Torah Portion of the Week

Behar בהר

Leviticus 25:1–26:2

Parshat Behar ('On the Mountain') is set uniquely 'on Mount Sinai' — a detail that prompted the famous rabbinic question: 'What does Shemitah have to do with Sinai?' The answer: just as Shemitah was given in all its details at Sinai, so too all the commandments were given in full detail at Sinai. The parsha establishes the revolutionary economic legislation of the Sabbatical year (every seventh year the land rests) and the Jubilee (every fiftieth year, land reverts to original owners and slaves go free). It regulates real-estate transactions based on proximity to the Jubilee, commands support for the impoverished, prohibits interest on loans to fellow Israelites, and governs the treatment of Hebrew slaves — all grounded in the principle that the Land and the people ultimately belong to God.

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1 of 7

The Sabbatical Year (Shemitah)

שנת השמיטה

Leviticus 25:1–25:7

God speaks to Moses on Mount Sinai: when the Israelites enter the land, the land itself shall observe a Sabbath to the Lord. For six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyard, but the seventh year is a Sabbath of complete rest for the land — no sowing, no pruning, no harvesting in the ordinary way. Whatever grows on its own is for everyone: you, your servants, your hired workers, the stranger, your livestock, and the wild animals.

2 of 7

The Jubilee Year (Yovel)

שנת היובל

Leviticus 25:8–25:13

Count seven cycles of seven years — forty-nine years. On the tenth day of the seventh month (Yom Kippur) of the fiftieth year, sound the shofar throughout the land. Sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty (d'ror) throughout the land to all its inhabitants — it shall be a Jubilee. Each person returns to their ancestral holding and to their family. In the Jubilee year, do not sow, harvest aftergrowth, or gather untended grapes. Eat only what comes directly from the field.

3 of 7

Fair Transactions and God's Promise

מקח וממכר והבטחת ה'

Leviticus 25:14–25:24

When buying or selling land, calculate the price according to the number of years remaining until the Jubilee — you are really purchasing a number of crop years. Do not wrong one another, but fear God. If you ask, 'What will we eat in the seventh year if we cannot sow or gather?' — God promises to command His blessing in the sixth year so the land produces enough for three years. The underlying principle: 'The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; you are but strangers and sojourners with Me.'

4 of 7

Redemption of Land and Houses

גאולת קרקעות ובתים

Leviticus 25:25–25:34

If a person becomes poor and sells some of their ancestral land, a close relative (go'el) may redeem it. If there is no redeemer but the seller later prospers, they may calculate the years since the sale and refund the balance to the buyer. If the land is not redeemed, it reverts in the Jubilee. A house in a walled city may be redeemed within one year of sale; after that it belongs permanently to the buyer, even through the Jubilee. Houses in unwalled villages follow the rules of open land. The Levites always retain redemption rights over their houses in Levitical cities, and the pasture lands around those cities may never be sold.

5 of 7

Supporting the Poor — The Prohibition of Interest

תמיכה בעני — איסור ריבית

Leviticus 25:35–25:38

If your brother becomes impoverished and his means fail among you, you must support him — whether he is a stranger or a sojourner — so that he may live alongside you. Do not take interest or increase from him; fear your God and let your brother live with you. Do not lend him money at interest or give him food for profit. 'I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God.'

6 of 7

Hebrew Slaves — Servitude and Freedom

עבד עברי — עבדות וחירות

Leviticus 25:39–25:46

If your brother becomes poor and sells himself to you, do not work him as a slave. He shall be like a hired worker or a sojourner with you, serving until the Jubilee year. Then he goes free with his children and returns to his family and ancestral holding. The reason: 'For they are My servants whom I brought out of Egypt — they shall not be sold as slaves.' You may acquire servants from the surrounding nations and from sojourners, and these may be inherited by your children as property, but over your Israelite brothers you shall not rule with harshness.

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Redemption from a Non-Israelite Master

גאולה מבעלים נכרים

Leviticus 25:47–26:2

If a stranger or sojourner among you prospers while your brother becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger, he retains the right of redemption after the sale. A brother, uncle, cousin, or other close relative may redeem him, or he may redeem himself if he can afford it. The price is calculated by the years remaining until the Jubilee, as for a hired worker. If not redeemed, he goes free in the Jubilee with his children. The parsha concludes with two commands that frame all that precedes: 'You shall not make idols for yourselves... You shall keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary — I am the Lord.'

Prophetic Reading

Haftarah הפטרה

Jeremiah 32:6–32:27

ירמיהו

Jeremiah buys a field in Anatot during the siege of Jerusalem, demonstrating faith in God's promise to restore the land — directly embodying the parsha's laws of land redemption and the jubilee.

Full Text

Parshat Behar

Leviticus 25:1–26:2 · 57 verses

First Aliyah

ראשוןLeviticus 25:1–25:13

Chapter 25

פרק 25

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1 וַיְדַבֵּר יְהֹוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה בְּהַר סִינַי לֵאמֹֽר

2 דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם כִּי תָבֹאוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם וְשָׁבְתָה הָאָרֶץ שַׁבָּת לַיהֹוָֽה

3 שֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים תִּזְרַע שָׂדֶךָ וְשֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים תִּזְמֹר כַּרְמֶךָ וְאָסַפְתָּ אֶת תְּבוּאָתָֽהּ

4 וּבַשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן יִהְיֶה לָאָרֶץ שַׁבָּת לַיהֹוָה שָֽׂדְךָ לֹא תִזְרָע וְכַרְמְךָ לֹא תִזְמֹֽר

5 אֵת סְפִיחַ קְצִֽירְךָ לֹא תִקְצוֹר וְאֶת עִנְּבֵי נְזִירֶךָ לֹא תִבְצֹר שְׁנַת שַׁבָּתוֹן יִהְיֶה לָאָֽרֶץ

6 וְהָיְתָה שַׁבַּת הָאָרֶץ לָכֶם לְאׇכְלָה לְךָ וּלְעַבְדְּךָ וְלַאֲמָתֶךָ וְלִשְׂכִֽירְךָ וּלְתוֹשָׁבְךָ הַגָּרִים עִמָּֽךְ

7 וְלִבְהֶמְתְּךָ וְלַֽחַיָּה אֲשֶׁר בְּאַרְצֶךָ תִּהְיֶה כׇל תְּבוּאָתָהּ לֶאֱכֹֽל

8 וְסָפַרְתָּ לְךָ שֶׁבַע שַׁבְּתֹת שָׁנִים שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים שֶׁבַע פְּעָמִים וְהָיוּ לְךָ יְמֵי שֶׁבַע שַׁבְּתֹת הַשָּׁנִים תֵּשַׁע וְאַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָֽה

9 וְהַֽעֲבַרְתָּ שׁוֹפַר תְּרוּעָה בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִעִי בֶּעָשׂוֹר לַחֹדֶשׁ בְּיוֹם הַכִּפֻּרִים תַּעֲבִירוּ שׁוֹפָר בְּכׇל אַרְצְכֶֽם

10 וְקִדַּשְׁתֶּם אֵת שְׁנַת הַחֲמִשִּׁים שָׁנָה וּקְרָאתֶם דְּרוֹר בָּאָרֶץ לְכׇל יֹשְׁבֶיהָ יוֹבֵל הִוא תִּהְיֶה לָכֶם וְשַׁבְתֶּם אִישׁ אֶל אֲחֻזָּתוֹ וְאִישׁ אֶל מִשְׁפַּחְתּוֹ תָּשֻֽׁבוּ

11 יוֹבֵל הִוא שְׁנַת הַחֲמִשִּׁים שָׁנָה תִּהְיֶה לָכֶם לֹא תִזְרָעוּ וְלֹא תִקְצְרוּ אֶת סְפִיחֶיהָ וְלֹא תִבְצְרוּ אֶת נְזִרֶֽיהָ

12 כִּי יוֹבֵל הִוא קֹדֶשׁ תִּהְיֶה לָכֶם מִן הַשָּׂדֶה תֹּאכְלוּ אֶת תְּבוּאָתָֽהּ

13 בִּשְׁנַת הַיּוֹבֵל הַזֹּאת תָּשֻׁבוּ אִישׁ אֶל אֲחֻזָּתֽוֹ

1 GOD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai:

2 Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of GOD.

3 Six years you may sow your field and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in the yield.

4 But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath of GOD: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.

5 You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untrimmed vines; it shall be a year of complete rest for the land.

6 But you may eat whatever the land during its sabbath will produce—you, your male and female slaves, the hired and bound laborers who live with you,

7 And your cattle and the beasts in your land may eat all its yield.

8 You shall count off seven weeks of years—seven times seven years—so that the period of seven weeks of years gives you a total of forty-nine years.

9 Then you shall sound the horn loud; in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month—the Day of Atonement—you shall have the horn sounded throughout your land

10 And you shall hallow the fiftieth year. You shall proclaim release throughout the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee , “ram” or “ram’s horn.” for you: each of you shall return to your holding and each of you shall return to your family.

11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you: you shall not sow, neither shall you reap the aftergrowth or harvest the untrimmed vines,

12 For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you: you may only eat the growth direct from the field.

13 In this year of jubilee, each of you shall return to your holding.