Exchanging the Impermanent for the Permanent

26 Iyar 5782

“In the Jubilee year, the field shall return to the one from whom he bought it namely, the one whose inherited land it was.” (Vayikra 27:24)

One possible explanation for why fields return to their proper owner in the Jubilee year is that the Torah commands us to have a long-term perspective, to exchange the impermanent for the permanent, and not the other way round. Thus the Rambam explains (coincidentally in today’s order of 3 chapters): “One should not sell a field and buy a house, sell a house and buy chattels, or use money acquired by selling his house for trade. Conversely, he should sell chattels to buy a field. The rule is that he should aim to improve his financial position and to exchange the impermanent for the permanent.” (Mishneh Torah, De’ot 5:12) Thus in a certain sense the Torah is protecting us from ourselves, ensuring that there is a fixed time limit to any blunders we make in exchanging our permanent possessions for fleeting pleasures.

“O how I love Your Torah! All day it is my discussion. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me.” (Tehillim 119:97-98)

We can take the above even one step further. What property in the world is more permanent than the words of Torah that we “acquire” in our lifetime? Through concentrated study and passionate discourse we are able to exchange our physical life, a most fleeting window of time, for permanent treasures that stay with us forever. Thus, learning and spreading Torah is the ultimate in exchanging “the impermanent for the permanent.”

“But the lower worlds and creatures, even the spiritual ones, do not receive the Divine life-force in quite such a revealed form as it is received in the higher worlds, but only by means of many garments, wherein the blessed Ein Sof invests the vitality and light which He causes to flow and shine on them in order to animate them.” (Lessons in Tanya, Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 51)

To any doubts about the above that still remain in our mind we should answer that G‑dliness is equally present in all levels of creation. It is only that this world was created in such a way that it conceals its own G‑dly life-force by means of multitudinous and dense garments. As such, it is possible for a creature to exist in this world that forgets or even denies its own lofty origin. It is our task to transcend this concealment and devote ourselves to the ultimate and permanent truth regardless of the efforts entailed, until we can truly understand the nature of this world with the coming of Moshiach, our redeemer, may it be soon in our days.