Nature of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce/2

Nature of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce

Exegetical Approaches

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Overview

The various approaches regarding the nature of the blessing promised by Hashem in anticipation of the Shemittah year affect not only how one reads the relevant verses in Vayikra 25, but also how one understands the purpose of Shemittah specifically 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 year's crop will sustain them through the following years in which there is nothing to harvest.  As such, this blessing is unique in that it comes to facilitate observance of Shemittah, rather than to reward it.  The Keli Yekar, in contrast, posits that the blessing is one of quality.  A normal sized crop will manage to nourish the people for three years.  This blessing is less obvious, and makes observance of Shemittah more difficult as it requires more trust. It comes simultaneous to observance, not beforehand.

Finally, Seforno combines the two approaches, claiming that the nature of the blessing changes based on the amount on faith held by the people.  When they had great faith, Hashem blessed the quality of the crops, but when they were full of doubts, Hashem blessed the quantity.

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.

Sources:Standard interpretation

Shemittah as a source of faith – Because the people are given supplies of food in advance, this position cannot view the mitzvah of Shemittah as a test of faith. It might suggest either of the following instead:

• Shemittah is a tool to instill, not measure, belief.  The gift of a threefold harvest¹ teaches the nation that Hashem always cares for them, leading to dependence on Him.
• Alternatively, Shemittah is not primarily about man's relationship with Hashem at all, but is rather about social justice and providing for the poor.  See Purpose of Shemittah for elaboration on both possibilities.

Purpose of blessings – According to this approach, unlike many other blessings in Tanakh, the blessing of increased produce serves not as a reward for observance, but as a facilitator to ensure it. Only if people are secure enough in their own sustenance, will they be able to open their fields to the poor.  If people are too worried to let their lands lie fallow, accompanying lessons about dependence on Hashem, or His sovereignty are lost.

Parallel to manna – The double portion of grain is similar to the double portion of manna that fell before Shabbat.  In both cases, needs are provided before the absence is felt, and a blessing is given before, rather than after, the people keep Hashem's commandment.

"וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ" – Who will ask? According to this position, it is difficult to imagine that in the middle of the sixth year the nation living in Israel would question, "what shall we eat?".  By that point they would already have seen that their crops had multiplied and that they had enough to sustain themselves.  As such, this approach could instead posit that Hashem is preempting a question that could be asked by the Generation of the Wilderness upon hearing the laws of Shemittah. Alternatively, this question might be asked by the people in Israel at the beginning of the sixth year, before the people have realized the results of their sowing.

"מַה נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת" – This position could explain why the people are concerned about the seventh rather than eighth year in either of the following ways:

• It might say, as the Minchat YehudaVayikra 25:20About R. Yehuda b. Elazar, 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 follow the explanation of AbarbanelVayikra 25About R. Yitzchak Abarbanel who proposes to repunctuate the verse, placing a pause after the words, "מַה נֹּאכַל" rather than after "בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת".‎²  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!?'"

Evaluating the question – This position views the question of "what shall we eat" as a legitimate and natural concern to which Hashem responds by reassuring the people.

Produce Goes Further

Although the amount harvested in the sixth year would be no different from 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.

Sources:Keli YekarVayikra 25:2Vayikra 25:20About R. Shelomo Ephraim Luntschitz

Shemittah as a test of faith – According to this approach, observing Shemittah is an extremely demanding test of faith, as the nation neither receives nor sees a double portion in advance.  Rather, they must trust that Hashem will make the regular produce of the sixth year go further. See Purpose of Shemittah for other ways in which the commandment leads to recognition of and belief in Hashem.

Parallel to manna – The Keli Yekar compares the mitzvah of Shemittah to the test of the manna in which the Children of Israel could not hoard for the long term, but needed to have faith daily that Hashem would continue to provide for them.

Purpose of blessings – According to this approach, it is possible that the blessing was limited to those who observed Shemittah.  While their grains were supernaturally satisfying, the crops of people who did not keep the laws might not have lasted longer than normal.  If so, this blessing is similar to many others and comes as a reward for following Hashem's commands.

"וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ" – Who will ask? The Keli Yekar assumes that Hashem is anticipating the anxieties of those living in Israel when the Shemittah year approaches.  Since the sixth year's harvest was not noticeably different from previous years, the people would naturally be concerned about how they would survive in subsequent years.

"מַה נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת" – The Keli Yekar offers two ways to understand why the people question the lack of food in the seventh rather than eighth year:³

• He cites Ramban Vayikra 25:20About R. Moshe b. Nachmanwho suggests that one understand the verse as if its order were 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 is valid only if one assumes that the blessing was hidden and related not to the quantity of the food but to how long it was to last.  Otherwise, by the seventh year people would already have known that they were cared for and would have no need to question.
• Alternatively, the Keli Yekar suggests that the people are actually concerned about the seventh year itself.  Knowing that they cannot plant, and not seeing anything saved for the next year, would make it difficult to feel satisfied even while they are eating food in the seventh year (אינו דומה מי שיש לו פת בסלו למי שאין לו).⁴ 

Evaluating the question – This position views the nation's questioning as an understandable and expected reaction to the daunting task of observing Shemittah.

Dependent on Faith

The blessing differed in accordance 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 that it would suffice.

Sources:SefornoVayikra 25:19-21About R. Ovadyah Seforno

Shemittah as a measure of faith – According to this position, the people's reaction to the upcoming Shemittah year served as a measure of the people's faith. In certain years, they had sufficient trust to not question their survival, while in other years they asked, "what shall we eat?".

"וַאֲכַלְתֶּם לָשֹׂבַע" versus "וְעָשָׂת אֶת הַתְּבוּאָה" – Seforno differentiates between these two blessings, suggesting that the former refers to the blessing of quality given to those of faith and the latter to the blessing of quantity to those who doubt.  The phrase "וַאֲכַלְתֶּם לָשֹׂבַע" implies that the food eaten will be extra-nourishing, so that the same quantity of grain will be more satisfying, and thus sustain them for longer than usual.  The blessing, "וְעָשָׂת אֶת הַתְּבוּאָה לִשְׁלֹשׁ הַשָּׁנִים", in contrast, refers to an extra large crop.

Why two types of blessings? Since a blessing of long-lasting food is not readily apparent, Hashem recognizes that it won't alleviate the concerns of those who lack faith.  Such people require the obvious blessing of an extra large harvest.

Parallel to manna – Seforno compares the blessing in which the crops are very nourishing to the manna.  Just as in the Wilderness, an omer's worth of manna managed to satisfy an adult as easily as it did a child, so too, a small amount of grain would manage to satiate to the same degree as a larger portion would have.

"וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ" – Who will ask? As Seforno maintains that Hashem decides what type of blessing to bestow upon the sixth year's crops based on whether or not the people harbor doubts, he must maintain that the people express their concerns before the crops are reaped in the sixth year.

"מַה נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת" – Seforno could explain as the Minchat Yehuda above, that the people are worried about the second half of the seventh year. Since, according to this approach, the people are asking about the lack of food already at the beginning of the sixth year, it is natural that they would be thinking ahead only to the next year, even if though the larger problem is the lack of food in the eighth year.

Nature of the blessing – While the qualitative blessing is a reward for faith,⁵ the quantitative blessing is an incentive to facilitate observance.  The former is considered a higher form of blessing.  It requires no extra work on the part of receiver (neither in extra harvest time, nor in finding storage room), and in some ways is more supernatural, as it is a hidden miracle.

Evaluating the question – This position views the question of "what shall we eat" negatively, as betraying a lack of trust. Nonetheless, Hashem, does not consider this as cause for punishment, but rather as a sign that the people need more concrete proof of Hashem's care.

¹ The verses speak of sustaining the people for three years, even though a blessing for two years would seem to have sufficed since by then the nation would have been able to eat of the new harvest.  For a variety of approaches as to how to understand this "three year" blessing, see Duration of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce.

² Abarbanel points to the pausal mark of a tipecha (טפחא) under the phrase "מַה־נֹּאכַ֖ל" as a support for this reading. However, he neglects to mention the etnachta (אתנחתא) on "הַשְּׁבִיעִ֑ת" which indicates that the words "בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת" are connected to the "מַה־נֹּאכַ֖ל" which precedes them rather than to the "הֵן לֹא נִזְרָע" which follows them.

³ Since the food from the sixth year should have sufficed for the seventh, as it did every year, the people should have been concerned only about the lack of food in the year following Shemittah.

⁴ There is no comparing one who has bread in his basket to one who does not.  Cf. R. WesselyVayikra 25About the Biur (Netivot HaShalom) who similarly posits that the people are asking: "How will we eat [with peace of mind] in the seventh year, knowing that we will neither sow nor gather [in the seventh year for subsequent years]?

⁵ See verse 18 which prefaces the blessing of "וַאֲכַלְתֶּם לָשֹׂבַע" with "וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֶת חֻקֹּתַי", suggesting a causal relationship.