Mutual Responsibility

Parshat Behar begins by Hashem speaking to Moshe Rabbeinu on Mount Sinai. This is followed by the laws of the sabbatical year, known as Shmitta.

The classic question that is asked is why is Shmitta given as an example of a law given on Mount Sinai. Aren’t all the laws of the Torah given on Sinai?

Rav Kook connects this question with an explanation that these laws and its covenant were given again in the Ohel Moed, Tent of Meeting, of the Mishkan, and again at Arvot Moav, before the Jewish people entered Israel.

Some say that the Mitzvot were given in a general manner at Sinai, and the details were given when the Mishkan was constructed.

The Mitzvot needed to be given again forty years later at Arvot Moav. The word, “Arvot” could also be connected with the word, “ Arvut,” which means, a guarantee, or taking responsibility.

The giving of the Torah actually began at Sinai, but wasn’t completed until Arvot Moav, when the nation needed to learn, כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה, “All of Israel are responsible for one another.”

The connection to the Shmitta laws is that all loans are forgiven during the seventh year. The ability to avoid demanding payment of an outstanding loan, is a clear demonstration of unity and mutual responsibility.

Shmitta was given as an example of a law given at Mount Sinai, because it carried the message of brotherly love and responsibility.

Could this be the reason why the Liberty Bell, that contains the passage from Parshat Behar, describing freedom during the Jubilee year, is housed in the “City of Brotherly Love?”