Table Torah

Behar

Every seven years we are instructed to leave our lands fallow. This is the year of Shmittoh when the people take a sabbatical from working the soil. After seven Shmittohs i.e. after forty-nine years, we are commanded once again to refrain from farming the land. This is known as Yovel or Jubilee year. Additionally in the Yovel year all land which had been sold since the last Jubilee is now returned to its original owner. Another novelty of this year is that all Jewish slaves are set free.

Question

Why do we have both a Yovel and a Shmittoh year? True Yovel has a new dimension in freeing slaves and terminating all leased land, but why should the soil remain barren for another year? What does the Jubilee rest accomplish over and above that of the frequently occurring Sabbatical?

Answer

Taking a look at another area of Halachah where we see a similar year differential, will help shed light on this question. We find in the contexts of the Mezuzah mitzvah a similar set of seven and fifty. The Mezuzah stands outside exposed to the elements and over long periods of time it is likely to be affected by sun, rain and humidity. Ink has a limited serviceable life and in due course the letters will fade or become erased. A Mezuzah that is missing even one letter is rendered invalid. At what point does a person have to be concerned that perhaps his doorpost no longer supports a kosher Mezuzah? The Talmud provides us with a definitive guideline:

The mezuzah of an individual requires examining twice in seven years. The mezuzah of the community requires examining twice n fifty years. (Yoma 11a)

From this law we can extrapolate a non-Halachic inference and herein we have the key to our answer; public versus private. The mezuzah inspection which scans for cracks, omissions and defects has one scale for the personal home and another for the municipal building.

Everyone needs to take stock of themselves regularly. Mesillas Yeshorim recommends that this monitoring take place daily, comparing it to inspecting scales for weighing gold. However sometimes changes and drifts develop undetected because the incremental difference is too minute to be observed. A long range diagnosis can often give interesting differing results. For example answering “how am I different from seven years ago?” or “how would I like to look in seven years from now?” is very different from answering “how am I different from yesterday?” and “how would I like to look tomorrow?”.

The same is true for the community. A similar comprehensive observance of many years may yield hitherto unnoticed transformations. The Torah commands us to abstain from working the field every seven years. A year free from work presented the people with the opportunity to take an internal scrutinization of themselves. Looking back over seven years they could observe how they had progressed or digressed. A similar prospect was engineered for the community; however changes in society take decades to develop and a larger time frame is necessary. Therefore every fifty years the Torah provided an additional year off work so that as a group they too could chart their growth and development.

Emor

Cohanim are our designated agents, presenting the fire-offerings of the people to Hashem. Coupled with this hallowed employment they are charged with specific laws to further and protect their holiness. Their particular regulations fall into two main categories; avoiding contact with the human dead and a list of women whom they may not marry. The Cohen Godol is further elevated and thus further limited in these two spheres.

Question

In the midst of these instructions it states “If a Cohen’s daughter becomes desecrated through adultery she desecrates her father; she shall be burned in fire”. This is a departure from the standard applied to the rest of the nation; their daughters are not burned. Everyone is exhorted to avoid adultery, it is such a central concept that it was prominently engraved on the two tablets, but why is the Cohen’s daughter singled out for a different punishment? Additionally in what way does this impact her father’s priesthood “she desecrates her father”? Why is this an impeachment against his Cehunah?

Answer

All Jews are enjoined to emulate Hashem and be holy (Vayikra 19:2). So how does one become holy, what is the method to inject holiness into one’s life and interactions? Rashi, (ibid) notices a sequence and uncovers a pattern which carries holiness in its wake. This leads him to make the following statement.

“Wherever one finds a barrier against sexual immorality, one finds holiness”

Rashi marshals three proofs to this theory, to quote one as an example:

“a woman who is a prostitute or one who was profane [they shall not marry] I, the Lord, Who sanctifies you” (Vayikra 21:7-8).

Distancing from licentiousness is the starting point for Kedusha. All development in holiness must originate by taming one’s voluptuous craving. But it doesn’t just begin there. All further development in Kedusha is measured by control in this area. The power one exerts over the sensual is the yardstick with which to measure how truly holy is one’s life. More abstention and control translates into more Kedusha.

The Cohen is the divinely appointed agent of the people. He is nominated to be the minister who “offers up the food offering of your G-d”. Because of his sublime celestial duties he is expected to attain a higher level of holiness than the man of the street. In light of the above this is to be interpreted that the Cohen is supposed to be further distanced from sexual immorality.

If the daughter of a regular Jew were to commit adultery, she has demonstrated poor execution of her free will. This is also a blot on her family, how could she possibly have developed into a harlot growing up in an atmosphere where this should be seen as an impossibility. Some minute flaw has been exposed. If the daughter of a Cohen is to commit adultery, it is far worse. Not only is this a stain on his household but this is a blemish on his priesthood. His life’s occupation professes holiness and abstention from lasciviousness and now his very own child has dabbled in the contrary.She has desecrated her father.

Talmudic Tidbit

Reb Yehuda the Prince, also known as Rebbi, is famous for documenting the oral law and as editor of the Mishnah. Tradition has a singularly reserved honor for this legendary personage and he is reverently referred as Rabbenu Hakodosh – the Holy Teacher. How did Rebbi merit this accolade? The Gemorah (Shabbos 118b) explores this topic.

Rebbi himself had an exchange with his students regarding this very issue. His very own students asked Rebbi “Why do they call you Rabbenu Hakodosh – our Holy Teacher?”

He dutifully replied “In all of my days I have never stared at my Milah”.

The Talmud challenges this basis. Reb Yosi too was extremely modest and could similarly testify about himself that he had never stared at his Milah. Now if this was true of Reb Yosi, he too, like Rebbi, should have been called “Hakodosh”.

Answers the Gemara, Reb Yehuda the Prince had an additional practice. In all of his days he had never placed his hand below his belt. That is why he was known for posterity as Rabbeinu Hakodesh – our Holy Teacher.