Parsha: B'har

When does money become holy?

i

God says: When you come to the land, every seventh year

you must renounce ownership of the land

and share that year’s produce with your servant of every kind

and with your animals that labor with you

and with the animals of nature.

*

And God says: If you follow My Laws…

I will grant your rains in their season;

and the Land shall give forth its yield.

*

Then God tells the Laws

of how a person may donate money

—value—

to God’s Temple.

ii

We think of our wealth

as our own.

But if you share your wealth

with the community around you,

and if you know your wealth comes

only through God’s rain—

then your wealth can truly hold value,

then your money can be made holy to God.

Leviticus 25:2,6; 26:3-4; 27:3

From The House at the Center of the World