The Master Plan
Contemporary society’s pendulum is swinging from one extreme to the other: On extreme tells us that the Earth is ours to plunder. It deifies man. The other extreme deifies the Earth. Torah insists that we glorify only the one G-d who is the Master of all. BECHUKOSAI BECHUKOSAI
The Original Environmentalists?
This week’s Torah portion Behar discusses the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. These agricultural laws, which restrict our right to the land during these special years, appear similar to the environmental concerns of our modern day society. Environmentalists will constantly remind us that we have no right to exercise mastery over the Earth, because “the Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.”
The analogy here, however, is only a superficial one. The restrictions the Torah imposes on us during the Sabbatical and Jubilee year is not to teach us that the earth owns us, but that we and the Earth belong to G-d. As long as we recognize that G-d is the master of everything, we are given the right and indeed the obligation to exercise mastery over the world we were commanded by the BECHUKOSAI Earth’s Creator to “conquer” the earth. This does not mean that we should plunder and destroy, but to use all of G-d’s creations for the fulfillment of G-d’s “Master Plan” for the Universe.
The Master Plan
What precisely is G-d’s Master Plan?
The Midrash informs us that G-d created the universe, because “He wanted a dwelling place in the lowliest place.” G-d wanted a world which, from His vantage point is lowly, because it does not recognize its truly Divine nature. And, G-d’s plan was that ultimately, through the observance of the Mitzvos, the physical world would become receptive to its Creator.
When this process is complete, and G-d will be recognized by all of existence, the world will have reached its very purpose. This is what the Messianic Age is all about. It is the time when all of our cumulative good and G-dly energy generated by all the Mitzvos ever performed, will become manifest and the world will be “filled with the knowledge of BECHUKOSAI G-d as the sea is covered with water.” (Isaiah)11:9).
Avoiding Extreme Philosophies
We can now appreciate the Torah’s commandment concerning the cessation of work on the land, during the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. It was intended to instill within us the proper understanding of our relationship with the earth; a relationship which will lead to the world’s perfection and ultimate goal.
By desisting from work on the land for the duration of these special years, one avoids the two possible extreme philosophies, both of which are deviations from G-d’s Master Plan. One extreme is to think that the world is ours to do with it as we please, regardless of the consequences. The other extreme is to deify the earth and the laws of nature themselves, failing to realize that all of the universe was created by a Creator who transcends His own creation.
Desisting from work during the Sabbatical and Jubilee years is an expression of the belief BECHUKOSAI that the world is not ours to plunder and destroy, but to treat with respect and with responsibility.
Conversely, the Earth is an instrument for the ultimate fulfillment of G-d’s plan: to make this world a place where G-d can dwell. This we accomplish by using the world for functions that enable us to do more and more Mitzvos.
BECHUKOSAI
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Behar-Bechukosai by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
