Oz Torah

B'har - G-d's Servants

Human beings all have their dignity and others must not enslave them. All are God’s servants; none is any more a child of God than any other. This is one of the teachings of this week’s portion. It allows no superiority to the white races over the coloured, to the managerial classes over the workers, to the rich over the poor, to the aristocracy over the commoners.
The lands in which upheavals are currently occurring are witnessing the playing out of this issue. Peoples kept in subjugation for years, even decades, are rising up. Some despotic rulers, hanging on to power to the end, are turning upon their own citizens with the message, “Don’t talk to me about God. Who is God? I am God! That’s all you need to know.”
Democratic nations greatly deplore these manifestations, but many people forget that their own microcosms echo the same problem… husbands who demand obedience because they think they are the God of the family, bosses who throw their weight around in the workplace, even clergy who abuse others who are in their spiritual power. God’s message is clear: “They are My servants, not the servants of other servants.”
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B’har - Taking a Year Off

The sidra sets out the laws of the sabbatical year. Like a human being with a Sabbath, the land needs sabbatical rest one year in seven. Rashi wonders why this provision is reported as ordained B’har Sinai - “on Mount Sinai) “Vayikra 25:1). He answers that just as this law with all its ramifications was given on Mount Sinai, so is it with all the commandments of the Torah. Everything comes from Sinai, not just the headlines but the details.
There is an additional possibility to be considered when it comes to explaining the sabbatical year. Just as the Ten Commandments given at Sinai deal with human life, so does this law. It is not just designed to benefit the land, though that aspect must never be minimised. It is also a principle designed to work within the human community. As a year of rest is good for the land, enabling it to regain its pristine power, a year off is also a valuable idea for the human being. Shabbat each week does wonders for the heart and mind, but a full year away from the pace and pressure of daily life is an extra gift from God.
Most people don’t get their chance to recharge their life’s force until they retire, but some are by then rather too old and maybe even too unwell to derive full benefit from the years ahead. Whilst they are still in the workforce it would be a real boon to have a year of travel, study, thinking, finding new cultural and spiritual horizons. Many will say they can’t afford it. Where will they live, how will they manage, where will they find the financial resources? Important questions, but with planning and forethought the problem is capable of solution. The alternative is to wear out or burn out, and merely limp along until retirement. A personal sabbatical year would help us all personally and improve our productivity.

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