Parashat Behar-Bechukotai Leviticus 25:1 - 26:2 and Leviticus 26:3-27:34
Parashat Behar
Synopsis:
Moses speaks to the Israelites about some laws that are to take effect in the land that God will give them.
For six years, the people will be permitted to plant and harvest from their fields and vineyards. But the seventh year is to be a year of complete rest for the land. In the seventh year, the Israelites will not be permitted to work their fields, but they will be allowed to gather and to share whatever the land produces. God assures the people that in the year before the Sabbatical year, there will be a bountiful harvest so that there will be sufficient food to tide them over until the harvest of the eighth year.
The Israelites are told to count seven times seven years - a total of forty-nine - and to mark the arrival of the fiftieth year with a blast of the horn on the Day of Atonement. The fiftieth year is to be a Jubilee, a year of release for the land and all its inhabitants.
In the fiftieth year, the land is to lie fallow, property is to revert to its original owner, and all Hebrew slaves are to be freed. Houses in walled cities are exempt from this regulation - they can be redeemed for only one year after their sale. The houses of the Levites are to be redeemable forever.
The Israelites are to make special effort to redeem land or persons who have been forced to sell their holdings or bind themselves into slavery. Israelite slaves are to be treated as hired laborers and are to be freed in the Jubilee year, whereas non-Israelite slaves are seen as property - they are not subject to the laws of the Jubilee year.
The portion concludes with a reminder to the people not to set up or worship idols, but to keep God's Sabbaths.
Parashat Bechukotai
Bechukotai begins with a promise and a curse. If the Israelites follow God's laws and commandments, God will bless them. Their land will be fertile and peaceful and their enemies will flee before them. But if the people do not obey, God will spurn and punish them. Their enemies will dominate them, their land will not produce, and they will live in fear. At last, those who survive the punishment will repent, and God will remember the covenant with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham.
The Book of Leviticus concludes with a section detailing three types of gifts which might be promised to the sanctuary. The first type of gift consists of a promise to contribute a certain sum of money (specified in the text) equal to the valuation assigned to persons based on gender and age. For example, the amount to be given for a male of 60 years is 15 shekels and, for a female over this age, 10 shekels.
The second type of gift involve the giving of animals or property. Both were sold, and the proceeds went towards the maintenance of the sanctuary. Animals without blemish could be specified by the donor for use as a sacrifice. Gifts of this type are redeemable at their value as assessed by a priest, plus one-fifth.
The third type of contribution, which a person dedicated to God (be it man, beast, or land) cannot be redeemed; everything thus given is totally consecrated to God.
The Book of Leviticus concludes with several versus on tithes and the redemption of tithes, and with the statement: "These are the commandments that Adonai gave to Moses for the Israelite people on Mount Sinai."
Synopsis courtesy of Teaching Torah, by Sorel Goldberg Loeb and Barbara Binder Kadden
For your Shabbat table:
Behar details two different ways of marking significant amounts of time, both of which serve to be a "reset" - for the land and also for the people. Why do you think it is important to designate time to let the land rest?
Behar talks about the Jubilee year, which occurs every fifty years as a way for the land and for its inhabitants to be "released" and to rest. What are ways you create a fresh restart for yourself? Are there other times of the year that are set aside as a Jewish way to give yourself a reset or a new beginning?
Many commentators note that the blessings that follow observing the commandments are described briefly only in ten versus of Bechukotai, whereas the curses resulting from rejecting God's laws are 28 verses long. Do you think someone choose to follow rules because of the rewards they might gain or the punishment they might get from breaking the rules? What motivates your choices?
Synopsis: Moses is to inform the priests of the special rules which they must obey. The priests are to refrain from coming into contact with a corpse, they are not to shave smooth any parts of their heads, and they are forbidden to marry a divorced woman. The priests are to be scrupulous as they carry out their duties. Any priest who has a physical defect or is ritually unclean is forbidden to offer sacrifices to God. So, too, the Israelites are to take care to bring blemish free offerings to God. No animal less than eight days old is acceptable as a sacrifice and no animal shall be slaughtered on the same day as its young. Then Moses speaks to all the people about the holy days in the year. Apart from the Sabbath, which occurs every seven days, the Israelites are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread and, seven weeks later, a celebration of the harvest. The first day of the seventh month, the people are to mark as a sacred occasion with loud blasts and the tenth day of the same month shall e a Day of Atonement.
The fifteenth day of the seventh month is the Feast of Booths. This holiday is to be observed for seven days, and the people are to mark the eighth day with a special sacrifice. On all of these holidays, the Israelites are told not to work at their occupations, and special observances are prescribed.
Moses further reminds the Israelites to bring clear olive oil for the regular lighting of the lamps in the Tent of Meeting. He then instructs them in the baking and displaying of the twelve loaves of display bread for the altar.
The portion concludes by describing an incident wherein a man born of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man fights with another man born of two Israelite parents. The half-Israelite blasphemes God's name in the course of a fight. God tells Moses that the man is to be stoned to death as punishment. So Moses tells the Israelites of the penalty for blaspheming God or pronouncing God's name, and also of the rules by which restitution is to be made for crimes.
Synopsis courtesy of Teaching Torah, by Sorel Goldberg Loeb and Barbara Binder Kadden
For your Shabbat table:
The beginning of this week's portion describes the special rules for those people who are the priests. Why might they need to act different than the rest of the people? Do you think it would be difficult to be treated so differently in order to have such a special position among the Israelites?
Part of this parasha explains the observance of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot and includes a reminder to leave corners of the fields untouched for the poor. What does this kind of action have to do with these holidays?
How do you think your holiday celebrations are the same as in biblical times? How do you think they are different?
It’s difficult to imagine that Jews have been observing and celebrating holidays such as Shabbat, Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot for thousands of years. Why do you think these holiday celebrations have survived for so long?
What is your favorite Jewish holiday? What is it about that holiday that makes it so special for you?
Parshat Acharei Mot (Leviticus 16:1 - 18:30) and Parshat Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1 - 20:27)
It's time for another double parsha!
Synopsis: Parshat Acharei Mot
After the death of Nadab and Abihu, God tells Moses to instruct Aaron not to come freely into the Holy of Holies. Only once a year, on the tenth day of the seventh month, is the High Priest to enter the shrine behind the curtain. This is the day on which atonement is to be made for all the sins of the Israelites. No work is to be done on this day, and on it the Israelites are to practice self-denial.
On the Day of Atonement, when the High Priest enters the Holy of Holies, he is to wear plain linen robes and he is to make expiation for himself and for his household and then for all of the Israelites.
Then the High Priest is to take two male goats and, by lot, mark one for God and one for Azazel. He is to slaughter the goat marked for God as a sin offering and use its blood to cleanse the Tent of Meeting, the altar, and the Holy of Holies of the sins of the people. Then Aaron is to confess all the sins of the Israelites over the goat for Azazel, and the goat is to be sent off into the wilderness.
In this portion, Moses is told further to instruct the Israelites that all meat is to be slaughtered in a ritual way before the Tent of Meeting. The people are reminded not to consume blood, for blood represents life itself, and not to eat of an animal that has died or been torn by wild beasts.
Finally, Moses details for the Israelites forbidden sexual relationships. Relationships between blood relations are considered incestuous. The Israelites are told not to copy the practices of the Egyptians or the Canaanites; rather, they are to live by God's laws and rules.
Synopsis: Parshat Kedoshim
In this portion, God tells Moses to instruct the entire Israelite community in the laws of holiness. The Israelites are to be holy because God is holy. Therefore, they are to observe the commandments and the laws of the sacrifices. They are to provide for the poor and the stranger, leaving the edges of the fields unharvested and the fallen fruits of their vineyards ungleaned, so that the needy can come and gather food.
The Israelites are told not to insult the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind and to show respect for the elderly. They are to be fair in judgment and in commerce and they are not to bear a grudge. Moses tells them further to love their neighbors as themselves and to love the strangers in their midst, for the Israelites were strangers themselves in the land of Egypt.
The Israelites are not to mix different species of cattle or seed and they are not to wear clothes made from a mixture of two kinds of material.
Moses also reviews the prohibited sexual relations and the punishments for these.
All these laws the Israelites are to observe so that they may be holy to God, Who has set them apart from other peoples, freed them from slavery in Egypt, and chosen them as God's people.
Synopses courtesy of Teaching Torah, by Sorel Goldberg Loeb and Barbara Binder Kadden
For your Shabbat table:
God told the Israelites that they would be holy. What do you think it means to be holy? How are you holy?
How can you act in a holy way?
What are some holy things that your family can do together that you could not do by yourself? How can doing these things together bring you closer to God?
In Parshat Kedoshim, we are told to respect the elderly. What does it mean to respect someone? How is it different from "honor"? Why do you think the Torah uses both these words? What word would you use to describe the ideal relationship between a child and a parent? Why do you think the Torah does not use the word "love"?
It's time for another double parsha! Since the Torah is divided into 54 portions, we often have weeks with two portions. Double the fun - or maybe not, in the case of this week's portions.
Parshat Tazria - Synopsis God tells Moses to instruct the Israelites that a woman who bears a son shall be impure for a total of 33 days, and a woman who bears a daughter for a period of 66 days. During the time of her impurity, she may not come into contact with anything or any place that is holy. When the period of impurity is over, the woman is instructed to bring an offering to the Tabernacle where the priest will make atonement on her behalf and declare her ritually pure.
Moses and Aaron are instructed in the diagnosis of tzara'at - an ailment which could affect human skin or clothing, rendering a person or garment ritually impure. Rashes, discolorations, and patches of the skin and clothes are examined by the priest who will determine the existence of this affliction. In cases of doubt, he is empowered to isolate the individual or article in question for a period of seven days in order to observe the progression of the ailment. At the end of such a period, the priest must pronounce the person ritually pure (tahor) or impure (metzora).
A garment which is found to be impure is to be burned.
A person who has been declared a metzora must tear their clothes, let their head covering shield their upper faces (as far as their lip), and call out "impure! impure!" Such a person shall be impure as long as the ailment persists, and that person must live outside the camp.
When it is reported to the priest that the metzora is healed, the priest must go outside the camp to make an examination. To render the personal ritually pure again, the priest shall make an offering and the individual shall shave off all hair, bathe, and wash all garments. After a waiting period of seven days, a second offering is made by the priest at the entrance to the Tabernacle. Then the person is ritually pure.
An alternate sacrifice is prescribed for a pure woman being purified after childbirth or for a poor person being cleansed after tzara'at.
Parshat Metzora - Synopsis God speaks to Moses and instructs him in the purification ritual for a leper who has been declared clean. Two clean birds are to be brought to the priest. One is ritually sacrifices, and the other bird is set free in the open country. After a week, the person to e purified shaves off all hair and bathes. This individual then brings a guilt offering and a sin offering. A rich person brings a large animal to be sacrificed; a poor person brings a small one. The procedure the priest is to follow is explained in detail.
The portion next deals with houses which appear to be affected by a plague. If, after a period of examination, it is determined that the house has a malignant eruption, the stones are replaced and the walls scraped and replastered. If the eruption does not reappear, the house is declared clean. A purification ceremony is detailed which includes the sacrifices of a bird. If the plague does reappear, the house is torn down.
Metzora concludes with a description of impurity arising from discharges from the sex organs. A man who has a discharge is unclean and this uncleanliness extends to any bedding he lies on, any object he sits on, anyone who touches his bedding or the objects on which he sat. Earthen vessels he touches are to be broken and wooden utensils are to be washed. Once the discharge is over, a period of purification follows ending with the bringing of a sin offering and a guilt offering.
If a man has an emission, he is to bathe and remains unclean until evening. If a man and a woman have sexual intercourse, they are to bathe and they remain unclean until evening.
A menstruating woman is also declared ritually impure; this impurity lasts seven days. Her uncleanliness extends to any bedding she lies on, any object on which she sits, anyone who comes in contact with her, and any objects she has touched. If a woman has a discharge other than her usual menstruation, the same laws as for menstruation apply. But in this case, she brings both a sin offering and a burnt offering.
Synopses are courtesy of Teaching Torah, by Sorel Goldberg Loeb and Barbara Binder Kadden
Questions to consider:
Much of what is outlined in each of these two parashas seems very foreign to how we live our lives today. We don't often consider other people in categories of purity as they did in biblical times. While we don't put people into categories of purity, who might be an "impure" person today?
Part of what is behind the rules in these portion is the concern of containing disease. This is certainly something we understand after the last few years. In these biblical times, the priests were concerned with protecting the Israelite community from leprosy, among other diseases and ailments. What "leprosies" plague modern life? How do we try to protect others from these "illnesses"? (hint: they could be illnesses, or it could be something else as well)
Nowhere in the text is there a suggestion as to possible cures for leprosy, although it does explore reasons as to why someone might be afflicted with it (some thought it was a punishment from God for malicious talk). In your view, what percentage of the cure of any illness is in the hands of the individual? the physician? up to God?
Do you think "ill talk" is deserving of such a disease? Should someone be punished for using malicious speech?
Torah Toons on these... different... Torah portions:
