91快播

Yom Yerushalayim鈥擨nhabiting the Land

May 1, 2013 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary | Behar | Behukkotai | Yom Yerushalayim

Our double Torah portion opens with God鈥檚 command to Moses to tell the Israelites, 鈥淲hen you come to the land that I am giving you, and you inhabit the land.鈥� No sooner did I read this verse as I prepared to write these words of Torah, than my own counting of the days flashed back 46 years to my first time ever in Israel, when I was a teenager on Camp Ramah Israel Seminar.

Behar-Behukkotai

Jan 1, 1980

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: ² Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:

When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of the Lord.

Behar

Jan 1, 1980

⁶ Jeremiah said: The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷ Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you and say, “Buy my land in Anathoth, for you are next in succession to redeem it by purchase.”

Behar

Jan 1, 1980

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: ² Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:

When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of the Lord.

Peacemaking and the Quest for Holiness

May 9, 2014 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Behar

The book of Leviticus could not be clearer on the point that extraordinary action is called for as part of the Israelite鈥檚 calling to be 鈥渉oly unto the Lord your God.鈥� 

God鈥檚 Earth: Between Blessing and Curse

May 15, 2015 By Arnold M. Eisen | Commentary | Behar | Behukkotai

Here is Leviticus鈥攊n many ways the most intimate of the Torah鈥檚 five books, because it usually meets us frail, mortal, human beings where we live, in our skins and with our families, in private spaces of home and tabernacle鈥攊nstructing us as a society, as a species, that divine blessings of rain and sun will turn to curses if we do not do our part in stewarding God鈥檚 earth properly. The text insists that a fateful choice is in our hands. And it seems far from confident that we will make the choice wisely.