Parashat Behar, 5774/2014 edition

I have nothing new to say about this week's parashah (weekly Torah reading) at the moment, so here’s a link to what I had to say about Parashat Behar in previous years.

~ Conservadox theorizes that the laws of Yovel (the JubileeYear) tried to leave room for a merchant class, but thinks that these laws didn’t go quite far enough.  

~ Rav Shai Held, of Mechon Hadar, thinks that Shabbat, like the Bet HaMikdash/Holy Temple, is supposed to be a taste of a perfect world, to encourage us to go out and create one.

~ Rav Shlomo Riskin gives a nice explanation for why there are two versions of the b'rachah/blessing for Sefirat HaOmer.

~ Rav Dov Linzer, of Yeshiva Chovevei Torah: "A Society Based on Kedusha (Holiness)"