About Rabbi Jack Abramowitz
Rabbi Jack Abramowitz served as Director of Programs for NCSY before becoming Associate Director of the Pepa and Rabbi Joseph Karasick Department of Synagogue Services. Rabbi Abramowitz holds degrees in Jewish studies, communications and Higher Education Administration. Among his accomplishments, he authored NCSY's Torah on One Foot series of educational pamphlets and created negiah.org, the first abstinence web site for Jewish teens. Rabbi Abramowitz is the author of The Shnayim Mikra Companion on Torah, The Nach Yomi Companion volumes 1 and 2 on the books of the Prophets and the Writings, and The Tzniyus Book.

Recent Posts

Taryag: A Mitzvah a Day

Questions? Contact us at taryag@ou.org

PARSHAT Behar
MITZVAH COUNTER
Mitzvos to date: 334
Positives:131
Negatives:203
That can be performed today:156
Plus those that can be performed only in Israel:18

334. Parallel Lines: The prohibition against reaping wild crops during the Jubilee


…nor harvest that which grows on its own… (Leviticus 25:11)

The mitzvos of Yoveil (the Jubilee year) continue to parallel those of Shemittah (the Sabbatical year). As with Shemittah, we can’t reap our what grows on its own in the same manner normally used for harvesting crops. We can’t stockpile crops; we may only pick what we need for immediate use. (Compare Mitzvah #328, above.)

The reason, again, is to demonstrate that the land is God’s to do with as He chooses.

This mitzvah only applies in Israel at a time when all the Tribes live there. It is discussed in the Midrash in the Sifre on this parsha. It is codified in the Mishneh Torah in the tenth chapter of Hilchos Shemittah and is #225 of the 365 negative mitzvos in the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos.



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