Nature of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce/1/en

Nature of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce

Introduction

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What will we eat?

Vayikra 25 is devoted entirely to the laws of Shemittah and Yovel.  Hashem anticipates that the prohibitions against sowing and reaping will cause anxiety among the people, so He reassures them that the crops of the sixth year will nourish them for three years:

EN/HEע/E

(כ) וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ מַה נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת הֵן לֹא נִזְרָע וְלֹא נֶאֱסֹף אֶת תְּבוּאָתֵנוּ. (כא) וְצִוִּיתִי אֶת בִּרְכָתִי לָכֶם בַּשָּׁנָה הַשִּׁשִּׁית וְעָשָׂת אֶת הַתְּבוּאָה לִשְׁלֹשׁ הַשָּׁנִים.

(20) And if ye shall say: 'What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we may not sow, nor gather our produce';
(21) then I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth produce for the three years.

These verses raise a number of questions:

• "וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ" – Who is asking "what shall we eat"?  Is Hashem assuming that the Generation of the Wilderness, upon hearing the laws, were going to question them, or is Hashem speaking of what the people living In Israel were likely to say in the future, during each Shemittah cycle?
• Why worry? – If the latter, given Hashem's promise that the land would sustain them, why would anyone be worried once they harvested their sixth year's crops?  Would they not already see an abundance of grain and know that they were provided for?
• "מַה נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת" – The concern expressed here seems to be slightly imprecise. In the seventh year, the people should have few food concerns since, like every year, they can eat from the previous season's harvest. Should they not instead be questioning what to eat in the eighth year?
• Evaluating the concern – In the verses, Hashem simply allays the people's anxieties, without passing judgement over whether they are appropriate or not. How, though, should the people's questioning be viewed?  Is their concern a natural and valid one, or should it be understood negatively as an expression of lack of faith, and thus as an unwarranted complaint?

These points lead commentators to question the nature of the promised blessing.  When Hashem says that in the sixth year, "וְעָשָׂת אֶת הַתְּבוּאָה לִשְׁלֹשׁ הַשָּׁנִים", how was this accomplished?  Did the land produce a three-fold amount of grain¹ or did the same harvest simply last longer?

¹ For a discussion of why the verses speak of a "three year" blessing, when a two year blessing should have sufficed, see Duration of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce.