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rhuRosh ha-Shannah 9b discusses which of the three following are necessary for the fiftieth year to be a Yovel (whence "Jubilee") year: (a) the manumission of indentured servants, (b) the return of ancestral fields to their original families, (c) the blowing of the shofar on Yom Kippur. The conclusion is that only (c) is necessary. [I.e., if a given year is scheduled to be a Yovel, and the shofar is not blown on Yom Kippur, then the other Yovel laws--such as leaving the fields fallow--are not in effect.]
So why only shofar? The gemara gives two answers, which illuminate two different perspectives on the relationship between the Law and the People.
The first answer is that sometimes there will be a Yovel year in which God has blessed us with fifty years of plenty, and no one has had to sell himself into servitude, and no one has had to sell his ancestral fields. However, one can always blow shofar.
The second answer is that sometimes there will be an individual who commits the sin of not manumitting his servant or of not returning someone else's ancestral field. And although such a person can be brought before the Bet Din and compelled to do these things, the fact that he did not do so before Yom Kippur would void the Yovel. But the Bet Din itself is responsible for blowing shofar, and one can depend on them to do the right thing.
The gemara gives us both answers, I think, to teach that we must watch out for two threats to our commitment to halacha. When everything is going well, it is easy to become complacent. When one's neighbor is sinning, it is easy to (in the words of the late Sen. Moynihan) "define deviancy down." Either situation jeopardizes our relationship to the mitzvot; both respond to the call of the shofar, which awakens the slumbering soul and alarms the willful transgressor.
So why only shofar? The gemara gives two answers, which illuminate two different perspectives on the relationship between the Law and the People.
The first answer is that sometimes there will be a Yovel year in which God has blessed us with fifty years of plenty, and no one has had to sell himself into servitude, and no one has had to sell his ancestral fields. However, one can always blow shofar.
The second answer is that sometimes there will be an individual who commits the sin of not manumitting his servant or of not returning someone else's ancestral field. And although such a person can be brought before the Bet Din and compelled to do these things, the fact that he did not do so before Yom Kippur would void the Yovel. But the Bet Din itself is responsible for blowing shofar, and one can depend on them to do the right thing.
The gemara gives us both answers, I think, to teach that we must watch out for two threats to our commitment to halacha. When everything is going well, it is easy to become complacent. When one's neighbor is sinning, it is easy to (in the words of the late Sen. Moynihan) "define deviancy down." Either situation jeopardizes our relationship to the mitzvot; both respond to the call of the shofar, which awakens the slumbering soul and alarms the willful transgressor.
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Date: 2006-12-20 04:02 am (UTC)