Our Counting

"וספרת לך שבע שבתות שנים ..." [ויקרא כה:י]

"And you shall count for yourself seven sabbatical years …"[Vayikra 25:10]

Why am I counting "for myself" ? The Kli Yakar offers a fantastic perspective.

Because the Yovel year that comes every 50 years is really for my benefit. Not just for my spiritual benefit – but even for my material benefit.

How so ?

Imagine someone who is very occupied with gathering fruits or something else of a fragile nature. In order to maximize his efforts he doesn’t bother to store the fruits properly – he can't justify the time spent away from his gathering duties. What happens ? He loses what he collected to spoilage and other factors.

Or perhaps someone who is so frantic to make as many cash deals as possible that he can't be bothered to go to the bank and deposit his money – eventually he will lose his cash because carrying it around with him isn't the safest place for it.

In both cases, had the person kept their mind on the final goal (of preservation of wealth) he would have been spared the tragic effects of too much short term effort without long term planning.

We get so caught up in the ins and outs of everyday life that we may forget – "you can't take it with you".

The Yovel year is a built in reminder. And this reminder is for our benefit.

Hatzlacha