Parashat Behar - Insights and Questions
Read the biblical text and try to understand it on your own, before reading the commentary.
Behar is one of the most stirring portions in the Torah, precisely because at first glance it looks like a parasha about agriculture, land, and economics. But beneath the surface lies a profound idea: the world does not truly belong to us. A person works, buys, sells, builds, profits - and then the Torah stops them mid-race.
For six years a person is certain they are the master. In the seventh year, the land rests. In the fiftieth year, the Jubilee, everything begins returning to its source: a person returns to their ancestral land, a servant goes free, and society receives a rare opportunity for spiritual and economic renewal. This is not just a law about land - it is a lesson in humility. Parashat Behar whispers to a person: you have much, but you are not the ultimate owner of anything.
One of the central verses is: “And you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants” - Leviticus 25:10. This is not just political freedom. As a homiletical idea, this is freedom from the illusion that if I have property, status, or control, I am protected forever. The Jubilee reminds us that those who have fallen can rise, and those who have risen high must remember where it all came from.
The sharpest insight in the parasha, in my view, is in the verse: “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine, for you are strangers and residents with Me” - Leviticus 25:23. This verse dismantles the feeling of “mine.” According to a moral idea, the Torah does not come to take a person’s property away, but to save them from the moment when their property begins to control them.
And another fascinating point: the parasha does not wait for a person to crash completely. It says: “If your brother becomes poor and his hand falters beside you, you shall support him” - Leviticus 25:35. The idea here is immense: not just lifting a person after they have fallen, but holding them when their hand is just beginning to slip. This is not just charity - it is early sensitivity. Seeing the crack before it becomes a break.
There is also an internal drama here: the Torah actually places us inside the anxiety of the believing person and asks on their behalf: “And if you say, What shall we eat in the seventh year?” - Leviticus 25:20. In other words, the Torah does not ignore fear. It knows that faith is not born in thin air, but precisely in the place where a person asks: How will I live if I release control?
In my view, Parashat Behar is a parasha about three kinds of freedom: freedom from the land that holds us, freedom from the money that blinds us, and freedom from the ego that tells us everything is thanks to us. It teaches that a truly great person is not the one who holds on tighter, but the one who knows when to let go - a field, a debt, control, and even the image they have built for themselves.
In one line: Parashat Behar is not just a parasha about Shemitah. It is a parasha about a person who discovers that everything they hold in their hands is actually a deposit - and the moment they understand this, they begin to be truly free.
Mount Sinai did not end with the spectacle of thunder and lightning - it continues within a silent field. The parasha opens specifically with the words “at Mount Sinai” - and then instead of speaking about angels, fire, prophecy, or supernal secrets, the Torah speaks about soil, planting, vineyards, commerce, money, servants, debts, and land. It is almost strange: what does Mount Sinai have to do with an agricultural field?
Rashi on Leviticus 25:1 brings the well-known question: “What does Shemitah have to do with Mount Sinai?” and explains that from here we learn that both the general principles and the fine details of Shemitah were stated at Sinai, and so too all other commandments.
But here is the insight, as a homiletical idea:
Shemitah was chosen to be the example of Sinai because it is the hardest test of whether one has truly received the Torah.
It is easier to be moved at Mount Sinai. It is harder to stand before a field full of possibilities, before a bank account, before economic fear, before a question like “What shall we eat?” - Leviticus 25:20 - and say: I am not the ultimate master. In the parasha itself, the Torah introduces this fear explicitly, and then answers with the blessing of the sixth year.
And this is stirring: Sinai is not just a mountain where a person hears the voice of God. The true Sinai is the moment when a person is able to release control.
Therefore, the Shemitah is not just rest for the soil. It is a root treatment for the illusion of ownership. A person says: the field is mine. The Torah tells them: stop for one year and check whether you are still yourself even without touching what is yours.
Another beautiful depth: during Shemitah, everyone eats from the same land - the field owner, the servant, the hired worker, the resident, the livestock, and the wild animal. In other words, the seventh year momentarily erases the gaps that a person built over six years. The field becomes one large table. And this appears in the parasha when the produce of the sabbatical land is given for eating to both the person and those around them.
So the insight in one sentence:
Parashat Behar reveals that the question of whether the Torah descended from heaven is not tested only in the study hall - but in the question of whether a person can remove their hand from the field, the money, the control, and the ego.
And this, in my view, is the explosion of the parasha: Mount Sinai does not ask you to flee from the world. It asks you to enter the world - but without becoming enslaved to it.
Questions on Parashat Behar
- Why does Parashat Behar open specifically at Mount Sinai, when the parasha mainly deals with land, fields, money, and society?
- What is the inner connection between Shemitah and Shabbat - does the land also need a soul that rests?
- Why does the Torah demand that a person release specifically their field, the place where they feel most like an owner?
- Is the Shemitah year merely an agricultural commandment, or is it a psychological test to dismantle the illusion of control?
- Why does the Torah preemptively ask the deeply human question: What will we eat in the seventh year?
- What is harder for a person - to give charity from their money, or to stop working for an entire year out of faith?
- Why does the Jubilee come specifically after seven Shemitah cycles - what is the secret of the number 49 before the fiftieth year?
- Why does a person return to their ancestral land in the Jubilee year - does the Torah believe every person has a root-place in the world?
- What is the deep difference between ordinary freedom and the deror (liberty) of the Jubilee?
- Is the Jubilee a kind of divine reset button for human society?
- Why doesn’t the Torah allow a person to sell land permanently - what does this teach about our relationship to property?
- Is Parashat Behar the most anti-capitalist portion in the Torah, or actually the most economically balanced?
- Why does the Torah warn against fraud specifically within the laws of buying and selling - what is so dangerous about commerce?
- What is the difference between harming a person financially and harming them with words, and why do both appear around the world of money?
- Why does the Torah repeatedly use the word “your brother” in this parasha - what is it trying to make us see in a person who has fallen financially?
- Is the word “your brother” in the parasha the key to understanding the entire social structure the Torah wants to build?
- Why does the Torah say to support a person when their hand is just beginning to falter, rather than waiting until they collapse completely?
- What can we learn from Parashat Behar about the right way to identify a person at the beginning of a fall?
- Why does the prohibition of interest appear within a parasha about freedom and redemption - can money turn a person into a slave?
- How is it possible that financial help can become exploitation if given in the wrong way?
- Why is the Torah so sensitive to the dignity of someone sold into servitude - what does it teach about a person who has lost everything?
- Does Parashat Behar teach that true slavery is not just a legal status, but a state of mind?
- What is the connection between the Exodus from Egypt and the treatment of the poor, the servant, and the land in Parashat Behar?
- Is all of Parashat Behar essentially an answer to one question: Who is truly the master of the world?
- What would happen to modern society if once every Jubilee it gave people a chance to start over?
Daily Aliyot
Parashat Behar - First Aliyah
The first aliyah of Parashat Behar opens with the commandment of Shemitah and Jubilee, given directly from Mount Sinai. For six years you work the land, in the seventh everything stops. After seven Shemitah cycles comes the fiftieth year, the Jubilee, when every person returns to their ancestral land and family.
Parashat Behar - Second Aliyah
The second aliyah of Parashat Behar addresses the details of land commerce. Selling land is not permanent, but only until the Jubilee year. The price is set according to the number of remaining years, and the Torah warns: do not wrong one another.
Parashat Behar - Third Aliyah
The third aliyah of Parashat Behar addresses the divine promise for those who keep the Shemitah: a blessing in the sixth year sufficient for three years. Alongside the promise, a foundational principle: the land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine.
Parashat Behar - Fourth Aliyah
The fourth aliyah of Parashat Behar addresses economic downfall and the paths to redemption. A person forced to sell their ancestral land can be redeemed by a close relative, by themselves, or wait for the Jubilee which restores everything to its place.
Parashat Behar - Fifth Aliyah
The fifth aliyah of Parashat Behar deals with the laws of houses in walled cities, Levite cities, and the prohibition of interest. The Torah distinguishes between a house in a walled city and a house in a village, and demands support for a fallen brother without economic exploitation.
Parashat Behar - Sixth Aliyah
The sixth aliyah of Parashat Behar deals with the laws of the Hebrew servant. A Jew who is sold does not become a slave but a temporary worker until the Jubilee, and it is forbidden to subjugate them with hard labor. The Torah explains: for they are My servants, not servants of flesh and blood.
Parashat Behar - Seventh Aliyah
The seventh aliyah of Parashat Behar deals with the redemption of a Jew sold to a non-Jewish resident. Even in the most extreme situation, redemption is possible: a brother, uncle, cousin, or the person themselves. And if not redeemed, the Jubilee sets them free. The parsha closes with the prohibition of idolatry and the observance of Shabbat.