Outline:
[language of שבת/שב]
Sabbatical year - land is released, fallow, Shabbat for the land (it doesn't really belong to us - sanctity of agricultural cycle)
Jubilee year - land is returned to ancestral holdings, slaves released (land and labor don't really belong to us - sanctity of human being, laborers, and the land itself)
Cases illustrating why land and people are sold to begin with - poor fortune -> must sell property, rent out their labor, or sell themselves
Quick instructions: 1) idolatry/images, 2) Shabbat + reverence for Sanctuary
Reward for observance of instructions (short)
Punishment for violation (long)
Vows - how paid and redeemed
Our long reading was the description of the progressive stages of punishment
Horrifying description
Where is this coming from?
Mantra of Shabbat (word play - ישב/שבת/שוב)
(ב) דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵקֶ֔ם כִּ֤י תָבֹ֙אוּ֙ אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֲנִ֖י נֹתֵ֣ן לָכֶ֑ם וְשָׁבְתָ֣ה הָאָ֔רֶץ שַׁבָּ֖ת לַה׳
(2) Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land will observe a Shabbat of Adonai. (or "will cease on the Shabbat/will Shabbat on the Shabbat")
(ח) וְסָפַרְתָּ֣ לְךָ֗ שֶׁ֚בַע שַׁבְּתֹ֣ת שָׁנִ֔ים שֶׁ֥בַע שָׁנִ֖ים שֶׁ֣בַע פְּעָמִ֑ים וְהָי֣וּ לְךָ֗ יְמֵי֙ שֶׁ֚בַע שַׁבְּתֹ֣ת הַשָּׁנִ֔ים תֵּ֥שַׁע וְאַרְבָּעִ֖ים שָׁנָֽה׃
(8) You will count off seven Shabbats of years—seven times seven years—so that the period of seven Shabbats of years gives you a total of forty-nine years.
(לד) אָז֩ תִּרְצֶ֨ה הָאָ֜רֶץ אֶת־שַׁבְּתֹתֶ֗יהָ כֹּ֚ל יְמֵ֣י הֳשַׁמָּ֔ה וְאַתֶּ֖ם בְּאֶ֣רֶץ אֹיְבֵיכֶ֑ם אָ֚ז תִּשְׁבַּ֣ת הָאָ֔רֶץ וְהִרְצָ֖ת אֶת־שַׁבְּתֹתֶֽיהָ׃ (לה) כָּל־יְמֵ֥י הָשַּׁמָּ֖ה תִּשְׁבֹּ֑ת אֵ֣ת אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹֽא־שָׁבְתָ֛ה בְּשַׁבְּתֹתֵיכֶ֖ם בְּשִׁבְתְּכֶ֥ם עָלֶֽיהָ׃
(34) Then will the land fulfill its Shabbats through all the days of desolation, while you are in the land of your enemies; then will the land rest/cease (tishbat) and make up for its Shabbats. (35) Through all the days of desolation, it will rest/cease (tishbot) since it did not rest (shavtah) during your Shabbats when you resided (shevet) in it.
Intimate connection between the human Shabbat, these Shabbat years (the sabbatical and the jubilee), and this punishment - the land's need to return to itself
Commodification
Two sections:
One link - theme and language of Shabbat
Another link:
Section ends with the dramatic statement (which becomes a watchword in Jewish labor law):
כִּי־לִי בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲבָדִים עֲבָדַי הֵם אֲשֶׁר־הוֹצֵאתִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם אֲנִי ה׳ אֱלֹקֵיכֶם׃
For it is to Me that the children of Israel are servants: they are My servants, whom I freed from the land of Egypt, I Adonai your God. (Lev. 25:55) [Midrash adds: they are My servants, not servants of servants, i.e. slaves to other human beings.]
Description of punishment then ends with:
(מד) וְאַף־גַּם־זֹ֠את בִּֽהְיוֹתָ֞ם בְּאֶ֣רֶץ אֹֽיְבֵיהֶ֗ם לֹֽא־מְאַסְתִּ֤ים וְלֹֽא־גְעַלְתִּים֙ לְכַלֹּתָ֔ם לְהָפֵ֥ר בְּרִיתִ֖י אִתָּ֑ם כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י ה' אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם׃ (מה) וְזָכַרְתִּ֥י לָהֶ֖ם בְּרִ֣ית רִאשֹׁנִ֑ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר הוֹצֵֽאתִי־אֹתָם֩ מֵאֶ֨רֶץ מִצְרַ֜יִם לְעֵינֵ֣י הַגּוֹיִ֗ם לִהְיֹ֥ת לָהֶ֛ם לֵאלֹקִ֖ים אֲנִ֥י ה'
(44) Yet, even then, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or spurn them so as to destroy them, violating My covenant with them: for I Adonai am their God. (45) I will remember for their sake the covenant with the first ones, whom I freed from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God: I, Adonai.
Progression of punishment in which all of society collapses, there is death, destruction, starvation, exile, and enslavement.
Then, the cycle restarts.
At the point in which the people have returned to a state of slavery and exile,
God recalls the first exile in Egypt,
and renews the process of redemption.
God again affirms human dignity and grants freedom, taking the people again out of captivity and back to the Land.
Portion ends (I think rather dramatically) with laws of vows.
This section opens with a dilemma:
If in the biblical conception vows to God cannot be broken
and someone has vowed to offer up a human being to God
What do we do?
- Fixed price to pay instead of the person (only vow in which this is possible)
- If the person who made the vow cannot afford that price, the priest does an "appraisal" and presents a price that they can afford (compare this to someone who vows an impure animal, which also can't be given to God, for which the person who vowed must pay whatever the priest estimates, high or low, plus 20% - there's no out)
What's the point? That under no circumstances do we allow a human being to be turned into property, even temple property.
Our entire portion is preoccupied with the commodification of things that are deemed to be inherently sacred: the land, its produce, human beings, our labor and our time.
The fact that this portion concludes the book of Leviticus, suggests to me that this is one of the primary concerns of the book as a whole.
Going back to our original question: Why such a long and gory description of the punishment?
To make absolutely clear to us that a society that commodifies what is sacred, that fails to appreciate the inherent worth of the earth and of human beings, our time and our labor, will necessarily crumble.
What we commodify, we lose.
THIS IS A CHILLING WARNING FOR THIS SOCIETY AND OUR GLOBAL CULTURE, in which everything is commodified, anything can be bought/consumed/disposed of for the right price.
We talk about buying local
but take for granted the time, labor, and creativity of the people around us.
We treat the planet like some combination of a strip mine and a trash dump.
What then, through the lens of this portion, should we do?
- We have to cultivate appreciation and gratitude, knowing that what we have is a gift, not a right.
- We must place limits on ourselves - how we treat others and the land, how we work, spend our time and our money.
- Last, and maybe requiring the most creativity, as individuals, families, a community, and a nation, we need to create structures for the things that are sacred, that have inherent worth, to return to their original elevated state
- not a commodity but a vessel for devotion and worship
- And for our time to become a sanctuary
- For the land itself to return to being God's garden
- For the land's produce to again be received as a gift from God, an expression of God's love and care
- For the human being to return to a state of freedom and well-being