Parsha Facts

Concepts

• Year of the Shmitah
• Year of Yovel
• Prohibition against taking interest
• Laws of the Jewish slaves

People

Moshe

Places

Midbar

Mitzvos

24 mitzvos in the Parsha (Number 326-349 of 613 mitzvos in the Torah)
7 positive Mitzvos and 17 negative Mitzvos

1. Not to work the land during the Shmitah year.
2. Not to day any work with the trees during the Shimtah year.
3. Not to harvest the wild growths of the land during the Shmitah year.
4. Not to gather the fruit of the tree during the Shmitah year.
5. Counting the seven cycles of seven years.
6. Sounding the shofar on Yom Kippur during the Yovel year.
7. Sanctifying the Yovel year.
8. Not to work the land during the Yovel year.
9. Not to harvest the wild growths of the land during the Yovel year.
10. Not to gather the fruit of the tree during the Yovel year.
11. To enact justice between a buyer and a seller.
12. Not to wrong another in matters of buying and selling.
13. Not to oppress a Jew verbally.
14. Not to sell land in Eretz Yisrael permanently.
15. To return land in Eretz Yisrael to its original owners during the Yovel year.
16. To redeem inherited property in a city up until a year (from the sale).
17. Not to alter the open land around the cities of the Levites, or their fields.
18. Not to charge interest when leaning to a Jew.
19. Not to make a Hebrew slave do demeaning work.
20. Not to sell a Hebrew slave on an auction block.
21. Not to work a Hebrew slave with hard labor.
22. To keep a Canaanite slave permanently.
23. Not to allow a Hebrew slave to be overworked by his non-Jewish master.
24. Not to bow down on the ground on a figured stone, even in worship to HaShem.

Year from Creation

Timeline

Parsha said on Har Sinai immediately after the Ten Commandments, Sivan (there is no chronology in the Torah; this portion precedes Parshas VaYikra by almost 10 months).

Sedra-Stats

• 32nd of the 54 sedras; 9th of 10 in Sefer VaYikra
• Written on 99 lines in a Sefer Torah; ranks 50th
• 7 parshios: 1 open, 6 closed

Comparison to the other sedras:

• 57 pesukim – 50th of 54 (10th of 10 in VaYikra)
• 737 words – 50th of 54 (10th of 10 in VaYikra)
• 2817 letters – 50th of 54 (10th of 10 in VaYikra)

*Note: this Parsha is often read together with Parshas Bechokusai