Parashat HaShavua - Be’har
וְקִדַּשְׁתֶּ֗ם אֵ֣ת שְׁנַ֤ת הַחֲמִשִּׁים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּקְרָאתֶ֥ם דְּר֛וֹר בָּאָ֖רֶץ לְכל־יֹשְׁבֶ֑יהָ
And you shall hallow the fiftieth year. You shall proclaim Deror (freedom) throughout the land for all its inhabitants.
This week’s Torah portion Be’har begins with a discussion of the Shemita (the Sabbatical year) and Yovel (the 50th Jubilee year). As the 50th year enters, we are instructed to sound the shofar and declare Deror. The word Deror is complicated. Rashi suggests that it means liberty from slavery and that it is connected to the word to dwell (לדור). Rashi states: it is the freedom to reside in any place that one pleases, and is not under the control of others.
Ibn Ezra (12th century Spain) connects our pasuk about Deror (freedom or liberty) with a pasuk from Mishlei (Proverbs):
כַּצִּפּ֣וֹר לָ֭נוּד כַּדְּר֣וֹר לָע֑וּף
Like a fluttering sparrow, like a darting swallow
Ibn Ezra teaches that Deror refers to a small bird that sings a song when it is free. When it is not free, this bird does not sing and does not eat.
This week, I had the tremendous responsibility of accompanying our 11th grade students as they visited the Nova exhibit downtown. The visit deeply impacted the students and yet they all approached it with the utmost respect, sensitivity, and maturity. At the very beginning of the exhibit, we watched a video that sought to convey the message and the culture of the Nova festival. What stood out to me was the participants' explanation that the music doesn’t enter their being through their ears but rather through their body, and specifically through their heart. Dancing together to the music connected them to each other, to people they had never met. They created a community that celebrated freedom by elevating the power of music.
There is a famous Israeli children’s book titled ציפור הנפש by Michal Snonit. One could translate the title of the book as the bird of the soul. However, the content of the book suggests that it could be translated as the Bird of Freedom. This bird is the bird that is deep inside of us. She is the one who feels all our emotions, who responds - either appropriately or inappropriately – to situations we confront, and she is the one who encourages us to be our true and free selves. I wonder if the book could have been titled ציפור הדרור (The Bird of Deror - Freedom).
The book ends with the following lines (my translation):
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It is most important to listen carefully because sometimes it happens that the Bird of the Soul (or the Bird of Freedom) calls us and we don’t hear. That’s too bad. She wants to tell us about ourselves. She wants to tell us about our feelings that are locked in the drawers inside her. There are those who hear her often and there are those who hear her only seldomly. And there are those who hear her only once in their lives. |
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May this be the Shabbat of freedom. May we merit the privilege to hear the song of the hostages’ birds. We are ready!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Dahlia Kronish
High School Associate Head