Menachem Persoff

BY MENACHEM PERSOFF

Special Projects Consultant, OU Israel Center mpersoff@ou.org

A Brave New World?

Sometimes when we sit alone at home during the Corona crisis, removed from the real world “out there,” we might contemplate what the world will look like after “it’s all over.” So we might then cast our thoughts back to the days of the Yovel, the Jubilee year, which is treated in our Parsha. We might imagine what was in the minds of our people in those distant days when the workers were divorced from the land, property returned to original owners, and slaves freed.

Did these people dream of a brave new world? Did they believe that after the year was over, that society would be refreshed, the moral fiber of the community would be enhanced, and that the pursuit of materialism would recede?

To answer these questions, we might glance for a moment at what has been written (partially) about the Yovel. Based on the same principles as the Shemittah year, during the fiftieth year from the previous Jubilee, inter alia, the land was to lie fallow to indicate that property is not the absolute possession of man. Rather, “the land is mine, and you are but strangers who have become my tenants” (Vayikra 25:23).

The Talmud (Arachin 12b) mentions that from the time Bnei Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael until the first tribes went into exile, they kept seventeen Jubilee cycles. However, it is not known from historical records that they observed the Jubilee in practice.

The Yovel was inaugurated by the blowing of the Shofar on Yom Kippur of the “fiftieth year.” The year was sanctified and Liberty –“Dror” – was to be declared to all the inhabitants. Rabbi S. R. Hirsch reminds us that the Dror is an untamed bird of the field that makes

its nest anywhere; it follows its natural trend. Yovel also represents the horn that the shepherd blows to call his flock. The term Yovel additionally signifies an act of bringing.

Thus, in sum, the Yovel year is designed so that property should be brought “home” to its rightful and natural owner. We might then add that the Shofar summons the people to return to their primal, pure, and unadulterated state. In short, the Yovel year is one of restitution and reclamation, of restoring and returning. Yom Kippur (hopefully) brings about the moral rebirth of the individual, and on the national level, the Jubilee launches a social and political rejuvenation of the nation’s affairs.

For Rabbi Hirsch, Israel is to progress in this freedom and independence from Yovel to Yovel, “until it reaches that ideal state in which it will be a bright and shining national entity in the midst of the nations.” Then, following the prophet, the nations will be drawn to Israel to learn of freedom, justice, and everlasting peace on earth (Isaiah 2:1).

Of course, we, as a people, were to do our part. For R. Hirsch, the proclamation of the release of the land and slaves was to be executed, not as a purely humanitarian or political measure: The shofar blast signified that the Yovel would take place “in the name of G-d” as the owner of all things.

Shabbat Shalom!

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