Bahar Excerpts

בהר

Shabbat Shalom

Engagement party. Mazel Tov. Beautiful. We can deal with a few less of them… One engagement party per engagement. That makes sense. I think we just celebrate twelve for Josh. The vort, the Lchaim, the engagement, the shower, the uphruph, shabbat chatan… Too much celebrating.

Playoffs… why does your rabbi talk sports? Why? Because they are meaningful. They keep kids out of trouble. They keep them out of davening, so that we can pray right… No. Let them play dodgeball in the social hall… Then get a youth center… Money? Want me to talk about money?

It is about money. Engagement parties are about money. The gifts cost. A new wing in the shul costs money.

(25:47-49) Your brother sells himself to a non-Jew, you buy him back. Money. Relatives buy him back. ‘If he comes across enough money, he can be redeemed (himself).’ There are levels of support here. Why am I supporting these kids? The shul should not be paying for the engagement party. Family comes first… They even had the chutzpah for a registry. Family should buy it… If you are inviting us to pay for your new home, then skip the wedding, save that money…

(25:50-52) According to the Jubilee years is what you pay him. Payment goes according to what you are getting. Cream puffs are not worth an $18 engagement gift… Rent is according to value. The same reason I ask why the new bakery is charging $3 for their Danish.

It is a year of jubileeness because it is once. One time every fifty years. We can celebrate that. It’s not 300 celebration every fifty years… Yes. That would be hard to celebrate. Josh’s parents don’t get this…

I don’t know how non-Jews are involved in the Jubilee year… It’s Israel. Anything is possible. The church owns it… If we are saving on rent, we’ll involve the non-Jews. The non-Jews who have to follow Jewish law…

(25:53) No. You hire him as a worker for hire. That is what you pay for… No. He is not a slave… I get it. It is easier to tell a slave what to do… Then learn to be a boss… You pay for what you hired them to do. Maybe that is why they are such bad employees. No work ethic. Get them to learn how to work… Then hire slaves.

(25:54-55) ‘If he is not redeemed, he will go out in the Jubilee year.’ His children too. Of course they go out and are freed in the Jubilee year. It’s a jubilee… Yes. Jubilees are fun. Jubilee is not a sad word.

Why? ‘For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants, whom I took out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your Gd.’ Even if you hire slaves, they are not yours. They are servants of Gd. That is why the jubilee year reminds us. It reminds us that Jews are servants of Gd. That is happiness. We are not slaves to the engagement parties and lack of room for kids to run around in shul…

We must make the decision and keep in mind when the Jubilee year is coming. It is up to us to be slaves to H.’ It is on us to not sell ourselves forever.

Know who you belong to. Know your past as well. You are product of not just the now. That Jubilee reminds us that all the little things we do are finite. We are responsible for the immediate, to ensure the infinite is kept right; to ensure the land goes back to its original order… Who buys you back? You. If you have the ability. You do it. You don’t throw the yolk of your responsibility off, like the gabbai. Do your job already.

(26:1-2) Do I have to tell you to not make idols and bow to them? Again. Again with the false gods. You remain a slave to a not Gd and you forget the Jubilee. You forget to turn on the lights for Shabbat… Yes. Keeping mitzvot is a constant. Because that is how we recognize the Jubilee… If they wouldn’t have so many parties, we would still be wishing Josh a Mazel Tov…

And ‘you shall guard My Shabbat and fear my sanctuary, I am H.”’ Through serving in a sanctuary and keeping Shabbat is how you remember and constantly serve H.’

You can have parties. If you remember H’ all the time, you will not have the molten gods. You won’t be inviting all of the shtus and disgustingness you are a slave to, to the parties. If you remember H’ all of the time, keep Shabbis weekly, you will not sell yourself forever… Yes. Not keeping Shabbis is why your kids are bad Jews… They don’t even know when the Jubilee is. How can they be happy with no Jubilee?!