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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Why all the fuss?

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 crops';
(21) then I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth produce for the three years.

This blessing, however, makes the reader question their entire conception of Shemittah. If a farmer receives a three-fold blessing of grain before Shemittah begins, what is so daunting about the mitzvah?  Why is there any fear at all that the people would not observe it?¹  Though Shemittah is often spoken of as a big test of the people's faith, no belief is required if your sustenance is already laid out for you to see!

Blessings: Reward or Incentive?

Often, we think of Hashem's blessings in Tanakh as rewards for observance. Thus, the long list of blessings in Vayikra 26 and Devarim 28 are all contingent on keeping Hashem's commandments. Avraham is told that because he was willing to sacrifice Yitzchak, "".  Kings are promised dynasties, but only if they follow in Hashem's ways.  The blessing in ourverse stands in stark contrast to this.

Textual Questions

The above verses also raise several textual questions whose answers might bear on the above issues:

• "וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ" – Who is asking "what shall we eat"?  Is Hashem assuming that the Generation of the Wilderness, upon hearing the laws, would question them, or is Hashem speaking of what the people living in Israel would likely 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 somewhat imprecise. In the seventh year, the people should have few concerns about food since, as every year, they could eat of 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 to be accomplished?  Did the land produce a three-fold amount of grain² or did the same harvest simply last longer?

¹ There are explicit references to observing Shemittah within the rebuke of Vayikra 26, suggesting that it was a prohibition which had a high likelihood of not being observed.  In fact, according to Rashbam, all of the blessings and curses of Vayikra 26 relate to only Shemittah and Yovel!  See Blessings and Curses – Over Which Commandments? for elaboration on his approach.

² 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.