The counting of forty-nine years until the Jubilee year parallels Sefirat HaOmer, the Omer Counting. Regarding Sefirat HaOmer, we read: ?You shall count seven complete weeks from the second day of Pesach when you brought the omer as a wave offering, until the day after the seventh week, totaling fifty days.? (Leviticus 23:15) Regarding counting the forty-nine years of the Jubilee cycle, it says: ?You shall count seven sabbatical years, that is, seven times seven years. The period of the seven sabbatical cycles shall thus be forty-nine years?. You shall sanctify the fiftieth year, proclaiming liberty throughout the Land, for all its inhabitants. This is the jubilee year, when each man shall return to his hereditary property and to his family.? (Leviticus 25:8-11)
With Sefirat HaOmer we ascend from spiritual level to spiritual level, from slavery to political freedom. Ultimately, we arrive at Sinai and receive the Ten Commandments, of which our sages commented: ??G-d?s script was engraved [charut] on the tablets? (Exodus 32:16) - Read not ?charut? but ?cherut? [freedom]. There is no free man like the one who studies Torah. Whoever studies Torah ascends spiritually.? (Avot 6:2) Likewise, regarding the Jubilee year, it says, ?You shall sanctify the fiftieth year, proclaiming liberty [dror] throughout the Land, for all its inhabitants.? Rashi explains dror to mean that a person ?is not anyone?s property; i.e., that he is free.?
We ascend from spiritual level to spiritual level until we merit true freedom. And what is that? When we merit to see G-d?s goodness and to benefit from the splendor of His Presence. As King David said, ?One thing I ask of the L-rd - it is this that I seek: that I may dwell in the L-rd?s house all the days of my life, beholding His graciousness and visiting His Temple.? (Psalm 27:4)
G-d?s goodness is alluded to by the word Yovel (Jubilee). As Rashi comments (Leviticus 25:10): ??This is the Jubilee year? [Yovel]: This year is set apart from all others through its having a name all its own. Its name, the Yovel, derives from the shofar?s being blown [In Exodus 20:13 the shofar is called a ?yovel?].? The shofar, from which derives the name of the fiftieth year, is a derivative of the word shapir, meaning ?good.? The whole purpose of Creation and of the Jewish People is to reveal G-d?s goodness. During this year we therefore proclaim, precisely by means of a shofar, a year of G-d?s goodness being revealed on earth. On the fiftieth day of Sefirat HaOmer, we likewise received the Torah at Sinai, of which the rabbis said, ?There is no good but Torah, as it says, ?I gave you a good doctrine. Forsake not My Torah.?? (Proverbs 4:2)
The counting of the Omer and the counting of the years leading up to the Jubilee may be likened to a path of spiral ascent moving towards perfection. In just this way, from the start of history until the end of days, there is a pattern of spiritual ascent, day by day and night by night: ?Day unto day speech is uttered, and night unto night knowledge is revealed.? (Psalm 19:3) This ascent has continued from time immemorial, from when the world was unformed and void, and continues right up to the Messianic era, national and universal days of light and joy.
How fortunate we are and how good is our lot that in our generation, the generation of rebirth, we are steadily approaching the complete redemption. With our own eyes, we see G-d?s return to Zion. Through this may we all merit together for a new light to shine over Zion, for us and for the whole world.
-------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Dov Begon is founder and head of Machon Meir institutions.
Machon Meir is an Israeli educational institution and Hesder yeshiva dedicated to Jewish learning BeAhava UveEmunah (with Love and in Faith), in the spirit of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, the late Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel. Students at Machon Meir, Israelis and new immigrants, come from religious and non-religious backgrounds, and learn in Hebrew, English or Russian. The Machon can be contacted through its website, http://www.machonmeir.org.il.
With Sefirat HaOmer we ascend from spiritual level to spiritual level, from slavery to political freedom. Ultimately, we arrive at Sinai and receive the Ten Commandments, of which our sages commented: ??G-d?s script was engraved [charut] on the tablets? (Exodus 32:16) - Read not ?charut? but ?cherut? [freedom]. There is no free man like the one who studies Torah. Whoever studies Torah ascends spiritually.? (Avot 6:2) Likewise, regarding the Jubilee year, it says, ?You shall sanctify the fiftieth year, proclaiming liberty [dror] throughout the Land, for all its inhabitants.? Rashi explains dror to mean that a person ?is not anyone?s property; i.e., that he is free.?
We ascend from spiritual level to spiritual level until we merit true freedom. And what is that? When we merit to see G-d?s goodness and to benefit from the splendor of His Presence. As King David said, ?One thing I ask of the L-rd - it is this that I seek: that I may dwell in the L-rd?s house all the days of my life, beholding His graciousness and visiting His Temple.? (Psalm 27:4)
G-d?s goodness is alluded to by the word Yovel (Jubilee). As Rashi comments (Leviticus 25:10): ??This is the Jubilee year? [Yovel]: This year is set apart from all others through its having a name all its own. Its name, the Yovel, derives from the shofar?s being blown [In Exodus 20:13 the shofar is called a ?yovel?].? The shofar, from which derives the name of the fiftieth year, is a derivative of the word shapir, meaning ?good.? The whole purpose of Creation and of the Jewish People is to reveal G-d?s goodness. During this year we therefore proclaim, precisely by means of a shofar, a year of G-d?s goodness being revealed on earth. On the fiftieth day of Sefirat HaOmer, we likewise received the Torah at Sinai, of which the rabbis said, ?There is no good but Torah, as it says, ?I gave you a good doctrine. Forsake not My Torah.?? (Proverbs 4:2)
The counting of the Omer and the counting of the years leading up to the Jubilee may be likened to a path of spiral ascent moving towards perfection. In just this way, from the start of history until the end of days, there is a pattern of spiritual ascent, day by day and night by night: ?Day unto day speech is uttered, and night unto night knowledge is revealed.? (Psalm 19:3) This ascent has continued from time immemorial, from when the world was unformed and void, and continues right up to the Messianic era, national and universal days of light and joy.
How fortunate we are and how good is our lot that in our generation, the generation of rebirth, we are steadily approaching the complete redemption. With our own eyes, we see G-d?s return to Zion. Through this may we all merit together for a new light to shine over Zion, for us and for the whole world.
-------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Dov Begon is founder and head of Machon Meir institutions.
Machon Meir is an Israeli educational institution and Hesder yeshiva dedicated to Jewish learning BeAhava UveEmunah (with Love and in Faith), in the spirit of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, the late Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel. Students at Machon Meir, Israelis and new immigrants, come from religious and non-religious backgrounds, and learn in Hebrew, English or Russian. The Machon can be contacted through its website, http://www.machonmeir.org.il.