Leviticus - Cycle Two - 2501-2602 - Behar - 2603-2734 Be ChukoThai

When we hear the golden tone…When Shabbat is the intimate core of each moment… When the core can enlarge...When expansion and contraction reflect an absolute opening…When we see from this juncture of yoval…When we see the face of God in our land… When we can count beyond human bodies and bodies of time…When we walk with love and guidance…When we walk through tochicha and our broken‐ness…When we see from the mountain…

Please help us God, we begin to think, to finish these thoughts beginning with when!

The truth is though, we don’t need to focus on a finish. We simply need to take when (and time) and lead them both off the mountain with the goat in Acharey Moth.

While this doesn’t exactly happen in Behar, we get a view from a span so great that one year (sh’nah) becomes many (sh’not) after the expanse reaches fifty (25:10‐11). Like in life, the counting of years takes over the passing of them and then they all join anyway. The future tense in this scenario is absurd.

To take this further, claiming that we will one day free our slaves (and ourselves) and return to our home (or our core)….that we will one day base our worth (material and spiritual) on proximity to the yoval… that we will one day know the solid nature of God (25:18)…that we will redeem each other with compassion and fairness (25:25)…that we will bring in the nourishment of all moments in the present (25:21)…that we will help others in need… simply infers, quite sadly, that we are not doing it now, that wholeness is nothing but a future goal, and that we are pieces stuck in broken‐ness rather than divine beings evolving closer to God.

What’s good is that our fear and suffering…all time‐dependant… are catalysts for transformation (see BeChuko‐Thai). Therefore, we need to honor the dark pattern that we, as agents of light, walk through continually. We need to know it well and discern ourselves in it. So first (BeHar) we need to know our sacred beauty.

Let’s look at one line in Behar (25:2)…dabar el b’nai y’israel v’amartah elahem ki tavu elha’aretz asher ani notan lechem v’shavtah ha’aretz Shabbat l’adonai…

First, we get the pair speak/say (dabar/v’amartah). As usual, the expanse of the word speak is being consolidated into a form that we can swallow. Here though this expanse (we have already learned) is coming from the mountain peak (beHar), one place. So our information is being transmitted from oneness to expanse and then to oneness into us. There is a parallel here. It is a reflection. We are God and God is us.

Next, let’s look at the little word ki. What does it mean? If translated as when we feel propelled into an exact future, cut and dry. If translated as that or because, the story is different. Suddenly, we’re merging with habitual action that embraces all time as one.

Next, let’s look at the verbs come and rest/return (tavou and v’shavta). Tavou is in the imperfect tense, 2nd person plural. Since it follows ki, my guess is that an accurate translation would be…because you have been in the action of coming… Another translation could be…because you have been coming…The word v’shavta has a whole realm of possibilities. The vuv is there to give the word a spin, a spherical feeling, to include the past as well as the future, to add dimension. Needless to say, many verbs in this parasha are written like this. What does v’shavta mean? I think it points to a reflexive form of Shabbat within which we find return.

So what does it all mean?

…speak to the sons of Israel saying to them because you have been in the action of coming to the land I am giving you, the land has been given a rest by you, a Shabbat to God…

The parasha is now placed beyond time to mean that our action of consciousness vitalizes consciousness itself. We reflect God’s holiness rather than a utopia that might or might not exist in the future, or a goal that we must accomplish so we won’t be cursed to oblivion.

Sometimes, as we walk we hear people saying we’re broken. We’re all broken shards.

That moment you can almost see yourself stepping in a battle field, bodies everywhere. Even pieces of you are there. You can count them if you want, place a value on each human. It’s just like counting the years. You’re best off though just seeing beyond the count. You are a beyondhuman being. You know that as soon as the bodies stop cursing themselves and start seeing their divine light, they too will rise and move towards healing. Seen as broken they will remain so and misinterpret even the greatest lessons of the greatest rabbis to support their fear of transformation. What do we do? We bless them and continue our holy work.

As Rabbi Kook says so beautifully…and just as every noble action originates in the realm of holiness, so, once it has been effectuated, does it release a light back to its source. It sends waves reverberating backward and enlarges the activities of the zone of the holy….

So, may we continue seeing ourselves as divine beings vitalizing the holy. May we continue helping others, loving each other and seeing the light of God all around us. May we continue celebrating the yoval with compassion, understanding, strength, patience and joy. May we return, rest and reflect the face of God in our land. May we walk through darkness with courage and even appreciation. May we continue opening our eyes to the golden tone of the horn now this moment always.