Divrei Menachem

Divrei Menachem

Parshat B’har opens by discussing Sh’mita whereby every seven years the land in Israel lies fallow and it is forbidden to sow one’s field, prune vineyards, and to gather in produce. By so doing we recognize that Eretz Yisrael does not belong to us but rather is a gift from Hashem.
Moreover, by observing Sh’mita we demonstrate our trust in G-d who declares that by fulfilling His laws and statutes we shall [be able to] dwell in the Land without worry (Vayikra 25:18). And there is concern when no produce is being prepared to keep the people alive in the upcoming years. Hashem thus informs us that, “I shall command My blessing upon you in the sixth year and it [the Land] will make its produce for the [next] three years.”
This seventh Sh’mita year is called Shabbat LaShem, a sabbatical in honor of Hashem: Just as we, G-d’s Chosen People, desist from creative work every seventh day, so the Chosen Land must rest every seventh year in recognition of Hashem’s ceasing to fashion the world on Shabbat. Just as a people is sanctified through Torah, and time is sanctified through Shabbat and the Mo’adim, so too is “space” -  the Chosen Land, Eretz Yisrael - sanctified, inter alia, by means of the Sh’mita year.
There is, in addition, another important quality to Sh’mita. For when a Land and its people cease productivity the people can take time out to do what we today should well do, namely, reassess our national, social, and religious character.

Shabbat Shalom, Menachem Persoff

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