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Abstract:

The article presents the function land had in the life of Israel and its implications for today's society. The land was a sacrament of the liberation of Exodus. Each family received a piece of land which was to guarantee the liberty, dignity, and sufficiency of its members. God gave land as a gift for all the people; its holiness had to be preserved chiefly by observing justice towards the poor. Landgrabbing was a heinous crime. God imposed three kinds of limitations on property right: religious, the foremost being the Jubilee Year providing for periodic land reform; social, granting rights to the poor on sabbatical years and over fallen fruits and gleanings; and family, specifying the rights and duties of richer relatives to buy back sold lands. As social conditions change, it is the task of society to create new institutions which will guarantee the freedom, dignity, and sufficiency of all persons.