Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם
כִּי תָבֹאוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם
וְשָׁבְתָה הָאָרֶץ שַׁבָּת לַה'׃
Speak to Benei Yisrael and tell them:
When you come to the land that I (God) am giving you,
the land shall observe a Shabbat for God.
What does it mean that שְׁמִטָּה (shemittah, the year of release) is a 'שַׁבָּת לַה (Shabbat la-Hashem, Shabbat for God)?
שֶׁתִּהְיֶה הָאָרֶץ בְּטֵלָה מִכָּל מְלֶאכֶת אָדָם בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִית וְלֹא יִשְׁתַּדֵּל כְּלָל בַּעֲבוֹדַת הַקַּרְקַע לֹא בַּחֲרִישָׁה וְלֹא בִּזְרִיעָה.
The land should be off limits for any human melakhah (productive work) in the seventh year. A person shouldn’t do any work on the land, like plowing and planting.
שֶׁתִּהְיֶה כָּל הַשָּׁנָה הַבְטָלָה מֵעֲבוֹדַת הָאֲדָמָה מוּכֶנֶת לַעֲבוֹדָתוֹ. כְּמוֹ שֶׁכֵּיוָן בְּשַׁבַּת בְּרֵאשִׁית בְּאָמְרוֹ "שַׁבָּת לָה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ" (שמות כ:ט).
During this whole year, instead of serving the land, farmers are prepared to serve God.
This makes shemittah like Shabbat, which the Torah describes as “Shabbat for God your Lord” (Shemot 20:9).
Rabbeinu Bahaye views shemittah as being “la-Hashem” in the sense that it’s a time for us human beings to sit back, not work, and just leave everything to God.
Sforno thinks “Shabbat la-Hashem” is a statement of the spiritual purpose of shemittah. Like the day of the week Shabbat, shemittah is a time for us to dedicate our time and attention to God. (Ibn Ezra says something similar. In his commentary to Devarim [31:10-12] he suggests that the purpose of the shemittah year is to give people time to learn Torah!)
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