From: 	 heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Sent: 	 Wednesday, October 1, 1997 2:14 AM
To: 	 "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"
Subject: When is the Year of Jubilee ???

From:          Stefan Blad 
To:            "'Hebrew roots'" <heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com>
Subject:       Year of Jubilee

Shalom Eddie!

Can you give us some more information about the year of jubilee. 
Is the comming 50th aniversary of the proclamation of the State of 
Israel the correct year of jubilee acording to the biblical counting?

I need some more information about this because I have been 
asked to teach about this item in a conference in Portugal next 
month.

Thank's for your help

Stefan Blad 

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From:  Roberta
To:       heb_roots_chr@geocities.com

Subject: The Year of Jubilee

Eddie,

This comes from  "Ask the Rabbi" "Questions and
Answers" under the "Torah and the Talmud" regarding " When is the
next Jubilee?"  

Q: When is the next Jubilee year & what date does it officially begin?

A: What a puzzling question -- especially in light of our recent
return t o the Holy Land! Well... you might be surprised to know that
nobody really knows when the next Jubilee Year is going to be. The
Talmud tells us that during the days of  the Second Temple, the
Jubilee was not observed because the majority of  Jews did
not live in the land of Israel (Cf. Arachin 32b -- for a different
Talmudic view see Moed Katan 2b and the Ramban in Sefer Hazechut
pp. 18a-b in the Rif). 

According to the Responsa of the Geonim, the
Jubilee Year ceased being observed from the time of Sanchereb's
invasion of Israel and the subsequent displacement of the lost
tribes of  Rueben, Gad, and the half tribe of Menasshe  (Cf.
Maimonides' Responsa 666 No. 389). In addition, the Talmud 
Yerushalmi in Sheviit 6:4 and Hullin 6b all point out
that even the observance of the Shimitah year (the next Shimtah year
will by the way, take place in 2001) is only a rabbinical observance.  
Nowhere in the entire Talmud is there even the slightest indication that 
the Jubilee Year was ever observed during the time of the Second 
Temple. 

As to the purpose of the Jubilee Year, there are some interesting 
theories: Some scholars such as S. Hoenig [In the JQR 59 [1959] 
pp. 222-223] suggested a novel theory that the Jubilee Year served 
as a "leap year" of the forty-nine days inserted into the calendar every
forty-ninth year. This leap year served to realign the lunar
calendar with the solar calendar. Such a leap year accounts for its
disappearance of the Jubilee Year from the calendars of the Second
Temples, for the adoption of a solar-lunar calendar eliminated the
need for these extra days. The only problem with Hoenig's theory is
that the forty nine days is not enough to align the solar and lunar
calendars. In a forty-nine year period, there would have to be some
sixty-one days for a full alignment. As to the actual meaning of the
Jubilee, here are a number of possible theories to consider: The
Talmud tells us that Jubilee Year did not come into effect 
automatically with the event of the 50th year -- it became a reality only
through the decree and implementation of the Beit Din  (the Jewish
Court) through the Shofar at the end of the Yom Kippor holiday. If the
Beth Din violated the precept and did not sound the shofar -- even if
the servants were sent off free and the fields were returned to
their original owners, without the shofar blast , the Jubilee Year did
not come into effect. In fact, the word Yovel, the Hebrew word for
Jubilee, means "horn"  as in trumpets of rams horns (cf. Joshua 6:4, 
Ibn Ezra, the great medieval commentator was of the opinion that 
Yobel signified the transfer of properties (Cf. Isa. 18:7).

Alternatively,  the word Yaval  primary  root; denotes  to flow;
causation. to bring (esp.. with pomp):--bring (forth), carry, lead
(forth). Thus in Lev. 26:4, the term Yebul refers to the "produce of
the earth." It may not be too far-fetched to even suggest that the
English word "jubilate" comes from the Latin word jubilare may come
from the Hebrew word Yobel -- Jubilee! Other theories suggest that the
Yobel may refer to a trumpet blast. There are those who would argue 
that the term "Yobel" never means ram's horn unless it
is accompanied by the word "horn" or "trumpet blast" (cf. Joshua 6:4,
6,8,13). In the LXX (the Greek translation of the Bible), the word
Yobel is rendered as a'phesis which denotes "sending away" or
"sending back" For our purposes the verse that speaks of Yobel in Lev.
25:10 ought to be rendered as "homecoming." It shall be a jubilee
[HOMECOMING] for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your
property and every one of you to your family. Lev. 25:10 

There is some
discussion in the Talmud whether the Jubilee Year was included in or
excluded from the forty-nine year cycles. The majority of the sages
held that the Jubilee Year was an intercalation e.g., an  addition 
inserted in the calendar to harmonize it with the solar year and
thus followed  the seventh Sabbatical year, making two fallow years
in successions. After both passed, the next cycle began. According
to Rebbe (Yehudah HaNassi) cited in Gittin 36a, the Jubilee Year was
identical with the seventh Sabbatical year. According to the
medieval Midrashic work, Seder Olam, the Jubilee Year is the
50th year after the previous Jubilee Year and is thus also the first
year of the following Shmitah cycle and Jubilee. (Cf. Nedarim 61a). 
According to the apocryphal work, the Book of Jubilees, the Jubilee Year
occurs every 49 years (which by the way, was also observed by the
ancient Samaritans) thus corresponding to the view of Rabbi Yehuda
HaNassi.

Rabbi Dr. Michael Samuel Traditional

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