This week's section, entitled Behar (on the mountain), discusses, among other topics, the laws regarding the sale of land in the Land of Israel. While these laws were not applicable when they were written (since the Jewish people were in the desert), they regulated private property and allowed each tribe to retain its ancestral inheritance. This was achieved through the concept of the Yovel, the fiftieth year, in which the lands reverted to their original owners. (These rules are not in effect today.).
In the middle of the narrative, the Torah presents a very interesting verse, seemingly explaining the reason for the commandment to return lands to their original owners (Leviticus 25:23): "And the land shall not be sold permanently, for all the land is Mine, since you are strangers (gerim) and inhabitants (toshavim) with Me." The simple meaning of the verse is that, since all the land belongs to God, there is no reason to consider it one's own and refuse to return it to its original owner at the end of the Juvel year.
However, as with all matters of the Torah, there is a deeper understanding of this verse, which can still be applied today, even if one cannot fulfill the commandment of Yovel.
As an introduction, the word gerim in the Torah refers to a group of people living away from their homeland, strangers in a foreign land. On the other hand, the word toshavim refers to those who are permanently settled in their land.
Thus, the new reading of the verse is a kind of bargain with God: "If you consider yourselves strangers in the world (gerim)," says God, "remembering that all your existence is temporary, then I will dwell among you permanently, like a toshav" (singular of toshavim, meaning God will be a permanent inhabitant). "But," God continues, "if you consider yourselves permanent inhabitants of the world (toshavim), then I will be like a ger" (singular of gerim, meaning God will be a stranger in the world).
In other words, the Torah is showing us that, in a certain way, God's presence on earth depends on our attitude toward life itself: when we forget God and think that we are independent and self-sufficient, God hides Himself; when we are constantly mindful that our very existence is fleeting and dependent, God reveals Himself permanently in our lives.