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Share2 main commandments
1) Let the ground lie fallow. Shabbat for the land, a cycle of 6 years of working the land, 1 year of rest.
2) Debts are cancelled
Underlying theme: moderation of our natural human tendencies for self-importance, greed, and over-indulgance.
(י) וְשֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים תִּזְרַ֣ע אֶת־אַרְצֶ֑ךָ וְאָסַפְתָּ֖ אֶת־תְּבוּאָתָֽהּ׃ (יא) וְהַשְּׁבִיעִ֞ת תִּשְׁמְטֶ֣נָּה וּנְטַשְׁתָּ֗הּ וְאָֽכְלוּ֙ אֶבְיֹנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְיִתְרָ֕ם תֹּאכַ֖ל חַיַּ֣ת הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה כֵּֽן־תַּעֲשֶׂ֥ה לְכַרְמְךָ֖ לְזֵיתֶֽךָ׃
Key points of this verse: Commands that like our weekly cycle of 1 day of rest/6 days of work, we allow the land to rest 1 year after 6 years of work. Back in agrarian times, this allowed the land to maintain its fertility. Peoples' lives revolved around working the land for sustenance. So for one year, there was essentially no work to be done!
How do you imagine you would experience a year of personally lying fallow? What would you do to fill the time?
Imagine you are a farmer entering into a shmita year. What would be some of the challenges you imagine facing?
(א) וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בְּהַ֥ר סִינַ֖י לֵאמֹֽר׃ (ב) דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵהֶ֔ם כִּ֤י תָבֹ֙אוּ֙ אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֲנִ֖י נֹתֵ֣ן לָכֶ֑ם וְשָׁבְתָ֣ה הָאָ֔רֶץ שַׁבָּ֖ת לַיהֹוָֽה׃ (ג) שֵׁ֤שׁ שָׁנִים֙ תִּזְרַ֣ע שָׂדֶ֔ךָ וְשֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים תִּזְמֹ֣ר כַּרְמֶ֑ךָ וְאָסַפְתָּ֖ אֶת־תְּבוּאָתָֽהּ׃ (ד) וּבַשָּׁנָ֣ה הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗ת שַׁבַּ֤ת שַׁבָּתוֹן֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָאָ֔רֶץ שַׁבָּ֖ת לַיהֹוָ֑ה שָֽׂדְךָ֙ לֹ֣א תִזְרָ֔ע וְכַרְמְךָ֖ לֹ֥א תִזְמֹֽר׃ (ה) אֵ֣ת סְפִ֤יחַ קְצִֽירְךָ֙ לֹ֣א תִקְצ֔וֹר וְאֶת־עִנְּבֵ֥י נְזִירֶ֖ךָ לֹ֣א תִבְצֹ֑ר שְׁנַ֥ת שַׁבָּת֖וֹן יִהְיֶ֥ה לָאָֽרֶץ׃ (ו) וְ֠הָיְתָ֠ה שַׁבַּ֨ת הָאָ֤רֶץ לָכֶם֙ לְאׇכְלָ֔ה לְךָ֖ וּלְעַבְדְּךָ֣ וְלַאֲמָתֶ֑ךָ וְלִשְׂכִֽירְךָ֙ וּלְתוֹשָׁ֣בְךָ֔ הַגָּרִ֖ים עִמָּֽךְ׃ (ז) וְלִ֨בְהֶמְתְּךָ֔ וְלַֽחַיָּ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּאַרְצֶ֑ךָ תִּהְיֶ֥ה כׇל־תְּבוּאָתָ֖הּ לֶאֱכֹֽל׃
(1) The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: (2) Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of the LORD. (3) Six years you may sow your field and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in the yield. (4) But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath of the LORD: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. (5) You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untrimmed vines; it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. (6) But you may eat whatever the land during its sabbath will produce—you, your male and female slaves, the hired and bound laborers who live with you, (7) and your cattle and the beasts in your land may eat all its yield. (
What stands out to you about these verses?
(יח) וַעֲשִׂיתֶם֙ אֶת־חֻקֹּתַ֔י וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַ֥י תִּשְׁמְר֖וּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֣ם אֹתָ֑ם וִֽישַׁבְתֶּ֥ם עַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ לָבֶֽטַח׃ (יט) וְנָתְנָ֤ה הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ פִּרְיָ֔הּ וַאֲכַלְתֶּ֖ם לָשֹׂ֑בַע וִֽישַׁבְתֶּ֥ם לָבֶ֖טַח עָלֶֽיהָ׃ (כ) וְכִ֣י תֹאמְר֔וּ מַה־נֹּאכַ֖ל בַּשָּׁנָ֣ה הַשְּׁבִיעִ֑ת הֵ֚ן לֹ֣א נִזְרָ֔ע וְלֹ֥א נֶאֱסֹ֖ף אֶת־תְּבוּאָתֵֽנוּ׃ (כא) וְצִוִּ֤יתִי אֶת־בִּרְכָתִי֙ לָכֶ֔ם בַּשָּׁנָ֖ה הַשִּׁשִּׁ֑ית וְעָשָׂת֙ אֶת־הַתְּבוּאָ֔ה לִשְׁלֹ֖שׁ הַשָּׁנִֽים׃ (כב) וּזְרַעְתֶּ֗ם אֵ֚ת הַשָּׁנָ֣ה הַשְּׁמִינִ֔ת וַאֲכַלְתֶּ֖ם מִן־הַתְּבוּאָ֣ה יָשָׁ֑ן עַ֣ד ׀ הַשָּׁנָ֣ה הַתְּשִׁיעִ֗ת עַד־בּוֹא֙ תְּב֣וּאָתָ֔הּ תֹּאכְל֖וּ יָשָֽׁן׃
(כג) וְהָאָ֗רֶץ לֹ֤א תִמָּכֵר֙ לִצְמִתֻ֔ת כִּי־לִ֖י הָאָ֑רֶץ כִּֽי־גֵרִ֧ים וְתוֹשָׁבִ֛ים אַתֶּ֖ם עִמָּדִֽי׃
(23) But the land must not be sold beyond reclaim, for the land is Mine; you are but strangers resident with Me.
What strikes you about this verse?
How does climate change intersect with your understanding of shmita?
How does Torah's approach to loan forgiveness as a method of socioeconomic balance resonate with you?
What the Sabbath achieves regarding the individual, the Shmita achieves with regard to the nation as a whole. A year of solemn rest is essential for both the nation and the land, a year of peace and quiet without oppressor and tyrant…It is a year of equality and rest, in which the soul reaches out towards divine justice, towards God who sustains the living creatures with loving kindness. There is no private property and no punctilious privilege but the peace of God reigns over all in which there is the breath of life. Sanctity is not profaned by the exercise of private acquisitiveness over all this year’s produce, and the covetousness of wealth stirred up by commerce is forgotten. For food – but not for commerce. Life can only be perfected through the affording of a breathing space from the bustle of everyday life. The individual shakes himself free from ordinary weekday life at short and regular intervals-on every Sabbath…
A Yearlong Shabbat
1. Let Rest & Lie Fallow: Take the time to form a new relationship with work and
rest. Allow your land, your body, your workers, your economy of production
and consumption, to rest.
2. Release With Faith: We are reminded we do not own our land, resources, or
even time, and that these are Divine gifts. To enter into Shmita is to embrace a
sense of security that is beyond our control.
A Sabbatical Food System
3. Land Stewardship: There is no seeding or plowing of agricultural land during
the Shmita Year.
4. Perennial/Wild Harvest: Primary harvests include wild edibles and perennial
produce.
5. Eat Local: Harvests must be eaten locally. They cannot be exported.
6. Seasonal Diet: Harvests should be gathered at full ripeness, and eaten in their
natural growing season.
7. Animal Care: Wild and domesticated animals must have free access to range
and food.
Community & Food Security
8. Creating Commons: All private agricultural lands are declared public and
become community commons.
9. Shared Harvest: All harvested and stored produce are declared ‘ownerless’ and
shared equally.
10. Fair Distribution: When harvesting, only collect specific to your immediate
needs and not beyond.
11. Waste Reduction: Harvests have a special sanctity. They cannot be wasted or
thrown away.
Community & Economic Resiliency
12. Land Value: Land is not a commodity, and has no market value. If land is sold,
the price is based on the potential harvest seasons remaining until the Jubilee.
13. De-Commercialization: Produce can be harvested and shared for nourishment
and enjoyment; not sold in the marketplace as a commodity.
14. Generous Giving: The value of exchange is based on generous giving and
lending practices, without the need for profit or monetary gain.
15. Debt Release: All debts from previous years are canceled at the conclusion of
the Shmita Year.
Jubilee Release
16. Land Redemption: Land is linked to family heritage and ancestral lineage, and
always returns to such tribal connections.
17. Release of Slaves: Slaves are released from their work and are free to return
home, to their community and land.
In the Sabbatical year, produce grown in Israel becomes sanctified. Its holiness is honored when we eat it as food, but desecrated if we use it for profit through trading the food as a commodity. The global food business today is worth billions of dollars, and it is treated as an industry like any other. The industrialization of agriculture has enabled the mass production of cheap food that has fed millions, especially in the Third World, but has also come with serious costs. The shmita principle challenges us to return to a more natural and immediate relationship to the food we eat - for example, by eating more food rather than food-like products manufactured from dozens of artifically synthesized ingredients.
Having just reviewed text of what shmita is about, what are some ways that come to mind in which, over the next year beginning on Rosh Hashana, you might observe shmita?
“Something miraculous happens when we stop. We get to experience the power that nature knows called dormancy. Dormancy, that which is holding; the heartbeat that rests; the hibernating animals, all of winter; waiting and waiting...There are seeds inside each and every one of us, inside this culture, that cannot emerge because we do not know that dormancy does not mean death, resting does not mean disappearing. What keeps us from stopping is that we are terrified of resting. We are afraid of the imaginative terrible things we will feel in the quiet. We fear that when we stop, even for a moment, the sheer enormity of our lives will overwhelm us. Our outspoken and unspoken fears, they speed up our lives. Like a stone being thrown over a lake, we've learned to skip so we don't get too wet, and we are terrified that if we let the stone fall, we will disappear. And so we think that our speed will save us from the void. We dance around the security that is offered from touching what is underneath the speed. Can we let go of the obsession of finishing what can't be finished?” --Rabbi David Ingber, Shabbat Behar sermon, Romemu
