I often find myself adding multiple reminders in my calendar for the same task. Despite the reminder appearing the first time, I don’t quite manage to get the task done. So, I set a second reminder.
Other times, I am concerned that I’ll miss that early morning flight, so I set multiple alarms.
We humans suffer from fickleness and complacency. So, we often need repeated reminders about the same event, idea, or task.
In this week’s parsha Behar, we learn about the laws of Yovel and Shemitah. Yovel is the Jubilee year and Shemitah is the Sabbatical year. Yovel occurs every 50 years and Shemitah occurs every 7 years.
These events are designed to serve as reminders that G-d is the true Owner of this world. The land, real estate, money – really anything we own – really belong to Hashem. At the Yovel year real estate reverts to its original owner, the land is not worked, and servants are set free. At Shemitah, debts are forgiven and the land is not worked.
When farmers do not work the fields it is an act of faith. We trust that Almighty G-d will provide enough sustenance to sustain a family – and a nation.
The truth is that every week we are reminded to trust in Hashem. When we stop working on Shabbat – despite it being a great day to earn some more money – we are demonstrating that our lot is with G-d. Hashem will provide the necessary livelihood for my family and me.
Hashem knows our human frailty. Our propensity to quickly forget. So, G-d set in place big reminders (less frequently) and small reminders (very often).
As we look at the state of the Jewish people today, we are again forced to remember that our true survival is in the hands of Hashem.
We imagined that the IDF will protect us.
We imagined that America will always have our back.
We imagined that the halls of academia would unabashedly promote the truth.
We imagined that the international courts would not single out the Jewish people among all nations.
We imagined that the neighbors of the only Jewish state who have signed a peace treaty would stand with us.
We imagined that the brightest students would have moral clarity.
We imagined that the world would not forget in less than a century.
We imagined that the that the country that made a U-turn after allowing its people to murder 6 million Jews would stick by its ironclad bond.
We imagined that the minorities for whom we have fought would be at our side.
Today we have been reminded that hope is not lost. We just need to get back to basics. Back to the one ironclad Source that has kept us alive for millennia.
Hashem is reminding us – again and again – that we should not put our true trust in false hopes.
It’s time to utilize tools and allies – but to trust in our Father in Heaven.