5775 is a shmitah year, a year of rest for the land. But the Sabbath for the Land is about much more than agricultural rules and observances, it is also about personal renewal, humility and growth, and serves as a reminder to us of our obligation to help those in need. In this week’s parasha, Rabbi Sigal Asher along with Rabbi Idit Lev inspire us to make the world a better, more healthy place through the study of shmitah.
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“Lemon Orchard in the Galilee by David Shankbone” by David Shankbone (attribution required) – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
By: Rabbi Sigal Asher
Parashat B’har opens with the command:
“When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of the Lord” (Leviticus 25:2).
And concludes with the following one:
“You shall keep My sabbaths and venerate My sanctuary” (Lev. 26:2).
The shmitah (lit. “release”) sabbatical year forbids agricultural labor, and the reason given by our parasha is that the year is a “Sabbath of the Lord.” There is an additional benefit from this cessation of work: “the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath of the Lord” – that is, the land also rests.
Letting go of our hold
Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides, or, the Rambam) offers additional grounds for the logic and observation of shmitah: strengthening the concept of chemlah (compassion) towards all people and letting the earth rest so that it can heal and grow in its quality. In the shmitah year, there is a prohibition on the execution of labor whose goal is the improvement of crops, but it is permitted to implement plans that have the objectives of preventing either the deaths of crops (e.g. one can water the soil), or general future harm. From Rambam’s view, it is precisely this letting go that is the source of strength: it is upon us to let go of our hold of the land, to enable it to replenish itself, and that is what results from shmitah:
As to the precepts enumerated in the laws concerning the year of release and the jubilee (Hilkot shemittah ve-yovel) some of them imply sympathy with our humankind, and promote the well-being of all; for in reference to these Precepts it is stated in the Law, “That the poor of thy people may eat” (Exodus 23:11); besides, the land will also increase its produce and improve when it remains fallow for some time (Guide for the Perplexed, Rambam, 3:39).
By the way, similarly to today’s sustainable agriculture practices (permaculture), we attempt to let the earth rest and not only during the shmitah year (once every 7 years). There are farmers that always leave a portion of their field unworked, in order to allow the soil to replenish.
A year of peace and personal growth
The shmitah year teaches us humility, and reminds us of our place in the world. For one year, we recall that we are parts of creation like all beings: not superior, rather, existing alongside other beings; we are not meant to control, rather, to honor. And from that understanding emerges the possibility of spiritual elevation: the shmitah enables people to temporarily let rest their tasks towards greater spiritual growth. The sabbatical year as it is practiced in the Ministry of Education and other institutions of higher learning, grants a person the option to, every seven years, pursue alternative forms of learning and personal development. There are comparisons that highlight that the Torah attributes the same properties and the same spiritual growth to Shabbat:
A year of peace and quiet, where there are no tyrants or taskmasters; “One (A creditor) shall not oppress his/her fellow or kinsman for the remission proclaimed is of the “Lord,” a year of equality and relaxation in which the soul may expand toward the uprightness of God, Who sustains all life with loving-kindness, a year in which there is no private property and no standing on every detail of one’s rights, and a Godly peace will pervade all that breathes: “It shall be a year of complete rest for the Land, but you may eat whatever the Land will produce during the Land’s Sabbath – you, your mule and female slaves, the hired and bound laborers who live with you, and your cattle and the beasts on your land may eat all its yield” (Lev. 25:6-7). Pernickety claims to private property will not profane the holiness of the produce of the Land during this year, and the urge to get rich….
Life during the shmita year is guided by the natural, inner desire for goodness and justice, equality and calm, which God has planted within the nation. …” (Rabbi Abraham Isaac Ha-Cohen Kook [HaRaayah], “Introduction to Shabbat Ha’Aretz”)
Our parasha relates to the shmitah of agricultural lands, and moves on to discuss shnat ha-yovel, the Jubilee year, wherein it suggests to us the second element of shmitah, which is the release of property, by highlighting the requirement to support those who are in need of help:
“If your kinsman, being in straits, comes under your authority, and you hold him as though a resident alien, let him live by your side” (Lev. 25:35).
Deuteronomy (15:1-2) relates shmitah to capital:
“…at the end of seventh year, one must release all outstanding debts. This commandment erodes the sense of security that we invest in private property, in purchases, in ownership, and the idea that material things protect us. (The prozbul, which was instituted by the sage Hillel in the Second Temple Period, enables the continuation of tax collection during the shmitah year by transferring responsibility for collection to the court.)
A reminder that life is not predetermined
The shmitah of agricultural lands creates the assurance for people who live in poverty that they will have food to eat. The idea behind the economic shmitah is that we will reach a point where there will not be any people living in poverty, by “resetting” everything once every seven years. In opposition to the caste system that is customary in India, Nepal, and other states, where the caste into which a person is born determines the course of her life, as well as her possibilities and opportunities for development as well as those of her children, shmitah seeks to remind the rich as well as the poor that their fiscal situation is not predetermined, and that the course of things is set only by Hashem.
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“Shmita seeks to remind the rich as well as the poor that their fiscal situation is not predetermined, and that the course of things is set only by Hashem”A Man’s Best Friend” by Benjamin Brock – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Continuing to learn from shmitah
5775 is a shmitah year. As an organization that works under the banner of human rights as seen through the lens of Jewish tradition and culture, we at Rabbis for Human Rights seek to elevate the idea of shmitah and the importance of finding ways to implement it meaningfully.
We are attaching a printable study page for group discussion and learning for adults and teenagers, and a guide sheet (not currently translated, Hebrew is here and here). The study page includes texts from different periods, and raises questions about different aspects of the ideas expressed in shmitah. It does not include all of the many sources that deal with shmitah nor with the different halachic solutions that respond to the related mitzvot.
Our goal is to raise questions and spark discussion, with the hope that the study of this idea will lead to action and efforts to establish a more just and healthy society, for the sake of all – for the sake of Am Yisrael, the sake of all peoples, and the sake of all who inhabit our world.
Rabbi Idit Lev is the director of Rabbis for Human Rights’ social justice department.
Rabbi Sigal Asher is the head of RHR’s Rights Center in Hadera.
If you would like to invite Rabbi Idit Lev or Rabbi Sigal Asher to speak to communities, congregations, groups in which you have learning and discussion meetings, to discuss shmitah and the work of Rabbis for Human Rights in the field of social justice (further options include learning about social justice, Judaism, and today’s State of Israel), please contact:
rhreco@rhr.israel.net or call Rabbi Lev at 050-2110673
Read previous weekly Torah portions
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