By Anna Von Reitz
Among the Hebrews -- the true Hebrews -- even to this day, Jubilee comes every seven years. Every seven years, observant Jews are required to "hit reset"---and release all the debts that people owe them. This is understandably difficult to do, and harder for those to whom much is owed.
Underlying the practice and the concept is: (1) a showing of faith in God, that He can give again that which is given away in obedience to Him, and (2) hope that as debt is forgiven to others, it can also be forgiven to us (think of all the debts that you can never repay, because people died or you lost track of them?) and (3) an understanding that the release of debt is like spreading manure on a fallow field--- a way to regenerate and revive the economic engines the same way that resting and fertilizing a field restores it and enables it to go on producing in years to come.
Every seven times seven years -- 49 years -- comes a "Super Jubilee" in which the most serious debts are forgiven and in ancient times, this meant that each man was able to return home to his ancestral plot and take possession of land and homes that had been lost through debt or misfortune of one kind or another, so that land set aside for--- say, the Tribe of Benjamin -- ultimately returned to members of that tribe, no matter what went before. The Fathers could not, by their misfortunes, weaknesses, or debts, ultimately disinherit the sons. The apportionment of the land was meant to be an everlasting inheritance, and the health and beauty of the land was meant to be a testament to the wisdom, care-taking ability, and diligence of the men it belonged to.
