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"112","date":"20260202","wall_id":"112"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"387","name":"Sacrifice","old_id":"787"},{"term_id":"770","name":"Perfection","old_id":"1170"}]},{"order":6,"id":"45838","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Holidays for Haves and Have-Nots ","post_title":"Holidays For Haves And Have-Nots","slug":"holidays-for-haves-and-have-nots","old_id":"45838","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34011,"post_title":"Jeremy Benstein","slug":"dr-jeremy-benstein","old_id":"34011","first_name":"Jeremy","last_name":"Benstein","description":"Dr. Jeremy Benstein is the managing editor of 929-English. He is one of the founders of the Heschel Center for Sustainability. He writes the MiliMiliM - Hebrew Corner on the site, and is the author of a book about the Hebrew language, \"Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World\" (Behrman House, 2019). ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Dr. Jeremy Benstein is the managing editor of 929-English, and is the author of a book about the Hebrew language, \"Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World\" (Behrman House, 2019). ","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34232,"alt":"","title":"Jeremy Benstein","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"113","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The land should be a source of justice and not division","post_main_content_content":"

In Leviticus 23, one of the Torah\u2019s major accounts of the festival calendar, after the description of the Temple rites of Shavuot (Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks), the text repeats the commandments of <\/span>peah<\/em> <\/span>and <\/span>leket<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>to leave the corners of the fields and the unharvested gleanings of the crops for the poor. Given the ritual focus of the chapter, this ethical addition is even more remarkable. Commentators, however, generally gloss this as a simple mental association with the harvest season of Shavuot, or as a general reminder that there are social obligations beyond the ritual ones.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But there\u2019s a deeper reason.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the context of the pilgrimage festivals, Pesach, with its unleavened bread and arduous dietary restrictions is clearly in some profound way about food. Sukkot, second only to Pesah in strenuous preparations, focuses on where, in what and how you live\u2014it\u2019s theme is shelter. Both mandate a form of enforced poverty \u2013 eating matzah, the bread of affliction; living in a shack, the most modest of dwellings. These holidays are great social equalizers: fulfilling their two central obligations make the wealthy more like the poor, and no one, rich or poor, is excluded by the celebrations.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Biblical Shavuot is different. The celebration focuses on the first fruits and newly harvested grain, and the main celebrants are the landowners, those who have grain and fruits to bring.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As such this festival is \"about\" land, a basic element of civilization along with food and shelter. Perhaps ideally, everyone was supposed to be a landowner -- but the Torah realizes that this was never going to be the case. The holiday, then, has the dangerous potential of splitting the people between landed and landless, and rather than being a \u2018leveller\u2019 like Pesach and Sukkot, bringing rich and poor together in a shared experience, it could reinforce the socio-economic gap. The unexpected verse about leaving parts of the harvest for the poor (reinforced aggadically in the story of Ruth read on Shavuot) is a reminder of mutual obligation, a reminder that the land should be a source of justice and not division, that the holiday requires an ethic of care, and not just a celebration of wealth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Biblical land ethic, codified in ritual and ethics, merged the natural with the social by expressing an inseparable link between the land, its bounty and its continued well-being, and the need for the care and support of all the people.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is also a statement about how we celebrate our holidays: gratitude for our bounteous harvests of various types is best expressed through compassion for those who have not been so blessed -- not through closed, self-satisfied convocations of the favored.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Monstar Studio \/ shutterstock<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":45889,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_478487740","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740.jpg","width":5184,"height":3456,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Holidays For Haves And Have-Nots","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The land should be a source of justice and not division","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":45889,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_478487740","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740.jpg","width":5184,"height":3456,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_478487740-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"23","chapter_main_number":"113","date":"20260203","wall_id":"113"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"440","name":"Wealth\/money","old_id":"840"},{"term_id":"516","name":"Holidays","old_id":"916"}]},{"order":7,"id":"45840","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Facing God, Openings in Time ","post_title":"Facing God, Openings In Time","slug":"facing-god-openings-in-time","old_id":"45840","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33992,"post_title":"Bradley Shavit Artson","slug":"rabbi-dr-bradley-shavit-artson","old_id":"33992","first_name":"Bradley Shavit ","last_name":"Artson","description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and is professor of philosophy there. Artson is married to Elana Shavit Artson, and they are the parents of twins, Shira and Jacob.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33993,"alt":"","title":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","width":204,"height":199,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-256x300.png","medium-width":256,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":199,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","large-width":204,"large-height":199,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":199,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":199,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":199,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":199}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"113","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"One approach to understanding the secret of sevenses","post_main_content_content":"

Offering the list of biblical festivals and holy days, the 23<\/span>rd<\/span> chapter of Leviticus opens with a general instruction, \u201cThese are my fixed times, the fixed times of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as holy occasions.\u201d At the very head of the list of holy days and festivals, pride of place is given to the Sabbath: \u201cOn six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of complete rest, a sacred occasion.\u201d What follows after that is a list of each festival, in the proper order.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why is Shabbat at the head of the list? And why are the festivals linked together in an ordered series? A clue may be offered in the number seven.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Shabbat is, as is widely known, the seventh day, set apart and made holy. But what is less immediately clear is that with the inclusion of Shabbat, we are presented a list of seven holy occasions: 1. Shabbat, 2. Pesa\u05d1h, 3. Matzot, 4. Omer counting and Shavuot, 5. First Day of the Seventh Month (later known as Rosh HaShanah, 6. Yom Kippur, and 7. Sukkot.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We are given 2 interlocking cycles of seven: the seventh day, every week, and the seven holy occasions, cycling the entire year.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Where else do we have such a pattern? In Shemitah<\/em> and Yovel<\/em>, the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, when the seventh year is made holy and the year after the seven times seventh year is also made holy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Seven is clearly a portal into some deeper expression. The Bible doesn\u2019t offer us a specific justification for this number that gazes out as us, but I\u2019d like to notice that seven is also the number of openings on a human face: two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, one mouth. The locus of our identity is the face, marked by seven. So too the locus of the holiness we discover in time is marked by seven.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God \u201cfaces\u201d us through the sacred days that escort us through our weeks and years, hallowing our journey through time. And we, in turn, seek the blessing of God\u2019s face on us and our loved ones, an ancient and recurring expression of shalom.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

photo: Jakub Krechowicz\/shutterstock.com<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":45887,"alt":"","title":"main-891","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","width":213,"height":319,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","medium_large-width":213,"medium_large-height":319,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","large-width":213,"large-height":319,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","1536x1536-width":213,"1536x1536-height":319,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","2048x2048-width":213,"2048x2048-height":319,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","post_full_size-width":213,"post_full_size-height":319,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","home_baner-width":213,"home_baner-height":319}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Facing God, Openings In Time","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"One approach to understanding the secret of sevenses","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":45887,"alt":"","title":"main-891","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","width":213,"height":319,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","medium_large-width":213,"medium_large-height":319,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","large-width":213,"large-height":319,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","1536x1536-width":213,"1536x1536-height":319,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","2048x2048-width":213,"2048x2048-height":319,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","post_full_size-width":213,"post_full_size-height":319,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/main-891.jpg","home_baner-width":213,"home_baner-height":319}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"23","chapter_main_number":"113","date":"20260203","wall_id":"113"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"516","name":"Holidays","old_id":"916"},{"term_id":"776","name":"Face","old_id":"1176"}]},{"order":8,"id":"45848","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"Questions For My Mother ","post_title":"Questions For My Mother","slug":"questions-for-my-mother","old_id":"45848","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34233,"post_title":"Janet R. 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","short_description":"Janet is a teaching fellow at Clal-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, and the author of How to Spot One of Us (2007).","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34234,"alt":"","title":"Janet k.March 2018","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Janet-k.March-2018.jpg","width":3024,"height":3025,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Janet-k.March-2018-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Janet-k.March-2018-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Janet-k.March-2018-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Janet-k.March-2018-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Janet-k.March-2018.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Janet-k.March-2018.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Janet-k.March-2018-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Janet-k.March-2018-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"113","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"What if you and Daddy had just talked? ","post_main_content_content":"

What if
\r\nthat afternoon instead of making love
\r\nin the sewing room you\u2019d
\r\ncooked in the kitchen
\r\nperfecting what would become
\r\nyour family\u2019s famous zucchini bread recipe or
\r\nwhat if
\r\nyou and Daddy had just talked?<\/p>\r\n

What if
\r\nyou decided that afternoon
\r\nto read a book instead,
\r\nand what was it
\r\nmade you decide to make love
\r\nthe second day of Rosh HaShanah
\r\nand that makes us toast my conception each year<\/p>\r\n

with champagne? \u00a0Would I
\r\nhave turned out differently or would I
\r\nhave received someone else\u2019s fate if I
\r\nhad been conceived at another moment?<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Would the angel in charge of conception still have
\r\nplaced the same drop of semen before the Holy One
\r\nand asked, Master of the universe what
\r\nis to happen to this drop?<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Published - Kalliope, Vol. XXVIII, No. 1<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: maryeoriginals \/ wikipedia<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":106332,"alt":"","title":"-62cbfb14ae0fb--62cbfb14ae0fclev23-what if.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62cbfb14ae0fb-62cbfb14ae0fclev23-what-if.jpg.jpg","width":480,"height":640,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62cbfb14ae0fb-62cbfb14ae0fclev23-what-if.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62cbfb14ae0fb-62cbfb14ae0fclev23-what-if.jpg-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62cbfb14ae0fb-62cbfb14ae0fclev23-what-if.jpg.jpg","medium_large-width":480,"medium_large-height":640,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62cbfb14ae0fb-62cbfb14ae0fclev23-what-if.jpg.jpg","large-width":480,"large-height":640,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62cbfb14ae0fb-62cbfb14ae0fclev23-what-if.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":480,"1536x1536-height":640,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62cbfb14ae0fb-62cbfb14ae0fclev23-what-if.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":480,"2048x2048-height":640,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62cbfb14ae0fb-62cbfb14ae0fclev23-what-if.jpg.jpg","post_full_size-width":480,"post_full_size-height":640,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62cbfb14ae0fb-62cbfb14ae0fclev23-what-if.jpg-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"Questions For My Mother","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"What if you and Daddy had just talked? 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She lives in Teaneck, NJ with her husband, Ronnie Perelis, and their four children.","short_description":"Dr. Tammy Jacobowitz is the chair of the Tanakh department at the SAR High School in Riverdale, NY,","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34286,"alt":"","title":"tammy j","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","width":512,"height":768,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","medium_large-width":512,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","large-width":512,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","1536x1536-width":512,"1536x1536-height":768,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","2048x2048-width":512,"2048x2048-height":768,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","post_full_size-width":512,"post_full_size-height":768,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"114","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"This time with personal significance for Moses","post_main_content_content":"

Our chapter begins with instructions for arranging the domestic interior, as it were, of the Tent of Meeting: lighting the lamps and baking the choice breads. The people, the priests and God are all harmoniously entwined: the people bring the oil, the priests bake the bread, God\u2019s presence resides in the Tent. The 8th verse captures this triangle of committed, engaged players: \u201cHe [the priest] shall arrange them before the Lord regularly every sabbath day - it is a commitment for all time on the part of the Israelites.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And then, for the second time in Leviticus, a short narrative disrupts the highly ordered scene. As in the first disruption in chapter 10 (Nadav and Avihu), there are few characters; there is violence; God\u2019s response is decisive. In our chapter, the story is so incredibly compressed; each word seems to bear the potential for a long and rich backstory. In the midst of a fight between two men, one of hybrid birth curses, indeed blasphemes God, and he is brought to Moses. Moses is unsure what to do and so he waits for God\u2019s judgement. When it comes, the people are instructed to stone the blasphemer outside the camp. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

What can we make of this?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

On some level, this terse story-- jarring and graphic as it may be-- humanizes and offers dynamism to an otherwise static scene. By interrupting and encroaching on the divine-human equilibrium, it reminds us that people engaged in relationship with God is never quite so linear or clean. Our composite, layered reality as humans is part of the story.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At the same time, the brief narrative exposes - ever so gently - the buried fault-lines within the people and within the life-story of Moses, their leader. The nation as a whole still bears its Egyptian past; indeed, as the Midrash relates, a good portion of the people are Egyptian-born. This collective \u201c\u2018am,<\/em>\u201d people, has streams and diverse paths within it, tenuously held together as one. And Moses, who now stands poised as the mediator between God and nation, still holds within the memory of his early, unsteady moments as a leader. Like the blasphemer, Moses had a hybrid background. Like him, he, too, \u201cwent out\u201d (vayetze<\/em>); Moses, too, witnessed fighting (vayinatzu<\/em>) without explicit cause. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Then, he acted on impulse, without consulting God. Here, he waits, and God reaches out.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70033,"alt":"","title":"jer14-moses-prays","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","width":450,"height":648,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays-208x300.jpg","medium-width":208,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","medium_large-width":450,"medium_large-height":648,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","large-width":450,"large-height":648,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","1536x1536-width":450,"1536x1536-height":648,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","2048x2048-width":450,"2048x2048-height":648,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","post_full_size-width":450,"post_full_size-height":648,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays-292x420.jpg","home_baner-width":292,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Another Eruption In The Face Of The Holy","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"This time with personal significance for Moses","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":70033,"alt":"","title":"jer14-moses-prays","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","width":450,"height":648,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays-208x300.jpg","medium-width":208,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","medium_large-width":450,"medium_large-height":648,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","large-width":450,"large-height":648,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","1536x1536-width":450,"1536x1536-height":648,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","2048x2048-width":450,"2048x2048-height":648,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","post_full_size-width":450,"post_full_size-height":648,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays-292x420.jpg","home_baner-width":292,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"114","date":"20260204","wall_id":"114"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"370","name":"Divine\/human","old_id":"770"},{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"583","name":"Curse","old_id":"983"}]},{"order":10,"id":"46010","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"What Do You Do When You Don't Fit In? ","post_title":"What Do You Do When You Don't Fit In?","slug":"what-do-you-do-when-you-dont-fit-in","old_id":"46010","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"114","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Not everybody must get stoned...","post_main_content_content":"

What do we do with those people who don't quite fit in? Leviticus has presented us with the requirement to be holy, defined by many laws in many areas of our lives. What about a person who doesn't make the 'holiness' cut, who doesn't live up to all those high standards?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It's a critical question for parents, for educators, for community. A midrash, found in our chapter which itself doesn't fit in very well at all, offers a horrifyingly harsh answer.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\"And the son of an Israelite woman <\/span>went out<\/em>.\" Went out? From where? One midrash provides the following back story. Attempting to pitch his tent amongst the tribesmen of his mother, he meets with resistance. \"Your mother is from Dan, not your father. You don't belong here.\" Where does he belong, this son of an Egyptian man? Not in our backyard, apparently. He enters Moses' court, seeking a defender, perhaps a compassionate ear. But Moses\u2019 legal decision endorses the exclusionary politics of the tribe of Dan. Angry, bitter, rejected, the man leaves, and curses the God whose people has no place for him.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Torah's response to this action born of pain and rejection? Public stoning.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Nechama Leibowitz tries to justify it, writing: \"Sometimes, the law causes individual hardship, and the victim feels unjustly treated. But it is the individual's duty to accept the hardship in the interest of the public good.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For me, that's hard to swallow, so I search for other voices, and find the following wonderfully subversive midrash which picks up on the theme of treatment of the <\/span>mamzer<\/span><\/em>, the illegitimate child but presents a very different message.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\"<\/span><\/i>\"And the son of an Israelite woman went out\"- This is related to the verse: <\/span>'<\/span><\/i>And I sat and saw all of the oppressed<\/span><\/em>...' (Eccles. 4): Daniel the tailor explains that these words are talking about the plight of the <\/span>mamzer<\/span><\/em>.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>'Behold the tears of the oppressed'<\/span><\/em>-<\/em> if their fathers committed sins, why should it matter to these poor children? If their father had illicit relations- what did the child sin?<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>'<\/span><\/i>And they have no one to comfort them<\/span><\/em>'<\/span><\/i> but only <\/span>'<\/span><\/i>from the hands of their oppressors is power<\/span><\/em>'<\/span><\/i>- <\/span>from the hand of the great Sanhedrin, that comes to them by the power of the Torah and distances them <\/b>because it says <\/span>'<\/span><\/i>A mamzer shall not come into the congregation of God.<\/span><\/em>'<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>'And they have no one to comfort them'<\/span>- <\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>God says- I will comfort them<\/b>, for in this world, there is chaff among you, but in the future, Zecharia says \"I saw the menorah, all gold\" (Vayikra Rabba, 32:8).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The court is the source of the harsh judgment excluding the <\/span>mamzer<\/span><\/em>, as Moses\u2019 court was. \u00a0But here, this constitutes oppression, a wrong that God himself seeks to right, using the image of the Menorah which strangely enough, opens our chapter. The Menorah represents essence, pure light which can be shared by all Jews, regardless of how well they fit in. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55839,"alt":"","title":"jud12-part-whole","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole.jpg","width":1920,"height":1357,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-768x543.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":543,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-1024x724.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":724,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1086,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1357,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-1200x848.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":848,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-594x420.jpg","home_baner-width":594,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"What Do You Do When You Don't Fit In?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Not everybody must get stoned...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55839,"alt":"","title":"jud12-part-whole","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole.jpg","width":1920,"height":1357,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-768x543.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":543,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-1024x724.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":724,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1086,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1357,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-1200x848.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":848,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud12-part-whole-594x420.jpg","home_baner-width":594,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"114","date":"20260204","wall_id":"114"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"712","name":"Inclusion","old_id":"1112"}]},{"order":11,"id":"45999","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Ownership and its Discontents ","post_title":"Ownership And Its Discontents","slug":"ownership-and-its-discontents","old_id":"45999","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36423,"post_title":"Ari Hoffman","slug":"ari-hoffman","old_id":"36423","first_name":"Ari ","last_name":"Hoffman","description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U., and his writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Tablet Magazine, The New York Observer, and a range of other publications. He holds a doctorate in English Literature from Harvard and a law degree from Stanford.\r\n","short_description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36424,"alt":"","title":"Ari Hoffman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","width":1044,"height":1438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-218x300.jpg","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":743,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","large-width":743,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","1536x1536-width":1044,"1536x1536-height":1438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","2048x2048-width":1044,"2048x2048-height":1438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-871x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":871,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-305x420.jpg","home_baner-width":305,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"115","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Reflecting upon when we need to unclench our fists and let some things go","post_main_content_content":"

Ownership is a complicated matter. For a Marxist, it is the root of all evil, or at least a particularly hardy one. To say this is mine is to assert that it isn\u2019t yours, and there is no way that claim can be made without at least a hint of aggression. The law understands a title to property as a matter of defense against all the world. It is this very friction that gives ownership its sense of dignity; in a world of rootless wandering and ephemeral sojourning, to own something allows us to say with the speaker of <\/span>The Wasteland<\/em> <\/span>\u201cthese fragments I have shored against my ruin.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

We do not own the people or places we love, but we do own the gifts we give them, the houses we build for them, the food we feed them, and the plane tickets that allow us to reach them. In an extra-legal sense, we own the texture of our experience, the force of our writing, the good we do for and with others.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s chapter reflects ambivalence about the virtues of ownership. It deals with real property, the land beneath your feet, the most basic and foundational thing to which you can lay claim. It both affirms the possibility of such ownership and articulates the terms for its regular relinquishment. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In affirming both the norm of private property and the circumstances under which that regime is suspended, the Torah offers a vision of property that is neither revolutionary nor reactionary, but merely cyclical. The things we own will outlast us, but we can\u2019t take them wherever we are going next, and so it is best to be realistic about how tightly we can grip them, and when we need to unclench our fists and let some things go, so that we can gather in and hold the most important things. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Waldemarus \/ shutterstock<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":46057,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_376044196","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_376044196.jpg","width":6600,"height":3559,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_376044196-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_376044196-300x162.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":162,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_376044196-768x414.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":414,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_376044196-1024x552.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":552,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_376044196.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":828,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_376044196.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1104,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_376044196-1200x647.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":647,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_376044196-779x420.jpg","home_baner-width":779,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Ownership 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Suspension of Hierarchies of Wealth and Power ","post_title":"The Suspension Of The Hierarchies Of Wealth And Power","slug":"the-suspension-of-hierarchies-of-wealth-and-power","old_id":"45990","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer. Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"115","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Those who are servants to God may not be slaves to people","post_main_content_content":"

The most compelling impact of Egypt was the enactment of freedom in time: the threefold sabbatical structure of the seventh day, the seventh year, and the Jubilee, the year that marked the completion of seven septennial cycles. Despite attempts of historians to trace a connection to the Babylonian calendar, the Sabbath was an unprecedented innovation. It meant that one day in seven all hierarchies of wealth and power were suspended. No one could be forced to work: not employees, or slaves, or even domestic animals. In the seventh year, debts were remitted and slaves sent free. In the Jubilee \u2013 when the shofar was sounded, proclaiming \u201cliberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants\u201d (Lev. 25:10) \u2013 all ancestral land was returned to its original owners. The logic of these laws is simple: \u201cFor the Israelites belong to Me as servants; they are My servants whom I brought out of Egypt\u201d (ibid. 25:55). Those who are servants to God may not be slaves to man.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From: Pesach and the Rebirth of Israel in The Jonathan Sacks Haggada<\/em><\/p>\r\n

image: Everett Historical \/ shutterstock<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":46065,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_242817961","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961.jpg","width":2550,"height":1717,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961-300x202.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":202,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961-768x517.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":517,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961-1024x689.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":689,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1034,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1379,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961-1200x808.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":808,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961-624x420.jpg","home_baner-width":624,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Suspension Of The Hierarchies Of Wealth And Power","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Those who are servants to God may not be slaves to people","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":46065,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_242817961","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961.jpg","width":2550,"height":1717,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961-300x202.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":202,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961-768x517.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":517,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961-1024x689.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":689,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1034,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1379,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961-1200x808.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":808,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/shutterstock_242817961-624x420.jpg","home_baner-width":624,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Leviticus","chapter":"25","chapter_main_number":"115","date":"20260205","wall_id":"115"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"354","name":"Rabbi Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"413","name":"Freedom","old_id":"813"},{"term_id":"440","name":"Wealth\/money","old_id":"840"},{"term_id":"503","name":"Power","old_id":"903"}]},{"order":13,"id":"46036","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Re-pace, Redeem, Re-dream: The Shemitah Ideal ","post_title":"Re-pace, Redeem, Re-dream: The Shemitah Ideal","slug":"re-pace-redeem-re-dream-the-shemitah-ideal","old_id":"46036","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":41792,"post_title":"Misha Clebaner","slug":"misha-clebaner","old_id":"41792","first_name":"Misha ","last_name":"Clebaner","description":"Misha Clebaner, is in his final year of rabbinical school at Hebrew College in Boston. He is currently serving as the rabbinic figure of Temple B\u2019nai Israel in Revere, MA.","short_description":"Misha Clebaner, is in his final year of rabbinical school at Hebrew College in Boston. He is currently serving as the rabbinic figure of Temple B\u2019nai Israel in Revere, MA.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":41794,"alt":"","title":"misha clebaner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/misha-clebaner.png","width":230,"height":251,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/misha-clebaner-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/misha-clebaner.png","medium-width":230,"medium-height":251,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/misha-clebaner.png","medium_large-width":230,"medium_large-height":251,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/misha-clebaner.png","large-width":230,"large-height":251,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/misha-clebaner.png","1536x1536-width":230,"1536x1536-height":251,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/misha-clebaner.png","2048x2048-width":230,"2048x2048-height":251,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/misha-clebaner.png","post_full_size-width":230,"post_full_size-height":251,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/misha-clebaner.png","home_baner-width":230,"home_baner-height":251}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"115","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"What do students and agricultural land have in common?","post_main_content_content":"

Leviticus 25:4 - \"But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath of the Lord: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.\" <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 15 spell out the logistics of the utopian dream of the shmita (Sabbatical) and the yovel (Jubilee) years.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The ideal of letting farmland lay fallow and for indebted residents to be released from their financial obligations is an ideal that is inspirational and is even relevant in this day and age, if not more so.\u00a0<\/span>Deforestation, over-fishing, mono-cropping agricultural operations, these are but three examples of the relentless pursuit of producing more and more right now at the expense of future generations having anything left for themselves.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

No time is given for the forests, oceans, or farmland to recuperate or regenerate. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

As of June 2018, according to Forbes Magazine, the national student debt is $1.5 Trillion and impacts 44 million current and former American students. With interest rates for advanced degrees (6-7%) that surpass averages for car and home loan interest rates (around 3-4%) - the question remains why are we squeezing our greatest resources (young minds and the natural world) to the utmost degree? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Torah asked that question as well, but then suggested an actual answer.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Torah dreams of a brighter future as a result of a sacrifice now, rather than having a glittery present on the backs of the sacrifices of future generation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Of course, like any dream for a better future, emendations will surely have to be made. In Mishnah Gittin 4:3 it says \"Hillel instituted the 'pruzbul<\/em>' [a court-issued exemption from the shmita year cancellation of a personal loan] due to Tikkun HaOlam<\/em>.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hillel noticed that people stopped giving loans before the shmita year and so he created an amendment to the laws of the Torah. Loans would no longer be erased so that people would feel comfortable lending again.\u00a0<\/span>The dream of letting the land rest has had amendments added to it as well.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Torah's utopian dream was confronted with tangible reality. Even though changes were made that neutralized some of the more radical aspects of the vision, the effort to think of a better world was not for nothing. Attempting to make the world a better place is more meaningful than hopelessly striving for perfection - since perfection will always remain beyond our reach.<\/p>\r\n

May we in our days have the Torah-like boldness to dream of ideas like the Jubilee and Sabbatical years to our debt and ecological problems. For if we cannot even dream of a more just and sustainable\u00a0world, then perhaps that is an even greater crisis than the debt problem itself.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":101300,"alt":"","title":"-61fa31972019c--61fa31972019d2chron36-shmita social 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Redeem, Re-dream: The Shemitah Ideal","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"What do students and agricultural land have in common?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":101300,"alt":"","title":"-61fa31972019c--61fa31972019d2chron36-shmita social 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- And Reset - For The Rest ","post_title":"Rest - And Reset - For The Rest","slug":"rest-and-reset-for-the-rest","old_id":"106371","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46656,"post_title":"Molly Morris","slug":"molly-morris","old_id":"46656","first_name":"Molly ","last_name":"Morris ","description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Her particular area of interest is biblical leadership. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":92561,"alt":"","title":"molly morris","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","width":2192,"height":2488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-264x300.jpg","medium-width":264,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-768x872.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":872,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-902x1024.jpg","large-width":902,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","1536x1536-width":1353,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","2048x2048-width":1804,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-1057x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1057,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-370x420.jpg","home_baner-width":370,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"115","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Ensuring that the less fortunate and our land have the same opportunity for a reset is a collective imperative\u00a0","post_main_content_content":"

We are told to count six years, during which we may tend to our agricultural needs, and then give our fields a sabbatical (<\/span>shmita<\/span><\/em>) on the seventh year. In that seventh year (still observed in Israel today \u2013 in fact, we\u2019re in the midst of a shmita year right now) \u201cthe land shall have a Sabbath of complete rest (25:4)\u201d and we may not sow, prune, reap, harvest, or gather the produce from the land. Rather, we leave it fallow for those in need. Then we are commanded to count seven shmita cycles, and the 50<\/span>th<\/span> year will be observed as a jubilee year (<\/span>yovel<\/span><\/em>). During the <\/span>yovel<\/span><\/em>, the laws of <\/span>shmita<\/span>\u00a0are observed, but also servants are released and land returns to its original owner.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Besides the obvious benefit of reminding us Who is in control of the world, these divinely appointed time-outs give us something else of great significance. Every seven days we have Shabbat to set aside the week and refresh, both physically and spiritually. On Yom Kippur we reflect about the year just passed and strategize on the changes we can make in the coming year. Our holy days throughout the year provide the same opportunities for personal reflection and connecting with God. Human nature propels us through weeks, months, and years, often on autopilot. Even when things are not going well \u2013 we\u2019re burning out, we\u2019re dissatisfied with our jobs, we\u2019re over-stretched and overwhelmed - our tendency is to power on. Maybe we find it hard to say \u201cno.\u201d Maybe it\u2019s just too scary to quit or change our job. Maybe we just don\u2019t have time to seriously think through our options. But God gives us designated compulsory times to stop, breathe and reset. Shabbat and holy days let us do that personally, while <\/span>shmita<\/span> extends the reset to our land, and <\/span>yovel<\/span><\/em> extends it further to all of humanity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in <\/span>Covenant and Conversation<\/span><\/em>, points out an interesting linguistic characteristic of the counting commandment in this chapter. A couple of chapters ago, God also commanded a counting of days \u2013 the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot (<\/span>Sefirat ha\u2019Omer<\/span><\/em>). In that instance, God uses the phrase \u201c<\/span>u\u2019sefartem lachem<\/em> <\/span>- you (plural) will count.\u201d But the counting of the 49 years of shmita<\/span> cycles to reach the <\/span>yovel<\/span><\/em> is given as \u201c<\/em><\/span>v\u2019sefarta lecha<\/span> <\/em>\u2013 <\/span><\/i>you, singular.\u201d Whereas all individuals are responsible for counting the days between freedom from slavery (Passover) to receiving the Torah (Shavuot), the sabbatical and jubilee years are an obligation of the community acting as one, and the counting is done on behalf of everyone by the <\/span>Bet Din<\/em> <\/span>(High Court).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God has given us ample opportunities to reset our course. Whether or not we observe Shabbat, Holy Days or count <\/span>Sefirat Ha\u2019Omer<\/span><\/em> only impacts us as individuals. But the observance of <\/span>shmita<\/span><\/i>\u00a0and <\/span>yovel<\/span><\/em> impacts others, particularly the less fortunate for whom we are responsible. 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