Thursday, September 4, 2014

Leviticus: Chapter 25

Where you are
And where you are going

To rest
and to return
to the space that subsumed
too dear for possession
number the hours, days, years

To redeem
 after the fall
the extended flesh












[For full chapter, click here
After establishing the Dwelling replacement of Sinai, we return to Sinai, to speak of what happens "when you arrive in the Land." Like the Dwelling, this relationship is structured around a series of sevens, with an "eighth"--the Jubilee year, that proclaims "liberty to all the Land." In a play on words, the Sabbath of seven (Shabbat / Sheba) becomes also a "return" (shabtem) of estates to their owners.
The connection to the Land is  inalienable--unlike a city, which disconnects from the "field" and can "be sold to perpetuity," the Land always returns to its original owner. Yet it is also limited, as ultimately "the Land is Mine"--humanity only has rights of usage.    
The all-subsuming, unbreakable, connection to the land provides for "redemption" (geula). The land is "redeemed" back to the family; a poor relation is "redeemed" from slavery; the Jubilee year "redeems" both bondsmen and land.]

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