Kevin Bemel ·
The Cure for Lack of Progress
Parsha [Passage of Scripture] Nugget [Precious Idea] Behar – Leviticus 25:1-26:2
When I become overwhelmed with frustration at my lack of progress, along comes Parshas Behar, to remind me:
". . . the fiftieth year, it will be for you: you will not sow and you will not reap its aftergrowth . . ." (Vayikra/Leviticus 25:11)
This Sabbath’s parsha teaches the laws of the Shemitah or Sabbatical Year and the Yovel or Jubilee Year. Then it gives laws about selling land and how to prevent poverty.
The Shemitah happens every seventh year, during which the land is left fallow. The landowner may not plant it. Nor may he harvest more of what grows naturally than he needs for his family. The Yovel happens after seven Shemitos have passed, in the 50th year.
Secularists assert these laws exist so the land can replenish itself. But under such a rationale a more sensible plan would be to rest one-seventh of the land each year so that a crop could always be planted. Such a system would give the farmer more control and certainty.
G-d has a different reason for fallowing ALL of the land every seventh year and in the 50th year.
Each week the Sabbath remind us that humans are not the driving force behind Creation.
The world continues to exist even though creative and destructive work stops each Sabbath. Thus we learn G-d is the ultimate creative power. This lesson in humility highlights the reality of how the universe works.
Man Works → G-d Determines Progress
The Shemitah testifies to a similar idea. Through engaging in arduous labor, a farmer may think that he brings about his own success. By not farming all his land for an entire year, the farmer sees that G-d causes plants to grow. The Almighty determines whether a harvest will be scant or bountiful. The farmer has to have faith that the crop harvested in the sixth year will last until the crop of the eighth year can be harvested. All the more so for the Yovel, when the land lies fallow for the 49th and 50th years and the crop of the 48th year has to last until he harvests that of the 51st year. Once again we see testimony to G-d’s running of the world.
Like the farmer, you have to put in the work. But G-d determines the results of your labor. You may have to eat old grain for a year or two. But in faith, trust your diligence will be rewarded in the cycle of Creation.
What act of creating do you think is solely in human hands?
You can leave a comment on this question or ask another question below ↓
Every year beginning on Simchas Torah, the cycle of reading the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, ends and begins again. Each Sabbath a portion known as a sedra or parsha is read. Its name comes from the first significant word or two with which this weekly reading begins.
Do you have a question about the Old Testament? Ask it here and I will answer it in a future Parsha Nugget!
