This week we again meet a double portion as we conclude Leviticus. These two portions are filled with challenges as the encompass a wide range of social, economic, ritual laws that take us from promise to warning. Perhaps the most famous verse is that of Leviticus 25:10, the so-called Liberty Bell passage that speaks of the Jubilee year that we are to proclaim “d’ror” throughout the land. Is this freedom? Not as we may understand it. This is a concept of release, derived from the Sumerian “d’ruru” and, according to the Plaut commentary means in the Leviticus context a “release of freemen who had been enslaved, sometimes the restoration of real property to its original owners, sometimes a cancellation of a debt-or combination of these” (p.943)
As the portions draw to a close, we come to an interesting series of verses in 27. The verse that begins this chapter speak to the idea of valuations of people. The context of the verses reflects vows made to God and the list in the chapter notes the value (in currency) attributed to people according to age. The Etz Hayim commentary notes that these passages were reflective of a system designed to provide the financial resources for the Temple and each person was “valued” according to age and gender. As people dedicated to God and to the service of the God, we were charged with supporting the Temple and this chapter outlines the “sliding scale”.
However, there is a deeper approach to these verses because aspects of our tradition also ask the question of how one can “value” a human life. This is a question that comes up more and more as we age. Implicit in some of these discussions is the question of life’s “quality”. Likewise, as we grow older, we face the challenge of how society “values” us as we age. There is even a disturbing passage in Talmud that discusses this “valuation” of elders and even notes a gender bias to women (Aruchin 19a). The point is that from these verses in Leviticus 27, we can be prompted to ask as to how we value our own self. We know we live in an ageist society. We know that for many elders, the retreat from involvement in the world is a very real issue. Do we continue to see our “value” in terms of how others see us, or do we, at this stage of life, understand that we have eternal value in our own life and the fact that we live and have lived? How do you value your life? What in your life do YOU value?
Shabbat shalom
Rabbi Richard F Address
Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min, is the Founder and Director of www.jewishsacredaging.com. Rabbi Address served for over three decades on staff of the Union for Reform Judaism; first as a Regional Director and then, beginning in 1997, as Founder and Director of the URJ’s Department of Jewish Family Concerns and served as a specialist and consultant for the North American Reform Movement in the areas of family related programming. Rabbi Address was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972 and began his rabbinic career in Los Angeles congregations. He also served as a part time rabbi for Beth Hillel in Carmel, NJ while regional director and, after his URJ tenure, served as senior rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ from 2011-2014.
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