Drash for Shabbat Behar 5771

by Dan Kirchner

In the Jubilee year, which follows a Sabbatical year, there is no work, slavery is manumitted, debts are forgiven, and land is returned to its original owner. In addition, food that grows wild in the field is shared with the poor, and if that food runs out, you are supposed to open your storerooms and provide to the needy. Nowadays, we don't follow these practices. Even though there are more slaves now than in the ancient world, they are mostly hidden from view. Illegal immigrants, who work for very low wages are not raised up to the level of citizens; instead we pass laws against them which we can't afford to enforce. So many profitable businesses would have to close.

Our banking system is not enthusiastic in the debt forgiveness department. Foreclosure on mortgages is a much publicized activity; making loans to persons and businesses in need is not. Of course, when the banks were going broke and the brokerage houses tottered under the weight of foolish and unscrupulous loan practices, they were only too willing to take monumental help from the government. They got a second chance to return to profitability.

We don’t return land to families that owned the land for a long period of time. Large corporations buy it up and create tracts larger than counties and depopulate communities of small farmers. The people migrate to industrial communities where they are expected to work without bargaining rights and benefits.

We do have community food banks. Farmers and local gardeners contribute to the food banks and the urban community contributes through drives for canned and packaged food. The Jewish community maintains a food locker at the food bank for Jews in need.

But I see the big difference between now and ancient times as the personal nature of charity. When you freed slaves, they were people you knew. They served you. Because they worked for you night and day, the Torah calls for giving them a double portion from the vat and the threshing floor. People who had loans from you were personal acquaintances, as were those who owned your ancestral land. When you went out to the fields to glean, the poor who shared the uncultivated crops were known to you, and when the crop was exhausted, those who came to share your stored food were people you knew. In ancient times things were much more personal.

Even though modern giving is more detached and impersonal, there are many organizations that take the place of ancient redistributions of wealth. They say that Jews stranded on a desert island have no fear, because they know that the Federation campaign will find them. Right here at Temple, there are numerous charitable outlets: The Rabbi's Discretionary Fund, the fund for feeding the homeless, the Caring Community, the Scholarship funds, and the many funds that sponsor other good works at the Temple.

These funds, and the sustaining fund of Temple dues, are all reflections of that ancient Jubilee spirit that lift the Jewish community up and carry us on to the expanding future.

Shabbat Shalom.