CHOCHMAS NASHIM: GIVE IT A REST
By: Suri Davis
This week’s Torah portions of Behar Bechukotai discuss resting the land every 7th year, which in Hebrew is called Shmitah. Let’s first discuss a verse in the Ethics of our Fathers Chapter 5 which we read this Shabbos. It is customary to read Ethics of Our Fathers during the weeks between Passover and Shavuoth.
Chapter 5, verse 11 states among other things, there are four reasons the Jews are exiled from the land: Idolatry, Adultery, Murder and For the Jews failure to keep the Shmitah laws. In the words of the revered Sesame Street song, One of these things is not like the other. The first three laws are held as fundamental to life on Earth that they are included in the 7 Noahide laws which all mankind should abide, whether Jew or Gentile. These three laws are also so very fundamental to Judaism such that if one threatens a Jew with murder if he does not commit one of the three, it is better for the Jew to die, rather than transgress the laws of idolatry, adultery or murder.
Why is Shmitah included in these three great prohibitions as a cause for the Jews to be exiled from the land. To anaswer this, we should understand it through the perspective of Shabbos and Parshat Hamon, the story of the Manna in the dessert.
There were two points we needed to understand about the Manna. The first is that each day one should pick only what he needed for that day. No saving Manna for the next day, because new Manna would fall every weekday., and we had to have faith that it would fall daily.
The second point to understand is that every Friday, everyone should collect double portions of Manna because on Saturday, Shabbos, they were forbidden from collecting Manna, it is a forbidden Shabbos activity.
זֶ֤ה הַדָּבָר֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר צִוָּ֣ה יְהוָ֔ה לִקְט֣וּ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ אִ֖ישׁ לְפִ֣י אָכְל֑וֹ עֹ֣מֶר לַגֻּלְגֹּ֗לֶת מִסְפַּר֙ נַפְשֹׁ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם אִ֛ישׁ לַאֲשֶׁ֥ר בְּאָהֳל֖וֹ תִּקָּֽחוּ׃
This is what the LORD has commanded: Gather as much of it as each of you requires to eat, an omer to a person for as many of you as there are; each of you shall fetch for those in his tent.”
וַיְהִ֣י ׀ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁ֗י לָֽקְט֥וּ לֶ֙חֶם֙ מִשְׁנֶ֔ה שְׁנֵ֥י הָעֹ֖מֶר לָאֶחָ֑ד וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ כָּל־נְשִׂיאֵ֣י הָֽעֵדָ֔ה וַיַּגִּ֖ידוּ לְמֹשֶֽׁה׃
On the sixth day they gathered double the amount of food, two omers for each; and when all the chieftains of the community came and told Moses,
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֗ם ה֚וּא אֲשֶׁ֣ר דִּבֶּ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה שַׁבָּת֧וֹן שַׁבַּת־קֹ֛דֶשׁ לַֽיהוָ֖ה מָחָ֑ר אֵ֣ת אֲשֶׁר־תֹּאפ֞וּ אֵפ֗וּ וְאֵ֤ת אֲשֶֽׁר־תְּבַשְּׁלוּ֙ בַּשֵּׁ֔לוּ וְאֵת֙ כָּל־הָ֣עֹדֵ֔ף הַנִּ֧יחוּ לָכֶ֛ם לְמִשְׁמֶ֖רֶת עַד־הַבֹּֽקֶר׃
he said to them, “This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy sabbath of the LORD. Bake what you would bake and boil what you would boil; and all that is left put aside to be kept until morning.”
Compare this with this week’s torah portion with regards to Shmita:
דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵהֶ֔ם כִּ֤י תָבֹ֙אוּ֙ אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֲנִ֖י נֹתֵ֣ן לָכֶ֑ם וְשָׁבְתָ֣ה הָאָ֔רֶץ שַׁבָּ֖ת לַיהוָֽה׃
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.
שֵׁ֤שׁ שָׁנִים֙ תִּזְרַ֣ע שָׂדֶ֔ךָ וְשֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים תִּזְמֹ֣ר כַּרְמֶ֑ךָ וְאָסַפְתָּ֖ אֶת־תְּבוּאָתָֽהּ׃
Six years you may sow your field and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in the yield.
וּבַשָּׁנָ֣ה הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗ת שַׁבַּ֤ת שַׁבָּתוֹן֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָאָ֔רֶץ שַׁבָּ֖ת לַיהוָ֑ה שָֽׂדְךָ֙ לֹ֣א תִזְרָ֔ע וְכַרְמְךָ֖ לֹ֥א תִזְמֹֽר׃
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.
And finally compare it to the commandment of Shabbos on Mount Sinai
זָכ֛וֹר֩ אֶת־י֥֨וֹם הַשַּׁבָּ֖֜ת לְקַדְּשֽׁ֗וֹ
Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.
שֵׁ֤֣שֶׁת יָמִ֣ים֙ תַּֽעֲבֹ֔ד֮ וְעָשִׂ֖֣יתָ כָּל־מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ֒
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
וְי֙וֹם֙ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔֜י שַׁבָּ֖֣ת ׀ לַיהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֗יךָ לֹֽ֣א־תַעֲשֶׂ֣֨ה כָל־מְלָאכָ֡֜ה אַתָּ֣ה ׀ וּבִנְךָֽ֣־וּ֠בִתֶּ֗ךָ עַבְדְּךָ֤֨ וַאֲמָֽתְךָ֜֙ וּבְהֶמְתֶּ֔֗ךָ וְגֵרְךָ֖֙ אֲשֶׁ֥֣ר בִּשְׁעָרֶֽ֔יךָ
but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements.
כִּ֣י שֵֽׁשֶׁת־יָמִים֩ עָשָׂ֨ה יְהוָ֜ה אֶת־הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם וְאֶת־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֶת־הַיָּם֙ וְאֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־בָּ֔ם וַיָּ֖נַח בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֑י עַל־כֵּ֗ן בֵּרַ֧ךְ יְהוָ֛ה אֶת־י֥וֹם הַשַּׁבָּ֖ת וַֽיְקַדְּשֵֽׁהוּ׃ (ס)
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
With regard to the Manna, Moshe tells the heads of the nation, Shabbat Shabbaton L’Hashem/It is Shabbos for G-d. With regard to Shmita in this week’s parsha it states that the seventh year is Shabbat Shabbaton for the land Shabbat L’Hashem. Finally, when G-d discusses our Shabbos, it states that Shabbos is Shabbos for Hashem, your G-d. For in six days G-d created the world, and on the seventh day He rested, that is why G-d blessed Shabbos and sanctified it.
Human kings and rulers will rest, and want their servants and subjects to continue working or slaving away. Not G-d. He created us and took us out of Egypt so we could serve Him exclusively on His land without foreign rulers. While other kings subjugate their subjects, G-d created us in His image and gave us Torah and Mitzvoth for the exclusive purpose of raising us up as a holy and separate nation.
Shabbos is our day of rest and holiness, because G-d said so. We learn from the Manna core emunah/faith. Each day G=d will provide us with what we need. On Shabbos, trust that he will give us enough to sustain us on the Seventh day, just as He provided Manna to sustain us. So too, if G-d says that we should rest the land, we have to have faith that G-d will sustain us for that year, core faith that all is in His power. We might not understand how it will be done, but that is the blessing we will have, and we have to believe that G-d will follow through on His promise to sustain us.
We have always understood in the ways of nature, that permitting land to lay fallow, would permit it to rejuvenate. Now that the world is in quarantine, we read stories of the world resetting itself, animals returning to lands that they were forced off of for paved highways, animals reclaiming National Park lands, areas where there were decades of fog and smog, have clean air to breathe. G-d has given us personal insight to how we have taken His pure land, and have polluted it.
We hear stories of Jews begging for minyan, for minyan, for minyan. Take a break Minyanites. Clearly G-d is making us all take a break. Clear the air. Re-prioritize. Minyanites have overtaken our religion, and have made a religion unto itself. Minyanites feel the world should evolve around them, their homes should revolve around them, their workplaces should work around them, and the Coronavirus should work around them. How did we permit this Minyan fog/smog to overrun our homes, our lives, and our pandemic.
Derech Eretz Kadmah L’torah, when I hear screaming because we cant help our fellow man, rather than heh heh heh make a minyan, I’ll know we have achieved a major goal of quarantine. When I see rabbis being asked when can I visit my parents again, when can I resume, visiting the sick and elderly…that’s when we will be healed, our souls will lead this recovery, not antibodies, our souls.
The quarantine is a major reset button for each one of us. In the time we have had, each one of us has had to figure out what the quarantine means to them, how to reset their his/her life and priorities. There is no one answer for us all. We just know that what we were doing, needed a rest. Our souls need a rest to rejuvenate.
Last night we counted 36 of the Omer, the trait of Lovingkindness in Bonding. Love is the heart of bonding. You cannot bond without love. Love establishes a reliable base on which bonding can build. [Rabbi Simon Jacobson] Bond with your fellow man, doing so includes bonding with G-d.
Shabbat shalom.
-Suri