2020-5780
At first glance, BeHar and Bechukotai are two Parshiyot with very different themes. BeHar discusses an assortment of laws ranging from Yovel to field redemptions, while Bechukotai begins with blessings and curses and ends with the laws of Erchin. A closer look, however, reveals that one Mitzvah holds prominence in both Parshiyot: the mitzvah of Shemittat Karkaot, letting the land rest every seventh year. Although the Torah has already recorded many aspects of the multi-faceted Mitzvah of Shemittah back in Parashat Mishpatim, it returns to that mitzvah in both of this week’s Parshiyot. At the very start of Parashat BeHar, the Torah writes, “VeShavetah HaAretz Shabbat LaHashem,” “And the land should rest a resting for Hashem” (Vayikra 25:2). In Bechukotai, the verses describe in detail how a failure to observe this crucial mitzvah will eventually lead to the exile of our people from the land. “Az Tirzeh HaAretz Et Shabbitotehah Kol Yimei HaShanah,” “At that point [once the Jews have been exiled], the land will be appeased of its sabbatical years during all the years of its desolation” (Vayikra 26:34). A lack of Shemittah observance will lead the Jewish people into exile, and only after a period of time corresponding to those years of Shemittah violations will the Jews be allowed to return. Later in history, during the Babylonian exile, Yirmiyahu understood this to be the Middah KeNeged Middah governing the precise length of our 70-year exile in Babylonia (see Divrei Hayomim 32:21). Clearly, this Mitzvah is a pillar of our Torah, as well as of our connection to Eretz Yisrael.
But why does it exist at all? What is the logic behind this Biblical command? Why did the Torah require that we leave our land fallow during the Shemittah year, taking off a full year from working our field? Like any good Mitzvah serving as the pillar of our faith, there is a wealth of different reasons given by the commentators.
The Rambam, in his Sefer Moreh Nevuchim, offers an agricultural approach. He suggests that the Torah set out to ensure the optimization of Jewish agriculture by ensuring that farmers left their land fallow once every seven years. This would ensure that the nutrients in each field would not run dry, enabling future harvests to continue to yield abundant and healthy produce.
Although ensuring the health of Bnei Yisrael’s produce could certainly be a goal of the Torah, as the overall health of the Jews could relate to their observance of Mitzvot, many other commentators, including the Kli Yakar (Vayikra 25:2 s.v. VeShavetah HaAretz Shabbat LaHashem), point out that the verses in the Torah describing Shemittah seem to indicate a more direct spiritual goal for the Mitzvah—that the land should rest “for Hashem,” as indicated at the start of Behar. Additionally, they ask, why would a laxity in Shemittah observance condemn the Jews to exile, if the Mitzvah’s purpose is ensuring healthy farmland? Moreover, how would the land be appeased and rest while the Jews are in exile if non-Jews would still be around to work it? It would seem there must be more to the story.
In that spirit, Ramban, Vayikra 25:2 s.v. Shabbat LaHashem, writes that Shemittah serves as a direct philosophical reminder to the Jewish people. It is a testament to God’s creation of the world in 6 days, and his rest on the 7th. Similar to our observance of Shabbos, a farmer’s observance of Shemittah every 7th year calls attention to the fact that God created the world in six days and rested on the 7th. It thereby strengthens one of the pillars of the Jewish faith, our belief in G-d as the Creator of the world. Additionally, by forcing the farmer to remember who created the land, Shemittah serves to remind the farmer that the land is, ultimately, not his, but rather his Creator’s, the Creator of the world as a whole.
The Sefer HaChinuch, while agreeing with the Ramban’s assertion that Shemittah is designed to remind us of Maaseh Bereishit, argues that Shemittah observance is also designed to enhance a number of key character traits within ourselves. By forcing the farmer to cease economic gain for a year, Shemittah serves to remind the farmer who is truly in control of his land. This is designed to humble the farmer, as well as to dispel from him any sense of stinginess, miserliness, or tightfistedness that he may develop as a land-owner with bountiful produce during the other six years of the Shemittah cycle. Abandoning his land to the poor once every seven years will remind the farmer to be generous with his property in all areas of life. The Sefer HaChinuch also says that by forcing the farmer to rely on Hashem’s promise of abundance in the 6th year to carry him through an entire year of not planting, the Torah trains the farmer in Bitachon, having faith that Hashem will take care of him. This is similar to the Rambam’s view on why Hashem chose to provide the Jews with Mann in the desert, rather than providing them with typical food: God wanted to train the Jews to trust Him and rely on Him in future times of need.
Perhaps most fascinating of all, Sforno (Vayikra 25:2 s.v. Shabbat LaHashem) alludes to yet another goal of the Shemittah year. He asks, what does it mean that the land should rest “for G-d”? The Sforno answers that the farmer’s resting during the seventh year should be an opportunity for the farmer to engage in other work— namely, spiritual work. The purpose of the Shemittah year is not just for agricultural, economic, or even philosophical reasons—it was to set aside time for learning and growth. By putting aside his career and regular day to day activities and taking a sabbatical to focus more on his personal and religious growth, the farmer ensures that he refocuses himself once every seven years, and remembers the ultimate goal of his life of toiling.
By taking the time to appreciate the manifold understandings of the mitzvah of Shemittah, we can better appreciate just why this mitzvah is emphasized by the Torah again and again, and why it lies at the center of our connection to the land of Eretz Yisrael, along with our lives as Torah Jews.