בהר סיני, “at Mount Sinai;” all the portions preceding this one from the beginning of the Book of Leviticus had been revealed to Moses from the Tabernacle, (G–d’s voice emanating from the top of the Hoy Ark) and they all concerned laws of importance for the service in the Tabernacle in one way or another. The two portions commencing here had been revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai, as they neither concerned the Tabernacle nor the priests. This is the reason why the Torah here added the words: “at Mount Sinai.” Nonetheless, they were included in the Book of Leviticus, seeing that they deal with the laws of sh’mittah and Yovel as well as the laws of Erchin and Charamim which are administered by the priests. In verse 9 of our chapter the Torah decrees the blowing of the shofar on the tenth of Tishrey when the Jubilee year officially begins. This blowing of the shofar was performed by one of the priests. The fact that this blowing of the shofar when required was performed by the priests is documented in Numbers chapter 10, verse 8. In order that we should not think that these laws were issued from the Tabernacle, the Torah added the words: בהר סיני, “at Mount Sinai.”

וספרת לך, “you shall count for yourself;” at first glance we might think that this instruction to count concerns days and weeks just like during the days between Passover and the festival of Shavuot;” if you were to say that we have Leviticus 15,28 where a similar construction is found in connection with a woman experiencing a vaginal discharge at times which do not coincide with her menses, we would have to say that the reason there is to teach us that the Torah warns her not to interrupt her counting during the days before she can regain ritual purity. If she would miss counting a single day, the blessings would have been futile.

וכי תאמרו, “if you were to say, etc.;” this sounds peculiar as to why would people worry in the sixth year about what they would have to eat in the seventh year, seeing that they ploughed, seeded and harvested in that year so that they would have food for a year? We must understand this verse as having been abbreviated; the Torah meant to quote them as saying in the seventh year: “what will we have to eat in the eighth year?”

כי ימוך אחיך ומכר מאחוזתו, “if your brother has become impoverished, and as a result had been forced to sell part of his ancestral land holdings;” the Torah implies that this misfortune befell him because he sold the crop that grew in his field during the seventh year. (Compare Rashi) We do indeed find a similar verse that during the period of the prophet Jeremiah, as recorded in Chronicles II 36,20, that the Israelites were forced to sell themselves as slaves to the gentiles in fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah, who had stated that this situation would last until the soil of the land of Israel would once more find favour in G–d’s eyes, having paid back the sh’mittah years it had been worked during the seventy years of the first exile.

ובא גואלו, “and his redeemer arrives;” this is a reference to Hashem Who is the Redeemer. We know this from Deuteronomy 4,7: אשר לו אלהים קרובים אליו, “who has the Lord near to him.” (Moses refers to Hashem being constantly close to His people)

וגאל את ממכר אחיו, “who will redeem what his brother had been forced to sell.” The following dialogue is reported as having occurred between the prophet Jeremiah and G–d: “Lord of the universe! You who fulfil the promise of redeeming the Jewish people whom You have referred to as Your brothers, as we know from Psalms 122,8: למען אחי ורעי אדברה-נא שלום בך, “for the sake of My brothers and friends, I pray for your well being;” we also have a similar line in Isaiah 43,14:, “for your sake I have sent to Babylon, etc.” למענכם שלחתי בבלה. [The prophet quotes G–d as reminding the Jewish people that He had sent the Babylonians into exile on account of what they had done to His people. Ed.]

ואיש כי ימכור בית מושב עיר חומה, “and if a man had to sell a house (his) in a walled city, etc.” the “man” described here as a “man,” is none other than the Lord. He had been described as such in Exodus 15,3: ה' איש מלחמה, “The Lord is a man of war.” The expression is a euphemism for “Master, overlord.” We find the expression also used in Ruth 1,3, where the husband of Naomi, Elimelech, is described as איש נעמי, as opposed to בעל נעמי, to show the reader that if Naomi agreed to leave the land of Israel it was because her husband was her overlord, and she had no other choice. In our verse the expression בית-מושב, the house of his residence, is the same as if the Torah had written: מושב ביתו, his residence, i.e. his house. He sold it to gentiles. The addition of the word מושב is to alert the reader to Psalms 132,13: כי בחר ה' בציון אוה למושב לו, “for the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it as His residence.” [His people being exiled, is equivalent to His being exiled from Earth. Ed.] The previous owner of such a house has only one year during which he can redeem it and it becomes the permanent property of the person who had bought it. [Houses are not considered ancestral properties, which revert back to the original owner or his heirs in the Jubilee year. Ed.] G–d had promised to redeem His land after 70 years, (compare Jeremiah 29,10, [at which time the Babylonian Empire was replaced by the Persian Empire. Ed.]

לתת לכם את ארץ כנען, “to give you the land of Canaan;” the Talmud, tractate Ketuvot folio 110, uses this verse to make the following statement: “basically a Jew is to make his home in the land of Israel even if at that time most of the inhabitants in that land are gentiles. He should not choose to live in the Diaspora, as a Jew who voluntarily lives outside the Holy Land, is considered as if he did not have a G–d.” The Talmud bases this statement on the conclusion of our verse: להיות לכם לאלהים, “to be for you as G–d.” David also made a statement of a similar nature when he said in Samuel I 26,19: כי גרשוני היום מהסתפח בנחלת ה' לאמור לך עבוד אלוהים אחרים, “for they have driven me out today so that I cannot have a share in the Lord’s ancestral property, but they told me: ”go and worship other gods!”

וכי תשיג יד גר, “if an alien settler has grown wealthy, etc.” the word גר here is a veiled reference to the Persian-Medes Empire.

או לעקר משפחת גר, “or to the offshoot of a stranger’s family.” This is a euphemism for the Roman Empire, which in due course, will be uprooted,” אחרי נמכר גאולה תהיה לו, “after it has been sold, it is subject to redemption.” This is based on Isaiah 63,4: כי יום נקם בלבי ושנת גאולי תהיה לי, “for I had planned a day of vengeance, and my year of redemption has arrived.”

אחד מאחיו יגאלנו, “one of his brethren is to redeem him.” Our author assumes that the “brother” referred to is Hashem. He is both “one,” i.e. “unique,” and a brother to the Jews in exile. We know this from Psalms 122,8: למען אחי רעי, “for the sake of My brethren and friends.”

או דודו, “or his uncle;” this is also a reference to another attribute of Hashem, as we know from Song of Songs 5,16: זה דודי ורעי, “this is my uncle and good friend.”

או בן דודו, “or the son of his uncle, his cousin;” this is a reference to the Messiah, of whom it is said in Psalms 2,7: בני אתה, “you are My son.” [The subject being Hashem. (Compare comment in Talmud tractate Sukkah folio 52.

או השיגה ידו, “or he has become wealthy;” as a result of performing the commandments of the Torah; so that he was able to redeem himself.

וחשב עם קונהו, “and he makes an accounting with his master” (the one who had purchased his labour). The unusual word used by the Torah here for “his master,” suggests that the Torah speaks of his master Esau, here on earth (while Israel is in exile).

כימי שכיר יהיה עמו, “in whose debt he remains seeing that he had not yet rendered all the labour that he undertaken to perform.” We find a simile for this in Psalms 72,10, where the Kings of Tarshish and the various islands in the sea are described by King Solomon as paying tribute to him, first and foremost the Queen of Sheba.

לא ירדנו בפרך, “he shall not rule over him with rigour.” The gentile nations hosting the Israelites in exile are commanded not to take unfair advantage of the Israelites who have become their slaves. (Compare Talmud, tractate Ketuvot, folio 111.)

ואם לא יגאל באלה, “and if he will not be redeemed by any of the aforementioned means;” the “means” referred to are the laws concerning how to deal with a servant, (Exodus 21,1) i.e. the Jew in exile still has not learned to observe the laws of the Torah; G–d promises that at a time of His choosing there will be an end to the exile, regardless. ויצא בשנת היובל, “he will go free in the Jubilee year;” G–d has set aside such a time as we know from Isaiah 27,13: והיה ביום ההוא יתקע בשופר גדול ובאו האובדים מארץ אשור והנדחים בארץ מצרים, “it will be on that day a great ram’s horn shall be sounded; and the stranded who are in the land of Assyria, and the expelled in the Land of Egypt shall come, etc.”

הוא ובניו עמו, “He and his sons with Him;” G–d together with His people will return from exile, as we know from Deuteronomy 30,3: ושב וקבצך, He will return and gather you in;” note that Moses does not say that G–d will bring the Israelites back but that “He together with the Israelites will return from exile.” (Compare Talmud M’gillah folio 29)

כי לי בני ישראל עבדים, “for the Children of Israel are My servants.” They are not the slaves of Esau.

אני ה' אלוקיכם, “I am the Lord your G–d.” We also have the corresponding negative commandment: לא תעשו לכם אלילם, “do not make idols for yourselves!” Why is the repetition of this commandment appropriate at this juncture? Seeing that G–d has just promised us that He will redeem us from exile, He provides the reason why, in spite of everything, He feels compelled to do so. After all, at least we have been loyal in observing the law not to make idols for ourselves. (Exodus 20,3)