2008 corresponds to 5768 in the Jewish calendar, a shmittah year (sabbatical year) and a leap year (Adar Bet, or Adar Sheni). The coincidence of these two special "re-setting" years with one of the biggest elections in recent history provides the Jewish community with a unique opportunity to recalibrate our thinking. The verb recalibrate is defined as:"To check, adjust, or determine by comparison with a standard." In 2008, we have a chance to check and adjust the state of our country's politics and policies against the standard of our Jewish values.
Jewish leap year: This year, the Jewish calendar includes not one, but two months of Adar, Adar Rishon (First Adar, last month) and Adar Sheni (Second Adar, the leap month, this month). The purpose of Adar Sheni is to ensure that the Jewish calendar (which has twelve lunar months and is approximately 354.3 days in length) and the festival calendar (which follows the solar calendar and is approximately 365.5 days in length) do not stray too far from one another. For example, Jews are mandated to celebrate the festival of Sukkot during the harvest season in the fall and the festival of Passover during the spring season. If we did not "re-set" the calendar seven times in the 19 year lunar cycle with Adar Sheni, events would not unfold in their mandated season and we could not fulfill our Jewish obligations.
Similarly, our democratic system allows us to "re-set" our thinking every election cycle, fulfilling our American obligations by truly reflecting on the status of our country and its most vulnerable members. Without Adar Sheni, the lunar and solar years would bypass each other until our lives were completely out of sync with our Jewish obligations. Without elections the will of the people and the will of the political leadership would bypass each other, taking us further and further off course. The upcoming 2008 elections will allow citizens to "recalibrate" holding our leaders accountable to the politics and policies that reflect the values of the American people.
Shmittah year: In Leviticus (25:3-4), we are commanded, "Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year (there) shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord: Thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard" (Leviticus 25:3-4).
During this year farmland attained communal status, crops and food were available to all, and all debts were to be forgiven. Traditionally, it was also during this time that farmers were able to take a break from physical labor and focus mental energy on contemplation and reflection, a year-long Sabbath observance.
Although only a small percentage of Jews are farmers today, we can take the lessons of the shmittah year and apply them to our obligations during an election year. Every four years Americans are given the opportunity to re-focus our mental energy on our nation's leadership and the status of our country. It was commanded during the shmittah year that debts be forgiven and that the fruits of the field be readily available to the poor. What does this commandment mean today when sub-prime mortgages have pushed families to foreclosure, predatory lending practices have pushed economically vulnerable families to the brink of poverty and 35 million Americans still go to bed hungry? Just as farmers take a sabbatical during the shmittah year, all Jews can use this election cycle to contemplate our country's priorities and leadership and engage in the process to elevate poverty and social justice in the national discourse. Just as the Shmitta year commands us to share our food with the hungry and forgive all debts, all Jews can use this election year to communicate with our leaders about the need to end predatory lending practices and make sure that every person has access to adequate nutrition.
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The confluence of the shmittah and leap years gives Jews a unique opportunity to pause, reflect and act. What are we doing to affirm our Jewish values of "leaving the corners of our fields for the poor" or to fulfill the mandate, "There Shall Be No Needy Among You"?
When you superimpose a seminal election year on this framework, as Jewish Americans we are obliged to ask the same questions of our leadership and of our country. As a community, what are we doing to help our most vulnerable populations? As more and more Americans face home foreclosures and lose their jobs, what can we do together as a country to "re-calibrate", so as not to veer too far off course?
Neither political party holds the answers to these questions. This year, let us pledge to engage with all candidates of all parties, on the local, state and national level to pose these questions and elevate the national dialogue on questions of poverty and opportunity in America.
Used with permission. provided by Blog author, Melissa Boteach, JCPA.
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