Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 12 Iyar, 5784 –Day 27 of Omer
Parsha Be-Har – “On The Mountain” (Leviticus 25:1 – 26:2)
Second Portion: Leviticus 25:14 – 25:18

Good morning!  We start a new work week, and we are on Day 27 of the Omer!  Today’s Omer Theme is the “Bonding of Endurance.”  From Chabad:

Bonding is an essential quality of endurance. It expresses your unwavering commitment to the person or experience you are bonding with, a commitment so powerful that you will endure all to preserve it. Endurance without bonding will not endure.

Exercise for the day: To ensure that your new resolution should endure, bond with it immediately. This can be assured by promptly actualizing your resolution in some constructive deed.

I reflect this morning on the purpose of endurance. The idea of connection – of bonding – within ourselves first, and then possibly with another is crucial.

If we are enduring for the purpose of disconnecting – because we are “running away” from something?  This may not be as valuable as connecting to something.

As I have been starting this journey to run, I have had to endure. I have not achieved my goal – not even close. But I am enduring because I am connecting with the idea of running.  I have had to restart my entire process.  I have committed to stretching each morning – which is a time commitment – and one I have not been thrilled to make.  I wanted to commit 30 minutes in the morning to running – and I just did. That was a mistake in my approach. I started running. And hurt myself.

I had the opportunity to give up on running – “oh well, guess my body doesn’t want me to run.”  And I shifted.  I am now dedicating 30 minutes each morning to running.  And. Right now? I am repairing the damage I did with my first approach.  I am stretching for 30 minutes.  Once my body is healed, and the pain is gone? I can restart with an established program – nine weeks. It’s called “couch to 5k.” My therapist suggested it – and I will follow slowly – over a 9 week period.

I am enduring – because I am bonded to the idea of running. I am committing to run. And. I am not yet running. And. I am.

Ok – with this, let’s dig in to the portion:

14And when you make a sale to your fellow Jew or make a purchase from the hand of your fellow Jew, you shall not wrong one another.

15According to the number of years after the Jubilee, you shall purchase from your fellow Jew; according to the number of years of crops, he shall sell to you.

16The more [the remaining] years, you shall increase its purchase [price], and the fewer the [remaining] years, you shall decrease its purchase [price], because he is selling you a number of crops.

So. Our last portion introduced us to the concept of Jubilee.  And – the idea that every 50 years (while in the promised land), what was sold would return to its original owner.

You could imagine the conflict this might create. Selling land on day 1 vs year 40 for the same price? That may have been an issue. And remember – they didn’t have the internet. Communication was limited. So it would have been easy to manipulate pricing. The Torah is clear – justice is important. How we treat others matters.

17And you shall not wrong, one man his fellow Jew, and you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord, your God.

18You shall perform My statutes, keep My ordinances and perform them then you will live on the land securely.

And – it is obvious, they did not do them – because they did not live on the land securely. And. We are called to act in justice. To act in integrity. And that matters.

What are your thoughts?

Here are my thoughts from Two Years ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 15 Iyar, 5782

Today is the 30th day of the Omer!

Todays portion covers two pieces of our relationship with one another.

First. The Torah says when we make a sale to our fellow Jew or make another purchase from the hand of your fellow Jew, we should not cheat one another. The price should be based on the number of years since the last Jubilee. If more years remain, the price should be higher based on how many years worth of crops one would expect.

Now. This does NOT mean Jews should do business with others and cheat them. I believe the message is about community. When we live in community with one another, we need to treat each other fairly. And. One more thing that Rabbi Simchah Bunem of Przysucha offers:

“You may not cheat yourself either. Never inflate your own worth, and never underestimate your potential.”

Seeing ourselves in the accurate and fair place is crucial. And this is in line with the theme of this weeks Omer; Humility. Humility isn’t underestimating our potential. Humility is the balance of not over inflating our worth!

Let’s keep going with the portion.

Next, the Torah tells us not to verbally harass our fellow Jew – or give him bad advice. The Torah says “Since nobody can know your true intentions, and you could always escape blame. You must fear your God – for I am God your God.”

Rabbi Aryeh Leib Zuenz writes;

“Your income and losses for the year are allocated on the Jewish New Year (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 10a).

If you cheat your fellow in order to gain financially, God will have to take it away from you because the money was not allocated to you. Perhaps you will have unforeseen medical expenses or other misfortunes, God forbid”

Finally the portion today closes with a reminder that we should observe God’s suprarational commands (that we don’t understand the reason for) and guard Hashem’s rational commands and perform them- so that we will live on the land securely.

Rabbi Abraham Samuel Benjamin Sofer writes;

The next verse (tyler’s comment: that will start tomorrows portion) repeats that the children of Israel will “live upon it securely.” Why the repetition?

A nation that settles a land fears that when it will become a successful and prosperous nation, its neighbors will invade. It also fears that it might not be successful, which would lead to rebellion and internal conflict. Therefore the Torah states twice that the children of Israel will live securely”

Some interesting thoughts this morning. What Do you think?