Weekly Torah Portion: Behar (Leviticus 25:1-26:2)
In Torah portion Behar, God describes the laws surrounding resting the land and crops every seven years, as well as the Jubilee year every 50 years. God permits the use of slaves but provides stipulations including the obligation to eventually free your slaves. Read an extensive summary of this Torah portion on My Jewish Learning
Related D’var Torah
“According to the United Nations, it is estimated that some 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy life; that’s about 1 in 9 people on earth.” – Davi Cheng in 2016 read the full drash
“A little spark can go a long way. A small scholarship helped me buy books for my freshman year. A couple small scholarships helped my beloved Davi Cheng through community college and then Cal.” – Bracha Yael in 2015 read the full drash
“How many of you might use language such as “slave” or “enslaved” to describe a situation in which you find yourself? Or maybe slightly different language, something like: I’ve got to break free of him or her or it…” – Rabbi Lisa Edwards in 2000. Read the full drash
“We all love stories about miracles–not just the parting-of-the-Red-Sea kind of miracles. We love the modern-day miracle stories: the mother who miraculously finds the strength to lift the car to free her child. The miracle cures to seemingly incurable diseases”- Rabbi Gil Steinlauf in 2010. Read the full drash
Torah Verse of the Week*
“You are not to loan your kinsman money with inerest or sell him your food at a profit” (Parshat Behar, Lev 25:37)
Other Suggested Readings
How bad is bad mouthing? Rabbi Louis Rieser discusses the devastating effects of verbal hona’ah, and Rabbi Steve Greenberg, Senior Teaching Fellow at CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership and the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi, discusses economic hona’ah – read the two articles on the Telephone Torah Study archive
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*Torah Verse of the Week is chosen by the Torah class during Tuesdays’ studies with Rabbi Lisa Edwards. Check out when our next Torah Study takes place
