Vayikra

Shmita - Rest for the Man or for the Land?

Is it the land lying fallow that is the central theme, or are the Jews who do not work it during the shmita year the focus?

'Here is the way you shall enter'

In this week's Torah reading, why begin the description of the Avoda on Yom Kippur with telling us of the demise of the sons of Aaron?

A Tale of Two Mountains

This Shabbat, we find ourselves between two staggering events: the tragedy at Har Meron last Friday, and Yom Yerushalayim this Sunday night and Monday. Two mountains, steeped in Jewish history, associated with the most significant personalities and pathos: Avraham, Yitzchak and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

“We the People”

The Sages said: “‘They will stumble over each other’” – read this as ‘stumble because of one another’: this teaches that all Israelites are responsible for one another.” This is an exceedingly strange passage. Why locate this principle here?

What's First - Messiah or Aliya

Israel National Torah

Looking at the Ohr HaHayim's commentary on this week's Parshat Behar to discover the answer to the centuries-old question: Will Redemption come miraculously or by natural means?

Why Bad Things Happen To Good People

Nothing is as challenging to our faith as seeming injustice and tragedy. How does a believing person reconcile an apparently cruel world with an Omnipotent and Merciful Creator?

Creators Belonging

The idea behind the sabbatical year remains fixed in the minds and hearts of the Jewish people wherever they may live. And that basic idea is simple: that the world and all its land belongs to and is subject to the will of the Creator.

Different Types of Respite

Sefer Vayikra was given during Bnei Yisrael’s period in the desert. It is therefore telling that the Torah already relates as a given fact the situation in which they are working the fields of Eretz Yisrael, suspending work during Shemitta and Yovel, and following the rules of transactions regarding real estate in the Land among other financial matters.