Timeless Torah

This Land is (not) my Land (25:16)
In Eretz Yisroel the death threats continue. The number of inert bodies mount and violence is still the option of choice in resolving differences….but this time it is not Arab versus Jew, but rather Arab against Arab.

In Eretz Yisroel the death threats continue. The number of inert bodies mount and violence is still the option of choice in resolving differences. If your response is, “Nothing has changed.” Look Again!
This time it is not Arab versus Jew, but rather Arab against Arab. The issue is land, the crime is selling it to a Jew and the penalty doesn't allow for any appeals. In this week's Biblical portion, the Torah also discusses the problem of land ownership. Here too, one cannot sell it to a Jew - but for a very different reason. It is not yours to sell.

Once every fifty years we are informed is the Yovel, commonly referred to as the Jubilee Year. Not only does the land lie fallow, as it does every seventh, or Shemittah year, it also reverts to the tribal families that owned it originally.
This all took place in the days of Joshua when the people first entered the land. After conquering most of the territory, a Divine lottery apportioned the land along tribal and family lines. In order to ensure that Israel would not develop a class of land barons that could buy up everyone else's land during hard times, the Torah did not allow someone to sell the land permanently and thus deprive the next generation of their ancestral heritage. More accurately, the land was leased. Its price was not based on the value of the property itself, but on the number of seasons and consequently, the amount of crops the land could produce until the next Jubilee.

Although the fields at that point returned to family ownership, the Bible makes abundantly clear the principle that the land ultimately belongs to G-d.
Of course, one could extend this concept to its logical conclusion in reference to the Land for Peace debate. (If the land being demanded is not yours to negotiate....I am sure you can figure out the rest.)
One is likely to point out, that if indeed I have no claim on the land, then the land can have no claim on me. After all, it wasn't I who sold or gave away the land. The Torah however, informs us otherwise. According to the Law, the family is required to expend their money and energy in redeeming the land and returning it to the Mishpocha, even before the arrival of the next Jubilee.

And if you are worried about the potential political fallout of such a stance, I say, let the professional politicians double-cross that bridge when they get to it.