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Behar

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Behar, BeHar, Be-har, or B’har (בהר — Hebrew for "on the mount,” the fifth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parshah) is the 32nd weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the ninth in the book of Leviticus. It constitutes Leviticus 25:1–26:2. Jews in the Diaspora generally read it in May.

The lunisolar Hebrew calendar has a leap year every two or three years, in which an extra month is added to the calendar. In leap years (for example, 2008), parshah Behar is read separately on the 32nd Sabbath of the annual cycle (which begins on Simchat Torah). In non-leap years (for example, 2006, 2007, and 2009), parshah Behar is combined with the subsequent parshah, Bechukotai, to ensure that the sequence of readings is completed by Simchat Torah.

a shofar

Summary

A Sabbatical year for the land

On Mount Sinai, God told Moses to tell the Israelites the law of the Sabbatical year for the land. (Lev. 25:1–2.) The people could work the fields for six years, but in the seventh year the land was to have a Sabbath of complete rest during which the people were not to sow their fields, prune their vineyards, or reap the aftergrowth. (Lev. 25:3–5.) They could, however, eat whatever the land produced on its own. (Lev. 25:6–7.)

The people were further to hallow the 50th year, the Jubilee year, and to proclaim release for all with a blast on the horn. (Lev. 25:8–10.) Each Israelite was to return to his family and his ancestral land holding. (Lev. 25:10.) In selling or buying property, the people were to charge only for the remaining number of crop years until the jubilee, when the land would be returned to its ancestral holder. (Lev. 25:14–17.)

land near the Dead Sea

God promised to bless the people in the sixth year, so that the land would yield a crop sufficient for three years. (Lev. 25:20–22.) God prohibited selling the land beyond reclaim, for God owned the land, and the people were but strangers living with God. (Lev. 25:23.)

land in Judea

If one fell into straits and had to sell land, his nearest relative was to redeem what was sold. (Lev. 25:25.) If one had no one to redeem, but prospered and acquired enough wealth, he could refund the pro rata share of the sales price for the remaining years until the jubilee, and return to his holding. (Lev. 25:26–27.)

If one sold a house in a walled city, one could redeem it for a year, and thereafter the house would pass to the purchaser beyond reclaim and not be released in the jubilee. (Lev. 25:29–30.) But houses in villages without encircling walls were treated as open country subject to redemption and release through the jubilee. (Lev. 25:31.) Levites were to have a permanent right of redemption for houses and property in the cities of the Levites. (Lev. 25:32–33.) The unenclosed land about their cities could not be sold. (Lev. 25:34.)

Limits on debt servitude

If a kinsman fell into straits and came under one’s authority by virtue of his debts, one was to let him live by one’s side as a kinsman and not exact from him interest. (Lev. 25:35–36.) Israelites were not to lend money to countrymen at interest. (Lev. 25:37.) If the kinsman continued in straits and had to give himself over to a creditor for debt, the creditor was not to subject him to the treatment of a slave, but to treat him as a hired or bound laborer until the jubilee year, at which time he was to be freed to go back to his family and ancestral holding. (Lev. 25:39–42.) Israelites were not to rule over such debtor Israelites ruthlessly. (Lev. 25:43.) Israelites could, however, buy and own as inheritable property slaves from other nations. (Lev. 25:44–46.)

If an Israelite fell into straits and came under a resident alien’s authority by virtue of his debts, the Israelite debtor was to have the right of redemption. (Lev. 25:47–48.) A relative was to redeem him or, if he prospered, he could redeem himself by paying the pro rata share of the sales price for the remaining years until the jubilee. (Lev. 25:48–52.)

In classical rabbinic interpretation

Leviticus chapter 25

Tractate Sheviit in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Jerusalem Talmud interpreted the laws of the Sabbatical year in Leviticus 25:1–34. (Mishnah Sheviit 1:1–10:9; Tosefta Sheviit 1:1–8:11; Jerusalem Talmud Sheviit 1a–87b.)

The latter parts of tractate Arakhin in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of the Jubilee year in Leviticus 25:1–34. (Mishnah Arakhin 7:1–9:8; Tosefta Arakhin 5:1–19; Babylonian Talmud Arakhin 24a–34a.)

The Mishnah taught that the jubilee year had the same ritual as Rosh Hashanah for blowing the shofar and for blessings. But Rabbi Judah said that on Rosh Hashanah, the blast was made with a ram’s horn shofar, while on jubilee the blast was made with an antelope’s (or some say a goat’s) horn shofar. (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 3:5; Babylonian Talmud Rosh Hashanah 26b.)

The Mishnah taught that exile resulted from (among other things) transgressing the commandment (in Leviticus 25:3–5 and Exodus 23:10–11) to observe a Sabbatical year for the land. (Mishnah Avot 5:9.)

In a Baraita, the Rabbis interpreted the words “you shall not wrong one another” in Leviticus 25:17 to prohibit verbal wrongs, as Leviticus 25:14 had already addressed monetary wrongs. The Baraita cited as examples of verbal wrongs: (1) reminding penitents of their former deeds, (2) reminding converts’ children of their ancestors’ deeds, (3) questioning the propriety of converts’ coming to study Torah, (4) speaking to those visited by suffering as Job’s companions spoke to him in Job 4:6–7, and (5) directing donkey drivers seeking grain to a person whom one knows has never sold grain. The Gemara said that Scripture uses the words “and you shall fear your God” (as in Leviticus 25:17) concerning cases where intent matters, cases that are known only to the heart. Rabbi Johanan said on the authority of Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai that verbal wrongs are more heinous than monetary wrongs, because of verbal wrongs it is written (in Leviticus 25:17), “and you shall fear your God,” but not of monetary wrongs (in Leviticus 25:14). Rabbi Eleazar said that verbal wrongs affect the victim's person, while monetary wrongs affect only the victim's money. Rabbi Samuel bar Nahmani said that while restoration is possible in cases of monetary wrongs, it is not in cases of verbal wrongs. And a Tanna taught before Rav Nahman bar Isaac that one who publicly makes a neighbor blanch from shame is as one who sheds blood. Whereupon Rav Nahman remarked how he had seen the blood rush from a person’s face upon such shaming. (Babylonian Talmud Bava Metzia 58b.)

Abaye said that because the law (in Leviticus 25:39–43 and elsewhere) required the master to treat a Hebrew slave well — and as an equal in food, drink, and sleeping accommodations — it was said that buying a Hebrew slave was like buying a master. (Babylonian Talmud Kiddushin 20a.)

Commandments

According to Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are 7 positive and 17 negative commandments in the parshah:

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem (painting by Rembrandt)

(Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 3:363–461. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1984. ISBN 0-87306-297-3.)

Haftarah

The haftarah for the parshah is Jeremiah 34:6–27.

When parshah Behar is combined with parshah Behukotai, the haftarah is the haftarah for Behukotai, Jeremiah 16:19–17:14.

Further reading

The parshah has parallels or is discussed in these sources:

  • Exodus 21:1–11 (slavery); 23:10–11 (Sabbatical year)
  • Leviticus 26:34–35 (Sabbatical year).
  • Deuteronomy 15:1–6 (Sabbatical year); 15:12–18 (Sabbatical year); 31:10–13 (Sabbatical year).
  • 2 Kings 4:1–7 (slavery).
  • Isaiah 61:1–2 (proclaim release).
  • Jeremiah 32:6–15 (next of kin redeemer); 34:6–27 (releasing Hebrew slaves).
  • Ezekiel 46:17 (year of release).
  • Amos 2:6 (slavery).
  • 2 Chronicles 36:20–21 (Sabbatical year).
  • Nehemiah 5:1–13 (slavery).
  • Psalms 4:9 (dwell in safety); 15:5 (lending); 37:26 (lending); 119:19 (sojourner on earth).
  • Mishnah: Sheviit 1:1–10:9; Rosh Hashanah 3:5; Ketubot 9:9; Nedarim 9:4; Kiddushin 1:2–3; Bava Metzia 5:1–11; Sanhedrin 3:4; Makkot 3:9; Avot 5:9; Bekhorot 9:10; Arakhin 7:1–9:8. Land of Israel, circa 200 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., The Mishnah: A New Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 68–93, 304, 424, 487, 544, 588, 618, 687, 807, 821–24. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-300-05022-4.
  • Sifra 245:1–259:2. Land of Israel, 4th Century C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., Sifra: An Analytical Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 3:291–344. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988. ISBN 1-55540-207-0.
  • Mekhilta According to Rabbi Ishmael 1:2. Land of Israel, late 4th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Mekhilta According to Rabbi Ishmael. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 1:6. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988. ISBN 1-55540-237-2.
  • Leviticus Rabbah 1:1; 2:2; 7:6; 29:11; 33:1–34:16. Land of Israel, 5th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Leviticus. Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon, 4:2, 21, 98, 378, 418–45. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.
  • Babylonian Talmud: Gittin 36a–37b, 65a; Arachin 29a. Babylonia, 6th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Bavli. Edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr, Chaim Malinowitz, and Mordechai Marcus, 72 vols. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006.
  • Rashi. Commentary. Leviticus 25–26. Troyes, France, late 11th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Rashi. The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated. Translated and annotated by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg, 3:317–46. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1994. ISBN 0-89906-028-5.
  • Judah Halevi. Kuzari. 2:18. Toledo, Spain, 1130–1140. Reprinted in, e.g., Jehuda Halevi. Kuzari: An Argument for the Faith of Israel. Intro. by Henry Slonimsky, 93. New York: Schocken, 1964. ISBN 0-8052-0075-4.
  • Zohar 3:107b–111a. Spain, late 13th Century.
  • Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan, 3:40; Review & Conclusion. England, 1651. Reprint edited by C. B. Macpherson, 503–04, 723. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982. ISBN 0140431950.
  • Thomas Mann. Joseph and His Brothers. Translated by John E. Woods, 356. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4001-9. Originally published as Joseph und seine Brüder. Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1943. (sacred stone).
  • U.S. Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report: June 2007.

Texts

Commentaries


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