Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Behar/0/en

Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Behar

Shemittah: Between Man and God or Man and Man?

What is the Purpose of Shemittah?  While RambanVayikra 25:2About R. Moshe b. Nachman focuses on how Shemittah facilitates spiritual growth and recognition of Hashem, Shadal Vayikra 25:2About R. Shemuel David Luzzattoemphasizes how it inculcates social equality and concern for the less fortunate.  RambamMoreh Nevukhim 3:39About R. Moshe b. Maimon offers a third option, suggesting that Shemittah serves a practical function in maintaining the fertility of the land.

• Is it possible that certain commandments were ordained purely for utilitarian purposes? What other mitzvot might be understood in a similar fashion?  For one example, see Ralbag on Tzara'at.
• Does the Torah promote a world outlook closer to capitalism or socialism?  What do the laws of Shemittah suggest?¹
• How are Shemittah and Shabbat similar?  What benefits are engendered by an enforced resting and refraining from work?  

A Test of Faith?

In an almost completely agrarian based society, it would seem that Shemittah, which prohibits sowing or harvesting fields for an entire year, would be an extremely daunting commandment to keep, requiring tremendous trust in Hashem.  In fact, in the curses of Vayikra 26, non-observance of Shemittah is singled out as the the root cause of the nation's ultimate exile.² 

Cognizant of the difficulties that the mitzvah entails, Hashem reassures the nation that the crops of the sixth year will sustain them for three years. However, if the people received a three-fold blessing of grain even before the seventh year began, why did the mitzvah prove so hard to fulfill? How was it a test of faith at all?  See Nature of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce.

Does Tishrei Mark the New Year?

To facilitate the observance of Shemittah, Hashem promises a three year blessing of the produce.  However, if farming is prohibited for only one year, should not a two year blessing have sufficed?

• Some Karaites answer that the year (and hence, the laws of Shemittah) do not start in Tishrei, but rather in Nisan, at the time of the harvest.  As such, any crops planted in the sixth year cannot be harvested in the seventh year.  Since nothing is sown in the rest of the year as well, there are two consecutive harvest-free years, requiring a three year blessing.
• Does the rest of Torah support or negate the Karaite claim that Nisan, rather than Tishrei, marks the start of the year? Perhaps surprisingly, no where does Torah actually designate the first of Tishrei as Rosh HaShanah!  If so, where does that designation come from?  What evidence can be brought to counter the Karaite claims and support the position that Shemittah starts in the fall?
• Finally, how else might one explain why a three year blessing was necessary? See Duration of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce.

¹ Ze'ev JabotinskyWritings, Vol. 9, pp. 173-180 notes that the seven year Shemittah cycle and the Jubilee Year combine elements of both capitalism and socialism, allowing for checks and balances between the two systems. For six years a free market economy allows for growth and competition, while the seventh year tries to ensure that the pitfalls of such a system, i.e. big gaps between the rich and poor, are avoided.

² 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.