Shmita Lishma – Behar
וידבר ה' אל משה בהר סיני לאמר. דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אלהם כי תבאו אל הארץ אשר אני נתן לכם ושבתה הארץ שבת לה'. שש שנים תקדם מכולותך ושש שנים תמלא מדפיה ותסחור סחורותיך. ובשנה השביעת שבת שבתון יהיה לארץ שבת לה' מכולותך לא תקדם ומוצריך לא תמכור. את מוצריך לא תפרסם ואת דלתך לא תסגור שנת שבתון יהיה לארץ.
The short parsha of Behar (only 56 psukkim) deals almost entirely with the subject of Shmita and Yovel.
The parsha begins by mentioning Har Sinai. This is one of only four times Har Sinai is mentioned in connection with specific mitzvot in the Torah - 1. The Ten Commandments (Shmot 19), 2. The Korbanot (Vayikra 7), 3. Shmita (Vayikra 25) and 4. The Brachot and Klalot (Vayikra 27). What about the mitzvah of Tzitzit? Was that not given on Har Sinai? What about Tfilin? Tzedaka? Leket? Hafrashat Challah? Chagim? Were these also not given with the Torah on Har Sinai?
So obviously the entire Torah was given on Har Sinai, all 613 mitzvot, the Torah Shebichtav and the Torah Sheba'al Peh. In the 40 days and nights that Moshe was on the mountain, he received it all. So why does the Torah need to emphasize davka these four subjects, stating that they were Behar Sinai? Chazal teach us that these examples epitomize foundation “pillars” from which all the other mitzvot stem. Therefore Shmita is a foundation pillar of the Torah and the question is why? What is it about Shmita that makes it so unique?
Another question is why Shmita immediately follows the subjects of the Lechem Hapanim and the mekalel? (in last week’s parsha Emor).
In order to answer these questions we need to ask a few more. What does Shmita mean to us today? How devoutly do we observe Shmita? Does Shmita of today truly reflect the original Shmita mentioned in the Torah?
Shmita is a mitzvah de’Oraita when the majority of Am Yisrael is settled in Eretz Yisrael. The Shmita of today is de’Rabanan since we do not (yet) have the majority of world Jewry settled in Eretz Israel (we are not that far off, as of the year 2021 - 7 out of 16 million Jews in the world live in Israel). The Chief Rabbinate is already gearing up for when we pass the “tipping point” and all the מצוות התלויות בארץ become de’Oraita!
The honest truth is that Shmita has a miniscule impact on our lives! for those of us that live in Israel and even less for those who don’t. The majority hold by Heter Mechira and those that don’t, buy Yevul Nochri (produce imported from overseas). In the last two decades there has been an attempt to promote Otzar Beit Din schemes but these do not seem to work well for practical/logistic reasons and represent a tiny portion of the population. How does Shmita impact our daily lives? We have to check signs and labels in supermarkets. Big deal! For those of us that have gardens with fruit trees and vegetables, we have to be a little more careful to respect קדושת שביעית – how many fruits we can pick at one time, how we dispose of the peels etc. Big deal! Most farmers hold by Heter Mechira, which means their production and maintenance schedules are practically unaffected. There are a few (you can count them on both hands) idealistic farmers who observe Shmita completely and shut everything down. Jews living in chutz la’aretz are even less impacted – again, they have to check labels on wine, cans etc.
Is this the Shmita that Hashem intended in the Torah?
What is the reason behind Shmita? Chazal give numerous explanations, ranging from the mystical (the number 7) to the practical. For example in Brachot 35b we read that Rava told his students not to attend the Beit Hamidrash during the months of Tishrei and Nisan. These two months were typified by intense agricultural activity, sowing, harvesting, etc. and this was an opportune time to work and make a parnasa that could tide you over for the remaining 10 months of the year while you were learning. Therefore for two months in the year nobody was studying Torah - multiplied by six years - makes 12 months. So along comes the 12 months of Shmita - where there is no work, only Torah study – to compensate for the lack of Torah study for all those 2 month periods in the past six years.
The focus of Shmita is agricultural. This reflected a reality where 99.9% of people involved in making a parnasa in Eretz Yisrael centered around food and agriculture - growing it, processing it, trading in it, etc. This was the reality of Am Yisrael when they settled in Eretz Yisrael after conquering the land in the time of Yehoshua. They were either farmers, traders or they were learning Torah.
It is almost impossible for anyone who is not a farmer by profession to fully comprehend the reality of Shmita. You are required to shut everything down for a year and relinquish any control over your parnasa and place your trust in HKB”H that everything will be OK.
How can a computer programmer, a teacher, a lawyer or a doctor even begin to fathom the level of bitachon that requires? Shmita doesn’t affect the parnasa of doctors – people still get sick during Shmita. Shmita doesn’t affect teachers – you still need to teach your kids. People still sign contracts during Shmita so you still need lawyers. It doesn’t affect computer programmers, stockbrokers, supermarket owners, metal workers, carpenters, accountants, artists, singers, actors, nurses, bus drivers, construction workers, etc. etc.
Since the industrial revolution our entire reality has changed from a rural, agricultural society that is almost totally connected to the land - to a global economy, predominantly of service providers. How many farmers are there left today? According to world statistics, less than 25% of the world’s population works in agriculture and it is declining from year to year. In other words, over 75% of Am Yisrael have no concept what Shmita really is.
Imagine if Shmita did not only apply to farmers, but also to supermarket owners (like in my “paraphrased” version of the psukkim above). Imagine you are a supermarket owner and Hashem says to you – “For six years you can build your business, stock, advertise and sell your products. Just before the beginning of the seventh year you have to fully stock the shelves. In the seventh year you have to keep the supermarket open until stocks run out – you have to open your doors from 8am – 8pm like normal, but there are no tellers. Anyone can come in and take whatever they like off the shelves for free – it is all hefker. You cannot do anything related to your business, accounting, advertising, planning – nada! You have to spend the entire year in the Beit Hamidrash listening to shiurim and learning in chavrutot!”
What about income? How am I going to pay the bills? I invested money in all that stock on the shelves that everyone is now taking for free! I still have to pay rates & taxes, insurance, electricity, education for my children, medical, buy clothes, pay for petrol, car maintenance, etc. How am I going to pay for all of that if there is no income? “Don’t worry, have faith, Hashem will provide!”
Forget about the supermarket owner. What if you were a lawyer and Hashem told you that for an entire year every seven years you were not allowed to charge for your services – an entire year of pro-bono work? Or if you were an accountant – you have to volunteer to do the books for amutot (NPO’s) free of charge for a year. Or teach from 8am to 3pm every day in school as normal – but no salary – on the house! No problem, I am a generous person by nature “BUT WHO IS GOING PAY THE BILLS? WHERE WILL THE MONEY COME FROM?” “Don’t worry”, Hashem says “Have faith!”
This is what Shmita demands of the farmer! We cannot understand it, because we are not farmers and we have become severed from our connection to the land and our source of food.
We live in cities, with internet, Wifi, global economy, the stock exchange, computers, technology, progress!!! In this reality our parnasa is dependent on how hard and how many hours we work, how smart we are, how talented we are, how creative we are, how wisely we invest, how much money we put aside in savings schemes!
But it is all ……. a bubble!
And just to prove to us how much of a bubble it is, we need subtle reminders, like a COVID pandemic and a war in the Ukraine, supplier of a third of the world’s grains. Suddenly the “insulated” world we live in is no longer so insulated. The “global economy” slowly grinds to a halt as air traffic ceases, prices of raw materials and food skyrocket, inflation begins to spiral out of control and slowly the entire bubble that surrounds us begins to dissipate.
Why does Shmita immediately follow the subject of the Lechem Hapanim and the mekalel? - Because the two are one and the same (מאיר פנים, פרק יא).
Lechem Hapanim is a symbol of parnasa. It doesn’t matter how you make your parnasa, if you are a farmer, a doctor, a lawyer or an actor – the Lechem Hapanim comes to teach us Who the true source of our parnasa is! It all comes from HKB”H!
Yes we all have to make our own hishtadlut. That is the premise of the Lechem Hapanim – the Shulchan can never be empty. In order for HKB”H’s bracha to come down to our material world we need the Lechem Hapanim on the Shulchan. We have to do our part and then HKB”H rains His bracha down on us. We cannot sit back, do nothing and say “HKB”H will provide”. No hishtadlut – no bracha (incidentally this is why we have the halacha that when you say Birkat Hamazon, you should leave the bread on the table and not clear the table off completely – שולחן ערוך, קפ, א).
However, the “hishtadlut” part is also a potential trap! When a person works hard, invests wisely, puts savings aside, uses his/her brains or hands or whatever other natural gift he/she may have, there is a danger that you may lose sight of the true source of your parnasa. You may begin to think, “I have this money because I worked hard/I am so smart/I am so talented/ I invested wisely”. You begin to think that the source of your parnasa is you, or your employer, or the “global economy”, modern technology, modern society, science, progress! And slowly but surely, Hashem’s part in it all gets “sidelined”. When you say “Hashem provides” people laugh at you, because in this modern day and age that sounds “crazy” and “ludicrous”. In modern society, the only way to get more money is to work longer hours, work harder, get fancier degrees, know the right people, educate yourself! That is how to make money! “Hashem gives you money? Pah! Go tell that to the charedim in Meah Shearim who live below the poverty line!”
And slowly but surely, your “hishtadlut” becomes a רשות בפני עצמו – and you start speaking in terms of global economy, world banking, the stock market ….. and HKB”H is no longer in the equation.
That was the mekalel! He looked at the Lechem Hapanim and mocked it! “Lechem Hapanim, Shulchan … Pah! G-d wants bread that is 9/11 days old and stale?” The mekalel failed to grasp what the Lechem Hapanim was. He believed bread is subject to the laws of nature, the “natural order of things”, the laws of global economy and the power of human endeavor! The mekalel failed to grasp that the Lechem Hapanim is a miracle! it does not adhere to the laws of nature. After 9/11 days it is still fresh, with no preservatives, no chemicals and no E-
That is the way parnasa works. You do your hishtadlut, but it is miniscule compared to Hashem’s part in it all. Whatever natural talent you have comes from Hashem. Hashem creates the conditions for you to get that well-paying job. Hashem makes the advert you designed so fancily with the cute graphics - fall on the right ears and sends clients your way. Hashem gives you the insight to invest in that stock. Hashem does 99.99% of it, you do 0.01%. That is what the Lechem Hapanim is all about. That is what parnasa is about and that is what the mekalel did not understand and so he mocked it.
And that is what Shmita is. Yes, do your hishtadlut, work six years, but don’t develop any misconceptions in those six years about the true source of your parnasa. In the seventh year, take a time out. Do NO work. Spend the entire year studying Torah and let HKB”H show you what is real and what is imaginary.
You think that the fact that Hashem makes the produce in the 6th year so plentiful that it is sufficient for the 6th, 7th and 8th year – is a miracle? It is a miracle, but so is your parnasa in year 1,2,3,4,5 it is all a miracle and it all comes from Hashem.
This is why Shmita follows the parsha of the Lechem Hapanim and the mekalel. This is why for failing to observe Shmita Am Yisrael is punished with galut! Because it is not simply checking labels on bottles of wine and signs in the produce section in the supermarket for the “right” hechsher of Shmita. It is a fundamental understanding of how the world works. And if you get it wrong, then you have no place being in Eretz Hakodesh where every millisecond is a miracle.
This is the lesson of Shmita and this is the Shmita intended in the Torah. Shmita is a foundation “pillar” because it touches at the very basis of the first commandment given on Har Sinai.
The agricultural technicalities of Shmita mentioned in the Torah apply to only a tiny percentage of us today, but we can ALL apply the principles they embody. If you are a doctor, lawyer, computer programmer, teacher, etc. today it is insufficient to simply check labels/signs and double wrap peels and tick the box in the “Shmita” column. If you want to truly observe Shmita in the spirit for which it was intended, then in Shmita year cut back on your work drastically and study more Torah, do more chessed work, spend more time working on your middot, more time consolidating your family, being mekarev people, improving relationships with friends and neighbors. Have the bitachon in Hashem! He is giving you the parnasa anyway, you are just deluding yourself that if you work less during Shmita you will earn less. In fact the opposite is true, by defying HKB”H and working more, you will earn less!
This is what Yirmiyahu Hanavi (9, 22-23) said –
כה אמר ה' אל יתהלל חכם בחכמתו ואל יתהלל הגבור בגבורתו אל יתהלל עשיר בעשרו. כי אם בזאת יתהלל המתהלל השכל וידע אותי כי אני ה' עשה חסד משפט וצדקה בארץ כי באלה חפצתי נאם ה'
This is the time to apply these principles. We have only 4 months left of Shmita. Let’s not waste a single second.
