Behar / Bechukotai
(at mount…/in my statutes)
Lev. 25:1 - 27:34

Several years ago,  there was a popular movie about a sports agent who had lost most of his clients.  When he asks his last client what it would take to keep him as his agent, the reply came back SHOW ME THE MONEY!  That phrase caught on everywhere.   Show me the money is the motivation for living in the lives of many people.  But the Torah has called us to be a different kind of people.

This week's Torah portion serves as a wonderful example of the fact that charity is a hallmark of  Torah. Since Torah is the bedrock of "Judeo-Christian"  morality, charity then serves as a hallmark of both Judaism and Christianity. The Torah calls us not to greed but to caring for others. According to Meir Tamari in his book Jewish Values in Our Open Society  a major stumbling block in the path to holiness is power of the "economic yezer hara" or economic evil inclination or the sin of greed. In order to counter this natural tendency, there are many commands in Torah to show charity to others - the opposite of Show Me The Money.

Chapter 25 of Leviticus is about the Sabbatical year and the year of Jubilee. These were specific times when slaves would set free and people would be forgiven of debts. These, however are not the only places in Torah where grace and mercy is found regarding the idea of giving. In last week's portion, in chapter 23 we read that when the harvest is brought in,  , you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien 23:22 .  In Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:18 we read, You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD,…In the Talmud this was understood to mean that even if according to law you have a right  to claim money or something of value from another person it is better to take the "good way". That is, to go beyond the letter of the law - to shows grace and mercy beyond the letter of Torah. According to S.R. Hirsch the great Jewish commentator on Torah, "we are not to obey merely the dictates of right and duty explicitly set forth in the Law, but we must let ourselves be guided by the goodness and right that are implicit in Torah…where there is a higher and positive good purpose, one should be ready to forgo even those rights to which the Law entitles one."

This is exactly what Yeshua meant when he said, You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.' "But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. "If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also."Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two."Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

May we learn from Yeshua and the Sages of Israel that to be a holy people means to be a giving, charitable people.

Shabbat Shalom!