The Jubilee

This is the Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary, Alberta. It has nothing to do with the story except the name but it's a place I've given out degrees and diplomas in and it brings back fond memeories and is a scarey place to stand the first time you see it.

In today’s email I received the following:

Hello Arthur:

I was hoping you would be a reference for me for the position I applied to as Assistant Director (attached) at the xxxxxxx covering for a maturity leave.

 I hope all is well with you.

 Cheers,

Xxxx

 OK, here it is. I couldn’t stop laughing! I know (as you probably do) what she meant, but I love Maturity Leave!

 This is a great idea. I wrote to her and explained that a maturity leave in this day and age is final, not a leave. However, maternity leave usually means is a yearlong job.

 But what a great idea! It relates to an older notion of a Jubilee Year, much like a sabbatical, a Jubilee Year was your 50^th year as a year off.

 It is written in the Torah, "You shall sanctify the 50th year and proclaim freedom throughout the land for all its inhabitants; it shall be the Jubilee year for you, you shall return each person to his ancestral heritage and you shall return each to his family. It shall be a Jubilee Year for you - the 50th year - you shall not sow, you shall not harvest its after-growth and you shall not pick what was set aside of it for yourself. For it is a Jubilee Year, it shall be holy to you; from the field you eat its crop." (Leviticus 25:10-13)

Basically, these verses indicate that the Jubilee requires all debts between Jews to be annulled. Also, any Jew that sold his or herself into slavery is released, whether they worked the amount of time they promised, or not.

 However, let us be more open with the concept and offer a Jubilee Year to all. Please feel free to thank me for it if it comes!