Behar Bechukotai (2025)

Shabbat Parshat Behar-Bechukotai (Chazak)

Dvar Torah
Behar starts with the laws of the Shemitta (Sabbatical) year in which once every seven years the land lays fallow and all loans are forgiven. Furthermore, after a 7 cycles of Sabbatical there is the Yovel (Jubilee) in the 50th year in which all
agricultural lands return to their ancestral owners.
Much like the weekly cycle of seven days capped by Shabbat, the Shemitta and Yovel cycles remind of the transient nature of our material life and nudge us to focus on spiritual pursuits.
Indeed, in modern Israel I have a farmer friend who takes the Shemitta year off to study Torah!

Wishing everyone good tidings and a Shabbat Shalom!

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