Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 17 Iyar, 5784 –Day 32 of Omer
Parsha Be-Har – “On The Mountain” (Leviticus 25:1 – 26:2)
Seventh Portion: Leviticus 25:47 – 26:2

Shabbat Shalom! Today is Day 32 of the Omer! Tonight starts Lag B’Omer (Day 33).  I will write more tomorrow on this. For today, the theme is the Endurance of Humility

From Chabad:

Examine the strength and endurance of your humility. Does my humility withstand challenges? Am I firm in my positions or do I waffle in the name of humility?

Humility and modesty should not cause one to feel weak and insecure. Netzach of hod underscores the fact that true humility does not make you into a “doormat” for others to step on; on the contrary, humility gives you enduring strength. Is my humility perceived as weakness? Does that cause others to take advantage of me?

Exercise for the day: Demonstrate the strength of your humility by initiating or actively participating in a good cause.

So this is a really interesting concept. We often “worry” our humility will put us in a position of being a doormat.  We will be weak.  How can we bring strength and endurance into the process of humility?

For me? The key is boundaries. How do we have a foundation of strength within when it comes to our humility?  It has to start with some parts of us we won’t compromise in the name of humility. What are the parts of us we won’t sacrifice?

This is the question as we discuss our strength.  Where are the places we have compromised in the past?

With this? Let’s dig in to the final portion of “On the mountain.”

47If a resident non Jew gains wealth with you, and your brother becomes destitute with him and is sold to a resident non Jew among you or to an idol of the family of a non Jew.

48After he is sold, he shall have redemption; one of his brothers shall redeem him.

49Or his uncle or his cousin shall redeem him, or the closest [other] relative from his family shall redeem him; or, if he becomes able to afford it, he can be redeemed [on his own].

50He shall calculate with his purchaser [the number of years] from the year of his being sold to him until the Jubilee year; then, the purchase price shall be [divided] by the number of years; as the days of a hired worker, he shall be with him.

51If there are still many years, according to them, he shall return his redemption [money] out of the money for which he was purchased.

52But if only a few years remain until the Jubilee year, he shall make the [same] calculation; according to his years [that remain until Jubilee], he shall return the redemption [money].

53He shall be with him as an employee hired year by year; he shall not enslave him with rigor in your sight.

54And if he is not redeemed through [any of] these [ways], he shall go out in the Jubilee year he and his children with him.

So we are talking again about financial destitution. And whether a brother becomes destitute by the hand of a non-Jew who gained wealth from a Jew.

Hashem wants to make sure – we are taken care of. Do we feel this way? Or do we resist it?  Why?

55For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants, whom I took out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God

Because he rescued us. If he rescues us? He wants us to succeed.

Let’s finish the mountain:

 26:1You shall not make idols for yourselves, nor shall you set up a statue or a monument for yourselves. And in your land you shall not place a pavement stone on which to prostrate yourselves, for I am the Lord, your God.

2You shall keep My Sabbaths and fear My Sanctuary. I am the Lord.

I focus on “fear My sanctuary.”  What does it mean to “fear Hashem’s Sanctuary?”

A place of refuge and safety? Why should we fear this?

I am reflecting on this. And I wonder if it comes back to our Omer theme? Humility with strength and endurance? If we become too familiar with Hashem’s sanctuary – maybe we don’t respect it. We don’t honor it.  There needs to be some awe. Some fear mixed with excitement. That’s my thought.

What about you?

Here are my thoughts from two years ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 20 Iyar, 5782

35th day of the Omer.

Shabbat Shalom!

Today we finish up Parsha be-har.

Today we dig into more about financial problems.

The portion starts that by saying if a non-Jew who lives around you becomes rich by being associated with you, and a fellow Jew becomes needy by being associated with him (the non Jew) and the Jew is sold to a non-Jew who lives among you, or into a position where they are required to maintain idols, or is sold to an idol worshipper, then as soon as he is sold, he should be redeemed. A fellow Jew should redeem him. Someone; an uncle, a cousin, close relative, or he should redeem himself.

Let’s stop for a moment. The idea here might be centered around acquiring wealth and how the wealth should have been intended for the Jew, but because the non-Jew is a part of the community, they benefitted instead of the Jew. That is not something Hashem seems to take lightly. He provides for His people.

The next part is about fairness. That when redeeming the Jew from the non-Jew, we should calculate the costs based on the jubilee year.

The We see that if the non-Jew is forcing the Jew into harsh labor, it is on us to stop him.

And then we see that if he is not redeemed, he and his Children will go free in the jubilee year.

Hashem gives a warning to Jews who are sold into slavery to non Jews – do not make idols for yourself as the non Jew does. Keep the sabbaths and fear God; who promises to reward you.

Something I chew on here; Joseph is the model isn’t he? He lived this out and trusted Hashem.

Also, as we’ve been discussing the journey from slavery to liberation and freedom, we see here that it won’t always be a straight line. Sometimes we will end up back in slavery. But it is only for a (relatively) short time; no more than 49 years; not like the 400 years of slavery in Egypt. But the process is always towards freedom!

What are your thoughts?

As always todays Haftorah thoughts are in the comments below

Todays Haftorah is from Jeremiah 32:6-27. Chabad tends to only go to 22, so the last five verses aren’t read by everyone.

The setup for the Haftorah is the prophet Jeremiah is speaking in King Zedekiah’s royal compound. He had been confined to the compound because he predicted the downfall of Jerusalem into the hands of the Babylonians.

In order to bring hope; Jeremiah purchased the field of his cousin, letting people around him know there was restoration coming.

The portion opens with God telling Jeremiah to purchase it.

We get an interesting perspective of the legal process of purchasing land at that time; with a lot of details. But when it is all said and done, Jeremiah says to someone – God has told us to put the deeds into an earthenware vessel so they should be preserved for a long time.

Jeremiah knew the land would be redeemed; but he also knew it was a long way off.

He says this is not an exercise in futility- but God has promised there will come a time where land will be bought and sold again.

Sounds good so far, right? But then we get a small insight in to Jeremiah.

He goes right to God and prays; “if only I knew why you asked me to do this…”

He goes on to share his heart of doubt AND his trust of Hashem.

There is a really important lesson for us here. When God asks us to do something, we can ask why? But like Jeremiah, we should do what he asks first. Then ask why?

This is a great Haftorah lesson for us! What are your thoughts?