Prayer for Appreciating the Holiness of the Land by Keeping the Mitzvot of The Sabbatical Year

Parashat Behar

Prayer for Appreciating the Holiness of the Land by Keeping the Mitzvot of The Sabbatical Year

Hashem, please guide me to express my love of the Land,

which You have granted us with the wings of Your Hand!

During the Shabbat Year, please help my hand withstand

the temptation to work the land, breaking Your command.

 

Every seven years the land deserves to rest.

Yet, for me, this is one of the greatest tests.

Although I trust Your laws to be the very best, 

in my garden, it is hard to feel like a guest.

 

Let me recognize that only You are the Master here!

The entire land belongs to You whether far or near.

Please strengthen me Hashem during the Shemita Year,

to overcome my deep desire for all the weeds to clear!

 

Do not allow me, my custodian rights to abuse,

by letting various seeds in the holy land diffuse!

Now is the time to firmly refuse

the desire to constantly produce.

 

From exhaustion the land must be healed,

recharging her powers that were concealed.

Yet even when we avoid planting the field,

We may be blessed to discover crops revealed.

 

Whatever was planted before Shemita we may eat:

Apples, pears, cherries and strawberries, what a treat!

Let the fruits’ holiness to my palate taste sweet! 

Help me Hashem to every part of them complete!

 

Let me eat the seeds rather than make them grow!

For on the Shabbat Year, we mustn’t accidentally sow.

I know, letting the hoe go, allows only You to bestow.

As above let Your blessings flow for the land below to glow!

Based on Vayikra Chapter 25: verse 2-7:

ספר ויקרא פרק כה

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

(ג) שֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים תִּזְרַע שָׂדֶךָ וְשֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים תִּזְמֹר כַּרְמֶךָ וְאָסַפְתָּ אֶת תְּבוּאָתָהּ:

(ד) וּבַשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן יִהְיֶה לָאָרֶץ שַׁבָּת לַהָשֵׁם שָׂדְךָ לֹא תִזְרָע וְכַרְמְךָ לֹא תִזְמֹר:

(ה) אֵת סְפִיחַ קְצִירְךָ לֹא תִקְצוֹר וְאֶת עִנְּבֵי נְזִירֶךָ לֹא תִבְצֹר שְׁנַת שַׁבָּתוֹן יִהְיֶה לָאָרֶץ:

(ו) וְהָיְתָה שַׁבַּת הָאָרֶץ לָכֶם לְאָכְלָה לְךָ וּלְעַבְדְּךָ וְלַאֲמָתֶךָ וְלִשְׂכִירְךָ וּלְתוֹשָׁבְךָ הַגָּרִים עִמָּךְ:

(ז) וְלִבְהֶמְתְּךָ וְלַחַיָּה אֲשֶׁר בְּאַרְצֶךָ תִּהְיֶה כָל תְּבוּאָתָהּ לֶאֱכֹל:

“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. You may sow your field for six years, and for six years you may prune your vineyard, and gather in its produce. Yet in the seventh year, the land shall have a complete rest a Shabbat to Hashem; you shall not sow your field, nor shall you prune your vineyard. You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest, and you shall not pick the grapes you had set aside [for yourself], [for] it shall be a year of rest for the land. And [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, and all its produce may be eaten [also] by your domestic animals and by the beasts that are in your land” (Vayikra 25:2-7).