TORAH PORTION
Machon L'Torah
The Jewish Learning Network of Michigan
Presents
IS THE TORAH A
HUMAN DOCUMENT?
by Tzvi Inbal,
scientist
Jerusalem, Israel
DISCOVER:
• Current events "coded" in the Torah
• Fulfilled prophecies correlated with world history
• Astounding archaeological findings
Wednesday May 23, 1990
7:00 p.m.
Machon L'Torah
The Jewish Learning Network of Michigan
15221 W. 10 Mile Road
Oak Park, Michigan
$5.00
Cost:
Refreshments will be served
For information and reservations call 967-0887 or 967-0888
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SHLOMO RISKIN
Special to The Jewish News
W
Hear from one of the originators of a modern technique that confirms the
authenticity of the Torah and the beliefs Jews have adhered to for the last
thirty five hundred years.
Designs by
Charles Gassam
A Jubilee Year
For The Jewish People
hat does it mean
to be free? Ideas
abound in an at-
tempt to define this most at-
tractive concept.
portion, Behar, begins with
the laws of Shemitah, ordain-
ing that every seventh year
the land must rest for a com-
plete year. We plant and sow
and harvest the fields for six
years, but during the seventh,
the land must lie fallow, its
fruits available to all as if the
field were ownerless. For the
land had returned to itself, to
a kind of primordial state,
similar to the seventh day of
the week when man as creat-
ive spirit takes a back seat to
God as the creator.
The Torah then tells us that
at the end of seven such Sab-
baths, the 50th year is de-
clared a "jubilee" year. Dur-
ing this time, slaves are freed
even if they don't want to be
freed, and property sold in the
past 50 years is returned to
the original owners, the
descendants of those families
who inherited portions when
Joshua conquered and di-
vided the land into tribal
possessions.
"And you shall hallow the
50th year, and proclaim liber-
ty throughout the land unto
all the inhabitants thereof; it
shall be a jubilee to you, and
you shall return every man
unto his family." (Lev. 25:10)
(The founding fathers borrow-
ed these words and inscribed
them upon the Liberty Bell in
Philadelphia.)
The Hebrew word used in
the above cited biblical verse
for "liberty" is dror, a word so
rare in the Pentateuch that it
appears but one other time, as
the compound word mor-dror
meaning "flowing or pure
myrrh," an ingredient in the
incense presented in the sanc-
tuary (Exodus 30:23), an ob-
vious reference to the sweet
succulence of freedom.
The Talmud, Tractate Rosh
Hashana, 9b, tells us that the
word dror means freedom.
Rabbi Yehuda connects it
linguistically with the word
for a dwelling. "What is the
significance of the word dror?
The freedom of one who
dwells where he likes and can
carry on trade in the whole
country." Rashi phrases it, "a
We are winning.
5I ,AMERICAN
CANCER
SOCIETY'
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is chief
rabbi of Efrat, Israel, and
dean of the Ohr Torah
Institutions of Israel.
person who can live wherever
he wants to."
Dror is also the Hebrew
word sparrow, and according
to the Torah Temimah com-
pilation (Rabbi Baruch Eps-
tein, 1860-1942) citing from
Tractate Beza 24a, the reason
why sparrow is called dror is
because it accepts no authori-
ty or direction.
The Talmud understands
that the use of the word dror
in the context of proclaiming
"liberty" casts light on the
true nature of liberty, at least
in terms of the Torah's percep-
tion. In other words, a truly
free person can live wherever
he wants to and earn his liv-
ing anywhere, as well. In
assessing the different rungs
of the liberty ladder, we see
that a person may live in Bev-
erly Hills, but if he really
wants to live in Efrat, and can
Shabbat
Behar-Bechukotai:
Leviticus
25:1-27:34,
Jeremiah
16:19-17:14.
not arrange to do so, then he
isn't yet free. On the other
hand, someone else may be
hovering just above the pov-
erty level in Jerusalem, but
he may be freer than his
friend in California since the
individual in Jerusalem is
precisely where he truly
wishes to be.
Freedom means mobility,
physical as well as psycho-
logical, and all the laws of the
seventh year and the jubilee
year are intended to give it
back to people in case they
had lost it in the course of the
prior seven years due to
migrating circumstances. At
the time of the jubilee, even if
the person doesn't want to
leave slavery, he is obligated
to. We must teach him, even
impose on him if need be, the
sweet joys of freedom. Debts
are cancelled: "At the end of
seven years you shall make a
release . . . every creditor
shall release that which he
lent to his neighbor . . ."
(Deut. 15:1-2).
Just as the land returns to
itself, so does a person who
has fallen into debt. He, too,
returns unto himself because
a person in debt is not com-
plete, not free.
In effect, the jubilee year
acknowledges that time can