Parashat Behar — On the mountain (Sinai)

בְּהַר

Torah portion 32 of 54 · Book of Leviticus · pronounced beh-HAR

Behar (בְּהַר) means "on the mountain (Sinai)" — taken, as every parashah name is, from the portion's opening words in the Hebrew.

Next read: May 22, 2027 · then May 20, 2028 (combined as Behar-Bechukotai)

The Readings

What Happens in Behar

On Mount Sinai — behar Sinai — YHVH gives the land itself a Shabbat. Six years you shall sow your field and prune your vineyard, but in the seventh year there shall be a Shabbat of solemn rest for the land, a Shabbat to YHVH: no sowing, no pruning, no harvesting the aftergrowth. What the resting land yields of itself is food for everyone together — you, your servants, your hired worker, the sojourner, your cattle, and the wild animals. For one year in seven, ownership loosens its grip and the whole economy practices trust.

Then the sabbaths are squared: count seven Shabbats of years, seven times seven, and on Yom Kippur of the fiftieth year the shofar sounds throughout all the land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants: it shall be a Yovel (Jubilee) for you, and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. Land reverts, debts release, bound servants go home. Because the reset is built in, land is never really sold — only leased by harvest count: according to the number of years after the Yovel you shall buy, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. Therefore you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God. The deepest reason follows, the sentence under the whole economy: the land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. Israel are tenants of grace on God's soil — and the promise covers the practical worry: I will command My blessing in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth produce for three years.

The rest of the portion builds a ladder of rescue for the brother sliding into poverty, rung by rung. If he sells land, his kinsman-redeemer (goel) may redeem it, or he may redeem it himself, and at worst it returns at the Yovel — with special rules for houses in walled cities and the perpetual redemption rights of Levite cities. If he cannot support himself, you shall uphold him, as a stranger and sojourner he shall live with you; take no interest or increase from him, but fear your God — I am YHVH your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. If he sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave; he is a hired worker and sojourner until the Yovel, for they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. Even the brother who sells himself to a wealthy sojourner keeps a standing right of redemption, priced fairly by the years. The reason closes the portion and grounds it all: for to Me the children of Yisrael are servants... I am YHVH your God. People who belong to God cannot finally belong to anyone else.

Main Themes

The Shabbat of the land Yovel — liberty proclaimed at the shofar blast The land is Mine; you are sojourners with Me No interest taken from a poor brother Servants of YHVH cannot be slaves of men

Key Events

· The sabbatical year commanded

· The counting of seven sevens and the Jubilee

· Liberty proclaimed on Yom Kippur of the fiftieth year

· Land valued by harvests; redemption of property

· The ladder of rescue for the impoverished brother

· The release of Hebrew servants at the Yovel

Key People

Moshe The brother who grows poor The kinsman-redeemer

Key Verses

← Parashat Emor  ·  Parashat Bechukotai →

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