Behar

Our parasha begins with the mitzvah of the Sabbatical year, the Sh’mittah, a concept especially dear to my heart this year as I enjoy a Sabbatical from my pulpit.
In our text the holiness of time intersects the holiness of space and we are commanded that one year in seven fields in Eretz Yisrael are to remain fallow. The laws of Sh’mittah do not apply to us here in the Diaspora and we may well ask, “What is the Torah teaching us with this law?”
The parallel between the concept of the weekly Shabbat, one day in seven, and Sh’mittah, one year in seven, seems immediately apparent. The Torah describes Sh’mittah as “Shabbat l’Adonai – a Sabbath unto the Lord.” Just as people observe Shabbat, so does the land.
Our mitzvot are divided into two groups: “bein adam l’chavero,” the interpersonal mitzvot, and “bein adam l’makom,” those that concern to our relationship to God. To which category would you assign these mitzvot, the Shabbat and the Sh’mittah?
Interestingly, both mitzvot can be seen as belonging to both categories. Maimonides considers Sh’mittah as an ethical matter, a sharing of wealth, since the poor get to eat whatever grows in the seventh year. In that sense it is an interpersonal mitzvah. Another scholar, Rabbi Aharon HaLevi of Barcelona (13th Century), author of Sefer HaChinuch, sees Sh’mitta as a mitzvah between humanity and God since its purpose is to remind us that we do not own the earth but that it is ultimately God’s.
Just as Sh’mittah falls into both categories of mitzvah, so does the Shabbat. On the one hand we observe Shabbat to recall that God is the Creator, as we say in Kiddush, “Zikaron l’maase vraysheet – a reminder of Creation.” This explains why any act that interferes with creation is prohibited on Shabbat: it is a day for us to appreciate creation, not interfere with it.  At the same time, Shabbat is seen as a mitzvah on an interpersonal level. It is a reminder of our freedom from Egyptian bondage, as we say in Kiddush, “za’cher li’tziat Mitzrayim – a recollection of our Exodus from Egypt.” Thus, on Shabbat we are freed from the bondage of labor and we have no commercial transactions or transfers of property to emphasis that we are no longer slaves and that all are equal. In our hyper-technological age, we are also freed from the bondage of digital connectedness, and we are to unplug the devices that tether us to cyberspace.
There is another similarity between Shabbat and Sh’mittah that is both interesting and instructive: the emphasis on the Jewish work ethic. You might think, and the Romans did, that both the Shabbat and the Sh’mittah year would be especially appreciated by lazy people; those who like to rest one day in seven and take off one year in seven. But in both cases we should note that the commandment to rest is prefaced by the imperative of work: “Six days you shall work and do all your labor, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God, you shall not do any work.” Similarly, “Six years you sow your field and six years you prune your vineyards and gather in the yield. But in the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath of complete rest.”
While the Sh’mittah year does not apply to us in America today, there is no mitzvah of greater importance than the Shabbat. Just as our ancestors were tied to their land and needed a year in seven of freedom, we are in bondage to the materialism of our society. One day in seven we need to clear the decks and make a spiritual space in which we can connect to both God and community. Without this respite, not only is our sanity at risk, but so is the future of the Jewish community.

Rabbi Richard Plavin is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Sholom B’nai Israel in Manchester.