Parashat Behar* is the next-to-last reading in the Book of Leviticus. It deals with the law of the Sabbatical Year (shmittah) and the Jubilee Year (yuval) among other topics. It’s one of the portions that on first blush makes for rather dry reading, but when you start digging into it, complexities emerge and things get very interesting.
Some of the divrei Torah from online darshanim this week:
Land, Labor, Liberty by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat
To Treat With Respect is the Essence of Holiness by Rabbi Sylvia Rothschild
Seasons in the Sun by Rabbi Ari Kahn
Trekking to Holiness by Hanna Perlberger
Real Estate – Do Market Forces Rule? by Rabbi Melanie Aron
Conditional Covenant by Rabbi Ron Kronish
Turning to the Land by Rabbi Seth Goldstein
*This year there are differences of opinion about the calendar this year (5776.) If your congregation is following a different schedule, know that we’ll all be back together again before too long.
OK, I’ll bite — what is the difference of opinion about the calendar, what’s the source of the disagreement, who’s on which side, how long does it last, how do we get back together? Inquiring minds want to know!
A little Googling has led me to the info that sometimes there are Israel vs Diaspora discrepancies in weekly readings, and also that there’s an American Reform issue since we don’t observe an 8th day of Pesach and Shabbat was the 8th day this year, but I’m not sure I really understood how either of those works. Probably too big a topic for a comment… maybe a whole post on it in your copious free time? 😉
Thank you for the great suggestion!