The following student Divrei Torah were written for and delivered to the Years 8 – 11 Minyanim.

Samara Trenaman – Year 9

The number seven seems to be a theme in the Torah and in Judaism. There are seven days of the week, seven heavens, and cycles of seven years. 

This week’s Torah Portion, Parashat BeHar Sinai, talks about the seven year cycles of farming in Israel. Basically, we farm the land for six years, and then stop completely on the seventh year to let the land and the farmers rest. We also cannot sell the food that falls from the trees and grows naturally. It is anyone’s for the taking. 

To sustain us through that seventh year, God promises to bestow blessings on us on the sixth year, and the land shall produce enough food to feed us for the next three years. Also, after seven cycles of seven years, there should be a massive Jubilee on the 50^th year. On this year, not only can we not farm and sell, every parcel of land must be returned to its original owner. 

So, how is this relevant to us? As students living in the most populated city in Australia, why should we care about farming practices in Israel? 

In modern times, the idea of a sabbatical, or long service leave is prevalent in most careers. This extended break is often used to fulfil some kind of goal or develop important skills.  This Torah portion teaches us to take a step back, every so often, and look at our life; to take a break and enjoy what we have, instead of always wanting more. It also reminds us that we are visitors on this earth and to treat it with respect and kindness. 

Sonia Redman -Year 11

This week’s Torah portion, BeHar Sinai, contains the mitzvah of Shemittah (the obligation, every seven years, for farmers not to work their fields). This time of mandatory rest did not only include the prohibition of farming and production, but also the forgiveness of all existing debts. Also all were commanded to let the poor of the society take freely from the produce of the fields. The parashah also discusses the Jubilee Year, occurring on the 50^th year, when all land and houses in Israel would return to their original owners, and all slaves were released.

But when all the fields in a country are required to lie uncultivated for an entire year, does the nation not face a very real risk of famine? Why would God invent, let alone implement such a radical device? What could the reasons for Shemittah possibly be?

It is clear that the commandments are not practical. Leaving all farms unworked for every seventh year is probably unreasonable (and maybe unethical, in a world still plagued by hunger and poverty), deconstructing property rights would probably have disastrous effects on the global economy, and cancelling all debts every fiftieth year would almost certainly wreak havoc on world markets. 

But I don’t believe that this parashah is about the practical implementation of these commandments. It seems, that in a theoretical way, this parashah is encouraging us to focus more on justice and equality, than on profit.

The seventh year of agricultural rest may not be realistic, but does teach important values about the treatment of the land that serves us with the same holy care that we seek to show ourselves once a week. Just as we balance the chaos of the workweek with a day of Shabbat, so we balance the earth’s seven years of producing with a year to rest. 

The Jubilee Year, when all land returns to its original owner, makes it inherently impossible to amass a large amount of land. Even though this is impractical, it highlights an overarching principle of equality. It eradicates the arrogance of ownership, the inability to understand that the earth is a gift to us, and not ours to profit from. The Jubilee Year also commands freedom of all existing slaves, making it integrally humanitarian in its essence. It recognises that servitude is a temporary condition, that no matter what dire straits we may face, once in a lifetime we should wipe the slate clean and enable each other to begin afresh. 

This parshah, then, is giving us guidelines for an ideal society, a society where people do more than write cheques to organisations which help people in need. The equalising properties of Shemittah is one of the highest levels of tzedakah. Instead of only temporarily alleviating poverty, it changes the understanding of ownership and entitlement within the people, to make them more giving internally rather than promoting an obligatory service to others. Shemittah thus addresses the root problem. The parashah aims to eliminate the core phenomenon of our world – arrogance – a basic selfishness, a tremendous greed, along with a lack of gratitude for what we have been given and with whom we share it. This attitude runs right from the insane denial of climate change to the greed in which we receive, rather than give, to those who are in greater need. The insane notion prevails that somehow one person can be more entitled than another. It all stems from a failure to understand that we are not owners. We are recipients of a great gift, which we are bidden to share, unselfishly, with the rest of humanity. 

But even if one doesn’t follow the explicit laws of Shemittah, we can still implement the values that Shemittah teaches. Therefore, the main point of Shemittah is not to follow it literally but to absorb the virtues that it teaches, so that we can take a step back from the march of time, as we do every Shabbat for our own rest and alleviation, and think about how we can achieve fairness, justice and balance for all.