Weekly Torah Lesson – 1
Parasha: b’Har On the Mountain
Torah: Vay Ikra 25:1-26:2
** This week we read about what will be expected of Israel when they are settled in the promised land.
Vay Ikra 25:1 And Avinu spoke to Moshe in mount Sinai, saying, 2 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Shabbat to Avinu. 3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; 4 But in the seventh year shall be a Shabbat of rest to the land, a Shabbat for Avinu: you shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. 5 That which grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, neither gather the grapes of your vine undressed: for it is a year of rest to the land. 6 And the Shabbat of the land shall be food for you; for you, and for your servant, and for your maid, and for your hired servant, and for your stranger that sojournes with you. 7 And for your cattle, and for the beast that are in your land, shall all the increase thereof be food.
** The observance of any Shabbat, whether it’s weekly, annual, every seventh year or every fiftieth year, we are required to ‘do’ something. Although it is sometimes translated ‘rest’, it is technically ‘stop working’.
Avinu gave us an example when He finished the six days of ‘working’ .
1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day Avinu ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then Avinu blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which Avinu had created and made. (Ge 2:1-3 )
** Most people think that we are very strange for not working on Shabbat. Our society puts pressure on those who would like to observe Shabbat by ‘forcing’ them to come to work against their will by threatening them with the possibility of losing their job. Those who submit to the demands of their taskmasters and go to work are driven by fear that they will not be able to find a job that allows them to observe Shabbat and ‘lose everything that they have’. It takes a lot of ‘faith’ to give up a good source of income in order to observe Shabbat.
Yeshua teaches us about this situation:
20 “But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 “yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.” (Mt 13:20-22 )
** All of us observe Shabbat by faith. It’s not easy. I have seen the most zealous of believers cave to the demands of their taskmasters.
If this is something that you are going through, please let us know. We do have some resources that can help you.
16 ‘Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 ‘It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days Avinu made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ (Ex 31:16-17 )
The ‘right choices’ are always the hardest.
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