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Parshat Behar
2005
A Time to Plant, a Time to Reap
Ten years ago, I started academic life as an environmental studies student at York University - a totally unaffiliated Jewish student, with little interest in Judaism and even less interest in Hillel. Within the first few weeks in our environmental program, we grappled with theory and new environmental paradigms with which we would explore environmental issues for the next four years. I struggled with my approach. What I was certain of, what my faculty and peers made painfully clear, was there was one approach to be discarded: an amalgamation of Western Judeo-Christian, selfish, anthropocentric values, which was responsible for this environmental catastrophe in the first place, and we would have to shed this in order to find our alternative approach to the environment. So much for the home team.
I never found a paradigm from their list. I explored everything from native traditions to eastern philosophy to eco-feminism, but none of them seemed to fit. What I did discover, three years into my degree during my first trip to Israel, was a treasure of environmental values that rested within me and within Judaism. As a Jewish environmental studies student, parshiot like Behar and the commandment of shemitah guided me in understanding my interaction with nature.
Shemitah is the commandment to allow the land to rest for one year, the seventh year, as a Sabbath. As much as we are required to work and till the land for the six other years, we are equally required to let the land lie fallow and not reap the harvest. It is a time for the land to replenish itself, just as we replenish ourselves during Shabbat. As we learn with our weekly cycle, time, and what we do within that time, is not dictated by humans. Land is given to us as time is given to us, by God, and its cycles are not ours to control but to respect. This concept of reverence for land and time, of roles and responsibilities within a natural, interconnected system that recognized a human need for work and for rest, and of a spiritual connection with the land, was the personal approach I had been seeking all along.
Parsha Behar also teaches us, "If your brother becomes impoverished...you shall strengthen him." Not your "fellow man," but "your brother." And not "to help" but "to strengthen." The power and strength of these words connects us to our fellow human beings as family and empowers us as humans with the ability and responsibility to "strengthen" that family member and family as a whole. As a student who was deeply moved by social and environmental causes and felt helpless in the face of such insurmountable challenges, learning that I had the power and responsibility to strengthen my family further inspired me in my studies and my work.
Ten years later, I find myself in a different field as a Hillel professional, inspired and motivated by many of these same lessons and the moments I learned them. As Hillel professionals, the tools of engagement are at our fingertips. Through social and environmental values like those presented in Behar, we can reach out to those students who never considered exploring their own religion for their answers. Just as in my own personal story, the foundations of one's Jewish identity or one's entry point into the Jewish community could be Judaism's approach to the environment and tikkun olam (repairing the world).
As Hillel professionals, we serve to learn one last lesson from Behar. We, too, need to allow our bodies and our minds to lie fallow and replenish during our summer months in order to ensure we reap our fullest potential on campus during the active part of our year. On that note, I wish you all a much needed and deserved rest during the summer and kol ha'kavod (kudos) on all of your achievements and accomplishments during the year.
Prepared by Tilly R. Shames, director of Israel affairs, Hillel of Greater Toronto.
Learn More
Additional commentaries and text studies on Behar at MyJewishLearning.com.
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