This Weekโ€™s Torah Portion

Behar

๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐“๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž: Behar, BeHar, Be-har, or B’har (ื‘ึฐึผื”ึทืจโ€Ž โ€” Hebrew for “on the mount,” the fifth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 32nd weekly Torah portion (ืคึธึผืจึธืฉึธืื”โ€Ž, parashah) in the annualcycle of Torah reading and the ninth in the Book of Leviticus. The parashah tells the laws of the Sabbatical year (ืฉืžื™ื˜ื”โ€Ž, Shmita) and limits on debt servitude. The parashah constitutes Leviticus 25:1โ€“26:2. It is the shortest of the weekly Torah portions in the Book of Leviticus (although not the shortest in the Torah). It is made up of 2,817 Hebrew letters, 737 Hebrew words, 57 verses, and 99 lines in a Torah Scroll (ืกึตืคึถืจ ืชึผื•ึนืจึธื”โ€Ž, Sefer Torah).

๐Ÿ“œ ๐๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐š๐ ๐ž: Leviticus:25-26

๐‘๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง: In this weekโ€™s Torah portion we read about Jubilee. Though Jubilee was an awesome way to honor Adonai, the Israelites didnโ€™t fulfill this commandment and yet STILL Adonai has a final Jubilee, a divine Marriage Supper for his wayward Bride and all who join her. According to author Jack Wellman, the word Jubilee in the Old Testament comes from the Hebrew word โ€œYobelโ€ or โ€œYovelโ€ meaning ramโ€™s horn, trumpet or Coronet. To announce the Jubilee year, the Shofar would be blown and this would happen on the Day of Atonement, which shows an important connection between Atonement, having our sins forgiven and being able to celebrate the Jubilee. When you heard the Shofar blown on the Day of Atonement on the 50th year you knew that not only were your sins forgiven but that your debts were forgiven and if you were a slave you would be set free. This is why Yahshua teaches us to pray โ€œforgive us our debts as we forgive our debtorsโ€ (Matthew 6:12).

The Septuagint translation of the Bible renders the word Jubilee in Hebrew as a blast of liberty! Jubilee meant that those who sold themselves into slavery due to poverty would be freed and indeed donโ€™t we sell ourselves into bondage when we sin?

The Year of Adonaiโ€™s favor that we read about in Isaiah 61:2 is the Jubilee year so by reading this scripture to start his earthly ministry Yahshua is letting us know that he is beginning a Jubilee! Jubilee was more than a year of celebration but it was a year of liberation. Jubilee was the 50th year in the Hebrew calendar after the 7th Shabbat year or what some call the shmita year where the land laid fallow and was allowed to rest. Sadly, though Jubilee was an awesome gift to Yahโ€™s people the Hebrews never fully kept the Jubilee which is one of the reasons we went into captivity. Instead of fully keeping the Jubilee the Hebrews would try to play Adonai by doing things like not giving out loans in the 49th year. Have you ever tried to play The Almighty, by finding a loop hole not to completely follow his commandments? One aspect of a religious spirit is trying to play Adonai aka having a form of godliness while denying Yahโ€™s power. Adonai canโ€™t be played or mocked. We will reap what we sow, unless we truly take just actions for ourselves and our neighbors.

๐‘๐ž๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐œ๐ž: Jubilee Justice https://www.jubileejustice.org

๐๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง: How could a Jubilee year help close the racial wealth gap?

๐Ÿ“– ๐‹๐ž๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐คโ€™๐ฌ ๐“๐จ๐ซ๐š๐ก ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง!