This week's portion discusses the law of the Sabbatical year, when the land is allowed to rest, and the Jubilee year, when land returns to its original owner and loans are canceled and slaves emancipated.
The portion goes on to consider the valuation of things whose worth may be pledged to the Temple as a consecrated gift -- including the value of people (a type of pledge that may be made in some cases).
The Sabbatical and Jubilee traditions are among the most interesting of the entire body of Torah law, and lead to the problem of lending to the poor -- because there is little incentive if loans are canceled.
Here, Rabbi Hillel stepped in with a solution known as the "pruzbul," under which ownership of loans is transferred to the court. These loans are not canceled, which means credit is available to the poor.
This is the origin of the idea of "tikkun olam." Canceling the loan -- the more obvious form of relief -- hurts the poor in the long run. Enforcing the loan, while initially painful, is better for the poor.
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
An interesting weekend -- one of the last of Daylight Savings Time -- in which there is much to celebrate, much to contemplate, and a bit to worry about.
The Gaza peace deal is shaky, but holding, after the living hostages returned; the shutdown is still going on, with no end in sight; the China trade war is heating up; and the confrontation with Venezuela continues to escalate.
The "No Kings" protest was a dud, despite the media's attempt to inflate it. What I find fascinating is that the Democrats have basically stolen the rhetoric and the imagery of the Tea Party protests, circa 2009. They claim they are defending the Constitution -- just like the Tea Party did.
On the one hand, this is good. How wonderful to have a political system in which both sides, bitterly opposed though they are, articulate differences through the Constitution -- and not, as in so many other countries, outside it.
On the other, this is sheer hypocrisy for the Democrats. Not only did they malign the Tea Party as ...
