TORAH PORTION
In any great recipe, there's always one special ingredient that makes the dish memorable.
At the Jewish Home for Aged, that
special ingredient is our Jewish
tradition. It's what sets Friday
evenings aglow with the warmth of
Shabbat candles, softly spoken
blessings, fresh baked challah, and
steaming bowls of kosher chicken
soup shared among old friends.
SHLOMO RISKIN
Special to The Jewish News
W
In addition, our nursing homes
have on-site clinics, medical and
rehabilitative services, social
workers assigned to residents and
families, and care designed for
the individual.
Jewish tradition sets us apart;
turns our house into a Home, and
our residents into caring friends.
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MY THANKS
to all of my thoughtful friends who honored me on my
special birthday by their generous tributes in my name.
THANK YOU — ERNIE BAKER
44
FRIDAY, MAY 22, 1992
Israel Is Waiting
To Be Restored To Us
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lots will redeem and return
the land as an act of charity
towards their unfortunate
family members, as Boaz did
for Naomi in the Book of
Ruth. If this does not occur,
the Jubilee year takes over,
whereby every 50 years
property that has been sold
automatically returns to the
initial owners. This system
prevents individuals from
amassing vast lands to be
turned into private fiefdoms.
The Sabbatical year in
which debts were rescinded
and the Jubilee year in
which land was returned
guaranteed an equality of
opportunity for every
Israelite citizen, under the
sovereignty of God.
On a more universal level,
God's insistence upon the
restoration of the land to its
ill the true owner of
the Land of Israel
please stand up?
The Jews claim it is theirs,
citing the fact that there has
been a Jewish presence in
the land in an unbroken
chain for more than 4,000
years, albeit for many of
those years in a limited and
poverty stricken capacity.
The Arabs maintain that
Jewish ownership ended
with Jewish exile more than
two millennia ago, and that
they simply found and took
over a land which the Jews
had lost and forfeited.
From this perspective, the
Arabs are understandably
upset at the sight of the
large numbers of returning
Jews. After all, Jews hardly
Shabbat Behar:
returned to Toledo or Fez or
Warsaw after having been
Leviticus 25:1-26:2
exiled from those places, so
Jeremiah
32:6-27.
why should they have the
right of return to Jerusalem,
Hebron and Yaffo? The title
original owner is a ringing
of ownership to these parcels
declaration that Israel — the
have long been transferred.
Divine choice for steward-
This week's Torah portion,
ship over the holy land —
Behar, makes it clear that
will similarly return to its
there is only one owner of
land despite interruptions of
the land of Israel, and that is
persecution and exile.
God Himself. ". . . the land is
But what does this mean
Mine; you are strangers and
about our responsibility to
resident aliens as far as I am
the land? This is the subject
concerned . . . (Lev. 25:23)."
of a fascinating homiletic
And how does God demon-
interpretation of Rabbi
strate that indeed it is He
Haim Atter (1696-1743), the
who owns the land? First of
Ohr HaChaim, who arrived
all, He sets clear limits on
in Israel with a group of 30
how it is to be used: "Six
colleagues and disciples in
years you shall sow your
1741, despite the fact that a
fields and six years you shall
plague was raging in the
prune your vineyard . . . but
land.
in the seventh year shall be
Though he died a year
a Sabbath of solemn rest for
later, the yeshiva he estab-
the land, a Sabbath for the
lished survived 120 years,
Lord (Lev. 25:34)." Fields
keeping alive his dream of
and crops are to be left
Jews returning to the land
fallow the seventh year,
in order to redeem it.
acknowledging God's domi-
The Ohr HaChaim's in-
nion.
spiration to brave difficult
Secondly, God asserts His
hazards and come to Israel is
ownership by insisting that
based on a verse in this
the land ultimately be
week's portion. Rather than
returned to its original
waiting for the 50th year
possessors. From a fun-
Jubilee, the Torah com-
damental economic perspec-
mands each Israelite to aid a
tive, this means that within
down-and-out relative and
the Jewish nation itself,
redeem land he may have
parcels of land which may
been forced to sell: "And if •
have been sold by their
your brother becomes poor,
original inheritors at the
and he has sold away some of
time of Joshua's entry must
his possessions, then shall
eventually be given back.
his near kinsman come to
Hopefully, relatives of the
redeem it, and shall redeem
impoverished sellers of their
that which his brother sold."
(Lev. 25:25)
Rabbi Riskin is chief rabbi of
The Ohr HaChaim notes,
the city of Efrat and dean of
trough a comparison of
Ohr Torah Institutions of
verses in Proverbs and
Israel.
Psalms, that the word