We arrive this Shabbat at a double portion that ends our engagement this year with Leviticus. Before we leave, we encounter in chapter 25, laws concerning the Sabbatical and Jubilee year. The detailed laws around these two events are based on a very significant theological belief that has deep meaning for us and our society. These laws focus our attention on the land and the need for the land to rest and revitalize. As chapter 25 outlines the laws for these rituals, we come to a verse within the context of God’s promise to make sure there will be enough for people to eat in time when no food would be harvested. God reminds the Israelites that the land must not be sold to someone, “for the land is mine; and you are but strangers resident with me”. To the farmer God speaks reminding him that the land does not belong to the farmer, it belongs to God!
In a section of “Judaism and Health”, Jeff Levin, PhD and MPH, cites this section of Leviticus to remind us that: “All things belong to God—more so they are made up and infused by godliness—and are only on loan to us for a season. After a time, everything of this world must be restored to God, including our bodies, which are recycled into dust”. (P.346) This is a profound and, to some, frightening statement, for it flies in the face of many of our modern beliefs that prize and celebrate autonomy. This is a tradtional Jewish view, the land, our life, is but on loan to us and we must repay that loan at some time. The texts on our health use this concept to remind us that our bodies are a gift and we must, as with anything we borrow, return this body to God in as best a condition as possible. Thus what we eat, how we treat it is a condition of life.
We rarely discuss this concept. It has great meaning, I suggest , as we age. If our bodies and life belong to God, how much autonomy do we have, or should we have, over how we live, how we treat our body and the type of decisions we can or should make. How wonderful it would be if we were able to inculcate this concept to our youth, reminding them that what they eat, drink, and do to their bodies is a representation of how they are in relationship with God. Talk about an uphill challenge! But as we age, and our relationship with our bodies change (almost daily), does this idea that our bodies belong to God change how we may live our life? Have the people who exercise more, or who have quite smoking or have lost weight do so because of the theology of Torah? If we were able to teach this, would that reality change how we see ourselves and what we chose? Do you believe that all things belong to God and your life and body , ultimately, must be returned to God? Once again, Torah speaks to our lives, issues and choices.
Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Richard F Address

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