In Parshas Behar, following the laws of the Sabbatical year, the Torah says, “You shall count for yourself seven Sabbaths of years, seven years seven times; and the days of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be for you forty-nine years.” [Vayikra 25:8] This introduces the laws of the Jubilee (Yovel) year, which are associated with the laws of the Sabbatical (Shmitah) years.
Following seven cycles of seven years – on the fiftieth year – a very interesting thing happens. If someone sells his family plot in the Land of Israel, the purchaser is only entitled to keep it until the Yovel year. At Yovel, all family-inherited property returns to the original family who had owned it prior to the sale.
Furthermore, even a Hebrew slave who was indentured past his original six-year servitude – which the Torah calls “and he is a slave ‘forever’ (l’olam)” – goes free on the Yovel year.
The pasuk then says, “You shall sound a broken blast on the shofar, in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month; on Yom Kippur you shall sound the shofar throughout your land.” [Vayikra 25:9]. The Yovel year is announced with the blowing of the shofar. Even though, strictly speaking, the year begins on Tishrei 1 (Rosh HaShannah), regarding Yovel, the Yovel laws take effect on Yom Kippur of the fiftieth year.
Now we all know that the tenth day of the month of Tishrei is Yom Kippur. Nevertheless, the previously-cited pasuk redundantly identifies the start of the Yovel year both by saying “in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month” and by saying “on Yom Kippur.” Rashi on that pasuk questions this redundancy. Rashi answers that this teaches that the blowing of the Shofar for Yovel overrides any associated prohibition of Shabbos or Yom Kippur.
The Maharal, however, asks a very interesting question. If someone listens carefully to the words of the pasuk, the first identifier mentioned is “the seventh month, on the tenth of the month.” Only subsequently does it add “on Yom Kippur.” Now, let us ask – which of the two identifiers are extra? It would seem that “Yom Kippur,” which is the second mentioned identifier is the extra one. Yet, this is not how Rashi articulates his question. Rashi says “From the fact that the pasuk mentions Yom Kippur, do I not understand that we are speaking of the tenth day of the seventh month?” It should be the other way around! The Maharal asks that Rashi should have phrased the question in the reverse – “From the fact that the pasuk states the tenth day of the seventh month, do I not know that this is Yom Kippur?”
Maharal gives two answers. We will only concentrate on the Maharal’s second answer, in which he says a beautiful thought. The Maharal says it is no coincidence that Yovel is related to Yom Kippur. Yovel is not triggered by Rosh HaShannah of the fiftieth year, or Succos of the fiftieth year, or Pesach of the fiftieth year. It is specifically Yom Kippur of the fiftieth year. The Maharal says there is something interrelated between Yom Kippur and Yovel. The connection is thematic. Yovel is all about going back to the source. Things return to the original configuration that they are supposed to be in. The slave who sold himself beyond the specified six-year term, goes free. He goes back to his family. He goes back to where he belongs. The field that was in someone’s family for generations but had to be sold out of desperation because of poverty – now that field comes back to where it belongs.
“Everyone who understands the depths of the matter realizes that Yom Kippur and Yovel teach one and the same lesson. Yovel marks the return of everything to its original status. And so too, on Yom Kippur, everyone returns to his original status (of presumed innocence).”
Yes, we may have strayed during the course of the year. We all stray. But Yom Kippur, we go back to the Source. We go back to the Ribono shel Olam. We go back to our pristine relationship with Him. That is why Rashi emphasizes the primary role of Yom Kippur in setting the date of Yovel: “From the fact that it mentions Yom Kippur, would I not realize that we are speaking about the tenth of the seventh month?” Even though it might be mentioned second in the pasuk, it needs to be treated as the primary factor in the setting of the Yovel year because Yovel and Yom Kippur are two sides of the same coin.
