בהר סיני, “at Mount Sinai.” Whenever the expression: “at Mount Sinai,” is used in the Torah, it refers to a point in time before Moses descended after his third lengthy stay on it in the month of Tishrey. In other words, the legislation described here had been revealed to Moses before the Tabernacle had been built. If these laws were recorded in the Book of Leviticus, and not in the Book of Exodus, seeing that Moses had descended the third time before events described at the end of the Book of Exodus, this is because the laws applied only after the Israelites had settled in their homeland, especially the laws governing Sh’mittah and Yovel, that are prominent in this portion; they are all laws applying also to the priests (although they were not real landowners) about whom most of the legislation in the Book of Leviticus revolves. When we consider that numerous laws were recorded in the second third and fourth Book of the Torah and repeated in the fifth Book by Moses, it is clear that laws that were not repeated by Moses in the fifth Book, must have been given to him already at Mount Sinai. The laws concerning the Sabbaths of the land in the seventh year, and the Sabbath of the land, and the freedom to be granted to the slaves, and the restoration of lands that had been sold under financial duress by their owner during a particular 50 year cycle known as yovel, belong to such categories. The laws about inheritance of the land and those that could be applied only after the Israelites had taken possession of the lands on the east Bank of the Jordan as well as a number of laws pertaining to land ownership were repeated once more. It appears therefore that if the Torah had to make a point here to emphasize that the laws had been given to Moses at Mount Sinai, we must assume that the general outline was given at Sinai to the people and the details were not revealed to them until realization of keeping them would draw near.

כי תבואו, “when you will come;” what follows will be applied after the land has been conquered, and distributed to the tribes who have settled there. If this were not so, what would be the meaning of such words as: “your vineyards, your fields,” unless the ownership of these fields and vineyards had already been established and each one of the people addressed knew the boundaries of their land?

ושבתה הארץ, “the land is to observe a rest, ‘Sabbatical;’” seeing that we might understand this term as referring only to a prohibition not to dig in the land for treasure, not to dig irrigation canals, etc., the Torah spells out that we must not plough, put seed in the ground, nor dig for wells, either. Neither must we perform work for the betterment of orchards or vineyards, which do not need to be ploughed every year.

שבת לה, “a Sabbath for the Lord;” the legislation is not because the land is tired after producing crops six years in a row, but the Sabbath of the land is to remind you that the land belongs to Me, though you are its tenants.

שבת לה; Rashi understands these words as meaning: “a Sabbath in honour of My name;” what he means is that you are not to understand this law as designed to teach you how to farm efficiently by giving the land a breather every seven years, but you are to demonstrate that you observe the Lord’s commandments.

שש שנים וגו, for six consecutive years you are to sow, etc;” this verse proves once again that the Torah is not bound to relate matters in a chronological order, else it would have written this verse before the verse about abstaining from agricultural activity during the seventh year. Actually, this paragraph has already appeared in Exodus 23,10, in the chronological order that we would expect. It is only being repeated here on account of the addition of the olive groves that were omitted here.

ואת ענבי נזזירן, “and the grapes of your undressed vine;” these are grapes which grew without any physical input by you. They correspond to what the Torah called ספיח קצירך, grain growing by itself during the seventh year of the sh’mittah cycle when you did not sow any seeds. Proof that this interpretation is correct, can be found in verse 11 in our chapter where ססיחיה and נזיריה, are mentioned side by side. Onkelos also understands לא תבצרו את נזיריה, as a prohibition to pluck those grapes.

שבת שבתון יהיה לארץ, “it shall be a year of solemn (complete) rest for the land.” The reason for this is that the land is not in your possession during that year.” (Ibn Ezra)

והיתה שבת הארץ לכם לאכלה, “what the earth produces during that year is for all of you to serve as food.” You are not obligated to tithe any part of it, nor to set it aside for the poor, as it is not yours to distribute. Neither is what it produces to be converted into libations to be offered in the Temple. (Sifra)

וספרת לך שבע שבתות שנים, ”you are to count for yourself 7 seven year cycles, seven times;” seeing that the Torah speaks of counting in the singular mode, i.e. by a single person, it addresses the High Court which will proclaim the start of the Jubilee year. There is no need to recite a benediction as is the case in Leviticus 23,15 when counting the omer; there two separate counts had been mentioned, days and weeks. This had been repeated also in Deuteronomy 16,9. One was meant for the individuals and one for the High Court.

תעבירו שופר בכל ארצכם, “sound the shofar throughout your land,” at all major highway junctions.

שנת החמישים שנה וקראתם דרור, “the fiftieth year, when you will proclaim freedom.” We find something similar with the Levites who retired from active service at the age of fifty, and they could not perform physical service anymore. (Numbers 8,25)

לכל יושביה, “for all its inhabitants;” seeing that the Torah wrote: ושבתם איש אל אחוזתו, “each man of you is to return to his ancestral heritage,” it would have sounded as if women did not possess ancestral land in Israel. Therefore the Torah also had to write: לכל יושביה, to all of its inhabitants no matter which sex. According to Sifra, this meaning has been derived from the word: תשובו, [which is a repetition. Ed.] לכל יושביה, “for all its inhabitants.” This is why as soon as even when only parts of the tribes had been exiled, this law could no longer be observed.

יובל היא, “it is a Jubilee year,” the expression יובל from the root יבל “to bring home,” reflects the extraordinary function of this year, namely to release slaves and to enable them to return to their original homes. Compare the use of this root in the transitive mode in Isaiah 23,7: יובילוה רגליה, “her own feet shall carry her far off”, or Psalms 60,11: מי יובילני עיר מצור?, ”would that I be brought to the fortified city!” Compare also Isaiah 18,7: ביום ההוא יובל שי, “on that day a gift will be brought from a people far removed.”[What follows really belongs to verse 10, the author may have had his reasons why he decided to place this here. Ed.]

לכם, “for to you Israel, exclusively.” (Ibn Ezra).

יובל היא שנת החמישים שנה, “it, i.e. the fiftieth year is a Jubilee;” on the face of it the meaning of this line is not clear, nor why it is needed, seeing that the Torah had written the same words already in verse 10. We therefore need to understand this as follows: seeing that the Torah had written in verse 10 that we are to sanctify this year, that the meaning was that we should do so from the beginning of the year already, and that at the end of that year its special sanctity would continue for ten days until the Day of Atonement, as it is a custom to always add to, and thereby include, something secular, so that it also becomes something holy, the Torah, by repeating this line, teaches that the sanctity of that year does not extend beyond the end of its calendar year, i.e. Rosh hashanah. (Talmud, tractate Rosh Hashanah folio 8)

מן השדה תאכלו, “you will eat from whatever the field yields on its own.” Nothing had been planted during that year, of course. The Torah promises that there will nonetheless be a harvest. However, we are not to bring that “harvest’’ home to our barns for storage., exclusively.” (Ibn Ezra).

,וכי תמכרו ממכר, “and if you sell something to your neighbour, etc.” this includes the selling of chattels. How do we know that the law concerning overcharging does not apply to real estate transactions?The Torah continues with או קנה מיד עמיתך, אל תונו, “or you buy something from your neighbour’s hand, do not overcharge;” things that are passed from hand to hand are subject to the laws governing overcharging. Real estate which stays put, does not fall into that category.

אל תונו איש את אחיו ,“do not cheat one another.” How does one “cheat? By selling a piece of land for more than its worth, seeing that it is going to have to be returned to the seller in the Yovel year. If it is a property that is not subject to return to its original owner in the Jubilee year, then the term “overcharging” cannot be applied, as what he had sold was not a fixed amount of harvests expected. This is the meaning of the Rabbis having said that the law of overcharging does not apply to real estate.

ועשיתם את חקותי, “You will keep My laws;” this is a reference to all laws pertaining to land in the Holy Land and any laws subject to being performed only in the Holy Land as much as they apply during the sh’mittah and Yovel years.

ואת משפטי, “and My ordinances;” for instance the prohibition to overcharge.(verse 14)

וישבתם על הארץ לבטח, “if you do this you will live in this and securely.” Your security will be bound up with your loyalty to G-d’s Torah.

וישבתם לבטח עליה, “you will dwell safely in it.” The land itself will provide you with its strength so that your enemies cannot consume you. \compare Judges 6,3: ועלה מדין ועמלק, “and the Midianites and the Amalekites would come up (and raid them.) During serious times of hardship, they would not only raid you but would exile some of you and not leave any food for you to be able to subsist on.

לשלש שנים, “ the three years. The three years are the sh’mittah year, the yovel year, and the year following it.

לא תמכר לצמיתות, “do not sell with a clause to override the yovel year, i.e. for always. The expression צמיתות, means something absolute, complete separation. Compare Psalms 94,23: 'יצמיתם ה, “the Lord will destroy them utterly, (beyond chance of recovery)

לצמיתות, the vowel under the prefix ל sometime is a chirik, not a patach as in verse 30, to show that the vowel in that verse refers to the purchaser, whereas here it refers to the seller.

גאולה תתנו לארץ, “you shall grant redemption to the land,” so that it is clear that it had not been sold but only mortgaged as a loan. (Rash’bam)

וגאל את ממכר אחיו, “he shall redeem what his brother had been forced to “sell,” i.e. his body, immediately. When referring to the seller, who had “sold his land,” because of financial distress, however, according to the (Sifra), the Torah adds a proviso, (verse 32) that the law of redemption applies only after a number of years had elapsed, as the interests of the purchaser had to be considered, seeing that he had acted in good faith.

והשיגה ידו, “and he had again become wealthy;” either because he inherited wealth, or because he found a treasure, for instance. He is not however, permitted to secure a loan in order to buy back his property with some else’s money. (Sifra)

כדי גאולתו, “sufficient in order to redeem it.” This teaches that the redemption process cannot be exercised piecemeal.(Sifra) This would have implied that he resents the person who at the time when the seller had been in need, had bought the property from him.

בית מושב עיר חומה, “a dwelling house in a fortified (walled) city;” seeing that the city is walled, the land inside it clearly was not meant ever to be used for agricultural purposes. This being so, G-d did not decree that if sold it had to revert to its original owner in the Jubilee year. The Jubilee legislation refers only to land that serves as its owner’s basic source of making a livelihood. An alternate interpretation: when someone buys himself a house in a walled city, he may be presumed to have done so with the intent of keeping it permanently. Most people do not feel comfortable when living in rented homes as they are always worried that the owner would not renew their rental contract at a price they could afford. This is why the Torah adds: לא יצא ביבל, “it will not revert in the Jubilee year.” However, fields and houses bordering on fields, not walled in, are all subject to the rules of the Yovel legislation, being given back to the original owner free of any charge to be paid by that owner. Both of these kinds of property are more often leased than purchased.

שנת ממכרו, “not the calendar year, but the year relevant to the 50 year cycle of the Yovel, which repeats itself as if moving in a circle.” (Sifra).

ימים, “years.” In other words, a year is not complete until the sun reverts to its original position in the following year.

שנה תמימה, “a full year.” In the event that this particular year was declared a leap year, this works to the advantage of the person wishing to redeem it. (Sifra)

בעיר אשר לא חומה, the word לא here is read as if it had been spelled לו, “his.” The reason for this is that it refers to the word ואיש at the beginning of the paragraph. At the beginning of that year that house had a wall around it. The word שדה is masculine, as we know from Leviticus 27,21 והיה השדה בצאתו, “and the field will be when it (he) goes out etc.”

לו חומה לצמיתות, “which (city) has a wall will be his (the purchaser’s) in perpetuity.” The vowel under the letter ל in לצמיתות is a patach, just as the vowel under the letter ל under the word לקונה אותו, at the end of the verse.

ובתי החצרים, “but the houses of the villages;” seeing that such houses are frequently transformed into fields, they are considered as an integral part of the legislation as it applies to fields, which means that they revert to the original owner in the Jubilee year. (Compare Ibn Ezra in his abbreviated commentary).

גאולת עולם תהיה ללוים, “the Levites will have an unlimited period during which to redeem their houses.” It does not matter if these houses are part of a walled city or of open villages, they are never sold in perpetuity, seeing that they are the only ancestral property the Levites own in the Holy Land as spelled out clearly in Numbers 35,3: והיו הערים להם לשבת ומגרשיהם יהיו לבהמתם ולרכושם ולכל חיתם,” and they shall have these cities to dwell in, and their open land shall be for their cattle and for their substance and for all their beasts.”

ואשר יגאל מן הלוים, “and if he redeems (buys) it from the Levites;” there is a special reason why purchase is called “redemption” by the Torah. The reason is that whatever the Levites sell originated with the ordinary Israelites from whose tithes, etc., they made their living. After all, they never had an ancestral share of land in the land of Israel. This means that whatever they sell had originally been owned by Israelites. The Levite therefore feels as if he had “redeemed” it from an Israelite.

ויצא ממכר בית, Rashi had to choose between two different interpretations of these words, and it is clear that he chose the second alternative according to which: “then the house which has been sold will revert in the Jubilee year;”

הוא אחוזתם, a masculine mode for possession, with the vowel shuruk. We find the same construction in verse 34 אחוזת עולם הוא להם, “it is a possession in perpetuity for them.”

והחזקתי בו,”you shall uphold him;” in case anyone thought that he should be supported even if he had turned to criminal activities, the Torah cautions: עמך, “only as long as he conducts himself legally correct.”

אל תקח מאתו נשך ותרבית, “do not accept from him any kind of interest or increase.” This paragraph has been repeated in the Torah when the Torah worded it in the inverted form as: “do not pay the lender interest or increase.” (verse 42, speaking of food.)

את כספך, “your money;” the emphasis is on the pronoun “your; it is perfectly legal to lend money at interest when it is a gentile’s money. (A Jewish bank administering funds deposited by a gentile, may charge a Jew interest for such loans.)

אשר הוצאתי אתכם מארץ מצרים, “Who has taken you out from the land of Egypt, while you had remained strangers there.” (Compare Ibn Ezra)

כשכיר כתושב יהיה עמך, “as a hired servant and as a settler he shall be amongst you.” Both of these categories of people are hired hands; the difference between the first and the second category is that the first category consists of people hired on a day to day basis, while “settlers” have been hired for a year at a time. You are clearly not able to demand overly taxing work from a worker hired only for a day, as he would simply not come back on the next day if he felt taken advantage of; the Torah warns you not to take advantage of the fact that the “settler” does not have that legal option. (B’chor shor)

עד שנת היובל יעבוד עמך, “he must serve you until the Jubilee year.” When the Torah had written earlier that you must proclaim liberty for all slaves in the Jubilee year, (verse 10), that had referred to a slave sold into slavery by the court. Here the Torah speaks of people who had sold themselves into slavery because of financial stress not because they had stolen and could not repay their victim.

הוא ובניו עמו, “he and his sons with him.” Generally speaking, people who sell themselves are destitute. This being so, it may be assumed that when the father sold himself he included his children in the sale and they had agreed to this as where would they find sustenance if not with the father’s master?

ושב אל משפחתו, “and he will return to his family;” the first part of the paragraph dealt with people sold by the court, the latter half with people who sold themselves due to financial stress.

לא תרדה בו, “do not force him to perform unnecessary tasks just to keep him busy.” The reason why the Torah repeats this warning is because, sadly, exploitation of slaves has become a common practice.

או לעקר, this term is the reverse of a תושב, settler. The literal meaning is “someone uprooted;” such people have been uprooted from their land, their people, and they are literally “rootless.”

משנת המכרו לו עד שנת היובל, “from the year he had sold himself to him until the Jubilee year.” This is to remind you that this slave does not leave his master’s employ after six years. (Sifra)

ואם לא יגאל באלה, “and if he is not redeemed by any of these means;” this is a reference to either the years remaining until the next Jubilee year, or to relatives of his;

ויצא בשנת היובל, “he will go free in the Jubilee year,” but not after six years.

הוא ובניו עמו, “he and his sons with him.” Release of the father automatically includes release of his children. This is a moral lesson to teach us not to act like the gentiles act with their slaves. (B’chor shor)

כי לי בני ישראל עבדים, “for the Children of Israel are My servants;” previously the Torah wrote: כי עבדי הם, “for My servants are they;” (verse 42) on that occasion G-d had added that they were His servants already in Egypt and He contrasted this to show that someone who is His servant could not possibly be sold legally to anyone else, i.e. one Jew to another as they are both G-d’s servants (slaves) [Jews cannot opt out of their people or religion which are tied up one with other. Ed.] If such a Jew had been sold to a gentile, a member of another nation, I might have thought that this is not objectionable. The Torah therefore makes the point that it is equally objectionable.