Torah · Weekly Parasha VideoParashat BeharRabbi Uri Nahum · June 19, 2017 · Behar · בהר · 15 Min Parasha RoundupSave⌄ShareParasha class with Rabbi Uri Nahum, from BSD Productions’ 15 Min Parasha Roundup.Transcript0:06Parashat Behar. This week's parasha has 57 pesukim.0:10It's so far the shortest parasha that we've read,0:13and it's also going to be the shortest parasha in Sefer Vayikra.0:16And usually Parashat Behar is read together with Parashat0:21Bechukotai, unless it's a leap year, then Parashat Behar is read by itself.0:25The topics of this week's parasha are five.0:28The first part of this week's parasha, Torah speaks about Shemitah.0:32Second part of this week's parasha, Torah speaks about0:36Yovel. Third, Torah speaks about the laws of sales.0:40Fourth part of this week's parasha, Torah tells us about saving other Jews from poverty.0:44And finally, the last part of this week's parasha speaks about the laws of Jewish slaves.0:49Twenty-four mitzvot in this week's0:52parasha, seven mitzvot aseh, positive commandments,0:54and seventeen mitzvot lo ta'aseh, negative commandments.0:57In Sefer HaChinuch, they number from number 326 until 349.1:04Let's get to the topics in depth.1:06First part of this week's parasha, Torah tells us about Shemitah.1:10What is Shemitah?1:11If a Jew owns land in Eretz Yisrael,1:15the Torah tells us for six years you're allowed to work the land,1:18and on the seventh year, then the land has to be not worked. Not worked.1:24You can only take food that you need.1:27You cannot take food to sell. You cannot take food to make business out of1:30it. You cannot take even food to store.1:33Only take what you need, what you feel you need.1:35That's what's1:36mutar. Not only that, everybody who wants can come into your field and take whatever they want.1:39That's the year of Shemitah.1:41Now, the sixth and seventh year doesn't work when you bought the land.1:44There's a cycle.1:46And when the Shemitah year is,1:48and Erev Rosh, which means you could have bought the land just two years ago,1:51but yet now in the third year of yovel, owning it,1:54you might not be able to work it because it's Shemitah.1:56Shemitah is a year of Shemitah for all of the Jewish people together in Eretz Yisrael,2:01and similar to Shabbat. In fact, the Torah calls it Shabbat.2:04Shabbat v'Shmitah are Shabbat laShem.2:07The land has Shabbat,2:08but not Shabbat in weeks like we have six days and the seventh day,2:12but Shabbat in years.2:14Six years we can work the land,2:17and the seventh year we cannot work the2:19land. Now we move on to the second part of this week's parashah, Yovel.2:23Yovel is basically the same idea as Shemitah,2:25but just magnified, multiplied by seven.2:29Where we had seven six years where we could work,2:33and the seventh year we could not work,2:36Yovel is a similar idea.2:37There's a mitzvah that the Beit Din should count 49 years,2:43okay?2:45Seven countings,2:46and after the 49th year, they should make the year of Yovel,2:52okay? So now this year of Yovel is a little tricky,2:55because some2:57say—there's machloket between the Chachamim and Rabbi2:59Yehuda—some say that you count 49 years,3:02and then the next year is the year of Yovel,3:05and that's the opinion of the3:07Chachamim. And Rabbi Yehuda holds, no,3:09you count 49 years.3:11That 49th year, which is the seventh year of the Shemitah cycle, right,3:14it's also going to be the— that 49th year is also going to be the year of Yovel,3:19and the next year is really year number one in the next cycle.3:23Halachah is like the3:25Chachamim. We count 49 years,3:26we have a Shemitah, and then afterwards3:28we have the Yovel on the 50th year.3:31Also, the Torah commends us that during the Yovel,3:33besides that there's a mitzvah to count3:35and to make the year of Yovel.3:38Jewish slaves have to be freed.3:41Now, what do Jewish slaves have to do with anything here?3:43We learned parashat Mishpatim that a Jewish slave cannot work more than six years.3:49And the answer is that we also learned in parashat Mishpatim3:52that for Jewish slaves, the sides that he wants to work more,3:56he wants to work for, let's say, forever.3:59He loves his family.4:01Still, the Torah says you can allow him to work more,4:03but when it comes to the yovel, he has to go home already.4:06He has to be freed.4:08And the way he's freed, the Torah tells us,4:10is that on Yom Kippur of the yovel year,4:12we blow shofar like the way we blow today on Rosh Hashanah.4:16We blow shofarot.4:17Everybody has a mitzvah, every person,4:18to take out the shofar and to blow it,4:21and that's the sign already that all the Jewish slaves have to be freed,4:25regardless of how many years they worked there.4:27They could have been working there for 45 years,4:30or could have been working there for two years.4:32Once yovel comes, all the Jewish people have to let go of their Jewish slaves.4:38Non-Jewish slaves, we'll speak about at the4:40end of the parashah. Another thing in yovel, and that is the Torah tells us4:43that any property that has been purchased,4:46which doesn't belong to you,4:48meaning to say to you originally,4:51because Eretz Yisrael was divided to the4:52shevatim and each person had certain fields and certain properties,4:55any property that was purchased reverts and goes back to the original owner.5:00That all happens during the yovel.5:02And then we move on to the third part of this week's5:05parashah. Torah tells us the laws of sales.5:07And here the Torah first begins with the5:11halachah. Again, this halachah is applicable till today.5:13A lot of these halachot are applicable today if they're possible.5:16That means if the Jewish people would all be living in5:19Eretz Yisrael, then we would have yovel,5:20but we don't have it, so yovel is not applicable today.5:23Ona'at mamon is an issur min haTorah.5:25What is ona'at mamon?5:26Torah warns us we may not overcharge another Jew5:31by a sixth of the market value of the5:34item. Whatever the item is, you cannot charge him more than a sixth of the market value.5:38That's called ona'at mamon.5:41As the Torah talks about onaat mamon, overcharging,5:44onaah means to pain someone,5:45the Torah also talks about onaat5:48devarim, not to pain people with words.5:49And then Masechet Bava Metzia also speaks about this5:52issur. And one of the examples the Torah gives is that5:55you may not remind a baal5:57teshuva, a person who has repented and has gone6:00and he's found his way back to the Torah world,6:02you cannot remind him of his old days with the sins.6:06For example, he's sitting down in shiur, coming to learn,6:08and this guy comes and sits in your seat.6:09You're upset and he took your seat. You can't say,6:11You, you're the guy who used to go clubbing6:14and used to go with the6:14goyah, now you want to sit and learn Torah?6:16That's asur. That's called onaat6:19devarim. That's just one example of onaat6:23devarim. Second law that's mentioned in this week's6:26parashah, and that is that6:31Eretz Yisrael cannot be sold forever. V'lo timacher haaretz l'smitut means6:31if I own land in Eretz Yisrael6:34and I want to sell it to somebody else,6:36I'm not allowed to sell it forever.6:38I cannot give him—this cannot be sold forever.6:41If I make that condition, I've done the6:44issur. The land has to come back by yovel.6:46I could, however, sell it a certain amount of years,6:49even though those years are more than yovel.6:51For example, it's now the first year of the new cycle of yovel.6:56We're in the first of the fifty years.6:58I could go to another Jew and tell him,7:00Listen, I want to sell you the land for seventy years,7:03even though yovel is going to come,7:05the land does not revert back to me,7:06but since I've put a limit to the sale,7:09the land will be given back after a certain amount of years.7:12That's mutar.7:14But to sell it forever, like the way sales are done today,7:17that's not allowed on real estate in Eretz Yisrael.7:20And then the Torah tells us another law,7:23and this is a little bit complicated.7:24This is the most complicated part of this week's7:26parashah, so we're going to spend a little bit of time.7:28Please try to pay attention.7:32The Torah tells us about redeeming sold property in Eretz Yisrael.7:36And the Torah tells us that there are three types of real estate in Eretz Yisrael,7:40and the laws differ by each one.7:41The first type is in a regular city7:44that doesn't have any walls around it7:46from the time Yehoshua bin Nun entered the Eretz Yisrael,7:48a regular unwalled city.7:50Torah says that if a person sold property in an unwalled city,7:54the original owner has the right to purchase back the field at any8:30Any time he wants, after two years of the sale. So again, let's go back to the example. If I sold my property in the first year of the yovel cycle, first of the fifty years, I want to buy it back after wait two years, then I can buy it back. But after two years, if I want to buy it back, the person I sold it to has to sell it back to me. Now, of course, there's a price for it, and Torah explains how to figure out the price. However, this is only talking about fields. Houses, if I sold a house of mine, I could even redeem it immediately. I sold the house last week, I changed my mind, I want to buy it back. The Torah says the original owner has the right to purchase it right back.8:38That's the first category: property in unwalled areas.8:43Second law is property in a walled area, and the wall has to be from the time Yehoshua bin Nun entered the Eretz Yisrael, like Yerushalayim.8:52Over there, the laws are a little different. Over there, it's the exact opposite.8:56If I sold property in the city that has a wall around it, Torah tells us that I have the right to redeem it only in that first year.9:03If I don't redeem back my property, if I don't buy it back after that first year, then I have forfeited my rights forever. It's gone,9:11with the exception of Yerushalayim. In Yerushalayim, no such a thing. Even though Yerushalayim is a walled city,9:16we use it just as a mashal because it has a walled city. But really, in Yerushalayim, it's an exception.9:20A person who sold his property in Yerushalayim doesn't forfeit it.9:25There's a whole discussion also if Yerushalayim was divided amongst the shevatim or not,9:29if a person could have real ownership of property in Yerushalayim or not, but that's for a different time and a different class.9:35And finally, the third type of real estate that we have to know about that's mentioned this week's parashah are the cities of Shevet Levi,9:41the cities of the Leviim. And over here, the Leviim have extended rights.9:46They're like the, they can do whatever they want. That means if a Levi sold any part of his field in the city, whether the city has a wall or if it doesn't have a wall,9:58the Levi could redeem it whenever he wants, even within the first year and even past the first and second year, he could redeem it whenever he wants.10:06And not only that, there's a law that we're going to learn in Parashat Bechukotai about giving property to10:12Hekdesh. A Levi who is giving property to Hekdesh could even redeem it from the hands of10:16Hekdesh. That's the special privileges of the shevet Levi and their property.10:23Okay, if you got through that, we can move on now to the fourth part of this week's parasha. The Torah tells us about saving other Jews from poverty.10:31Torah tells us from the beginning, if you see a Jew on his way down, don't wait till he hits rock bottom to help him out in his parnassah, to help him support himself.10:39Try to pick him up before he falls, and Chachamim give a mashal.10:44If a person is carrying a load and he's about to fall, it's much easier to help him when he's standing,10:48but if he falls with the load and you have to help him up, it's much harder then.10:53So too, if you see a Jew on his way down, try to help him before he hits rock bottom.10:58Also, Torah tells us because people who are in financial distress need to borrow money, there's a mitzvah that we have to lend money.11:04But not just lend money; it's forbidden for us to take interest.11:09In fact, the Gemara in Bava Metzia talks extensively about the severity of lending other Jews with interest.11:15To take interest is a big, big sin.11:18And finally, we move on to the last part of this week's parasha, where the Torah tells us certain laws about Jewish slaves.11:25The Gemara already points out that anybody who buys a Jewish slave, in fact, has bought an owner, has bought a master to himself, not a slave, a master.11:33Jewish slaves are not regular non-Jewish slaves.11:36Slaves, we know, people do whatever they want.11:38Torah tells us not so when you buy your own brother as a slave.11:41If you're buying a Jewish slave, you cannot treat him like any other slave, the Torah tells us.11:46For example, I'll give you four examples the Torah mentions in this week's11:50parasha. First of all, you may not give a Jewish slave unnecessary or difficult slave work.11:57What does that mean?11:58You know, a lot of times people have workers and they don't want the workers to sit around and bum and do nothing,12:02so they tell them, Go, I don't know, go take the couches from this side of the room, put them over there.12:07When you're done, put it back.12:08It's unnecessary. It's12:09not needed. You just want them to work.12:10You cannot do that to a Jewish slave.12:13If there's nothing to do, there's nothing to do.12:15Also, something that is unique only slaves do, you cannot give that to a Jewish slave.12:21You got to get a non-Jewish slave to do it, but not a Jewish slave.12:24And the last thing also is do not give him too difficult of a job to do.12:30Jewish slaves have to be treated specially.12:33Torah also tells us the second thing: you have to provide for the Jewish slave's children.12:38You have to provide them.12:39You have to support them.12:41You're not buying just a slave; you're buying a whole family.12:44Number three is, if you want to sell your Jewish slave to somebody else,12:48you cannot put him on the market like the way they sell other slaves.12:51You have to sell him, you know, privately, not in public on the stone.12:55And finally, like we mentioned already, Jewish slaves have to be freed when the Yovel comes.13:00Non-Jewish slaves, however, the Torah says there's a mitzvah to keep them forever,13:04not to give them up at all,13:06not in the sixth year, not in the Yovel year.13:09Then the Torah talks about Jewish slaves.13:12It says, in the case where a person had to sell himself to a13:16non-Jew, a non-Jew referring to over here, again in13:18Torah, non-Jews are living in Eretz Yisrael when Eretz Yisrael was under the Torah power and rulership.13:25Torah says over there there's a mitzvah for us to redeem him,13:29and they also, the ger in Torah, have to redeem. I have to free the Jew also when it comes to Yovel.13:35They're also bound to the laws of Eretz Yisrael, even though they're not Jews,13:39but they're bound to them, and they have to free him when it comes to the Yovel.13:41Now the last part of this week's parasha is really part of the lesson of this week's13:46parasha. The last part ends off the last pasuk like this:13:51Et Shabbtotai tishmoru u'mikdashi tira'u ani Adonai.13:54You shall guard my Shabbat, and you shall have fear for my Mikdash. I am Hashem.13:59And the question is, what in the world does this pasuk, which talks about keeping Shabbat14:04and having fear of the Mikdash, have to do with the rest of the14:08parasha? And we could explain as follows.14:11The five categories in this week's parashah that we mentioned are14:14shemitah, yovel, and then talks about the laws of sales,14:18and then saving Jews from poverty, and then Jews slave, the law of Jewish slaves,14:23which seem to be random mitzvot. However, Rashi points out that they're not random14:26mitzvot. All of these mitzvot are connected.14:29The Torah warns us, don't work your field on shemitah and yovel.14:32However, a person who is a little bit greedy and he felt that, How can I be provided for,14:36you know, during the years of shemitah and yovel?14:39Hashem is not going to—I'm not working for a year, sometimes two years.14:43I can't. I have to go work. I have to go sell.14:45So he takes from the—he works his field, and he takes from the produce and he sells it,14:53says the Torah, that person will eventually lose his money14:57because he didn't trust in Hashem.14:58All of a sudden, the Torah talks about laws of sales.15:01If now he's going to be so poor, he has to sell from his own property.15:04And if he still doesn't do teshuvah, doesn't understand his mistake,15:07then he goes down even more.15:09He has to sell himself. He hits almost rock bottom,15:12and then he himself becomes a slave to Jews and eventually even to15:18non-Jews. And that's the connection from this week's15:21parashah. It's a chain of events.15:22When you don't have full faith that God can provide you,15:25so then a person can hit all the way to rock bottom.15:28The Torah concludes, Keep My Shabbat and My Mikdash.15:31Ani Hashem. I'm Hashem. Make sure you remember that.15:33I run the world. I control things.15:37By keeping My mitzvot, you will not suffer. You'll only gain.15:41And the reminder of this for all Jewish people for all time15:45is Shabbat, which we have on a constant basis.15:48Six days we work and seventh day we don't work,15:50and also the shuls, the Mikdash.15:53That's where Hashem's presence is there, and we should know,15:56we should have this feeling and understanding that—16:00Hashem, Ani Hashem, who runs everything.16:03Shabbat shalom.