The Torah says that every 50 years, we "proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants".
Jubilee years are years of social, political, environmental and personal re-birth. Every seven years we are told to celebrate a Sabbatical year; a year where we leave the fields fallow; a year in which we allow nature to renew itself.
Immediately following the 7th Sabbatical year, the shofar is blown and we shout with jubilation. For on this 50th year we celebrate the Jubilee year. The Jubilee year is like… a Sabbatical year on steroids. As if leaving your field’s fallow for a full year was not painful enough, the Torah tells us to leave them fallow for a second year. Furthermore, Israelites are told to return property, free indentured servants and forgive loans.
Oi Yeh, how can the Torah even ask us to endure the pain of a Jubilee year? To not till or harvest your fields for two consecutive years, to release your servants and to return property to its historic owner would result in the total collapse of a society.
How could God ask his people to make such a sacrifice?
How could God ask his people to jeopardize their very existence?
But maybe….just maybe…. in a utopian society it would be possible to implement a Jubilee year.
But, for the past few thousand years the implementation of a Jubilee year would have been absolutely devastating. So..…if Jubilee years are impossible to implement what is the Torah telling us?
Like much of the Torah we are to look beyond the words… to understand its true meaning. What are the ideals we are to strive for? Maybe, the Torah is telling us how to build a utopian society. How to equitably distribute resources and how to build a sustainable society…a society that is harmony with the natural rhythms of the earth.
I believe there are 2 very important lessons to be learned from the ideals described in this section of the Torah.
No…not that Jews are masochists who enjoy chaos and starving themselves on a regular basis. Instead, we are being taught that the ideals found within the Sabbatical and Jubilee years should be applied to oneself.
The Torah is continually reminding us that introspection is the key to a successful live. Annually our holidays remind us to make amends with those we have harmed and to recall the value of freedom.
Sabbatical and Jubilee years go far beyond these annual reminders and asks us to re-evaluate our very existence. Re-aligning our lives with the forces of nature, both the forces that surround us…. and the forces within us.
As my jubilee year quickly approaches I feel as if this portion of the Torah is speaking directly to me. I know that it is time to re-align my life with what I believe is right; saving mama earth, striving to build a sustainable society and providing for those less fortunate than myself.
I also felt as if it is time for a spiritual re-alignment. To do more than just to feel Jewish…but to be Jewish.
I was raised in a household that never recognized its Jewish heritage… and except for the annual of celebrations of Passover and Chanukah… my household wasn’t that much different than that of my parents.
A little over two years ago that changed when my daughter Rachel shocked us all by asking to be Bat Mitvah’d.
In order to support our daughter and to give Judaism a try we joined a Temple… for the first time… and I enrolled in the Temple’s Hebrew school. Initially, I didn’t know what to expect. Historically I’ve been very skeptical of religions but I found that I really enjoyed learning about Judaism and more I learned from the Rabbi and Cantor the more I was drawn to my Jewish roots.
Last year I decided to be an adult Bar Mitzvah in order to align my family’s and my cultural identify with Judaism and to help Rachel with the difficult task of being Bat Mitzvah’d.
This section of the Torah reminds us that on a regular basis we must take painful steps to re-align our lives with what is right, and believe me, learning Hebrew as an adult is painful…
The second lesson we are to learn from leaving our field’s fallow and returning property is that the earth does not belong to man but that man belongs to the earth. That we are to respect creation and our fellow man and must build a society that is sustainable, just and respects all of God’s creatures.
Leaving fields fallow for two straight years and forgiving loans is an extreme sacrifice and we are expected to make these sacrifices.
In a perfect world our society would be aligned with the earth’s natural environment and a Jubilee year would be painful, extremely painful, but not impossible.
So now as we are killing off species at the fastest rate in the last 65 million years… and the very foundations of our society are threatened by global warming… it is time to hear the wisdom of the Torah and make the sacrifices necessary to build a just and sustainable society.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Hillel sums up the Torah in 3 words ‘therefore choose life’.
