Thought of the Week: Behar-Bechukosai - 5777

THE YOVEL OF YERUSHALAIM 

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch notes that the word Yovel (jubilee) means to bring.  Thus, when the Torah tells us that that the fiftieth year of the sabbatical cycle is a Yovel,  it means that it is a "Home-bringer", a time which brings people and possessions home to their due place, where they belong.  He adds that when the children of Israel conquered the city of Yericho (the first city taken into possession in Eretz Yisrael), they blew with horns that are described as "Horns of Yovel.”  The reason for calling them that is because the blasts from the horns were a call to the city, in the name of Hashem, to come back to its rightful owners.

This week we are going to be celebrating a very significant Yovel, fifty years since the return of our people to Yerushalaim, and Yerushalaim to its people.  Just like the conquest of Yericho, it is indeed a wonderful Yovel, a homecoming.

Let us all celebrate this occasion with a commitment to the teaching of Yerushalaim, one of unity and commitment to Hashem.

Shabbat Shalom