Jubilee (biblical)

The Jubilee (Hebrew: יובל yōḇel; Yiddish: yoyvl) is the year that follows the passage of seven "weeks of years" (seven cycles of sabbatical years, or 49 total years). This fiftieth year^[1] deals largely with land, property, and property rights. According to regulations found in the Book of Leviticus, certain indentured servants would be released from servitude,^[2] some debts would be forgiven,^[3] and everyone was supposed to return to their own property in jubilee years.^[4]

Rabbinic literature mentions a dispute between the Sages and Rabbi Yehuda over whether it was the 49th year (the last year of seven sabbatical cycles, referred to as the Sabbath's Sabbath), or whether it was the following (50th) year.^[5]

The biblical rules concerning sabbatical years are still observed by many religious Jews in Israel, but the practices prescribed for the Jubilee year have not been observed for many centuries. According to current interpretation of Torah in contemporary Rabbinic Judaism, the observance of the Jubilee year only applied when the Jewish people were living in the Land of Israel according to their tribes. Therefore, in one sense Jubilee has not been applicable since the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE by Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II.^[6] In a more modern sense, the Jubilee rules concerning land redistribution (as opposed to debt forgiveness) have been rendered obsolete, as in the modern State of Israel, land was nationalized at the state's founding (given both the activities of the Jewish National Fund in helping create the state of Israel, and to prevent a wealthy landlord class from monopolizing scarce land resources). The Israeli government continues to act as the sole nationwide landowner.^{[citation needed]}

^ Leviticus 25:10–11
^ Leviticus 25:39–42
^ Leviticus 25:28
^ Leviticus 25:13
^ Babylonian Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 9a). Maimonides, Mishne Torah (Hil. Shmita ve-Yovel 10:7), in this case, rules in accordance with the Sages that the Jubilee is to be reckoned in the 50th year during the Seven-year cycle, with the new Seven-year cycle beginning afresh in the 51st year. This opinion agrees with that of Philo of Alexandria, who wrote in the chapter, On the Virtues (ch. XIX, vs. 100), "In this fiftieth year (Jubilee), all the ordinances which are given relating to the seventh year are repeated, and some of greater magnitude are likewise added, for instance, a resumption of a man's own possessions which he may have yielded up to others through unexpected necessity; for the law does not permit any one permanently to retain possession of the property of others, but blockades and stops up the roads to covetousness for the sake of checking desire, that treacherous passion, that cause of all evils; and, therefore, it has not permitted that the owners should be for ever deprived of their original property, as that would be punishing them for their poverty, for which we ought not to be punished, but undoubtedly to be pitied" (End Quote)
^ Younger, K. Lawson (1998). "The Deportations of the Israelites". Journal of Biblical Literature. 117 (2): 201–227. doi:10.2307/3266980. JSTOR 3266980.

[1] Leviticus 25:10–11

[2] Leviticus 25:39–42

[3] Leviticus 25:28

[4] Leviticus 25:13

[5] Babylonian Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 9a). Maimonides, Mishne Torah (Hil. Shmita ve-Yovel 10:7), in this case, rules in accordance with the Sages that the Jubilee is to be reckoned in the 50th year during the Seven-year cycle, with the new Seven-year cycle beginning afresh in the 51st year. This opinion agrees with that of Philo of Alexandria, who wrote in the chapter, On the Virtues (ch. XIX, vs. 100), "In this fiftieth year (Jubilee), all the ordinances which are given relating to the seventh year are repeated, and some of greater magnitude are likewise added, for instance, a resumption of a man's own possessions which he may have yielded up to others through unexpected necessity; for the law does not permit any one permanently to retain possession of the property of others, but blockades and stops up the roads to covetousness for the sake of checking desire, that treacherous passion, that cause of all evils; and, therefore, it has not permitted that the owners should be for ever deprived of their original property, as that would be punishing them for their poverty, for which we ought not to be punished, but undoubtedly to be pitied" (End Quote)

[Younger1998-6] Younger, K. Lawson (1998). "The Deportations of the Israelites". Journal of Biblical Literature. 117 (2): 201–227. doi:10.2307/3266980. JSTOR 3266980.

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