Sign In Forgot Password

Halakha - Behar Behukotai

05/12/2023 12:10:05 PM

May12

Shmita

This week’s Parsha, Behar, starts off by detailing the laws of Shmita. Shmita, the obligation to let the land of Israel lay fallow and uncultivated every seventh year, expresses our traditions' deep love for the land of Israel and all things that draw their sustenance from it. The Torah mentions it in four places, the Mishna and Jerusalem Talmud both have a Tractate dedicated to it. The Rambam deals extensively with the law of Shmita in the Mishneh Torah.

The Torah tells us that after six years of planting and harvesting we have to leave our fields unplanted and untended in the seventh year. All produce that does grow is ownerless and anyone has the right to eat it. The prohibition to plant starts a month before the Rosh Hashana of the Shmita year. The agricultural prohibitions of the Shmita year apply only in the land of Israel. The end of the Shmita year cancels all debts between Jews in all places.

Shmita comes to sensitize us to the needs of all living things we share the land of Israel with and the land itself. It teaches us to limit our ambition and desire to exploit those who can’t protest - the poor and the land. Shmita forces us to see time as a cycle and understand that taking a break does not mean falling behind. The land or Israel is not an inheritance from our fathers, it is an heirloom we have to pass on to our children. It is G!d’s, as is all the earth, and we are only its custodians.

The last Shmita year was 5782/2021-2022. Produce grown in Israel during the Shmita year has a special holiness and may not be wasted or thrown out. Thus those of us who are privileged to enjoy the amazing wines that are coming out of Israel need to pay special attention to the last year's vintage and make a point not to waste a single drop.

Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis

Fri, March 29 2024 19 Adar II 5784