Bhar 05-10-2014

This week’s portion called B’har (translated “In Mountain”) is from Leviticus 25:1 – 26:2. (Click to listen/download)

This week’s reading, Behar, speaks about the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, laws regulating commerce and the redemption of slaves.

Count Omer Day 25

Let’s read a verse from the Parsha. The context is a discussion about how the Israelites were to treat their servants.

Lev 25:55 For it is to me that the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Based on an article by Tali Loewenthal.

Everyone wants freedom. It is a basic human need. To some extent, even animals seek freedom and show signs of unhappiness if they do not have it.

However, the question of what freedom consists of has not been clearly answered. Many people spend their lives chasing something they call freedom. But at some point they may well turn round and say they have been deceived.

Our Parshah gives us a insight into the nature of our freedom. Perhaps it challenges some of our assumptions.

We all know that a central theme in all of the scripture is the redemption of the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt and achieving “freedom.” But in this week’s Parshah God says that My people are My servants. They are My servants because I brought them out of the land of Egypt…“

Are we free, or are we servants? The Hebrew text could even be translated to read not “servants” but “slaves.” Is this our destiny? To be slaves?

The evidence is actually very clear. Without citing all of the references, Paul, James, and Peter many times in their letters refer to themselves as servants of God and servants of Messiah. Yeshua himself says that He is a servant. He then takes the idea a step further to teach us that in order to be considered great in the Kingdom of Heaven, we need to be the servant of everyone.

From the point of view of the Torah, our greatest freedom is the fact that we are servants or even “slaves” of God. God is eternal, boundless: totally beyond limitations. God is infinite freedom. The closer our connection and bond with God, the closer we are to true freedom. It may sound paradoxical, but if we can become total “slaves” to God, completely submitting ourselves to His will in every detail of our lives — then we will be totally and utterly free.

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