{"id":2901,"date":"2018-05-06T18:36:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-06T18:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/batkol.info\/?p=2901"},"modified":"2018-05-06T18:36:00","modified_gmt":"2018-05-06T18:36:00","slug":"parashat-behar-bechukotai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/2018\/05\/06\/parashat-behar-bechukotai\/","title":{"rendered":"Parashat Behar \/ Bechukotai"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shabbat Table Talk<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Parashat Behar\/Bechukotai <\/em><\/strong>\u2013 Erev Shabbat 11 May 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

Week of 6-12 May 2018\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Torah portion<\/em><\/strong>: Leviticus 25:1-27:34 Haftarah<\/strong>: Jer 16:19-17:14<\/em><\/p>\n

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Download<\/a><\/p>\n

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T<\/em><\/strong>here are two powerful themes in Behar<\/em>. One is that the land belongs to the lord: \u201cfor the land is Mine; you are but strangers resident with Me.\u201d (Lv 25:23). \u00a0The other is that the status quo<\/em> should not be allowed to last. Every seventh year the fields are to lie fallow; every fiftieth year is a jubilee year, in which the land lies fallow, land that has been sold is returned to the original owner, and Israelite slaves are freed.<\/p>\n

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Both these themes occur throughout the Bible.\u00a0 Its very first verse tells us that \u201cin the beginning the lord created the heavens and the earth.\u201d\u00a0 Creation belongs to the Creator. And the idea that the lord lifts up the lowly and deposes the mighty appears throughout, e.g<\/em>. in the Psalms, in the prayer of Hannah (1 Sam 2:4-8) and in the song of Mary (Lk 1:51-53): \u201cYou have deposed the mighty from their thrones\/and raised the lowly to high places; You have filled the hungry with good things\/and the rich you have sent away empty.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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To what extent the laws of the jubilee year were actually carried out is a matter for scholarly debate. And no wonder\u2014they ask a lot from human nature. \u00a0To judge from the world today, we seem to have trouble accepting that \u201cthe earth is the lord\u2019s\u201d (Ps 24:1) As individuals we think \u2018this land is mine\u2019 and as citizens of nations \u2018this land is ours\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet in the world today there are more than 20 million displaced people, about one-quarter of them from Syria. \u00a0They no longer have a land to call their own. \u00a0Nations vary in how they have responded to this humanitarian crisis. Some have shown remarkable generosity in welcoming refugees; others have not.\u00a0 What lies behind the reluctance to welcome refugees seems to be the fear that the host nation will be altered for the worse.\u00a0 But if we really believe that the whole world, including our part of it, belongs to God, how can we leave people in refugee camps and deny them a decent place to live in the world God has made for all?<\/p>\n

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Many people are happy to fill the hungry with good things but not to such an extent that we ourselves are sent away empty. In \u201cWe give thee but thine own,\u201d Karen Hamilton, a minister of the United Church of Canada, uses Torah (Dt 26:1-11) in her powerful condemnation of measured generosity, in which the haves give a little so that the have nots can have a bit more:<\/p>\n

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It is the very first of all the fruits and crops of the land that the people are to bring before God in thanksgiving\u2026. In a time and place in which agriculture was often at subsistence level, when famine often lurked just around the corner, it was significant to give in this way\u2026. Some of our ancestors in the faith, not too many generations back\u2026gave like that; they gave to God through the church the first of what they had.\u00a0 Today, those of us who respond in praise and thanksgiving, tend to give to God\u2014through the church or through other important routes in our society\u2014not the first of all we have and make, but rather the last, the leftover, the excess.\u00a0 As a nation, we [Canadians] are unwilling to give in foreign aid to the starving, dying peoples of the world\u2014even 0.7% of our gross national product, something that our country originally proposed would be a way to heal God\u2019s hurting children of the world.\u00a0 It is a scandal.<\/p>\n

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Reflection:<\/em><\/strong> \u00a0<\/strong>Think about how you as an individual and how your country could give more. What would you be prepared to give up?\u00a0 How would you respond to those who say a nation should look after its own people?<\/p>\n

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Bibliography<\/em><\/strong>: \u00a0Hamilton, Karen A. The Acceptable Year of the Lord: Preaching the Old Testament with Faith, Finesse and Fervour <\/em>(Novalis, 2008), p. 253<\/p>\n

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This week\u2019s teaching commentary is by<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Anne Morton, Winnipeg, Canada<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bat Kol alum 2010<\/p>\n

Email: anmorton@mymts.net<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>[Copyright \u00a9 2018]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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PLEASE NOTE<\/em><\/strong>: The weekly Parashah commentaries represent the research and creative thought of their authors, and are meant to stimulate deeper thinking about the meaning of the Scriptures. While they draw upon the study methods and sources employed by the Bat Kol Institute, the views and conclusions expressed in these commentaries are solely those of their authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of Bat Kol.\u00a0\u00a0 The commentaries, along with all materials published on the Bat Kol website, are copyrighted by the writers, and are made available for personal and group study, and local church purposes. Permission needed for other purposes.\u00a0 Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome.<\/em><\/p>\n

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B<\/em><\/strong>at <\/em><\/strong>K<\/em><\/strong>ol <\/em><\/strong>I<\/em><\/strong>nstitute for Jewish Studies, <\/em><\/strong>J<\/em><\/strong>erusalem<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

~~<\/em><\/strong>1983<\/em><\/strong>–2018<\/strong><\/em>~~<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cChristians Studying the Bible within its Jewish milieu, using Jewish Sources.<\/em>\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Website:<\/em><\/strong> www.batkol.info<\/strong>;<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Parashat Admin: <\/em><\/strong>gill@batkol.info<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Shabbat Table Talk Parashat Behar\/Bechukotai \u2013 Erev Shabbat 11 May 2018 Week of 6-12 May 2018\u00a0 \u00a0Torah portion: Leviticus 25:1-27:34 Haftarah: Jer 16:19-17:14 \u00a0 Download \u00a0 There are two powerful themes in Behar. One is that the land belongs to the lord: \u201cfor the land is Mine; you are but strangers resident with Me.\u201d (Lv…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":2902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2901"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ratisbonne.org.il\/bk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}