Parshat Behar-Bechukotai

The beginning of Parshat Behar introduces us to Shemitah. Every seventh year in Israel Jews are obligated to refrain from farming the land, allowing it to rest. This rest, as the pesukim emphasize, is for Hashem. Commenting on “Shabbat LaHashem,” Rashi draws a comparison between Shemitah and Shabbat, “For the sake of Hashem, just as is stated of the Sabbath of Creation.” However, Rashi remains slightly ambiguous as to the nature of the similarity between the two.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains the inner meaning behind the comparison and also where Shabbat and Shemitah ultimately diverge. Both our time and our land, and by extension all of our possessions, are meant to be consecrated for Hashem’s sake. However, the Rebbe points out an important difference between the kedusha of Shabbat on the one hand and the kedusha of Shemitah on the other. Shabbat is a time when we are lifted up above the normal and mundane activities of life: we refrain from the 39 melachot, we daven for longer, we sing zemirot, etc. Our mindset is one of disengaging from the material and focusing on the spiritual.

However, during Shemitah the kedusha is expressed in a different manner. Unlike Shabbat, the 39 melachot are permitted during the Shemitah year. In addition, the very produce of the Shemitah year is imbued with kedusha and consequently unique guidelines that must be followed in how we treat Shemitah produce. The pasuk relates that Shemitah is a time during which “Shavta HaAretz.” Literally, this means the land shall rest. However, more broadly this means to make one’s earthly and mundane matters more “shabbosdik,” to bring a little bit of the Shabbat holiness into mundane life.

Although in the diaspora we do not observe Shemitah, its message is extremely pertinent. While Shabbat is a time during which we are uplifted by spiritual experiences, the Shemitah year teaches us to bring the kedusha into our mundane experiences. May we all find ways of observing Shemitah in this sense by infusing our otherwise ordinary activities with kedusha.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Avi Berman