Yovel and Shofar

The laws of יובל are also mentioned in the Parsha. The announcement of the jubilee year was made on Yom Kippur of the fiftieth year.

All Hebrew slaves were set free in addition to ancestral land being returned to their original owners. This is also where the famous line of, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof” was mentioned. This is found on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.

The announcement of יובל came with the blowing of the Shofar. The Torah says, והעברת שופר תרועה בחדש השביעי, that the Shofar is blown on the seventh month.

Rabbi Soloveitchik contrasts this Mitzva of Shofar with that of Rosh Hashanah. Here, by יובל, the Mitzva is to blow the Shofar. On Rosh Hashanah, the Mitzva is to hear the Shofar.

The practical difference is that the Mitzva of Shofar is fulfilled on Rosh Hashanah even with a stolen Shofar. The sounds need to be heard. But on יובל, the Mitzva is not fulfilled with a stolen Shofar, for the Mitzva is to blow the Shofar.