Topics in this digest:
43. Behar 5762 "To have or have not"
“Buddha’s doctrine: man suffers because of his craving to
possess and keep forever things which are essentially impermanent.
Chief among these things is his own person, for this is his means of
isolating himself from the rest of life, his castle into which he can
retreat and from which he can assert himself against external forces.
He believes that his fortified and isolated position is the best means
of obtaining happiness; it enables him to fight against change, to
strive to keep pleasing things for himself, to shut out suffering and
shape circumstances as he wills. In short, it is his means of resisting
life. The Buddha taught that all things, including his castle, are
essentially impermanent and as soon as man tries to possess them they
slip away; this frustration of the desire to possess is the immediate
cause of suffering”...Alan Watts
Buddhism teaches that becoming attached to things is the source of
suffering. Any attachment is seen as bad…even attachment to the idea of
avoiding attachment!
This seems to be antithetical to the Jewish approach. Judaism seems to
relish in attachment. Look at the settlers claiming an ancestral
connection to all of Israel, refusing to give it up. Look at how many
times we are told in the Torah that the land of Israel is our
inheritance. Attachment seems to be a good thing in Judaism.
Or is it? In this weeks Torah portion we have the rules of Shmitta and
Yovel. As Matthew described in his talk, Shmitta is Shabbat for the
land. We are commanded that once every seven years we are to let all
the fields lie fallow, and live off of what grows randomly, and what was
harvested and saved from the year before. There is also Shmitta of
money, we are commanded to forgive outstanding loans at the end of seven
years—which the rabbis later found worked to the DETRIMENT of poor
people, so a way around it was devised.
With the Yovel, the Jubilee year, we are commanded that once every fifty
years we shall “proclaim liberty throughout the land,” and all slaves
will go free, all debts are cancelled, all land that has been bought and
sold goes back to its original owner. WOW! What a statement about
“non-attachment!”
In the explanation for the Jubilee, the Yovel, the Torah specifies (Lev.
25:23): The land shall not be sold forever; for the land is mine; for
you are strangers and sojourners with me.
“Ki ha’aretz li”—for the land is MINE—God’s. The land is not OURS. God
is the ultimate landlord. God lets us use the land…but ultimately the
land is not ours, it is God’s. In fact, not just the land, but
EVERYTHING in the world is God’s, including even our bodies—which is why
Jewish law is opposed to suicide, tattoos, and smoking cigarettes. Our
bodies are not ours to do what we want with—they are God’s and we are
obligated to take good care of them.
Let’s explore the idea of “ownership.” What does it mean to own
something? According to Webster, to own is “to have or hold as
property: Possess. To have power over: control.” Obviously, when
government breaks down or changes, “ownership” can also change, as when
the Nazis seized Jewish homes and assets all over Europe. Even without
such a radical state of affairs, fail to pay your property taxes, and
see if you really own your land.
Owning is also clearly limited to your life: dead people can not really
be said to have property, except perhaps the “arba amot,” the six feet,
they acquire to be buried in when they die. There are those who would
try to impose ownership from beyond the grave. However, a team of five
live lawyers will often prevail over one dead philanthropist.
In this weeks’ parsha, Judaism makes a clear statement AGAINST
materialism, and against being attached to “stuff.” Once every seven
years we get a gentle reminder: God tells us not to work the land that
we think of as ours. Once every fifty years we get a stronger reminder:
any land you’ve bought goes back to the original owners who trace their
ownership back to inheritance from the division of the land in the days
of Joshua. Of course we could not implement this today since the exile
from Israel no one knows which is his ancestral piece of land…but we can
still take spiritual messages from the idea of the Yovel:
* All Israel has a portion in the land of Israel
* Ownership is fleeting—it’s not really ours, it’s God’s.
Therefore we need to have an attitude of tenants obligated to take care
of the property of a powerful landlord, not “owners” who might be free
to destroy something if they so choose.
The commentator Nachshoni says that another reason for Yovel is to
discourage stealing other people’s land. Nachshoni makes a contrast
between a flesh and blood king, who will take land from people in tough
times, in times of drought, in order to instill fear of the king in
people, and between God, who takes the land from us in order to give us
merit. As Matt described, By obeying God’s command to give up our land,
to not work our land, we are showing our faith in God.
However, regarding attachment in general, Judaism takes a much different
approach than Buddhism. Buddhism tries to deny the urge to attach, the
urge to cleave, completely, seeing it as a source of suffering. If only
you aren’t attached to the ephemeral, Buddhism teaches, you can avoid
suffering.
Judaism instead commands us to direct the urge to attach. This week’s
parsha tells us don’t get too attached to your stuff…instead put your
faith in God…that even without working the fields in the 7th year, we
won’t starve…we will get by.
Material things are in a sense unworthy to be attached to. They will
all go back to their original source: dust. According to the Jewish
mystics, cleaving to God, being attached to God, is our ultimate and
constant goal. Drawing close to God is seen as the purpose of creation,
the reason for studying Torah, and the reason for doing mitzvot.
Instead of denying the urge to attachment, Judaism redirects it…away
from material goods, and toward the spiritual. Away from things that
are temporary and ephemeral—like worldly possessions—and in the
direction of things that are permanent, like God. And depending on your
views on different doctrines of the soul, relationships can endure
beyond one life.
Even though living here in the Diaspora we are not obligated to follow
the rules of Shmitta—and some Conservative authorities hold that even in
Israel we are not obligated to follow them in these days—I believe it is
worthwhile for us to bring a “shmitta mind set” into our lives. To
uproot our psychological attachment to our possessions, and instead make
an attachment to things that are intangible (at least to us), but
lasting, like God…or family, or the Jewish people.
Shabbat Shalom
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The world is built on three things: on the Torah, on service of God, and
on lovingkindness…Pirkei Avot 1:2
Rabbi Barry Leff
Beth Tikvah Congregation
9711 Geal Road
Richmond, BC V7E 1R4