The Economics of Liberty (Rabbi Sacks on Behar, Covenant & Conversation)
The Office of Rabbi Sacks
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The Social Law of Pashus Bahar
What makes judaism distinctive is its commitment to both freedom and equality, while at the same time recognizing the tension between them. The fundamental insight of pashus bahar is precisely that restated by piqeti in shamut. Economic inequalities have a tendency to increase over time, and the result may be a loss of freedom as well. People can become enslaved by a burden of debt. Every seventh year, debts were to be released and israelite slaves set free. After seven sebatigal cycles, the jubilee year was to be a time when, with few exceptions, ancestral land returned to its original owners.
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