Rabbi Michael Werbow
This week’s Torah portion is Behar-Bechukotai: Leviticus 25:1 – 27:34
It is well known that the quote on the Liberty Bell comes from the Torah. Specifically, it comes from this week’s reading of Behar-Bechukotai, as we come to complete the book of Leviticus.
Inscribed on the bell is, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”
This is found in a section discussing the jubilee year. After seven cycles of seven years, the Israelites marked the 50th year as a jubilee. The year was marked by the blowing of a shofar on the 10th day of the seventh month (Tishrei). In that year, it was an observance carried out on Yom Kippur. At this time, slaves were freed, debts were forgiven and land was returned to its original ancestral holdings.
The jubilee teaches us things about landownership and wealth that while we might find different ways to express them today, they are still important matters.
One message we receive is that the land does not belong to anyone. It is God’s and we are merely guests dwelling on it. We should take this to heart today, no matter what legal claims we have on the property where we reside. God willing, we have a place to reside and call home. If so, we should feel blessed to do so. No, we are not going to uproot ourselves from where we currently live and hand it over to someone else, but just reflecting on this system of the past can give us a different perspective on our lives today.
Similarly, the system of releasing debts from the Torah is not one that will work today, if it even worked then, but there is a message that comes forth from this endeavor. The disparity of wealth we find in our country and world today is not the intent of our tradition.
Many have struggled to find the answer of how to make things more equitable (if not completely equitable) but certainly the ideal of the Torah and of our tradition was to have a system in place that carried this out. It is unclear if and how this was actually implemented but if it was, we’ve lost that system and there hasn’t been anything put in its place.
To carry out the jubilee would have been a major act of faith. One would have to believe that what was produced in the 48th year would last through the 49th year (a sabbatical year), the 50th year (the jubilee) and then into the first year of the next cycle as produce is finally cultivated and harvested. It seems like a stretch to think that this was possible and striving to do so would definitely have shown great faith.
Similarly, much faith and fortitude would be needed to devise a system today that would provide for greater liberation, restoration, forgiveness and social justice. While there isn’t a society-wide system in place for this to be carried out, we can each take it on our own shoulders to support causes that work to bring about economic equality and environmental sustainability. To do so would be an expression of bringing the Torah values into our current religious practices.
In current times, when we see so many people struggling, we surely can hope, pray and work toward liberty for all.
Rabbi Michael Werbow is the rabbi at Tifereth Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C.
