Parashat Behar-Bechukotai
Week of 2-8 May 2010
Torah Portion: Leviticus 25:1-27:3
Haftarah: Jer. 16:19-17:14
Readings for Sunday
If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter on your proximity, you shall strengthen him – proselyte or resident - so that he can live with you. Do not take from him interest and increase; fear your God – and let your brother live with you. Leviticus 25:35-36.
In terms of the above Shemittah law, the word “interest” is derived from the same root as “biting,” that which happens to the borrower; the transaction bites a chunk out of his wealth. The word increase” describes what happens to the lender who now has more to pocket. Yose bar Chanina points out that even the slightest violation of the law of Shemitta will have serious effect – the person will end up becoming impoverished, first losing his fields, then his house, and as his degradation continues the person arrives at the stage of borrowing money with interest and is finally reduced to selling himself into slavery. [Munk]
Rashi rules that the highest form of charity is to step in with help to prevent a person from becoming poor. It is much harder for someone to emerge from bankruptcy than to be helped before his business fails. Help would include offering him a loan or employment: “Your fellow has begun to lose his money, but has not yet become poor” . . . It is your responsibility to show his decline and help him regain his prosperity” . . . “His plight must not be regarded as unrelated to your own welfare” . . . “When a donkey’s load beings to slip from its back, even one man and can adjust it and keep the donkey from falling. But once the animal has fallen, even five people cannot get it back on its feet [Rashi Sifra]
Haftarah: Jeremiah purchases the land of his cousin, who was impoverished, so that it might not be lost to his family. As pronounced in Leviticus 25:25, the go’el, the closest relative, was morally obliged to buy back the family holding. If no redeemer could be found the owner, if he had the means to recover it, could in time purchase it back, or failing this, he would have to wait for the jubilee year when he could return to his property.
For Reflection and Discussion: Being aware of the financial straits of so many people around you, how do you feel about being that “one man” that can keep the donkey from falling? Although belonging to another time and another culture, has this Shemittah law any relevance for our communities today? What does your response to these questions say about your understanding of “ownership”?
Bibliography: Munk, The Call of the Torah (Mesorah Publications New York: 2006); The Soncino Chumash Ed: Cohen (London 1968)
