Leviticus 25

This week’s Torah portion gives us the mitzvot of the Shmitta and the Yovel, the 7 year and the 50 year cycles. These are instructions given to Israel to be followed when we come into the land of the promise. The Shmitta, the release, is every 7 years. The land is then to be given its rest.

In last week’s Torah portion, Hashem commands us to recognize the sanctity of time. The cycle of the Moadim, Hashem’s designated times, provides us a framework within which we may both understand Yeshua, and work toward his purposes. This week’s portion extends this concept to yearly cycles, as well as cycles during the year. But there is much more important connection.

When Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem and destroyed Solomon’s Temple, the Jewish people were sent into exile. For the first time, we were unable to carry out Hashem’s instructions and the sacrificial system came to a halt. The Anshei Knesset HaGdola, the Men of the Great Assembly came to the conclusion that one of the great reasons Hashem allowed the Temple to be destroyed, was that Israel was not following the Shmitta. This indicates that the Shmitta is one of the greatest commandments of Israel in the entire Torah.

The Shmitta is not only a continuation of Hashem’s teaching of the sanctity of time, the Shmitta connects the sanctity with the sanctity of space as well. The Shmitta is not only the 7 year cycle, it is a 7 year cycle within a very specific place, the land of the promise. Through the Shmitta, we see that both time and space are holy and there are times that are kadosh, like Shabbat, and there are places that are kadosh, such as Israel, Jerusalem, the Temple mount.

Hashem’s sanctification of time and space in parsha Emor and parsha Behar leads us to reevaluate our ideas concerning the importance of the realms within time and space and beyond time and space. There is an instinctive tendency to think of the heavens, beyond time and space, the bulk of our existence, to be the most important aspect of the universe. However, if both time and space are sanctified by Hashem, how could time and space be the least important aspect of creation? The argument can be made, the time and space is the most important aspects of creation. It is only within time and space that we have free will and choice. It is only within time and space that we can choose to follow Hashem’s Torah. This is why the sanctification of time and space is so important. In fact, we have the ability, only within time and space, to work towards achieving Hashem’s plan, the rectification of the world. So, as Peter wrote in his 2^nd letter, we should lead holy and Godly lives, hastening the day of Hashem. Shabbat shalom.