How is the Year of the Jubilee Determined?

Then in Leviticus 25:8-11, "And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years to thee, seven times times seven years; and the space of the seven Sabbaths shall be to thee forty nine years. Then shalt thou cause the shofar to sound on the 10th day of the 7th month, on the Day of Atonement shall ye sound the Shofar throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the 50th year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants: it shall be a Jubilee for you; and you shall return every man to his possession, and you shall return every man to his family. A jubilee shall that 50th year be to you...."

Since the Israelites entered the land on the 10th day of the 1st month in the year 2488, some have assumed that the counting of the sabbatical year and the Jubilee would start on that year. However, they spent seven years at Gilgal in the conquest of the land, and another seven years in dividing the land to the tribal heirs. They did not enter into the "possession of the land" until fourteen years later in the year 2502. That was the first year of the counting of the seven years as the first sabbatical (shmittah) year. Seven sabbatical years later, or the 49th year would be the year 2551. The following year was the Jubilee in 2552. The following year 2553 was the 1st year of the sabbatical year counting. Therefore, the 2nd and the 52nd year of each century would be sabbatical years. Thus, the year 5052 would have been our 19th Jubilee.

In actuality a Jubilee cannot be observed today because there is no Tabernacle or Temple. Moreover, the Urim and Thummim have not been recovered. So no priest can stand with the Urim and Thummim to determine exactly to which Tribe each head of an Israelite family belongs. Therefore, the Jubilee cannot be observed until those hidden treasures are returned which are the things described in the Copper Scroll.

Before the Holy House (actually, the Tabernacle with the Ark and Ashes of the Red Cow, etc.) can be returned, there must be at least a symbolic return of the observant Jewish people to the Land of Israel for Torah reasons and not for mere political Zionist motivations. Within Israel, there must also be at least a symbolic and serious turning of the Israelis to G-d and Torah.

That first symbolic return of the Jews to the Land of Israel for Torah reasons really only began to happen in the years from 1984 to the present. This return was greatly the result of the efforts of Menechem Begin.

Not only have Jews from the Diaspora been returning to their Torah faith and thus to Israel, but also massive numbers of totally non-observant Israelis have also become Torah observant Jews.

The Socialist Left is alarmed and enraged by this impromptu upsurge of Orthodoxy from outside of Israel and even more so from within Israel. Twenty-five years ago it was rare to see an Israeli wearing a kippa. Today it is rare to see an Israeli without a kippa. In reaction to this, the Labor government, since 1992, has been brutally abusive of the Religious Jews in Israel, especially those who are living in historical Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Their brutish oppression, however, had an intensely opposite effect. Tens of thousands of non-religious Israelis became observant Jews because of the Peace Process and the duress of the Labor leftists. Many who became observant moved to what the Socialists call "over the green line." According to their own figures, the population in the "Territories" grew from 60,000 to 160,000. In actuality, the total population of all the area (which was Jordan for the 19 years before the 1967 war) is in excess of 1,500,000, the majority of whom are observant or traditional Jews.

The leftists thought that the influx of Soviet Jews would strengthen their socialist cause. Not so! Jews from Russia were totally disgusted with Socialism and Communism. Their grandparents had propagated the doctrine that "Old Way" of Orthodox Judaism was obsolete. The "New Way" of Socialism would lead them directly to heaven on earth in only five years.

David Axelrod, the great-grandson of Leon Trotsky, related to me that he told his father: "You said that the Old Way of Torah was no good. You and they kept promising that another 'five year program' would bring heaven on earth. Now after more than fifty years your New Way has led us to hell on earth. I am returning to the Old Way of Torah and to the Land of Israel."

Not only observant Jews from Russia, but also from all over Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa returned. In one single day over 16,000 Ethiopian Jews returned. They were all religious Jews! This is most important, because the Jews' Return to Torah and a Return to the Land are prerequisites to the Return of the Tabernacle to Gilgal and later to Jerusalem! All this, including the "oppression of the righteous" over the past four years, are a part of the prophetic expectation of this particular era.

The result of this Return to Torah was demonstrated in the May 29, 1996 elections. Over 25% of the Knesset now, for the first time, represent the religious Jewish parties. Even a greater percentage in the government, though not observant, are not anti-religious. Finally, at last, the leftists are a minority opposition faction in the government.