Behar - Bechukotai ~ May 11, 2023

Numerology is very important in Jewish tradition. We all know that eighteen is equal to the two letters in the Hebrew alphabet chet (ח) and yud  (י) which spell out the word chai, (חי)  life. People wear the chai, to ward off the evil eye, to say “yes” to life, and to announce one’s Jewishness. Thirteen equals the letters alef (א) chet(ח)  and daled (ד)  which spell out the word echad, (אחד)  as in ‘G-d is one.’ It is the last word in the Shema. Thirteen is a very lucky or mazeldik number and in Israel one will find a thirteenth floor in buildings.

In our Torah reading for this Shabbat, the number seven represents freedom. For on the seventh year, the Hebrew slave becomes free from his master. (Please note that the Hebrew slave was simply one who owed a debt that he could not afford to pay. That debt was paid off by an individual, and the Hebrew slave worked for six years to pay off that debt and on the seventh was released from that debt.)  Known as the shemita year, it is also the year where the land in Israel remains free from planting, allowing it to regenerate its nutrients as in the seven days of creation. This year happens to be a shemita year, and even here in America very religious individuals are punctilious of not purchasing produce from Israel that may be shemita. Fifty represents the year of Jubilee in which time the land remained free from planting for an extra year following the shemita. It also represented freedom from debt from those who sold their homes or land due to financial constraints. It allowed them to recoup their property so that, in effect, the original sale was more of a land or home lease for the remaining time from purchase until the Jubilee. With the heralding of the Jubilee year, those individuals who had unintentionally killed another, and who had fled to cities of refuge and protection from the families of the deceased, were now free to return home.  While there is a great deal more than this simplified explanation of the reading taking up tractates of Talmud and legal texts and treatises on the matter, the fact is that as we read the text, we hopefully begin to understand that the Torah found every which way to maintain an equitable, just and fair society, both economically and agriculturally.

There are other important numbers in our Torah. One is forty. Forty represents a great deal of time. The Biblical Flood, during Noah’s generation, lasted forty days and forty nights. Moses ascended Mt. Sinai to receive Torah and the Ten Commandments and remained there for forty days and forty nights. The Children of Israel wandered in the desert for forty years. The wandering was a guided and protected one with G-d’s cloud hovering over them during the day and a pillar of fire by their side at night.

Forty is the number that I would like to focus on just for one more moment. Forty years ago this coming Sunday, I ascended the bimah at the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City to have a hand placed upon my shoulder as part of semichat rabbanim, the passing on the title of “Rabbi” from one rabbi to the next. Rabbi David Seed, son of our beloved Mimi and Milton, waited as well to have his name called just behind me, to be ordained as a rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. And while I have actually served congregations for forty-one years, this Shabbat is very special and meaningful. When I received my honorary doctorate  from JTS after serving twenty-five years in the rabbinate, there was an understanding of why this weekend is quite meaningful to me. At the convocation, it was stated that beyond the studies accomplished during that time, the honor was bestowed for the achievement of teaching students who followed me to become rabbis, educators and leaders in the community. Just recently I was emotionally touched when one of my recent conversion students announced that she had changed her life plan and was accepted into the MA leading to Doctorate program at NYU.  A few years back at a seminar for rabbis, another individual heard my name and stopped the introductions around the circle to remind me that I was her rabbi when she was a teen and was the influence that led her to JTS to become a rabbi. I hadn’t seen her in years, but that moment made an impression upon me and upon my other colleagues. As we all know, not everything in the rabbinate is so rosy. With every achievement there are also some setbacks. However, to reach the fortieth anniversary of receiving ordination, and to recognize the good and the bad of all of these years, simply humbles me. And I am grateful to be here in the New London area, helping our congregation establish and experience a new found meaning of Jewish spirituality and life, as well as, G-d willing, a new home for our shul.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi K