Parashat Bechukotai - Fifth Aliyah

The aliyah continues the laws of consecration, this time dealing with an ancestral field, a field inherited from one’s forebears.

Valuation by seed capacity. “Ve’im misdeh achuzato yakdish ish l’Adonai vehayah erkekhha lefi zar’o zera chomer se’orim bachamishim shekel kasef” (verse 16). The value is not determined by location or demand, but by the field’s seeding potential. A field that can be sown with a chomer of barley is worth fifty shekels of silver for a full Jubilee cycle.

Time dependent. “Im mishnat hayovel yakdish sadehu ke’erkekhha yakum” (verse 17). If the consecration occurs at the beginning of the Jubilee cycle, the value is full. “Ve’im achar hayovel yakdish sadehu vechishav lo hakohen et hakesef al pi hashanim hanotarot” (verse 18). The priest calculates proportionally: the fewer years remaining, the lower the value.

Redemption with a fifth. “Ve’im ga’ol yig’al et hasadeh hamakdish oto veyasaf chamishit kesef erkekhha alav vekam lo” (verse 19). One who wants the field back pays the value plus twenty percent. This is the price of regret: you can change your mind, but it costs.

The point of no return. “Ve’im lo yig’al et hasadeh ve’im makhar et hasadeh le’ish acher lo yiga’el od” (verse 20). If one did not redeem it and sold it to another, the matter is closed. The field does not return to him. “Vehayah hasadeh betze’to bayovel kodesh l’Adonai kisdeh hacherem lakohen tihyeh achuzato” (verse 21). Instead of returning to the original owner in the Jubilee, the field becomes holy and passes to the priests. The lesson: consecration is not an empty declaration. One who vows and does not stand behind his words loses what was once his.