Parashat Behar-Behukotai 5769 – May 16, 2009
“Proclaim Liberty throughout the Land”
The Jubilee year of which our Torah speaks teaches us that human dignity and the rule of law must take precedents over property rights.
“Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof” Lev. XXV X
This quote, found on the Liberty Bell, comes from today’s Torah portion.
I wonder, though, why the leaders of colonial Pennsylvania chose this of all Biblical quotes. I wonder if they understood the context from which this quote arises. I wonder about this because the context of this quote is one of the most radical ideas in the Torah. The full verse reads: “You shall sanctify the fiftieth year. You shall proclaim liberty throughout the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you: each of you shall return to his holding and each of you shall return to his family.” (Lev. 25:10)
The Torah here is talking about the laws of Smittah and Yovel – the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee. Every seventh year was a sabbatical year. Just as every 7th day is a day of rest, in the sabbatical year the land and its inhabitants reverted to a state of nature - the land was not to be cultivated and only that which grew on its own may be eaten. Every fifty years all land holdings would revert to those tribal families that had owned it when the Children of Israel first occupied the land at the time of Joshua. According to the Book of Joshua, the land of Israel was originally apportioned by lottery – every family receiving a holding. In addition, in the 50th year (as in each sabbatical) debts were remitted and all slaves (even those that had chosen to remain with their masters) had to be released.
Perhaps to our modern minds, the Yovel is a bizarre idea… as social policy, it meant that no one could accumulate excessive wealth (at least not for very long); it also meant that no one could be held in perpetual debt or permanent servitude.
We don’t know exactly how Shmitta and Yovel were implemented. Perhaps the Torah is setting out an ideal toward which to strive. But I think it is important for us to consider the theological underpinnings and predicates of the law. That is to say, what is the justification for these policies? Why should we follow them? Why should we return land to its or original owners every 50 years? Why should slaves go free and debtors be released from their contractual obligations? One could even say these policies are an outrage! --An offense against our “natural right” to property. But the Torah does not conceive of a natural or unfettered right to property. The laws of property in Parashat Behar and elsewhere are contingent and based on three predicates:
The first principle is one that we find throughout the Tanakh: In justifying Yovel, God says in our Torah portion: “for the land is Mine; you are but strangers and mere residents with Me.” (Lev. 25:23). A basic principle of the Torah is that God is sole proprietor of the universe. God created the world and God is the ultimate sovereign. This fact has many profound implications. It means that we are but stewards of this earth. It means that there is really no such thing as ownership. It means that in some fundamental way, no human being has a greater claim to God’s bounty than any other. Bear in mind, however, that Judaism does not oppose the idea of property. A person my legally obtain land and property, but what we think of as ownership is really a kind of lease. We can have rights to land, but our rights our limited. The same holds true to some extent in modern American law as well – hence we have zoning laws, limits on what you can do on your own property and even the state’s power of eminent domain. In other words, we are guests here and we should act as guests.
The second principle is that human dignity and freedom outweigh property rights. The Torah forbids abusive and exploitative business practices and usury. “Do not wrong one another [in property sales], but fear your God; for I the Lord am your God.” (Lev. 25:18). Again, the predicate is that God is the ultimate owner. No person may be held in perpetual slavery or destroyed by insurmountable debt. Even servants, who in regular sabbatical years may chose to stay with their masters, must be released in the Yovel. God’s ultimate ownership even extends to us! According to Jewish law, we don’t even own our own bodies! That’s why we can’t mutilate our bodies or deliberately harm ourselves, and it is why we don’t have the right to sell ourselves into permanent slavery. God says [speaking about us], (Lev. 25:42) “For they are My servants, whom I freed from the land of Egypt; they may not give themselves up to servitude. You shall not rule over them ruthlessly; you shall fear your God.” What a radical concept! It means that even people forced into servitude through debt are entitled to dignity and freedom.
And finally, the third principle of our Torah portion is the rule of law. God says, (Lev. 25:18) “You shall observe My laws and faithfully keep My rules, that you may live upon the land in security.” Our privilege to live upon this land is predicated on the rule of law. Without law and sensible regulation of the marketplace, society descends into chaos. Lawlessness leads to exploitation and the denigration of human dignity. And this is a state of affairs that God, who endows us each with some measure of His essence, cannot tolerate. We are His creatures. Each and every one of us is created in God’s image and each of us is of immeasurable worth and deserving of protection and care.
It is impossible for me to read today’s Torah portion and not think about current events. It is impossible for me to not to think about the countless people suffering right now because we as a society did not uphold the principles of which our Torah speaks. It is impossible for me not to think about people sitting in this room right now, our friends and neighbors, who are suffering … who are losing their homes, their businesses, and everything they worked hard for because we as a society failed to protect them and are still failing to protect them. We failed because we valued property rights over human dignity.
I did some research into the Liberty Bell and I think I now understand why the leaders of Pennsylvania chose the quote from Parashat Behar. The bell was originally commissioned in 1751 by the Pennsylvania Assembly for the capitol (now known as Independence Hall). It was ordered, with the Biblical inscription, in honor of the 50th anniversary of William Penn’s Charter of Privileges, which served as Pennsylvania’s Constitutions until the American Revolution. William Penn was a wealthy Quaker who had petitioned the King of England in the late 1600s to grant him a charter in the Colonies where Quakers and others could find shelter from religious persecution. William Penn at one time literally owned much of what is today Pennsylvania, Delaware and South Jersey. In fact, William Penn was at one time the world’s largest private landholder! He was the sole proprietor and governor of the territory with nearly absolute power over it. He could have done anything he wanted with his royal charter. He could have subjugated the inhabitants of his vast land. He could have imposed his religion on them. Instead, out of his enlightened thinking and his religious belief in equality, he declared a kind of Yovel – a Jubilee. He wrote a charter that outlined individual rights, freedom of religion, and representative government. And he based these in his religious convictions. Referring to God he said, “I would not abuse His love, nor act unworthy of His providence, and so defile what came to me clean.” Penn understood that he owed his great fortune to none other than God. He essentially relinquished much of his property rights and handed power to the people of Pennsylvania. Penn was no saint, but he was ahead of his time, influencing Thomas Jefferson and the framers of our own Constitution. And in the 50th year (the Yovel) of his great experiment, the people of Pennsylvania honored him with the Bell and its apt inscription.
We are a nation founded on enlightened principles. This is the country I love and believe in – a nation governed by the ideals of human freedom and dignity above all else. Ribono Shel Ha-Olam, Sovereign of the entire universe, May this Land continue to live up to the ideals of our Founders and the values we learn from Your Torah. And may freedom ring from every bell tower.
Shabbat Shalom
This was a wonderful sermon. Those reading it online are unfortunately missing out on the in person experience of hearing it. My comment or observation would be one that I made on Shabbos as well. We live in a society which does not understand the concepts of rights and obligations to one another or ourselves, which is the root of what has led to most of our current economic meltdown. There is the great quote from Fiddler on the Roof when Tevye says, "It is no sin to be poor, but it is no great honor either." Being impoverished (or wealthy) like most things is not a moral state. As a culture that has come to value outward appears of individual success, people are put in the position of proving their worth through material acquisition rather than through familial or communal well being. Those two states can be opposed to one another as people feel shame for their inability to stay in a home which has come to "define them."
ReplyDeleteWith the exception of old photographs, the items that my family brought with them always baffled me, when they came to this country to escape the persecution of communism. My abuelo brought a complete set of pre-revolutionary encyclopedias, a pair of work gloves and an old Castilian play from the turn of the last century in leather binding. Considering that he had just spent four years in a prison cell and in the twenty-eight years that I knew him, never so much as opened a newspaper to read, surely there had to be something more valuable to bring. He would pick up random strangers in the grocery store or the street and bring them home for dinner, always with the same introduction. “Dulce, come meet my very good old friend. What is your name again buddy?”
When I finally got around to asking why my grandparents why they brought the encyclopedias they said, “So the communists couldnt destroy them.” Then why the play? “Because it is funny” The valuables they packed were their pride and a sense of humor. Those are the kinds of things that we as both Americans and Jews should use to enable us to live a more humble life as we take pride in the traditions that our Torah has given us, while taking advantage of the amazing freedoms that America has given us to relax and laugh.
-Robyn