Parashat Behar
May 22, 2024
Geri Bloch, Former High School English Teacher
My fifty-six year old copy of From Slavery to Freedom (Third Edition) by John Hope Franklin is literally falling apart, but it was the first history book I owned that filled in many of the gaps in my knowledge of African-American history; for me, it is a resource that I continue to use. It was this book that taught me about the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University. After nearly 150 years of slavery, 4,000,000 African-American men and women were freed; they had to become educated and learn how to utilize their new-found freedom. Fisk University, founded in 1866 shortly after the end of the Civil War, was created to bring education to these newly-freed Americans.
George L. White was the treasurer and music director of the then-young African-American university; he thought that sending Fisk’s chorus into the world might fill its depleted coffers. In October of 1871, the chorus began a tour of the U.S. in Cincinnati, Ohio; White, who was a white Northern missionary, took the chorus and its pastor, Henry Bennett, on an eighteen-month tour hoping for increased philanthropy from its audiences. However, there must have been doubt as to whether this tour was worth the difficulty, as one evening, Bennett and White went their separate ways to pray on the cause they held dear. White greeted the group the morning after he prayed and said, “’Children, it shall be Jubilee Singers in memory of the Jewish year of Jubilee.’ This was a reference to Jubilee described in the book of Leviticus in the Bible. Each fiftieth Pentecost was followed by a ‘year of jubilee’ in which all slaves would be set free. Since most of the students at Fisk University and their families were newly freed slaves, the name Jubilee Singers seemed most fitting.”
אָֽנֹכִ֖י֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֧ר הוֹצֵאתִ֛יךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם מִבֵּ֣֥ית עֲבָדִ֑͏ֽים׃
I am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage
This pasuk from Exodus 20:2 is the central statement in the Torah. After all, God’s purpose was to create a holy nation from the 600,000 or so Israelites that had been enslaved in Egypt. God has given the Israelites laws for dealing with iniquitous behavior, rules for the types of food they could eat, laws for handling illness, and many other regulations to add to the growth of this “stiff-necked” people. After years of slavery, freedom would not come easily. Today, we might label what the Israelites went through as multi-generational trauma. Whatever, we call it, Moshe had to handle many difficult situations, and in Parashat Behar, God presents a “program of land stewardship” to the Israelites. Of course, this parashah is not just about the land.
Moshe has ascended Mount Sinai and God reveals what Moshe must tell the Israelites: “When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a Sabbath of the Lord.” For six years, the Israelites would be able to plant and harvest their crops, but the seventh year would be observed as a sabbatical; the land would have a Sabbath. The land would not be worked, but the Israelites and their slaves, laborers, and animals would be able to eat whatever the land had produced. The parashah goes on to discuss the Jubilee Year, the fiftieth year, the “Yovel,” when there would be no planting, but the Israelites could eat the “growth direct from the field.” Parashat Behar makes it clear that if the Israelites “observe [God’s] laws and faithfully keep [God’s] rules, they may live upon the land in security.” During this “Yovel,” no one was permitted to work the land – not the owner, nor his slaves, nor his servants; slaves and servants were to be released, and the property could be returned to its original owner. However, God tells Moshe that he must admonish the Israelites: “Do not wrong one another, but fear your God; for I the Lord am your God.” On the surface, the fiftieth year, the “Yovel,” concerned the stewardship of the land, but there was more to it than just letting the land lie fallow.
The parashah also discusses ethical business practices: “If your kinsman is in straits and has to sell part of his holding, his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his kinsman has sold. If a man has no one to redeem for him, but prospers and acquires enough to redeem with, he shall compute the years since its sale, refund the difference to the man to whom he sold it, and return his holding. If he lacks sufficient means to recover it, what he sold shall remain with the purchaser until the jubilee; in the jubilee year it shall be released, and he shall return to his holding.” One must conduct oneself with integrity when relating to the actual land, one’s neighbors, other property owners, servants, and slaves.
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz z”l looks at the laws that God has given to Moshe about the Sabbaths for the land and for the Yovel: “The chapter summarizes the guiding principle of [the] halakhot: ‘For to Me the children of Israel are slaves; they are My slaves whom I took out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God (Lev. 25:55).’ Since God is the Master of Israel, and the people are His exclusive property, they cannot be treated as chattel, and their servitude is regulated by the terms outlined [before].” The land and those who live on it belong to God; therefore, one must take care of the land and treat it with respect. Hence, every seven years there would be a “sabbatical” for the land, and a “Yovel, a Jubilee,” every fifty years. Those who work the land belong to God, too, so they must be respected as well and live under similar terms: They would have a sabbatical every seven years, and slaves and indentured servants would be freed at the “Yovel.”
According to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z”l, “Parashat Behar sets out a revolutionary template for a society of justice, freedom, and human dignity. At its core is the idea of the Jubilee, whose words (‘Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof’) are engraved on one of the great symbols of freedom, the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.” For those students attending Fisk University in 1871, “justice, freedom, and human dignity” were guide words for a new life, but what about students attending universities in 2024? “Justice, freedom, and human dignity” are still solid principles to follow.
Every year we repeat the words of the seder; we teach these words to our children and grandchildren, as we were taught: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of bondage (Exod. 20:2).” We have been given the principles to create “a society of justice, freedom, and human dignity.” God freed the Israelites so they would have a land of their own where they would worship God freely. In Parashat Behar, though God has given us the great gift of the rules of land stewardship, perhaps more importantly, God has given us detailed, somewhat complex instructions, of how we must treat those who are slaves and servants. Maybe, in today’s world, those instructions would work, too, for those we employ. Let us all strive to create that “society of justice, freedom, and human dignity.”
George L. White was the treasurer and music director of the then-young African-American university; he thought that sending Fisk’s chorus into the world might fill its depleted coffers. In October of 1871, the chorus began a tour of the U.S. in Cincinnati, Ohio; White, who was a white Northern missionary, took the chorus and its pastor, Henry Bennett, on an eighteen-month tour hoping for increased philanthropy from its audiences. However, there must have been doubt as to whether this tour was worth the difficulty, as one evening, Bennett and White went their separate ways to pray on the cause they held dear. White greeted the group the morning after he prayed and said, “’Children, it shall be Jubilee Singers in memory of the Jewish year of Jubilee.’ This was a reference to Jubilee described in the book of Leviticus in the Bible. Each fiftieth Pentecost was followed by a ‘year of jubilee’ in which all slaves would be set free. Since most of the students at Fisk University and their families were newly freed slaves, the name Jubilee Singers seemed most fitting.”
אָֽנֹכִ֖י֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֧ר הוֹצֵאתִ֛יךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם מִבֵּ֣֥ית עֲבָדִ֑͏ֽים׃
I am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage
This pasuk from Exodus 20:2 is the central statement in the Torah. After all, God’s purpose was to create a holy nation from the 600,000 or so Israelites that had been enslaved in Egypt. God has given the Israelites laws for dealing with iniquitous behavior, rules for the types of food they could eat, laws for handling illness, and many other regulations to add to the growth of this “stiff-necked” people. After years of slavery, freedom would not come easily. Today, we might label what the Israelites went through as multi-generational trauma. Whatever, we call it, Moshe had to handle many difficult situations, and in Parashat Behar, God presents a “program of land stewardship” to the Israelites. Of course, this parashah is not just about the land.
Moshe has ascended Mount Sinai and God reveals what Moshe must tell the Israelites: “When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a Sabbath of the Lord.” For six years, the Israelites would be able to plant and harvest their crops, but the seventh year would be observed as a sabbatical; the land would have a Sabbath. The land would not be worked, but the Israelites and their slaves, laborers, and animals would be able to eat whatever the land had produced. The parashah goes on to discuss the Jubilee Year, the fiftieth year, the “Yovel,” when there would be no planting, but the Israelites could eat the “growth direct from the field.” Parashat Behar makes it clear that if the Israelites “observe [God’s] laws and faithfully keep [God’s] rules, they may live upon the land in security.” During this “Yovel,” no one was permitted to work the land – not the owner, nor his slaves, nor his servants; slaves and servants were to be released, and the property could be returned to its original owner. However, God tells Moshe that he must admonish the Israelites: “Do not wrong one another, but fear your God; for I the Lord am your God.” On the surface, the fiftieth year, the “Yovel,” concerned the stewardship of the land, but there was more to it than just letting the land lie fallow.
The parashah also discusses ethical business practices: “If your kinsman is in straits and has to sell part of his holding, his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his kinsman has sold. If a man has no one to redeem for him, but prospers and acquires enough to redeem with, he shall compute the years since its sale, refund the difference to the man to whom he sold it, and return his holding. If he lacks sufficient means to recover it, what he sold shall remain with the purchaser until the jubilee; in the jubilee year it shall be released, and he shall return to his holding.” One must conduct oneself with integrity when relating to the actual land, one’s neighbors, other property owners, servants, and slaves.
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz z”l looks at the laws that God has given to Moshe about the Sabbaths for the land and for the Yovel: “The chapter summarizes the guiding principle of [the] halakhot: ‘For to Me the children of Israel are slaves; they are My slaves whom I took out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God (Lev. 25:55).’ Since God is the Master of Israel, and the people are His exclusive property, they cannot be treated as chattel, and their servitude is regulated by the terms outlined [before].” The land and those who live on it belong to God; therefore, one must take care of the land and treat it with respect. Hence, every seven years there would be a “sabbatical” for the land, and a “Yovel, a Jubilee,” every fifty years. Those who work the land belong to God, too, so they must be respected as well and live under similar terms: They would have a sabbatical every seven years, and slaves and indentured servants would be freed at the “Yovel.”
According to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z”l, “Parashat Behar sets out a revolutionary template for a society of justice, freedom, and human dignity. At its core is the idea of the Jubilee, whose words (‘Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof’) are engraved on one of the great symbols of freedom, the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.” For those students attending Fisk University in 1871, “justice, freedom, and human dignity” were guide words for a new life, but what about students attending universities in 2024? “Justice, freedom, and human dignity” are still solid principles to follow.
Every year we repeat the words of the seder; we teach these words to our children and grandchildren, as we were taught: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of bondage (Exod. 20:2).” We have been given the principles to create “a society of justice, freedom, and human dignity.” God freed the Israelites so they would have a land of their own where they would worship God freely. In Parashat Behar, though God has given us the great gift of the rules of land stewardship, perhaps more importantly, God has given us detailed, somewhat complex instructions, of how we must treat those who are slaves and servants. Maybe, in today’s world, those instructions would work, too, for those we employ. Let us all strive to create that “society of justice, freedom, and human dignity.”
Shabbat Shalom.