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Bhar 2 "And I shall direct My blessing to you in the sixth year . . ."(25:21) The Torah promises an extra abundance in the produce of the sixth year in order to aid in observing shemittah (the sabbatical year). Yet Chazal tell us that the mitzvah of shemittah was neglected during most of the first Temple era. How, Rav Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman zatz'l asks, could people have failed to see the sign which G-d sent every year before the shemittah? The very last pasuk in the Torah refers to the miracles "which Moshe did before the eyes of Yisroel." Ramban states that not all of Moshe's miracles were done in the presence of the Jewish people. However, because Moshe had prepared the people and taught them how to recognise a miracle, everything he did subsequently was "before the eyes of Yisroel." Rav Ruderman explains based on this Ramban that if you do not look for the miracle or the sign, you will not see it. This is why the miracle of the "sixth year" did not move the Jews to observe the shemittah. We see, similarly, that Yehoshua cursed the man who would rebuild the city of Yericho that he would "pay" for the foundation with the life of his oldest son and he would complete the construction with the death of his youngest son, and although this curse was fulfilled to the last detail, one man persisted in building and never realised that Yehoshua's curse was being fulfilled before his eyes. He just was not looking. (Sichot Levi) "...on Mount Sinai..." (25:1). The entire lesson of Shmita is that "nature" is an illusion. Hashem runs the world and just as He makes sure that no loss results by not working one day of the week on Shabbos, so He also ensures that nothing will be lost by ceasing from working the land for a whole year. This is to teach us not to become enslaved to "nature," that this world is no more that a corridor to the real world of spirituality. But Man cannot totally disassociate himself from the framework of the world in which he exists; the Torah clearly commands him to sow and harvest for six years, just as he must labour during the six days of the working week. But through counting the days of the working week in relation to Shabbos, and the six years of farming in relation to the year of Shmita, we can connect and infuse even the mundane and the routine with the holy and the special. (Sfas Emes) "...on Mount Sinai..." (25:1). The nature of the miracle of Shmita varied according to the level of bitachon (trust in Hashem) of the Jewish People. When the level of bitachon was high, the amount of food that was harvested in the sixth year was no different from any other year, but it was able to nourish for three years instead of one. But if the level of trust was low, then the fields yielded three times the amount of a normal year. The first way was through a hidden miracle, the second through an open miracle. Why did the lower level of trust invoke the seemingly greater open miracle? An open miracle is always second best in Hashem's plan. Man is the creature who is designed specifically to have freedom of choice. Open miracles are so compelling that they limit Man's freedom of choice. Nevertheless, Hashem responds even to a lower level of trust in Him, and provides the pyrotechnics of an open miracle if that is what is needed to make the people feel secure. Rav Chaim of Volozhin once asked the Vilna Gaon what the Talmud means when it says that one of Hashem's attributes is to be satisfied with His lot. He replied that Hashem's lot is the Jewish People He would like us to be on a higher level, but nevertheless He is content with us at whatever level He finds us. (Based on Rabbi Zev Leff) For the children of Israel are servants to Me (Leviticus 25:55) The Jewish people are sometimes referred to as G-d's servants and sometimes as His children. As far as the Jewish body is concerned we are His servants, unconditionally accepting the yoke of heaven to carry out His will. As concerns the soul, however, every Jew is a child of G-d, for the soul serves G-d with love as a child serves his father. (Sefer HaMaamarim Kuntresim) |
