בהר סיני, at Mount Sinai. We need to know why the Torah found it necessary to mention that this legislation was revealed at Mount Sinai. While it is true that our sages in Torat Kohanim explain that this is merely a reminder of the fact that all the commandments were given to Moses at Mount Sinai, both in general terms as well as in all their details, this does not answer the question why the Torah selected this commandment to remind us of that fact. It would have made much better sense to state this fact either when relating the first or the last of the Torah's commandments. Perhaps the fact that here G'd describes His gift to the Jewish people, the land of Israel, prompted Him to remind the people that the gift of the land was conditional on the people observing the commandments they had accepted at the time they stood at Mount Sinai and received the Ten Commandments. The present tense, i.e. אשר אני נותן ties the gift to Mount Sinai where the Israelites undertook to keep the Torah.

Another reason may be related to a statement we find in Avodah Zarah 20 and considered as binding by Maimonides in chapter 3 of his treatise called Zechiyah. Here is what Maimonides writes: "It is forbidden to give a gift to a pagan (unless it is in return for services rendered)." We must remember that prior to acceptance of the Torah by the Jewish people they themselves were legally in the category of pagans, i.e. G'd could not legally make a gift of the land of Israel to the Jewish people until they offered some value in return. He could only give the land of Israel to them after the revelation at Mount Sinai. G'd alluded to this when the Torah mentioned Mount Sinai as the reason for "the land which I am about to give to you." This also answers the question why G'd had to say: "which I am giving to you." There was never any doubt that it was G'd from whom we would receive this gift so that we could have erred if the Torah did not repeat it. You will note that in Leviticus 19,23 where the Torah legislates about the ערלה restrictions the subject is introduced as follows: "when you come to the land and plant fruit-bearing trees, etc." In that instance the Torah did not mention who gives the land to the Israelites, etc. This supports our theory about why G'd selected the example of our verse to teach us that the gift of the land of Israel is tied to the experience at Mount Sinai.

דנר אל בני ישראל, "speak to the children of Israel, etc." The reason the Torah repeats דבר ואמרת is that this legislation involves both a prohibition to work the land (for a limited period) as well as denying oneself ownership of what one's field or orchard produces during that year (especially the fruit of the trees which grow without planting). The Torah uses the relatively harsh expression דבר to introduce the prohibition to work the land seeing it is difficult for a farmer to reconcile himself to such a commandment. The expresssion ואמרת applies to the requirement to declare one's produce הפקר, i.e. accessible to anyone who finds it, something which does not involve too much hardship as the farmer becomes the beneficiary of his neighbour's parallel declaration. Moreover, G'd's promise that the land would produce an extra generous harvest during the sixth year of the cycle (compare verse 21) will gladden the heart of the farmer and reconcile him to loss of ownership of what his own field or orchard produces during the seventh year.

Another reason why the apparent duplication of דבר ואמרת is justified is the dual nature of the "Sabbath" i.e. rest, of the land. One aspect of this legislation is that the King commanded us to let the land lie fallow, ergo we carry out this command. 2) Although the practical performance of this commandment involves the relationship between man and man rather than the relationship between man and G'd, our obligation to comply is anchored in our relationship with G'd, i.e. the fact that the gift of the land to the Jewish people had been made conditional on our observing the Torah. When G'd did not say: "I have given you the land," but "I am giving you the land," He made it plain that the condition which is attached to that gift is an ongoing one, i.e. the land never became ours irrevocably. The word דבר therefore alludes to G'd's right to legislate; the word ואמרת on the other hand, refers to the social element of this legislation which also is the prerogative of the King to legislate. The Torah is under no obligation to furnish us with the reasons which motivated G'd the legislator, when He commanded us to perform these statutes.

ושבתה הארץ שבח לשם, "and the land shall keep a Sabbath for G'd." What precisely does the Torah have in mind here? If the Torah refers to the seventh year, this is already stated in verse 4, "in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land."

We must therefore understand this verse as belonging to the previous verse in which G'd proclaimed that He was giving us the land. Our verse is a codicil, i.e. that G'd has made a reservation concerning that gift. The reservation is that we, the new "owners," agree to to let the land rest from time to time; "to G'd," i.e. to the G'd who still has title to the land. In verse 4 the Torah defines the nature of this "rest," i.e. when and for how long it is to occur. First we are to work the land for six consecutive years and only the seventh year is to be a year of rest. If the Torah had not written the verse ושבתה הארץ and contented itself with verse 4, I would not have known that G'd had reserved a claim to that land for Himself.

Upon closer examination we find that G'd was extremely kind in this matter. Generally speaking when a gift is conditional, such a gift may be revoked when the party who received it violates the condition attached to it. In this instance G'd did us a favour by retaining part of the land He had given us as a conditional gift. When the Jewish people violated the conditions of the gift by not observing the Shemittah legislation they did not lose the entire land but merely had to recompense G'd for having deprived Him of what He had reserved for Himself, i.e. the seventh year, the שבת לשם. We find proof of this in 26,34-35 where the Torah writes: "then the land shall be paid her Sabbaths, …the rest it had not had, etc." As a result of G'd retaining part ownership of the land of Israel the gift part of the land will never be cancelled.

The reason why the Torah wrote the word ושבתה next to the words אשר אני נותן is connected to what we learned in Baba Metzia 23 that when a Torah scholar identifies an object he claims as belonging to him this is accepted without an accompanying oath. G'd's word is certainly at least as trustworthy as that of the greatest Torah scholar and there was therefore no need for Him to use an oath when giving the land of Israel to us. Besides, the gift may be considered an act of charity and G'd's utterance concerning it is to be considered as equivalent to a vow (compare Rosh Hashanah 6) so that the words ושבתה הארץ immediately after the promise אשר אני נותן are actually part of the gift itself and not an afterthought. If the Torah had relied only on verse 4 the שמטה legislation could no longer have been considered as an integral part of the gift of the land. The verse speaking about our working the land for six consecutive years, etc., would have constituted an interruption of the subject matter.

שש שנים תזרע, "You shall plant seed for six years, etc." The Torah wanted to phrase the procedure of the farmer seeding his land as a positive commandment, and the pruning of the vines in the seventh year as a negative commandment so that the negative commandment which is a derivative of a positive commandment is also considered as a positive commandment (compare Pessachim 41). Although Maimonides wrote in the first chapter of his treatise Hilchot Shemittah that the positive commandment is based on the words ושבתה הארץ שבת at the end of verse 2, this would certainly not be enough to make the act of seeding and the act of pruning positive commandments. Perhaps what Maimonides had in mind was to make a person who ignores the laws of seeding and pruning guilty of violating two positive commandments instead of merely one.

ושש שנים תזמר, "and for 6 years you shall prune your vineyard." Why did the Torah repeat the words ושש שנים when it could have written: שש שנים תזרע שדך ותזמר כרמך? Our sages explain this in chapter 5 of Massechet Shvi-it by reference to בנות שוח שביעית שלהם שניה, certain kinds of white figs which ripen only once in three years. The shemittah legislation applies starting only with the second year of the cycle. The Talmud explains that in the case of the fruits of that tree the cut-off date is the date they blossom which occurs in the seventh year so that these fruit are harvested in the second year after the shemittah year. In other words, when it comes to the trees, the time the fruit blossoms determines the calculation for when the shemittah year applies. In the case of grains and vegetables however, the time they are harvested determines the application of the shemittah prohibition as we know from Rosh Hashanah 13. There is a good reason then why the Torah had to write the words שש שנים twice, seeing that trees and fields have different six-year cycles respectively, the former determined by the time of the harvest the latter by the time the fruit blossoms.

ואספת את תבואתה, "and you shall gather in its harvest." What need was there for the Torah to write the word ואספת? Perhaps the Torah's use of the expression ואספת את תבואתה is meant to contrast with the ספיחים, the wild growing crop of the seventh year which was not planted which must not be gathered in. The intention of the Torah then would be to add a positive commandment, i.e. the type of positive commandment which is actually a derivative of the negative commandment not to harvest the wild growing crop. This would make the negative commandment not to harvest this kind of crop into a positive commandment with the appropriate halachic consequences for people transgressing it. Possibly the Torah hints that although a piece of land which has been farmed for six years consecutively does not have the strength left to produce a crop in the seventh year, especially seeing it has not even been ploughed or seeded, in this case this is precisely what will happen. The normal procedure is to cultivate a field for a year and then to give that piece of land a year of rest (compare Baba Batra 29). In other words, the Torah praises the quality of the soil in the land of Israel and assures us that observance of the legislation in this chapter will enhance the value of the land. We may even interpret the opening words דבר ואמרת as reflecting this message. The word דבר is normal, the word ואמרת which tones town the harsh דבר hinting at the veiled blessing that the observance of the שמטה legislation will result in an improvement of the yield from the soil.

We may also find a clue to the meaning of our verse in Sanhedrin 26 which reports Rabbi Yannai calling on the people to plant their fields in the seventh year as the government levied a tax on the fields and people could not have met this unless they planted a crop. Tossaphot comment on this: "how could Rabbi Yannai permit something which is forbidden by biblical injunction?" They answer on two levels. Rabbi Yannai spoke of a period when the shemittah legislation applies only because of a rabbinic decree. Alternatively, when a matter of פקוח נפש, physical survival, is involved it is in order to temporarily cancel even a biblical injunction.

והיתה שנת הארץ לכם לאכלה, "And the Sabbath-produce of the land shall be for you as food;" The principal reason for this verse is to inform us that contrary to other sacred matters which are restricted to the altar or to the priests, in this instance everybody is entitled to consume what has grown during the seventh year. The Torah then details who are all the people who are included in that permission. You may well ask that in view of this, why did the Torah have to write the word לכם, "to you," which is normally a restrictive word, i.e. "you and no one else?" All the Torah had to write was הארץ לך לאכלה! I suppose the best approach to this is as follows. Normally, I would have expected that whosoever is mentioned in the verse first is first in line for the permission to eat. We have a parallel to this when the Torah legislated the order of priorities when giving charity. In that instance (Deut. 15,7) The Torah lists: "your poor (family members)," followed by "the poor of your town," followed by the people in "your land" (based on Sifri on that verse). To ensure that we do not understand the last half of our verse in the same way as Deut. 15,7 the Torah here first wrote the word לכם to tell us that all people have an equal claim on what grows in the fields during that year.

וכי תמכרו ממכר לעמיתך, "And if you sell anything to your neighbour, etc." Torat Kohanim on this verse asks: "whence do we know that the legislation concerning overcharging does not apply to transactions involving real estate?" Answer: "this is why the Torah wrote או קנה מיד עמיתך, "or if you will buy from the hand of your neighbour." This means that the commandment not to charge too much applies only to מטלטלין, mobile goods, chattels. The Talmud Baba Metzia 56 queries this ruling pointing to Numbers 21,26 where the word יד is used in connection with land, i.e. "he took his whole land from his hand, as far as the river Arnon." The Talmud concludes by saying that in every other instance the word ידו is to be understood literally, whereas only in this instance (Numbers 21,26) the word means "in his possession." Thus far the Talmud. The question arises why we do not use the verse in Numbers to deduce that the word ידו never needs to be understood literally as "his hand?" We must answer that the meaning of the word ידו is certainly "his hand" in the literal sense of the word. It is not disputed that the meaning of the word ידו may also be "something under one's control," however the literal meaning is the more likely in our context. When I have the choice of how to understand the word I naturally choose the meaning which fits the context in which the word appears. Moreover, if the Torah had not intended that we understand the word ידו literally it should have used a different word to prevent us from misunderstanding its purpose. We need to explore therefore why the sages inisted that the legislation against overcharging in our verse speaks only of the sale of chattels and that the verse does not speak at all of sales involving real estate.

It appears that although the exegesis employed by our sages is based on their prior knowledge of these הלכות which had been handed down orally from Mount Sinai, they were interested in linking all these הלכות to the written text of the Torah. The plain meaning of our verse is perfectly compatible with the known הלכות on this subject. We must remember that the Torah had already prohibited the irrevocable sale of real estate in the land of Israel through the institution known as יובל, Jubilee year legislation. That legislation precluded overcharging for the land as the Torah expressly stipulated that the sale price be based on the number of harvests the land in question would produce before the next Jubilee year (verses 16-17). Verse 17 speaks specifically about not overcharging an unsuspecting purchaser who thought that he bought title to that land outright. The seller meanwhile intended to invoke Torah law in the Jubilee year and claim back the land in question without compensating the buyer. In such a situation, i.e. that the seller purports to sell property against which there is no potential lien, the principle of overcharging does apply so that the original sale is invalidated due to the seller having misrepresented what he sold. Seeing that the Torah took care of potential overcharging for land in those verses, it is clear that in verse 14 the Torah speaks only of the sale of chattels and the word ידו is to be applied only in its literal sense. In our case the Torah protected the buyer of land against being overcharged seeing no outsider would protest the sale, only the seller himself who claims to base his protest on Torah law. The Torah therefore saw fit to protect the unsuspecting buyer against this particular claim only by writing that the price had to be based on the number of years till the Jubilee year from the time of the sale. By contrast then, the words אל תונו in verse 14 apply only to the sale of chattels.

במספר שנים אחר היובל, "according to the number of years after the Jubilee year, etc," We must establish first of all why the Torah speaks of the years "after the Jubilee," rather than "the number of years until the Jubilee year," seeing that the years the purchase is in effect are part of those years? Secondly, why did the Torah change its wording in the middle of a verse? The Torah describes the transaction as a purchase,מקנתו, when speaking of the number of years which determines the purchase price, i.e. making the purchaser the principal figure. When the Torah speaks of the number of harvests, however, it switches and describes the transaction as a sale, i.e. הוא מוכר לך, "he sells to you?"

We have the following Mishnah in Massechet Arachin folio 29: "When someone sells a field in the Jubilee year he is not allowed to redeem it until at least 2 years have elapsed seeing that the Torah stipulates that the sale has to be in effect for "a number of harvests," i.e. not less than two harvests. If one of those two years happens to be a year of drought so that no harvest is brought in, or it was the shemittah year (when the harvest is public property), such a year does not form part of the two years we have just mentioned. Rabbi Eliezer says that if the seller sold the field immediately before New Year's day while it had not yet been harvested the buyer may enjoy 3 harvests before the seller can redeem the field." Thus far the Mishnah. When the Talmud elaborates on this, it is pointed out that the Mishnah did not say that redemption of the field in less than two years would be legally ineffective, but said only that the "seller is not allowed to redeem it." This means that there is both a negative and a positive commandment, the positive commandment being that one must allow the purchaser to enjoy the field for at least two harvests. The wording of the Torah applies the positive commandment also to the purchaser, not merely to the seller having to allow the purchaser to enjoy possession for a minimum of two harvests ; this is based on the word תקנה "you shall purchase." We also find a Baraitha in that connection which states as follows: "if the purchaser enjoyed only one harvest prior to the Jubilee year one allows him to enjoy the harvest of an additional year after the Jubilee year." As a result of the foregoing we have four separate הלכות, rulings, on the subject which are based on our verse. 1) It is a commandment applicable to both seller and buyer that the sale be valid for no less than two years as stated in the Torah. 2) If there were three harvests within the space of two years they all belong to the purchaser. 3) If there was a year of drought so that there was no harvest, the purchaser is entitled to another year. 4) If the Jubilee year occurs during one of the two years the purchaser contracted for, this year is considered as null and void and the purchaser continues in possession for another year. Maimonides rules in accordance with what we have just stated in chapter 11 of his treatise Shemittah Veyovel.

Keeping the above in mind the wording of the Torah can be fully appreciated. The words במספר שנים אחר היובל mean "the number of years that have to be completed in the event the Jubilee year does not require the present owner of the field to relinquish it." The Torah then changed its wording from buyer to seller in order to make the law apply to the purchaser as well. Both seller and buyer are responsible for the sale not to remain effective for less than the time legislated by the Torah. The Torah mentions both the number of years and the number of harvests (pl) in order to allow for the eventuality of a drought or the Jubilee year which would result in the number of harvests being less than the number of years contracted for.

We need to understand the reason why G'd does not permit the buyer to return the field he purchased to the seller before two (harvest) years have passed. Since when is it forbidden for a person to waive financial claims in favour of someone else? The answer to this peculiar piece of legislation must be sought in the Torah's looking askance at anyone who sells land which is his heritage in the Holy Land. Torat Kohanim on verse 25: "if your brother becomes poor and sells part of his ancestral heritage, etc." explains that a person is not permitted to sell his field and to use the proceeds to invest in livestock or chattels. They base this on the fact that the Torah described permission to sell as due only to poverty, i.e. כי ימוך. The Torah hopes to dissuade a potential seller of his ancestral property from selling if he is aware that he will not be able to redeem it for at least two years.

Another reason may be connected to a ruling by Maimonides in chapter 11 of Hilchot Shemittah Veyovel that if someone sold his field for a period of 60 years such a field does not revert to the seller in the Jubilee year. The only purchases which are reversed in the Jubilee year are lands sold without a specific time frame, or a piece of property sold "forever." The author of Kesseph Mishneh does not quote the origin for Maimonides' ruling. Perhaps Maimonides derived it from a nuance in our text here. When the Torah writes במספר שנים אחר היובל the meaning may be that if the seller mentions a specific number of years that the sale is to be in force, be it 40 years or 60 years, ימכר לך, "he may go ahead and sell it to you." -The additional words ימכר לך mean that the sale is effective for the number of years contracted. In such a situation the Jubilee year does not override the agreement reached between buyer and seller. The words במספר שני תבואות explain why such a sale can remain effective beyond the Jubilee year, i.e. seeing that the seller sold a number of harvests he did not contravene Torah law not to sell soil. The Torah's principal concern is that a Jew must not sell the land which is his heritage in the land of Israel.

ולא תונו איש את עמיתו, "And you shall not take advantage of one another." Baba Metzia 58 explains that our verse discusses אונאת דברים, "verbal wrongs." The plain meaning of the verse is that seeing the Torah had already issued a similarly phrased commandment in verse 14, and we had explained that commandment as applicable when overcharging for chattels, we could have thought that overcharging for land was permitted. The Torah therefore had to repeat this commandment in connection with land sales so that the reader would not err and assume it is permitted to overcharge on land. The verse therefore concludes with the exhortation: "you shall fear your G'd," telling us that although the normal legislation against overcharging does not have a legal effect when the sale of real estate is involved, this is so only in connection with land sales in the rest of the world and to members of society at large (Gentiles). The prohibition to overcharge is in effect, however. The reason there are no legal repercussions when someone overcharges for the land he sells is that G'd personally will exact the appropriate penalty from the guilty party; this is why after the words: "you shall fear your G'd" the Torah adds the words: "for I am the Lord your G'd." G'd reminds us that He Himself will judge us in this respect and that we must not assume that it is permissible to overcharge when selling real estate. There are many instances of the Torah forbidding something without making such prohibitions a matter punishable by our legal system. You may do well to read what I have written on Exodus 21,12 in this connection. In our specific case, a court might find it difficult to determine precisely when the seller has violated the rule that he must not overcharge, seeing a purchaser may have been willing to pay more than the market price. (the same applies if the buyer bought the property for less than the market price, exploiting the economic weakness of the seller). G'd alone knows where to draw the line between what a buyer is truly willing to pay and what he feels he is forced to pay. This is why G'd Himself will administer any penalty due to either of the parties involved.

I have already stated earlier that the principle of a sale being declared an "erroneous transaction" and the court reversing it applies also to land sales. Maimonides also writes in that vein in chapter 15 of his treatise Hilchot Mechirah. The principle is based on the transaction having a blemish of which the buyer was unaware at the time he concluded the purchase. In such cases the buyer is at liberty to return the land even if a number of years have passed since the purchase was concluded. Our explanation is based on the wording of אל תונו the Torah uses here. The expression אונאת דברים covers every deception caused by words which misrepresent true facts. Lying to a person is a form of "wronging" him and includes overcharging for land, i.e. misrepresenting its true value.

ונתנה הארץ פריה, "And the earth shall yield her fruit, etc." The meaning of "her fruit" is that which corresponds to the potential it has been endowed with. When we observe the earth producing fruit this does not prove that the amount of fruit we observe the earth produce is equivalent to the amount the earth is capable of producing. We find in Ketuvot 112 that a certain sage was angry at the earth and decreed that it be prevented from yielding its fruit. As a result of this curse the earth produced far less than previously. If someone had not seen the amount of fruit that piece of earth produced before the sage cursed it, he would have thought that the amount it produced subsequently was the maximum it was capable of producing.

ואכלתם לשבע, "and you will eat to your satisfaction, etc." Perhaps the Torah had to emphasise this as we could have thought that if the earth were to produce fruit according to its full potential the excess fat of the produce would be so filling that one could not eat one's fill, i.e. לשבע. The Torah therefore reassures us that we will be able to enjoy such fruit to the full.

וישבתם לבטח עליה. "and you will dwell on it in safety." Although the Torah had already written in verse 18 that we would dwell in the land in safety as a result of performing G'd's comandments, the Torah repeats this promise to assure us that the excellence of the land's produce will not attract raiders bent on stealing our harvests. This verse contains G'd's promise that neighbouring countries would not attack us out of greed for our excellent land.

וכי תאמרו מה נאכל בשנה השביעית, "When you will say: 'what shall we eat in the seventh year?'" The plain meaning of the verse is as follows: "When you will say (in the seventh year) 'what shall we eat?'" The question posed by the Torah as being asked by the Israelites in this verse could be read in one of two different ways 1) the Torah reveals a motive for the Israelites' reluctance to observe the commandment not to seed the land during the seventh year, i.e. "if we do not seed what shall we eat?" 2) The question centers on the result of observing the commandment not to seed in the seventh year. The Israelites will ask that seeing they have observed G'd's directives "what shall we eat?" In order to make sure we understand the question as the second alternative we mentioned, the Torah adds הן לא נזרע, "behold we may not seed?" The question is one posed by the son to the father who wants to know where his sustenance is to come from seeing it is not available by natural means. The Torah answers that in that case, i.e. that you have fulfilled G'd's command, He will command the earth to provide a more than usually bountiful harvest in the sixth year so that you will not experience any shortfall. This blessing will occur only if your question was not intended to excuse your failure to observe My command. If you were asking to excuse your non-observance, the promise of a bountiful harvest in the sixth year will not materialise.

וצויתי את ברכתי, "And I shall command My blessing, etc." The blessing referred to in this verse does not pertain to the growth of the crop; that blessing has already been mentioned when the Torah spoke of the earth giving its full yield. The blessing the Torah speaks of here is in the nature of what we read in Kings I 17 and Kings II chapter 4 where the prophet made the little bit of oil of the respective petitioners stretch miraculously. This is alluded to in the words of our verse that ועשת את התבואה, i.e. that the existing crop will be made to last for three years. My comments on Genesis 33,9-11 are relevant to this verse.

לשלש השנים, for the three years. The meaning of the verse is that the blessing will be in effect during the sixth, the seventh and eighth year. Statistically speaking the period of three years the Torah speaks of commences in the month of Sivan during the sixth year, i.e. the month most of the grain is harvested, and continues till the month of Sivan in the ninth year. The Torah had to write the word לשלש השנים so we would not think that part of a year is considered a whole year [as when we count the years a king reigned. Ed.]

וזרעתם את השנה השמינית, "And you will seed the eighth year, etc." The Torah had to spell this out on account of having written that the harvest of the sixth year would last for three years. We might have thought that if the harvest of the sixth year lasts into the ninth year why sow in the eighth year? Surely G'd would not perform an unnecessary miracle! The Torah provides the reason by writing that the people were to enjoy the harvest brought in during the sixth year until the harvest of what was planted in the eighth year was at hand. The lesson of the verse is that a harvest which is three years old is superior to grain from the new harvest. (Baba Batra 91 confirms this).

כי ימוך אחיך ומכר מאחוזתו, "If your brother becomes poor and has to sell part of his heritage, etc." This paragraph contains cardinal moral-ethical lessons to mankind. Kohelet 10,18 alludes to this when he says: "through slothfulness the ceiling sags." Our sages in Taanit 7 comment on this "you have made "poor" the One of Whom it is said (Psalms 104,3) "המקרה במים עליותיו" "Who sets the rafters of His lofts in the waters;" When people who dwell in the lower parts of the universe stray from the correct path they cause the beneficial outpourigs from the upper part of the universe to cease. They thereby endanger the continuous presence of sanctity on earth. In the final analysis the fate of the universe is determined by the conduct of the creatures who inhabit earth, i.e. "the lower world."

When the Torah says: ומכר מאחוזתו "and he sells part of his heritage," this is a reference to the משכן, the Holy Tabernacle, which is G'd's heritage. The Torah warns us that our sins may result in G'd "selling off" His heritage, i.e. our enemies appropriating our (G'd's) Sanctuary. We find an allusion to this concept in Psalms 79,1 where Assaph describes the Gentiles as having entered G'd's domain. Midrash Tehillim comments on this verse that the redemption of G'd's Sanctuary is in the hands of the righteous who endeavour to be close to G'd. G'd has already told us this in Leviticus 10,3 when He said בקרובי אקדש, "I will be sanctified by those near Me." "They, the righteous, have to redeem what I had to sell." G'd is perceived as calling on the righteous in their capacity as אחי ורעי, "My brothers and My friends" (compare Psalms 122,8). Redemption will occur when the righteous succeed in awakening the hearts of their contemporaries by convincing them that it is really not in their best interest to spend their time exiled from the table of their Father in Heaven. The righteous have to convince the average Jew that what he considers success in his world is illusory if bought at the expense of forfeiting his respective eternity in a better world. In the future all Torah scholars who have failed in their efforts to convince their peers to adopt a Torah-true lifetsyle, etc. will have to render an account before the highest tribunal. G'd will hold those Torah scholars responsible for the continued disgrace suffered by the Holy Temple.

ואיש כי לא יהיה לו גואל, "And if a man has no redeemer, etc." According to Sanhedrin 93 the Torah occasionally uses the word איש as a simile for G'd, such as in Exodus 15,3 ה׳ איש מלחמה. The Torah's message in this verse is that in the event no Jewish leader is at hand to arouse the people to return to G'd as penitents, this is no reason to abandon hope altogether. Rather, והשיגה ידו ומצא כדי גאולתו, the Jewish people will achieve their redemption by alternative means. Sanhedrin 98 describes both afflictions and national exile as means to bring about redemption. The expression והשיגה ידו may be understood as similar to Deut. 2,15: יד ה׳ היתה בם, "the hand of G'd was against them," a reference to G'd exacting retribution through exiling a nation under harsh conditions. Such an exile will eventually lead to redemption of the Holy Temple.

וחשב את שני ממכרו, "let him count the number of years of his sale," etc." The sale occurred due to our sins as mentioned by Isaiah 50,1: "here you have been sold due to your sins," and the sin is equivalent to a debt to be paid off. When the time comes to tear up the I.O.U. a careful accounting is made of any remaining indebtedness before the promissory note is torn up. The Torah speaks about the remaining years the Temple has been in foreign hands. The time it is redeemed depends on the quantity and severity of the collective sins of the people of Israel. We are told in Yuma 86 that if a person actually enjoyed the sins he committed, he has to flagellate himself in a measure which corresponds to the amount of pleasure he had when committing the sins he is guilty of. This is part of the rehabilitation of the sinner. In this manner he will repay his debt. G'd will deal with us in this manner at the time the redemption will be close at hand. This is also what the sages had in mind in Sanhedrin 98 when they refer to the חבלי משיח the birth-pangs to be endured as part of the coming of the Messiah. After that, ושב לאחוזתו, G'd will return to His heritage. The word ושב also refers to Israel. We have a parallel in Deut. 30,3 ושב ה׳ את שבותך "and G'd will return with your captive ones;" we would have expected the Torah to speak about והשיב i.e. "He will bring back" instead of "He will come back" (compare Megillah 29).

ואם לא מצאו ידו די השיב, "But if he does not have sufficient means to restore it to himself, etc." If G'd observes that the people do not possess the strength to endure all the suffering that is their lot, and the debt they owe is still great, והיה ממכרו עד שנת היובל, "then its sale will extend (only) to the Jubilee year, etc." Here the Torah refers to G'd's timetable, i.e. the ultimate date for the eventual redemption. At that time, ויצא ביובל ושב לאחוזתו, He will come out in the Jubilee year and return to His heritage (rebuild the Temple). Exile will come to an end even if the Israelites will be (G'd forbid) absolute sinners.

ואיש כי ימכר בית מושב, "And if a man sells a house which is (his) residence, etc." After the Torah has described how G'd "sold" the Temple, the Torah now explains how it could happen that G'd would "sell" His heritage, the Holy Temple. This is why the paragraph starts with the word ואיש, so that we understand that the word refers to G'd, just as it had in the previous paragraph. The extraneous word מושב refers to the house in which G'd has His residence, the Holy Temple; the expression עיר חומה refers to Jerusalem, the "walled city" which is described by David in Psalms 125 ,2 as "the city ringed by mountains, (i.e. like wall)." The Torah continues by explaining that these very "walls" are why the city may be be redeemed after as little as a year already. The reason is similar to what has been revealed to us by Midrash Tehillim on Psalms 79,1. We were told there that when G'd vented His anger on the stones and timber of the city allowing it to be destroyed, this was in lieu of venting all His anger on the people inside the city. Had G'd not vented His anger on stone and wood, not a single Jew would have survived that experience. If Israel had been wiped out, there would never again have been either a Holy Temple or a city of Jerusalem.

וכי ימוך אחיך ומטה ידו, "If your brother becomes poor and his means fail while he is with you, etc." This paragraph tries to awaken us to the reason why the spirit of G'd "our Brother" who used to dwell in our midst has become so infirm. When the Torah describes "our Brother becoming poor," it refers to the "spirit of life within us; the reason it seems to weaken is that it observed that we failed to study Torah and practice the commandments. There is no greater kind of poverty than the dearth of merits due to Torah study and the performance of kind deeds towards one's fellow man. As a result, the individual Israelite's light fails. The word עמך emphasises that the failure is due to its having concentrated on you. Had it not been for G'd channelling His light through you (the Jewish people), His light would have permeated the whole universe from one end to the other. Under the changed conditions, G'd wants to return the רוח light, to His celestial domains as described in Kohelet 12,7: "and the spirit returns to the Lord who had provided it." Shabbat 152 comments on this that G'd demands that the spirit be returned to Him in mint condition, i.e. שנתנה לך "in the condition He gave it to you." The Torah goes on והחזקת בו "you are to uphold him;" this means that you are to assist such a Jew who has strayed from the true path to do תשובה to help him rehabilitate himself. There is no other means which can ensure that the vital רוח be sustained within us which is comparable to the power of repentance.

גר ותושב וחי עמך, "a stranger or a resident he shall live with you." According to a mystical text קב הישר chapter 32 there are souls G'd places in a body (person) in accordance with the principle we call סוד העבור, so that they can participate in the performance of a specific commandment and that person will acquire the merit which results from performance of that commandment. Other souls are provided for man for no specific task but as an opportunity afforded to the body (person) within whom the soul dwells to rehabilitate that personality. The words גר ותושב refer to these two kinds of souls. The former is called גר, the latter is called תושב. The Torah says: וחי עמך "it shall live within you" concerning either kind of soul, seeing a person does not know which kind of soul he has been endowed with he is well advised to assume that it is his task to rehabilitate himself by doing תשובה so that he would not lose the light G'd has granted him and as a result of which He resides within him. אל תקח מאתו נשך ותרבית, "Do not take an advance from him or accrued Interest;" I will explain presently what is meant by these words. When the verse goes on ויראת מאלוקך, "you shall fear your G'd," this refers to the light which G'd has endowed you with by granting you a pure soul which you are under an obligation to return in mint condition. The Torah demands further וחי אחיך עמך, that when the time comes to return your soul to G'd it should return equipped with additional vitality acquired through the fact that you lived a life dedicated to the service of G'd. While it is true that Kohelet only spoke about returning the רוח in the condition that you received it, this was a minimal demand. Alternatively, you may refer to what I explained in my book חפץ השם on Shabbat 152, that the words "as He has has given to you," mean that the soul by definition is a spiritual force which is apt to add vitality and spiritual light to the body it inhabits.

את כספך לא תתן לו בנשך, "You shall not give him your money upon interest;" Here the Torah explains what the words נשך ומרבית are all about; they darken the divine light G'd provides. The word את כספך refers to the material things man yearns for in this world believing them to be of real value though their value is totally illusory. לא תתן לו בנשך When man fulfils his animalistic instincts and thereby tries to gratify his spiritual needs his spirit is actually "bitten," נשוך and the poison of sin is absorbed by that person's רוח. The Torah continues: ובמרבית לא תתן אכלך, "and you must not give him your food in return for increase." The Torah means that even your food, i.e. something that it is certainly permissible for you to eat you must not consume to excess, i.e. מרבית. When a person follows the needs of his palate he gradually increases his appetite for more food than is needed to sustain him. This is turn also leads to the divine light G'd has granted us by means of our pure soul being gradually more and more "blacked out." The stronger the physical in man the weaker his spiritual capacity. Encouraging the body to grow stronger through gratifying its appetites therefore is sinful. This is why Proverbs 13,25 teaches us that "the righteous eats onIy to satisfy the needs of his life-force, נפש." Solomon says this to remind us that it is not our palate which should dictate the quantity or quality of our food-intake. When the Torah continues אני השם (verse 38), this means that although G'd has taken us out of Egypt in order to give us the land of Canaan, the purpose was not in order for the Jewish people to stuff themselves on the good fruit of the land but in order for Him to be our G'd, something that requires the land of Israel. Our sages in Torat Kohanim say that anyone who merely lives in the land of Israel is as if he had accepted for himself G'd's sovereignty.

וכי ימוך אחיך, "And if your brother becomes poor, etc." This paragraph is an allusion to something we find in the Tikkuney HaZohar chapter 10 that G'd ordered the spiritual representative of Edom (Samael) in the celestial spheres not do deal cruelly with Israel. When the Torah speaks of the Jewish people becoming poor this is a reference to the exile under the Romans. The reason the Torah speaks of "your brother" is the same as the prophet Maleachi reminding the Jewish people in G'd's name (Maleachi 1,2) that Esau was Jacob's brother but that nonetheless G'd loved Jacob. The word עמך, "with you," is a reminder that the impoverishment of Israel is due to its proximity to Esau/Edom and the fact that it started to copy the evil ways of Edom. The words ונמכר לך, "and he sold himself to you," may be understood as similar to Isaiah 52,3 in which the Jewish people are described as having sold themselves in return for חנם, "nought". According to the Zohar volume 2 page 128, Samael is equated with the domain of חנם, nought, seeing the prophet speaks of the exile under Roman (Edom) domination. (compare Psalms 137,7 where the Jewish people ask G'd to repay Edom for the cruel treatment they dished out to the people of Israel)

לא תעבוד בו עבודת עבד is G'd's command to Edom the host country not to make the Jewish people perform slave labour. (compare Jeremiah 2,14 who asks plaintively: "is Israel then a slave?") but to treat them as one treats a hired hand, כשכיר כתושב יהיה לך, "it shall be like a hired hand or a resident for you." The reason the Torah uses two alternatives here is that Israel may be divided into two categories. 1) The multitude; 2) the elite, as per Samuel II 23,8 where this elite is described as "sitting in the council of the wise." You find on occasion that Israelites rose to the rank of tax collectors even while in exile; these tax collectors may have been the elite in terms of secular rank but they do not represent Israel's spiritual elite. Israel's spiritual elite are characterised by Moses in Deut. 33,3, as והם תכו לרגליך ישא מדברותיך, "but they followed in Your footsteps, accepted Your pronouncements." Concerning this verse our sages in Baba Batra 8 quote Ezra 7,24 that it was forbidden by royal decree to impose any kind of taxes on the Torah scholars (literally the priests and the Levites) even in exile (under Artaxerxes). When the Torah speaks of the Edomites who have exiled us treating us like hired hands, שכיר, this refers to the common people; the term תושב, however, refers to the spiritual elite of the Jewish people in exile. They are not to be burdened with taxes and other governmental demands.

The Torah continues עד שנת היובל יעבוד עמך, "until the Jubilee year he will serve with you;" in this instance the Jubilee year is a reference to the most remote date possible for the redemption. G'd advises Edom that in the end the Jewish people will go free from its exile, i.e. ויצא מעמך. The reference to ובניו is to the "sparks" which have become isolated and which are the mystical dimension of the whole concept of the value of exile. This is the mystical aspect of Kohelet 8,9: "there is a time when one man rules over another to his detriment." [These holy souls had been scattered throughout the nations as a result of Adam's sin and are to be rescued and reunited with the pool of holy souls through their coming into contact with the Jewish people. The author explained this concept on several occasions. Ed.]

You may well ask what would have happened to all these souls if Israel had not sinned and as a result had been scattered throughout the world in exile? Know that if Israel had not sinned they would have possessed the spiritual power to attract these lost souls from wherever they were instead of having to be physically near them in order to exert some influence on them. It was the Israelites' sin which weakened their spiritual power; these sins so weakened Israel's spiritual power to act as a magnet for these souls that even while in exile and physically close to them they do not succeed in all instances to rescue the souls in question.

The Torah continues: ושב אל משפחתו, "and HE will return to his family;" when the redeemer arrives G'd will plant His light amongst us so that He will again take up residence amongst His family, the people of Israel. At such a time the dead will arise and each one will return to אחוזת אבותיו, "the heritage of his fathers," the Holy Temple established by G'd's hands Himself.

לא תרדה בו בפרך, "Do not rule over it with oppression." Samael will be guilty of the death penalty in the future because he ignored the instructions in this verse as we know from Sukkah 52.

כי לי בני ישראל עבדים, "For the children of Israel are My servants, etc." Why did the Torah write once more עבדי הם, "they are My servants?" Perhaps the point G'd makes here is that "they are My servants" as they are of sacred origin, their souls and their bodies are intrinsically holy independent of the Exodus from Egypt. The factor which obligates the Israelites to conduct themselves in a manner befitting holy creatures is "that I took them out of the land of Egypt." Ever since, G'd says, they themselves realise that they are My servants.

אני ה׳ אלוקיכם, "I am the Lord your G'd." Why did the verse commence in the third person, i.e. G'd speaking about the Israelites, whereas it concludes with direct speech, i.e. "I am the Lord your G'd?" Perhaps we have to look for the reason in the laws governing the sale and purchase of a slave. We have the law that if someone acquires a Jewish servant he has to free him in the Jubilee year. G'd therefore had to state that the Jew remains His servant also in the Jubilee year and beyond, i.e. עבדי הם. The purchaser of the Jewish servant may argue that this fact is justification for a Jew not being allowed to sell himself into permanent servitude, but this fact does not impose an obligation on the purchaser. If the Jew had sold himself to a resident stranger, גר תושב, that resident stranger would argue that he had no oligation to release the servant merely because of the Jubilee year. G'd therefore states categorically: "I am the Lord your G'd," i.e. I address you the purchaser the very person whom the Torah addressed at the beginning of this paragraph in verse 39 and subsequently in verse 44 when it spoke about ונמכר לך, "and he was sold to you." The Torah wanted to be sure the owner understood that he was expected to comply with the entire legislation recorded here.