Nature of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce/2
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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.
Sources:Standard interpretation
Shemittah as a source of faith – This position view the mitzvah of Shemittah less as a test of faith (since the people are given food in advance) and more as a tool to instill it. The gift of a threefold harvest1 teaches the nation how Hashem cares for them always. See Purpose of Shemittah for other ways that the year instills recognition of Hashem.
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.2
Parallel to manna – This approach views the double portion of grain as 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 say that in the middle of the sixth year the nation living in Israel would question, "what shall we eat", since by that point they would have already seen that their crops had multiplied and that they had enough to sustain them. As such, this position could posit instead that Hashem is preempting a question to be asked by the Generation of the Wilderness upon hearing the laws of Shemittah. Alternatively, the people in Israel could be questioning at the beginning of the sixth year before they have seen 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, 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!?'"
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 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.
Sources:Keli Yekar
Shemittah as a test of faith – According to this approach, observing Shemittah is an extremely demanding test of faith, as the nation does not receive and see a double portion beforehand, but 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 save for the long term, but needed to have faith daily that Hashem would continue to provide for them.
Purpose of blessings – This approach could say 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, the blessing acted as a reward.
"וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ" – Who will ask? The Keli Yekar assumes that Hashem is anticipating the anxieties of those living in Israel when the Shemittah year approached. Since the sixth year's harvest was not noticeably different than previous years, the people would naturally be concerned 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:4
- 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
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 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.
Sources: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 not to 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 provide for longer than normal. 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 satisfy just as a larger portion would have.
"וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ" – Who will ask? As Seforno maintains that Hashem decides what type of blessing to give the sixth's year's crops based on whether or not the people doubt, 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 like the Minchat Yehuda above, that the people are worried about the second half of the seventh year.6
Nature of the blessing – It seems that according to Seforno, the qualitative blessing is a reward for faith,7 while the quantitative blessing is an incentive to facilitate observance.
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 worthy of punishment, but rather as a sign that the people need more concrete proof of Hashem's care.
