Monthly Archives: May 2020

Parashat Behar

Chapter 25;v 23

וְהָאָרֶץ לֹא תִמָּכֵר לִצְמִתֻת כִּי־לִי הָאָרֶץ כִּֽי־גֵרִים וְתֽוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם עִמָּדִֽי

The land shall not be sold forever; for the land is mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with me.

God said to Israel: “The relationship between you and Me is always that of ‘strangers and settlers.’ If you live in the world like strangers, remembering that you are only here temporarily, then I will be a settler in your midst, in that My Presence will dwell with you permanently. But if you will regard yourselves as settlers, as permanent owners of the land on which you live, forgetting that the land is actually not yours but Mine, My Presence will be a stranger in that it will not dwell in your midst.”

“In any case, you (Israel) and I (God) cannot be strangers and settlers at the same time. If you act like a stranger, then I will be the settler, and if you act the settler, I must be the stranger.”

(Ohel Yaacov)