Parasha: Behar · Aliyah: Sixth (Yesod)

וכי ימוך אחיך, "And if your brother becomes poor, etc." This paragraph is an allusion to something we find in the Tikkuney HaZohar chapter 10 that G'd ordered the spiritual representative of Edom (Samael) in the celestial spheres not do deal cruelly with Israel. When the Torah speaks of the Jewish people becoming poor this is a reference to the exile under the Romans. The reason the Torah speaks of "your brother" is the same as the prophet Maleachi reminding the Jewish people in G'd's name (Maleachi 1,2) that Esau was Jacob's brother but that nonetheless G'd loved Jacob. The word עמך, "with you," is a reminder that the impoverishment of Israel is due to its proximity to Esau/Edom and the fact that it started to copy the evil ways of Edom. The words ונמכר לך, "and he sold himself to you," may be understood as similar to Isaiah 52,3 in which the Jewish people are described as having sold themselves in return for חנם, "nought". According to the Zohar volume 2 page 128, Samael is equated with the domain of חנם, nought, seeing the prophet speaks of the exile under Roman (Edom) domination. (compare Psalms 137,7 where the Jewish people ask G'd to repay Edom for the cruel treatment they dished out to the people of Israel)

לא תעבוד בו עבודת עבד is G'd's command to Edom the host country not to make the Jewish people perform slave labour. (compare Jeremiah 2,14 who asks plaintively: "is Israel then a slave?") but to treat them as one treats a hired hand, כשכיר כתושב יהיה לך, "it shall be like a hired hand or a resident for you." The reason the Torah uses two alternatives here is that Israel may be divided into two categories. 1) The multitude; 2) the elite, as per Samuel II 23,8 where this elite is described as "sitting in the council of the wise." You find on occasion that Israelites rose to the rank of tax collectors even while in exile; these tax collectors may have been the elite in terms of secular rank but they do not represent Israel's spiritual elite. Israel's spiritual elite are characterised by Moses in Deut. 33,3, as והם תכו לרגליך ישא מדברותיך, "but they followed in Your footsteps, accepted Your pronouncements." Concerning this verse our sages in Baba Batra 8 quote Ezra 7,24 that it was forbidden by royal decree to impose any kind of taxes on the Torah scholars (literally the priests and the Levites) even in exile (under Artaxerxes). When the Torah speaks of the Edomites who have exiled us treating us like hired hands, שכיר, this refers to the common people; the term תושב, however, refers to the spiritual elite of the Jewish people in exile. They are not to be burdened with taxes and other governmental demands.

The Torah continues עד שנת היובל יעבוד עמך, "until the Jubilee year he will serve with you;" in this instance the Jubilee year is a reference to the most remote date possible for the redemption. G'd advises Edom that in the end the Jewish people will go free from its exile, i.e. ויצא מעמך. The reference to ובניו is to the "sparks" which have become isolated and which are the mystical dimension of the whole concept of the value of exile. This is the mystical aspect of Kohelet 8,9: "there is a time when one man rules over another to his detriment." [These holy souls had been scattered throughout the nations as a result of Adam's sin and are to be rescued and reunited with the pool of holy souls through their coming into contact with the Jewish people. The author explained this concept on several occasions. Ed.]

You may well ask what would have happened to all these souls if Israel had not sinned and as a result had been scattered throughout the world in exile? Know that if Israel had not sinned they would have possessed the spiritual power to attract these lost souls from wherever they were instead of having to be physically near them in order to exert some influence on them. It was the Israelites' sin which weakened their spiritual power; these sins so weakened Israel's spiritual power to act as a magnet for these souls that even while in exile and physically close to them they do not succeed in all instances to rescue the souls in question.

The Torah continues: ושב אל משפחתו, "and HE will return to his family;" when the redeemer arrives G'd will plant His light amongst us so that He will again take up residence amongst His family, the people of Israel. At such a time the dead will arise and each one will return to אחוזת אבותיו, "the heritage of his fathers," the Holy Temple established by G'd's hands Himself.

לא תרדה בו בפרך, "Do not rule over it with oppression." Samael will be guilty of the death penalty in the future because he ignored the instructions in this verse as we know from Sukkah 52.