The balanced approach of Yovel

[rafi]

In last week's parsha there was a difference between fields which go back to the original owner in the Yovel year and houses within a walled city which can be sold perpetually?

Why the difference and what is the significance of a walled city?

I saw a straightforward and brilliant answer by a R Shimon Klein on the vbm (so simple I was wondering why I didn't think of it myself)

The idea of yovel is brilliant in that it prevents a handful of people buying up all the land, and gives everyone a chance to start fresh whilst/therefore making everyone realise that it is really Hashem who owns the land.

This is all well and good, but that would mean communities which have been built up are torn apart - so the walled city rule allows for communities (which used to be best defined by a walled city) to develop without being uprooted every 50 years. It is an impressive balancing act.

Interestingly, the walled city rule applies even if the wall no longer exists. This is because the community which built up within the walls outlasts the wall. In other words once the community is formed it is defined by itself rather than the wall in which it developed. It reminds me of an article I read a while ago - researchers have recently discovered that even 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall the communities of deer on the east and west of the wall still don't venture over the place where the wall used to be. Anyway, shows the importance of a community.

Sent from my iPhone

[MD Spitzer]

Similar reason given by משך חכמה in בהר but focusing on avoiding the difficulty of defending border towns if all residents are new every יובל.