Difference between revisions of "Nature of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce/2"
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− | <p>The various approaches regarding the nature of the blessing promised by Hashem in anticipation of the | + | <p>The various approaches regarding the nature of the blessing promised by Hashem in anticipation of the Shemittah year affect not just how one reads the relevant verses in Vayikra 25 but also how one understands the purpose of Shemittah as a whole and the way that blessings work in general. </p> |
− | <p>The standard interpretation assumes that Hashem's blessing is one of quantity.  In the sixth year, the people will reap more than usual, so that one's year crop will sustain them through the years in which there is nothing to harvest.</p></div> | + | <p>The standard interpretation assumes that Hashem's blessing is one of quantity.  In the sixth year, the people will reap more than usual, so that one's year crop will sustain them through the years in which there is nothing to harvest.  As such, this is a unique blessing given to facilitate observance of Shemittah, rather than to reward it.  The Keli Yekar, in contrast, posits that the blessing is one of quality.  The same sized crop will manage to nourish the people for three years.  This blessing is</p></div> |
<approaches> | <approaches> |
Version as of 00:18, 14 June 2016
Nature of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce
Exegetical Approaches
Overview
The various approaches regarding the nature of the blessing promised by Hashem in anticipation of the Shemittah year affect not just how one reads the relevant verses in Vayikra 25 but also how one understands the purpose of Shemittah as a whole and the way that blessings work in general.
The standard interpretation assumes that Hashem's blessing is one of quantity. In the sixth year, the people will reap more than usual, so that one's year crop will sustain them through the years in which there is nothing to harvest. As such, this is a unique blessing given to facilitate observance of Shemittah, rather than to reward it. The Keli Yekar, in contrast, posits that the blessing is one of quality. The same sized crop will manage to nourish the people for three years. This blessing is
Increased Production
Hashem promised that, in the sixth year, the land would bring forth more grain than usual, enough to sustain the people for thee years.
- It might say, like the Minchat Yehuda, that the people are questioning not what they will eat the entire year, but what they will eat in the second half of the seventh year, by which point they would normally be harvesting the food grown the season before.
- Alternatively, it could explain like Abarbanel who proposes to repunctuate the verse, placing a pause after the words, "מַה נֹּאכַל" rather than after "בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת".3 As such, the verse reads: "If you say: 'What shall we eat [in subsequent years]? [After all] in the seventh year we will neither sow nor harvest!?'"
Produce Goes Further
Although the amount harvested in the sixth year would be no different than in any other year, Hashem promised that it would last longer. The same amount of grain would nourish the people for three years instead of the usual one.
- He brings Ramban who suggests to understand the verse as if its order was rearranged (מקרא מסורס) so that it reads: "And if you will say in the seventh year: 'What shall we eat [in subsequent years]'." The Keli Yekar points out that Ramban's reading of the verse only works if one assumes that the blessing was hidden and related not to the quantity of the food but how long it was to last. Otherwise, by the seventh year people would already know that they were cared for and never come to question.
- Alternatively, the Keli Yekar suggests that actually the people really are concerned about the seventh year itself. Knowing that they cannot plant and would have nothing saved for the next year, would make it difficult to feel satisfied even when they are eating food in the seventh year (אינו דומה מי שיש לו פת בסלו למי שאין לו).5
Dependent on Faith
The blessing differed in line with the amount of faith held by the people. Hashem promised that if the nation had enough trust, He would ensure that a regular sized harvest would be of such quality that it could nourish the nation for three years. However, if the people had doubts, He would increase the quantity of the harvest so they could see with their own eyes how it would suffice.