"The Jubilee year is marked by three chief features. First, the land is to lie fallow. According to the plain sense of Leviticus 25: 8 and to the Jewish tradition, the Jubilee year follows the seventh sabbatical year –that is, there are to be two consecutive years without agricultural activity. Second, all landed property which has been sold is to revert to its original owners, the families that received it, when the land was apportioned by lot after conquest (Joshua 13:21). Third, Hebrew slaves are to receive their liberty. The intent of these provisions is stated explicitly in the text. The land is God’s property which He has made available for the use of His people (Leviticus 25:23). It is not to be exploited for the enrichment of some individuals to the detriment of others"

These laws regarding the Jubilee year, as other laws in the book of Leviticus sound foreign to our modern understanding. We are not dealing any more with slaves and the agricultural terminology is not familiar to us, who have lived all our lives in big cities or small towns. Also, in our occidental society we can hardly understand a commandment, which forces us to return God’s land to its original owners. Moreover, the entire idea of God’s property on the entire earth sounds totally absurd at the end of the second millennium when political leaders trace lines on a world map deciding the destiny of thousands of human beings.

However, we believe that the Torah carries an old-new message in its sacred words, and because all its details are filled with wisdom, we need to try to look for a deeper meaning behind the words of our verse.

I believe the Torah wants to share –in its words- a very important lesson: Ownership of property or people is an illusion. An illusion created by arrogant people who placed themselves in the place of God. The Torah teaches us that circumstances could bring a piece of land to move from its original hands (designated by God in the time of Joshua) to other’s hands. Also people, without the possibility of working the land, could occasionally need to sell themselves as slaves. However, the Torah reminds us that all these circumstances are temporary. Today, in our arrogance, we think we own the land, but tomorrow the same land will receive our lifeless body. Today we command people as to what to do, but tomorrow we’ll need to give an accounting for our actions before the King of kings, the Holy One, praised be He.

We are commanded to remember each day of our entire life, twice a day that God took us out of the Egyptian bondage. How can someone who was a slave be arrogant? How can someone who was oppressed, oppress others?

The Torah is telling us: "You shall proclaim freedom throughout the land for all its inhabitants" (Leviticus 25: 10). Rabbi Aharon Yaacov Greenberg, in his book "Yiturei Torah" brings the commentary of Penei Yehoshua to our verse: "It is not written ‘You shall proclaim freedom for all the slaves’ but ‘for all the inhabitants’. Why does the Torah choose these words? Are all the inhabitants of the land of Israel slaves that you shall proclaim freedom to all of them? Penei Yehoshua explains : When you have a country where some of its inhabitants are slaves, all the inhabitants are considered slaves, because slavery is a plague that affects the slave and his lord at the same time. Slavery not only puts harsh work on people, but also separates families. That is the reason we read in our verse: "you shall return each man to his family" (Leviticus 25: 10). The first thing that all slavery systems do is to split families. That is what is happening today in Kosovo; that was the first thing the Nazis –may their name and memory be destroyed- did; that was the same thing Pharaoh did with our forefathers in Egypt.

So, one of the most important steps towards a true liberation is the reunification of the families, in a physical and spiritual sense, to bring together the gap between the generations. As Moses said to Pharaoh: "With our youngsters and with our elders shall we go, with our sons and with our daughters" (Exodus 10:9).

Finally, the Torah mentions in our verse another important ingredient of this true freedom: "you shall return each man to his ancestral heritage" (Leviticus 25: 10). In a literal sense, our verse is speaking of returning to a piece of land. However, the word "Heritage" has a rich meaning in English as well as in Hebrew. Heritage is not only a physical one, but a spiritual as well.

All of us have a "Heritage", a treasure our parents received from their parents and their parents from their parents. A 3500 years old "Heritage" is waiting for each of us.

Many years ago, our grandparents brought their "Heritage" from Europe, a "Heritage" filled with traditions, faith and meaning. When years passed, we asked ourselves: Does this "Heritage" belong to me? Why isn’t it familiar to me? We alienated ourselves from our "Heritage" but it is still waiting for us.

We read in the book of Proverbs: "For I have given you a good teaching, do not forsake My Torah" (Proverbs 4:2) "It is a tree of life for those who grasp it, and its supporters are praiseworthy" (Proverbs 3:18) "Its ways are ways of pleasantness and its paths are peace" (Proverbs 3:17)

"Bring us back to You, Hashem, and we shall return, renew our days as of old" (Lamentations 5:21)

Shabbat Shalom!