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Parashat
Behar
Iyunim - Weekly insights on the Parasha with commentaries
by Nehama Leibovitz, za"l
The Land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord
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Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When
you come to the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath
to the Lord.
Regarding this verse Alshikh asks:
When you come to the land which I give you: “ There is none who does not
know that it is God Who gives, for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness
thereof, and this is also stated several times in the Torah . It therefore
seems superfluous here – why does the Torah mention it?
Man is possessed of a strong feeling of proprietorship. It is perhaps most
strongly rooted in the peasant who dwells and lives on his own land. The
sensation of mine is fraught with danger. It is to counter it that the Torah
emphasizes that the Land is a gift from God to Israel, and in order to remind
him that not the power and the might of his hand have gotten him his wealth.
Then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord.
25:2
Rashi comments (citing Sifra):
“To the Lord”: For the sake of the Lord, as it is stated in regard to the
Sabbath day.
The commentators on Sifra and Rashi’s supercommentators observe that
none of the Festivals, not even Yom Kippur, is predicated Sabbath to the
Lord. This distinction has fallen only to the Sabbath day and to the Sabbath
year, indicating a close link between them. Indeed, we find juxtaposition
of the two in Parashat Mishpatim:
And six years thou shall sow thy land, and shall gather in its fruits,
Ex. 23:10>
but the seventh year thou shall let it rest and lie fallow…
23:11
Six days thou shall do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shall rest…
23:12
A study of verses 2-8 in our chapter which deal with the subject of the
Sabbath Year reveals an even closer link between the Sabbath Year and the
Sabbath day.
…then shall the land keep a Sabbath to the Lord
Lev. 25:2
Six years thou shall sow thy field, and six years thou shall prune
the vineyard, and gather in its fruit.
25:3
But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land,
a Sabbath for the Lord;
Thou shall neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
25:4
That which of its own accord of thy harvest thou shall not reap, nor gather
the grapes of thy undressed vine, for it shall be a year of rest for the
land.
25:5
And the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you, for thee and
for thy servant and for thy maid and for thy hired servant and for thy
stranger that sojourns with thee.
25:6
We note the poetic style of these verse, the metrical harmony between the
verses dealing with field and vineyard (first part of v. 3, and of verse
4, and beginning of v. 5) as well as the chiasmus – in v. 3 the order is
predicate – object (sow thy field, prune thy vineyard), whereas in v.4 the
order is object-predicate (thy field thou shall not sow, thy vineyard thou
shall not prune), and this occurs also in v. 5.
Derivatives of the root Sabbath appear seven times, either as a verb or
as a noun. This is reminiscent of the first chapter of Genesis, which is
divided into seven passages, and where “that it was good” appears seven
times.
Prof. M.D. Cassuto draws our attention to some other multiples of seven
in Genesis 1:
The first verse contains seven words, the second fourteen, i.e., twice
seven. The seventh passage, dealing with the seventh day, contains three
successive verses, each one with seven words:
(And by the seventh day God ended His work which He had done)
(7 words in Hebrew)
(And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done)
(7 words in Hebrew) (And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it)
(7 words in Hebrew)
The number of words in the seventh passage is 35—(5X7).
That all this is just coincidence, is inconceivable.
Indeed, many commentators consider that, similarly to the
Sabbath day, the remembrance of the Creation is the main reason for the
Shemitah year of rest for the land. And this is one of the reasons
that R. Yitzhak Arama states for the Shemita year, in his work
Akedat Yitzhak, Chap. 69:
…its purpose is to bring home to us the Truth, , and to open our ears and
illuminate our hearts through great and wonderful signs, and to open the
eyes of those who are steeped in the illusions of this world, and are addicted
to earthly labor. But seeing that they (the Children of Israel) agreed to
serve God out of love, He enlightened us and opened for us windows in order
to open the blind eyes, to bring those that sit in darkness out of the prison
house, and to bring out of prison those who are prisoners of their own greed,
shackled by vain and futile things. He fixed periodical milestones in the
course of our days, weeks, and years, which cannot go unnoticed, unless
we foolishly ignore them and are blind to them…For the six days of work
and the seventh day of rest bear testimony that the world was created by
God’s will…and this is the genuine sign and symbol for truth of God’s existence…and
this is the most fundamental article of faith of every believer…
This analogy between Shemitah and Shabbat is emphasized
also by the author of the Meshekh Hokhma, since Shemitah,
like Shabbat testifies that the world was created by the Lord—for the
Land is mine (Lev. 25:23). And he found a further allusion to this principle
in the Torah:
Six years: The six years correspond to the six days of Creation.
Similarly, Torat Kohanim points out that the seventh day of Creation
and the seventh year are both referred to as Sabbath to the Lord. It
may be noted also that “that it was good” is stated twice both on the
third and on the sixth day! It is therefore that the Tithe for the poor
must be given every third and sixth year, in order to be good to one’s
fellow man. This is a very appropriate hint.
However, he considers this only as one of the reasons for
the Shemitah precept, and in another place he makes the following
observation:
The reasons for Shemitah are many and unfathomable, known
only to God the Omniscient. This, let it be understood, is indicated
by “Sabbath to God.”
The reading of the texts will show the conspicuous similarity
between the Shemitah law and the commandment to rest on the Sabbath
day. The designation of the Shemitah year as the Sabbath of the
land is not without significance. The Torah thus bears out as being the
most obvious reason the one which underlies both the Sabbath day and the
Sabbath Year. And the principal reason for the Shabbat (without ignoring
a wealth of reasons, including some mentioned in the torah) is without
a doubt, for in six days that Lord made heaven and earth.
The ideological importance of the belief in the Creation
of the world lies not in its lesson about the formation of the universe
but as Prof. Y. Guttman writes in his work Dat uMada (Religion
and Science) (Jerusalem 5715-1955), p. 263:
Rather than in the origin of the world, faith is interested in teaching
man about his origin. The ideological import of the account of the Creation
is to show man that God is Master and lord of the world: the universe
is His creation. And I am His creature.
The idea of our dependence on God, His sovereignty and of
our duty to accept the yoke of His commandments is based on our belief
that He has made us, and we are His. The Sabbath and the Shemitah year
are, therefore, reminders of God’s creation of the world.
However, not all commentators have accepted this as being
the reason—and certainly not the only reason—for the law of Shemtah.
In order to understand the various interpretations of the significance
of the Shemitah year, we must first know something about its basic
rules. We shall content ourselves with tow rules referring to the resting
of the land. Maimonides. Hilkhot Shemitah veYovel 1,1;
It is a positive commandment to suspend work on the land and the cultivation
of trees.
Maimonides,Hilkhot Shemitah 4, 24:
It is a positive commandment to release all agricultural produce on the
seventh year, as it is stated (Ex. 23:11) “but the seventh year thou shall
let it rest and lie fallow.” Thus, whoever, encloses his vineyard, or fences
in his field on the seventh year, violates a positive c. So, too, if he
gathers in all his produce into his house. Rather let him abandon it all
and allow everything unrestricted access, as it is stated (ibid., ibid.)
“…that the poor of thy people may eat.” He is permitted to bring into his
house small quantities, as is done in the case of abandoned produce.
Thus there are two precepts to be complied with by the Jew
in the Shemitah year, which will leave their imprint on life during
that year; The suspension of all agricultural work, and the renunciation
of ownership of all agricultural produce, declaring it public property.
(we shall not now deal with the third precept, the cancellation of all
monetary debts mentioned in Parashat Re’e (Deut. 15:!-11).
Whoever wishes to find a reason for the institution of the
Sabbatical year of the land, must bear in mind, not only one, but both
above mentioned aspects of the Shemitah year. We present some of
the views regarding the reason for the Shemitah laws, in their
chronological order, and will subsequently classify and compare them.
Maimonides, Guide to the Perplexed, 3,39:
As to the precepts enumerated in the laws concerning the year of Shemitah
and the Yovel (Jubilee) year, some of them imply sympathy with our fellow
men and promote the well-being of mankind; for in reference to these precepts
it is stated in the Torah: That the poor of thy people may eat (Ex. 23:11);
and besides, the land will also increase its produce and improve when it
remains fallow for some time.
The first motive explains the precept of renunciation of
all produce (mentioned by Maimonides in Chapter 4), and the second reason
a purely agricultural one—explains why the land must lie fallow.
Many commentators reject the agricultural motive:
Abarvanel strongly repudiates this explanation:
The truth is that this is not so.
And Abarvanel adduces two arguments against Maimonides’
view. One from verses 20-21, from whose text it is obvious that uninterrupted
working of the land for six years does not result in its weakening, but
on the contrary—its yield will be exceedingly bountiful (in the sixth
year). We cite Abarvanel;
If the Torah is concerned about the natural weakening of the land
in consequence of working year after year, how then is it going to yield
produce for three years?
A counter-argument could be that what the Torah promises
is not a natural phenomenon, but as it explicitly states—this will occur
if you will keep the Lord’s commandments:
25:21
And I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year,
and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.
The text and style of the verse indicate clearly a very
special and wondrous blessing. However, there is another argument which
motivates the rejection of the agricultural reason for the Shemitah
law.
We find that argument in Akedat Yitzhak 89, whose
author also opposes this idea of Maimonides:
Our Sages have said (Avot 5,11): Captivity comes into the
world on account of…and the neglect of the year of rest for the soil.
Why should this transgression be punished so severely?…If the suspension
of work is for the benefit of the soil, in conformity with the custom
of farmers to let the land lie fallow for some years, in order that
it may gather strength and yield more…then their failing to keep the
Shemitah law…will be punished by the resulting poor crops—why
should they be punished with exile into captivity?
Other commentators adduce the text of the verse for their counter argument.
Thus Keli Yakar states:
Many affirm that the purpose of the rest for the land is it reinvigorate
it and increase its field. The master (Maimonides) also adopted this
view. However, many commentators reject it, arguing that if that had
been the purpose of the Torah—to avoid the weakening of the soil—why
should the violation of this law be punished by exile…Furthermore, in
this case the Shemitah year would not be a Sabbath to the Lord)
but for the benefit of the land.
On the other hand the commentators agree with Maimonides’
first reason, of social significance, i.e., sympathy with our fellow men
and to promote the well-being of mankind, or as expressed by the author
of Minhah Belulah:
And the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord: this law was given
in order that we may show sympathy for our fellow men who have neither
land nor vineyards, and that they may be happy in the Shemitah year,
as the rich are happy every year.
Giving emphasis to brotherhood and not only to equality,
Keli Yakar in Deut. 31:12 explains the Shemitah of the land,
relating it to the Shemitah (cancellation) of debts:
Gather the people together: The Shemitah year contains factors
conducive to union and peace. For since no sowing and planting is allowed,
the poor may eat freely and none may store produce and treat it as his
own, this undoubtedly creates favorable conditions towards peace, because
all strife originates from the attitude of “mine is mine” and people
claiming their rights. But in the seventh year all are equal – this
can indeed generate peace.
The Or Hahayim sees also in the last verse of the
Shemitah chapter an allusion to the atmosphere of peace, which
the Shemitah promotes, as being the reason for the commandment:
“Shall be food for you” – for thee and for thy servant and
for thy maid and for thy hired servant and for thy stranger that sojourns
with thee (v.6): Although the above-mentioned had already been included
in the general statement for you (plural), the Torah enumerates them.
Why then does the Torah state for you? It would have sufficed to
state: And the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for thee and
for thy servant, etc. But (for you) precedes for thee, etc., in order
to intimate that the sequence in the list that follows does not indicate
any priority (contrary to the example of “If there be among you a poor
man, one of my brethren, within any of thy gates” (Deut. 15:7) (se Rashi’s
comment), where the sequence indicates that the poor of your city have
priority over those of other cities). The collective implies that in regard
to food in the Shemitah year all are equal and none enjoy any priority.
However, all the reasons cited explain only or mainly the
precept of the renunciation of ownership, but not the suspension of agricultural
work.
Let us, therefore, cite Ibn Ezra’s very concise comment
in deut. 31:10-12:
At the end of every seven years: At the beginning of the year. And that
they may learn: Throughout the years, including the Sabbath days.
In this case, the suspension of work (in the Shemitah
year) is to facilitate the study of the Torah.
Among the several reasons adduced, the Akedat Yitzhak elaborates
on this point emphasizing the danger inherent in continual work without
limits which leaves no time for matters of spiritual interest:
The second point …that the seven years of work and the
suspension of work in every seventh year causes us to realize that
our mission on earth is not to be slaves to the soil but a much higher
and nobler one. Work should only serve the purpose of providing food
and other needs, while our task is to attain to the supreme end; the
purpose of giving this land to this people was not to be brought into
the land in order to be enslaved by it, and addicted to tilling it
and gather in the crops and enrich themselves, as do the other nations
in their lands, as it is stated, “… let them dwell in the land and
trade in it; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them” (Gen.
34:21). Their purpose is to accomplish themselves and seek perfection,
according to the will of their Creator, while satisfying the needs
of their sustenance.
In order to underscore this vital task they were given
this great sign to remind them that they should work the land six
years and let is rest in the seventh, to make them realize that earthly
work
And toil were not intended to be the road to man’s might
but something from which they should take a rest for the sake of the
Lord. This is implied in the verse, “And the Sabbath produce of the
land shall be food for you, for thee and for thy servant and for thy
maid and for thy hired servant and for the sthat sojourns with thee,”
this should bring home to you the fact that you should work no more
than just to provide food for you, your servant and maid, your hired
servant and the stranger, i.e. the poor among your people. Any surplus
should be given to the cattle and beasts of the land.
Accordingly, the Shemitah year should lift man out
of his materialism. Interestingly, Akedat Yizhak cites Hamor, the
father of shekhem, as the archetype of the seeker of material gains, of
those enslaved by it (the soil) and its cultivations, work it and gather
in the crops, as representing this outlook on life, who wishes to persuade
his townspeople to undergo even conversion to the Jewish faith for the
purpose of commercial expansion and the raising of the material quality
of life.
Now comes the Shemitah year with its two demands—suspension
of work, implying the foregoing of profit, and the renunciation of ownership,
with the consequent renouncing of existing possessions – in order to gain
the right moral values. R.A.Y. Kook, following this idea, explains admirably
the meaning of Shemitah, in the introduction to his work Shabbat
HaAretz (The Sabbath of the Land):
The treasure of the nation, the Divine blessing that is implanted
in it, the order of the world, the righteous and good life, lived in
harmony with justice and honesty, peace and tranquility, grace and courage,
permeated by the all-embracing contemplation of the Diviner purpose,
as it exists in the national soul—none can be activated in the day-to
day life. The very nature of this life obfuscates the spiritual majesty
of the Divine soul (which dwells in the nation) and prevents its bright
and shining light from penetrating the profane reality.
Life can only be perfected through the affording of
a breathing space from the bustle of everyday life. The individual
recovers from the influence of the mundane at frequent intervals,
every Sabbath day…What the Sabbath achieves regarding the individual,
the Shemitah achieves with regard to the nation as a whole.
This nation (in which the Divine spirit dwells prominent and eternal)
has special need of expressing from time to time the revelation of
its own Divine light at its fullest brightness, not suppressed by
the cares and toil of the passions and rivalries of everyday life,
so that the totality of the soul’s purity may be revealed within it.
And if that callousness which is bound to be present in the life of
a community, causes the deterioration of the moral standard of life,
and the constant conflict between the ideal heeding of the appeal
top practice of loving kindness and truthfulness, compassion and pity,
on the one hand, and the raging oppression, coercion, and pressure
of the quest for material gain, inevitable in daily life, on the other,
cause the distancing of the Divine light from the cognitive capacity
of the nation…The periodical suspension of the normal social routine
raises this nation—when morally settled—spiritually and morally, and
crowns it with perfection. This is achieved through the divine content
that is rooted in the nation, and which stands high above any social
system and order, and which raises and perfects the social order.
A year of solemn rest is essential for both the nation
and the land, a year of peace and quiet without oppressor and tyrant—he
shall not oppress his neighbor and his brother, for a Shemitah
has been proclaimed to the Lord. It is a year of equality and rest,
in which the soul reaches out towards divine justice, towards God
who sustains the living creatures with loving kindness. There is no
private property and no punctilious privilege but the peace of god
reigns over all in which there is the breath of life. It shall be
a Sabbath of the land to you for food, for your manservant and hired
servant and the sojourner who sojourns with you, and for your cattle
and the animalism your land, all its produce shall be for food. Sanctity
is not profaned by the exercise of private acquisitiveness over all
this year’s produce, and the covetousness of wealth stirred up by
commerce is forgotten. For food – but not for commerce. Generosity
and gratefulness for the blessing of God over the fruits of the earth
– for food – but not for loss (Pesahim 52b – that is, it is
forbidden intentionally to spoil food fit for human consumption).
Man returns to the pristine nature before he required drugs to combat
disease, which is largely the result of upsetting the equilibrium
of life, and is symptomatic of his divorcement from nature in its
spiritual and material aspects. For food and not for drugs, for food
and not for making an emetic (Sukkah 40b). Pour out a spirit
of sanctity and nobility over all! – it shall be a solemn Sabbath
for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord.
Thus Ibn Ezra and Rav Kook see in the raising of the spiritual
level the main purpose of the Shemitah, through the farmers dedicating
the year to the Torah studies and thus reaching higher spiritual levels,
as Ibn Ezra explains. R. Kook, on the other hand, sees in the suspension
of the normal social order of labor, of the quest for sustenance, of commercial
activities (including the cancellation of debts), in the abstention from
the profanation of the holy as reflected in the passionate consciousness
of private property – in all these he sees a means of purifying the soul
and of uncovering and activating the Divine treasure which dwells in the
soul of the nation.
Nothing more need be added to his words.
Questions for Further Study
- Sefer haHinukh, Mishpatim 84, states;
It is our duty to fix firmly in our minds that the universe
was created by God, as it is stated: For in six days the Lord made heaven
and earth (Ex. 19:11), and on the seventh, on which He created nothing,
He decreed rest for Himself. And in order to eliminate from our minds
any idea of another, earlier deity, as propounded by those who negate
the Torah and deny its authenticity, we were bidden to cultivate our
faith in God the Creator day by day and year by year, and to count six
years and rest in the seventh. Thus we shall always remain conscious
of this fact. The counting of the six years recalls the count of the
six weekdays and the seventh day of rest. That Torah commands us not
only to refrain from all agricultural work but also to renounce the
ownership of the seventh year’s produce. This should remind man that
the earth yields its produce not because of its power and capacity,
but because there is a God who is Master over it and its owner. And
whenever their Lord wishes He commands the owner to renounce his ownership
over the produce of the land.
A further purpose of this commandment is to foster man’s
generosity. For generosity is indeed genuine when, as in the case
of Shemitah, no reciprocity can be expected.
Yet another objective of the Shemitah law is
to cultivate and strengthen man’s faith in God. For he who prevails
over the accustoms himself to renounce once every seven years ownership
of all the produce of his land, inherited from his forefathers, will
never be consumed by avarice nor be plagued by lack of faith.
- What according to the Sefer haHinukh, are the reasons for the
law of Shemitah?
- Are they identical or similar to some of the reasons mentioned in
our studies above?
- Six years thou shall sow thy field, and six years thou shall prune
thy vineyard (25:3).
Nahmanides comments:
Six years: This is the style of the Torah, as also in Ex. 20:9:
“Six days shall thou labor and do all thy work,” or “six days thou shall
do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shall rest” (ib. 23:12)…
In the Midrash, R. Yishmael says: When Israel heeds God’s will, they
keep one
Shemitah, every seven years, as it is stated:
“Six years thou shall sow thy field.” But when Israel do not heed
his will, then they keep four Shemitot in seven years. How
so? They plough one year (but do not sow) and sow the next, then again
they plough one year and sow the next – thus there will have been
four Shemitot in seven years.
- what problem does our verse pose?
- What is the proof Nahmanides adduces from Ex. 20 and 23?
- Wherein lies the difference between R. Yishmael’s inof the future
tense of thou shall sow and Nahmanides’ explanation that this is the
style of the Torah?
- That which grows of its own accord of thy harvest thou shall not reap,
nor gather the grapes of thy undressed vine (25:5).
Rashi comments:
That which grows of its own accord of thy harvest: Even if you did not sow
it, and it grew out of seed that fell to the ground during the harvest –
that is called Safiakh.
Thou shall not reap: You cannot keep it as at other harvests,
but you must renounce ownership of it.
Nezircha: Ownership of which you did not renounce,
denying them to your fellow men from whom you have withheld (from the
root nezer – to abstain) them.
Not gather: Those you may not gather, but only from those
made public property by renunciation of ownership.
Nahmanides comments:
That which grows of its own accord of thy harvest:…and the untended vine
which was neither hoed nor pruned is called Nazir because the owner
kept away from it (from root nezer –abstain), as in…because they
are all estranged from Me through their idols (Ez. 14:5)—left me, or in
– that they separate themselves from the holy things of the Children of
Israel (Lev. 22:2), rendered by Onkelos –forsake, abandon), which you abandoned
and left to be overgrown by thistles and thorns. A vineyard which had been
laid waste and not cultivated may have been called nazir (Cf. Is.
5:6), i.e., the vineyard of a nazarite who is forbidden to drink
wine or eat either fresh or dry grapes, and therefore does not cultivate
it. Likewise long hair is referred to as cut of thy hair, and cast it away
(Jer. 7:29) owing to the long hair of the nazarite who may not cut his hair.
The same analogy explains the expression “They grow in cultivated vineyards”.
The Torah decrees that that which grows of its own accord should not be
reaped, and the grapes from an untended vineyard should not be gathered.
The oral law explains that they may not be reaped and gathered for yourself
only. This must be a year of rest for the land when sowing and pruning are
prohibited, a Sabbath of the land, and whatever produce, not planted by
human hands, that it yields may be consumed by all of you together – you,
your poor beast and domestic animal.
Minha Belula
Nezircha: The Torah applies the name nezirim to the unpruned
vines, by analogy with the nazarite who may not cut his hair. Or it may
be related to nizro akher – they are gone away backward (Is. 1:4),
for their owner has turned his back on them, as if they were not his.
- In how many different ways has invei nezirkha been interpreted/
- How many different interpretations link invei nezirkha with
the nazarite ( a person who vows abstention from wine and grapes)?
- There is a parallelism in the structure of this verse ( as well as
between the first phrase of v. 3 and the last of v.4). Which of the
interoperations of invei nezircha is reflected best in the parallelism
invei nezircha-sfiach kezircha
- What misconception does Nahmanides wish to preclude with his concluding
statement…these prohibitions, etc.
- Does Nahmanides’ interpretation of the prohibitions agree with Rashi’s?
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