How do the Laws of the Sabbatical Year Heal the Land of our Soul?

Parashat BeHar/BeChukotai

All Reality Calls Out, “Give Me a Break!”

Sometimes I feel I really need to get away – just get far away from everything that wears me down. Life often gets so intense, not just with responsibilities and chores, but also with emotional stress. After a period of hard work, pressure, and intense emotion, many of us often feel the need for a break. Therefore, ‘The Knower of All’ incorporated within the entire reality periodic breaks. Waking up after a good night’s sleep recharges mind, body, and spirit. The winter season is like the break of a sleepy night. I’m always amazed every Spring, experiencing how nature comes to life after the winter break. The animals return from their hibernation and the birds from their migration. The roses lift up their proud heads towards the welcoming sun as if saying, “Here we come again, hope you have missed us!” Then they caress us with their exquisite, delicate scent. The pleasurable and peaceful Shabbat repose does wonders for the stressed-out soul. Most major religions call for a day of rest and science agrees. Yet, if you are not a deeply committed Torah observant Jew, it is getting harder and harder to take that day off fully, without being chained to devices, constantly online. If not for the holy Shabbat, how would we ever get a break from electronics? Before computers and smartphones, who would have ever imagined the extent of the healing wisdom of the laws of Shabbat in the Torah. Now, science supports the power of a day of complete rest – including the rest from all devices. Electromagnetic radiation may increase various stress hormones. Relationships, too, need a breather, as separation “…makes the heart grow fonder.” The past year, not of our own choosing, we received much-needed time-out to contemplate our lives in quarantined solitude.  We then re-entered society with a fresh outlook on our lives and relationships. 

Married to the Land
The much-needed space applies to intimate relationships as well. Thus, a Jewish woman separates monthly from her husband, counting seven days after the end of her period, before returning to his embrace. Our relationship with the holy land of Israel is compared to the relationship between a husband and wife. Just as she separates by counting seven, we give the land a break every seventh year. There are three main components of marriage: 1. Intimate relations 2. Monetary obligation, 3. Eternal bond. These three components apply equally to our relationship with the Land of Israel. As Rabbi Shlomo Riskin so eloquently expresses it, “The Torah parchment unfurled in Behar seems to weave a mystical marital canopy uniting the people of Israel with the Land of Israel.” 

1. The root of the Hebrew word referring to intimate relations is ב-א-ה/beit-alef-heh translated as ‘come.’ This same root is used in Parashat Behar, when introducing the mitzvah of Shemitah:

ספר ויקרא פרק כה פסוק ב

:דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם כִּי תָבֹאוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם וְשָׁבְתָה הָאָרֶץ שַׁבָּת לַהָשֵׁם

“Speak to the children of Israel and you shall say to them: When you come to the land that I am giving you, the land shall rest a Shabbat to Hashem” (Vayikra 25:2).
 
Just as intimate relations are the glue of marriage, so does sowing seeds in the land express our most vital intimate relationship with the land. Just as we need to feel safe and have mutual trust in intimate relationships, so do we need emunah and trust to believe that our tiny seed will sprout and grow into a verdant plant.

 
For G-d’s Sake Give the Land a Break!
2. During the six years of working the land, there is a mutual monetary commitment. The landowner invests in materials, soil, seeds, plants, tools, and workers. In return, the land gives out its valuable yield. Yet, in the Shabbatical year, we take a break from our financial investment and ownership of the land.  We cease from working the soil and rescind ownership to the fruits of the land. planted before Shemitah. The produce then belongs equally to everyone – rich and poor as it states,

:ספר ויקרא פרק כה פסו ו וְהָיְתָה שַׁבַּת הָאָרֶץ לָכֶם לְאָכְלָה לְךָ וּלְעַבְדְּךָ וְלַאֲמָתֶךָ וְלִשְׂכִירְךָ וּלְתוֹשָׁבְךָ הַגָּרִים עִמָּךְ

“[The produce of] the Shabbat of the land shall be yours to eat for you, for your male and female slaves, and for your hired worker and resident who live with you” (Vayikra 25:6).

 
3. Although divorce is permitted in the Torah, the ultimate ideal marriage is eternal. The bond between husband and wife is further eternalized through their surviving children, who activate their parents’ latent potential. Likewise, the bond between the Children of Israel and their land is eternal. Hashem repeatedly promised our forefathers, starting with Avraham, “I will give you and your seed after you the land of your sojourning’s, the entire land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be to them for a G-d” (Bereishit 17:8). Specifically, by keeping the laws of the land and giving the land a break during Shemitah year, we earn its eternal love and commitment. This is like a husband, who takes his hardworking wife out to a hotel, where she can relax without having to cook, serve & clean. In this setting, their loving bond has an opportunity to become anchored and renewed. Like a wife, the land needs a break from the hard work of producing succulent cucumbers, watermelons, and tomatoes.
 
Healing our Lives by Letting a Piece of our ‘Life-scape’ Lie Fallow
Just as we stop working on Shabbat, in order to integrate that Hashem is the Creator and Master of the Universe, so does the year-long break of Shemitah ingrain this lesson even deeper. Rather than taking control and exert mastery, we are born to serve Hashem. This lesson can be challenging for those of us who are used to being in charge. In our western, high-powered, technological domain, control issues, obsessive compulsion, and addictions run rampant. Although, it is not clear whether the obligation of the laws of Shemitah (the sabbatical year) applies today from the Torah or from the Rabbis, every seventh year, we definitely practice abstinence in our relationship with the Land of Israel. When we must observe the weeds taking over, and our orderly garden turning into a wilderness, with our hands tied from hoeing and uprooting weeds, or mowing the tall grasses in a regular way, we learn to let go and let G-d. Even for those who don’t yet live in Israel or don’t have a garden, the upcoming Shemitah year can help all of us contemplate about the ways we can safely and fruitfully let some part of our ‘life-scape’ lie fallow for a while. How can we, and our loved ones, support and honor periods of retreat and rest that are, in the long run, so essential for replenishment, growth, and healing?