Divar Torah from Rabbi Guy Dvir - Parashat Behar - Bechukotai

An Important Lesson in Emunah

Dear Friends, In this week's parashat Behar, the Torah commands us to observe the mitsvah of Shemitta (Sabbatical year) in the land of Israel. The commandment of the Sabbatical Year is a requirement not to cultivate or work the land for an entire year every seventh year. The Shemitta to the land of Israel is likened to the Shabbat for the Jewish people. In both cases there is an element of testimony to God's creation of the universe in six days and His resting on the seventh. In observing the commandment of the Shemitta, the Jew displays his unrelenting belief that everything is in God's hands. The Torah however recognizes that people may wonder about where the food will come from. As stated in the Torah; "If you will say; what will we eat in the seventh year? - Behold we will not sow and not gather in our crops!" God's response is; "I will ordain my blessing for you in the sixth year and it will yield a crop sufficient for the three-year period" (Leviticus 25). The Torah promises a special blessing to those who observe this difficult mitsvah. Here is a real story, taken from a letter written by Rav Mendelson of Moshav-Komemiut, which illustrates the blessing of those who observe the Shemitta. "After the shemita year of 1953, we had no wheat to plant, since we were unwilling to plant those which grew during the seventh year. We were barely able to obtain wheat from the sixth year, but these ones were rotten and unfit to plant in the ground. We nevertheless used the wheat from the six year and trusted that God will help us. The neighboring settlements ridiculed us for using the spoiled wheat, and warned us that we would incur a huge loss. During that year no rain fell in the beginning of the winter. As a result, those who plowed the land at the end of the seventh year and planted immediately afterwards ended up damaging their seeds in the dry land. However, we didn't plow during the seventh year but only did so during the following winter after the seventh year. Amazingly just as we finished plowing the rain started to fall. We were miraculously successful in producing a big amount of crop that year with the rotten wheat, while our neighbors ended up not producing anything". The mitsvah of Shemitta is designed to teach us an important lesson in emunah. Sometimes doing what is contrary to one's own "success" is necessary in order to get close to God. Sometimes going beyond the natural order is what is required to show true belief in God. Only when a person is able abandon the natural path and put themselves in God's hand can they be considered true believers. This is what the Torah expects from every Jew, to show in action the belief that our lives and success is ultimately only in God's hands.

Shabbat Shalom