(א) וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בְּהַ֥ר סִינַ֖י לֵאמֹֽר׃ (ב) דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵהֶ֔ם כִּ֤י תָבֹ֙אוּ֙ אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֲנִ֖י נֹתֵ֣ן לָכֶ֑ם וְשָׁבְתָ֣ה הָאָ֔רֶץ שַׁבָּ֖ת לַיהוָֽה׃ (ג) שֵׁ֤שׁ שָׁנִים֙ תִּזְרַ֣ע שָׂדֶ֔ךָ וְשֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים תִּזְמֹ֣ר כַּרְמֶ֑ךָ וְאָסַפְתָּ֖ אֶת־תְּבוּאָתָֽהּ׃ (ד) וּבַשָּׁנָ֣ה הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗ת שַׁבַּ֤ת שַׁבָּתוֹן֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָאָ֔רֶץ שַׁבָּ֖ת לַיהוָ֑ה שָֽׂדְךָ֙ לֹ֣א תִזְרָ֔ע וְכַרְמְךָ֖ לֹ֥א תִזְמֹֽר׃ (ה) אֵ֣ת סְפִ֤יחַ קְצִֽירְךָ֙ לֹ֣א תִקְצ֔וֹר וְאֶת־עִנְּבֵ֥י נְזִירֶ֖ךָ לֹ֣א תִבְצֹ֑ר שְׁנַ֥ת שַׁבָּת֖וֹן יִהְיֶ֥ה לָאָֽרֶץ׃ (ו) וְ֠הָיְתָה שַׁבַּ֨ת הָאָ֤רֶץ לָכֶם֙ לְאָכְלָ֔ה לְךָ֖ וּלְעַבְדְּךָ֣ וְלַאֲמָתֶ֑ךָ וְלִשְׂכִֽירְךָ֙ וּלְתוֹשָׁ֣בְךָ֔ הַגָּרִ֖ים עִמָּֽךְ׃ (ז) וְלִ֨בְהֶמְתְּךָ֔ וְלַֽחַיָּ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּאַרְצֶ֑ךָ תִּהְיֶ֥ה כָל־תְּבוּאָתָ֖הּ לֶאֱכֹֽל׃ (ס) (ח) וְסָפַרְתָּ֣ לְךָ֗ שֶׁ֚בַע שַׁבְּתֹ֣ת שָׁנִ֔ים שֶׁ֥בַע שָׁנִ֖ים שֶׁ֣בַע פְּעָמִ֑ים וְהָי֣וּ לְךָ֗ יְמֵי֙ שֶׁ֚בַע שַׁבְּתֹ֣ת הַשָּׁנִ֔ים תֵּ֥שַׁע וְאַרְבָּעִ֖ים שָׁנָֽה׃ (ט) וְהַֽעֲבַרְתָּ֞ שׁוֹפַ֤ר תְּרוּעָה֙ בַּחֹ֣דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִעִ֔י בֶּעָשׂ֖וֹר לַחֹ֑דֶשׁ בְּיוֹם֙ הַכִּפֻּרִ֔ים תַּעֲבִ֥ירוּ שׁוֹפָ֖ר בְּכָל־אַרְצְכֶֽם׃ (י) וְקִדַּשְׁתֶּ֗ם אֵ֣ת שְׁנַ֤ת הַחֲמִשִּׁים֙ שָׁנָ֔ה וּקְרָאתֶ֥ם דְּר֛וֹר בָּאָ֖רֶץ לְכָל־יֹשְׁבֶ֑יהָ יוֹבֵ֥ל הִוא֙ תִּהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם וְשַׁבְתֶּ֗ם אִ֚ישׁ אֶל־אֲחֻזָּת֔וֹ וְאִ֥ישׁ אֶל־מִשְׁפַּחְתּ֖וֹ תָּשֻֽׁבוּ׃ (יא) יוֹבֵ֣ל הִ֗וא שְׁנַ֛ת הַחֲמִשִּׁ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה תִּהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֑ם לֹ֣א תִזְרָ֔עוּ וְלֹ֤א תִקְצְרוּ֙ אֶת־סְפִיחֶ֔יהָ וְלֹ֥א תִבְצְר֖וּ אֶת־נְזִרֶֽיהָ׃ (יב) כִּ֚י יוֹבֵ֣ל הִ֔וא קֹ֖דֶשׁ תִּהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֑ם מִן־הַ֨שָּׂדֶ֔ה תֹּאכְל֖וּ אֶת־תְּבוּאָתָֽהּ׃ (יג) בִּשְׁנַ֥ת הַיּוֹבֵ֖ל הַזֹּ֑את תָּשֻׁ֕בוּ אִ֖ישׁ אֶל־אֲחֻזָּתֽוֹ׃
(1) The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: (2) Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of the LORD.
(3) Six years you may sow your field and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in the yield. (4) But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath of the LORD: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. (5) You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untrimmed vines; it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. [...]
(8) You shall count off seven weeks of years—seven times seven years—so that the period of seven weeks of years gives you a total of forty-nine years. (9) Then you shall sound the horn loud; in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month—the Day of Atonement—you shall have the horn sounded throughout your land (10) and you shall hallow the fiftieth year. You shall proclaim release throughout the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee [yovel] for you: each of you shall return to his holding and each of you shall return to his family.
(11) That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you: you shall not sow, neither shall you reap the aftergrowth or harvest the untrimmed vines, (12) for it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you: you may only eat the growth direct from the field. (13) In this year of jubilee, each of you shall return to his holding.
(23) But the land must not be sold beyond reclaim [i.e. permanently], for the land is Mine; you are but strangers resident (gerim v'toshavim) with Me.
R' Shawn Israel Zevit, The Offerings of the Heart, 12
The Divine ownership of wealth is central to the principles of traditional Jewish economic philosophy at the personal, communal, national, and universal levels. First fruits are given to the Temple, thanking God for bountiful produce. The land is in the hands of the Divine and must rest every seven years and lie fallow. Our entire material world is on loan, and all goods must be returned to their original owners every fiftieth year for the Jubilee. Material and spiritual freedom are intimately linked, and the basis of all is not financial equity, but the pursuit of justice.
Murray Bookchin, “The Market Society,” from The Ecology of Freedom, 1982
The buyer-seller relationship - a relationship that lies at the very core of the market - [has become] the all-pervasive substitute for human relationships at the most molecular level of social, indeed personal life. To "buy cheaply" and "sell dearly" places the parties involved in the exchange process in an inherently antagonistic posture: they are potential rivals for each other's goods. The commodity - as distinguished from the gift, which is meant to create alliances, foster association, and consolidate sociality - leads to rivalry, dissociation, and asociality.
(א) שביעית, משמטת את המלוה בשטר ושלא בשטר. הקפת החנות, אינה משמטת. ואם עשאה מלוה, הרי זו משמטת. רבי יהודה אומר, הראשון הראשון משמט. שכר שכיר, אינו משמט. ואם עשאו מלוה, הרי זה משמט. רבי יוסי אומר, כל מלאכה שפוסקת בשביעית, משמטת. ושאינה פוסקת בשביעית, אינה משמטת. (ב) השוחט את הפרה וחלקה בראש השנה, אם היה החדש מעבר, משמט. אם לאו, אינו משמט. האונס, והמפתה, והמוציא שם רע, וכל מעשה בית דין, אינן משמטין. המלוה על המשכון, והמוסר שטרותיו לבית דין, אינן משמטין. (ג) פרזבול, אינו משמט. זה אחד מן הדברים שהתקין הלל הזקן, כשראה שנמנעו העם מלהלוות זה את זה ועוברין על מה שכתוב בתורה (דברים טו) השמר לך פן יהיה דבר עם לבבך בליעל וגו', התקין הלל פרזבול. (ד) זהו גופו שלפרזבול, מוסר אני לכם איש פלוני ופלוני הדינים שבמקום פלוני, שכל חוב שיש לי, שאגבנו כל זמן שארצה. והדינים חותמין למטה, או העדים.
(1) The Sabbatical year cancels a loan [that was made] with a contract and [a loan that was made] without a contract. Store credit is not cancelled, but if it was made into a loan, it is canceled. Rabbi Yehudah says, the earlier [of multiple purchases on credit] is cancelled. Wages owed to a worker are not canceled, but if it was made into a loan, it is canceled. Rabbi Yossi says, any type of work which must pause during the Sabbatical year, [wages owed for that work] are cancelled. But any work which need not pause during the Sabbatical year, [wages owed for that work] are not canceled. (2) If one slaughters a cow and distributes it [to others] on Rosh Hashanah [New Year's festival], if the [previous] month was full then [the loan is] canceled. [The fines for] rape, seduction, Motzi Shem Ra [husband who falsely accuses his bride of not having been a virgin], and any judicial court matter are not canceled. One who lends on collateral, and one who entrusts his contracts to the judicial court, [those loans] are not canceled. (3) [Any loan made with a] Pruzbul [court exemption from the Sabbatical year expiration of a loan] is not canceled. This is one of the matters that Hillel the Elder instituted. When he observed that the nation withheld from lending to each other and were transgressing what is written in the Torah: "Beware lest there be in your mind a base thought," he instituted the Pruzbul. (4) This is the body of the Pruzbul: "I entrust to you, so-and-so and so-and-so, who judge in such-and-such place, that any loan that I have, I may collect it any time that I wish." And the judges affix their signatures below, or the witnesses.
Murray Bookchin, “The Market Society,” from The Ecology of Freedom, 1982
“…the limits that precapitalist society imposed on exchange to avoid the latent impersonality of trade, as well as its potential meanness of spirit, its insatiable appetite for gain, its capacity to subvert all social limits to private material interest, to dissolve all traditional standards of community and consociation, to subordinate the needs of the body politic to egoistic concerns."
Kli Yakar on Devarim 31:12
The year of Shmita...promotes a sense of fellowship and peace through the suspension of cultivation, even for the needy of your people, for one is not allowed to exercise private ownership over any of the seventh year produce. And this is undoubtedly a primary factor in promoting peace since most dissension originates from the attitudes of 'mine is mine,' one person claiming 'it is all mine' and the other also claiming 'it is all mine.' But in the seventh year all are equal, and this is the real essence of peace.
Rabbi Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz (1550-1619) was a rabbi, poet and Torah commentator. He is best known for his Torah commentary, Kli Yakar.
Murray Bookchin, "What Is Social Ecology," from Social Ecology and Communalism, 2007
[Social ecology] advances an ethics of complementarity in which human beings play a supportive role in perpetuating the integrity of the biosphere – the potentiality of human beings to be the most conscious products of natural evolution. Indeed, humans have an ethical responsibility to function creatively in the unfolding of that evolution. Social ecology thus stresses the need to embody its ethics of complementarity in palpable social institutions that will make human beings conscious ethical agents in promoting the well-being of themselves and the nonhuman world. It seeks the enrichment of the evolutionary process by the diversification of life-forms and the application of reason to a wondrous remaking of the planet along ecological lines.
Contemporary Relevance
- How do the traditions of shmita and Jubilee (yovel) relate to land reparations & indigenous sovereignty?
- How might we draw upon the biblical Jubilee as an inspiration for contemporary moratoria, debt forgiveness, rent freezes, etc.?
- The Jubilee involves a return of property to its "original" owners, a notion that can enable reactionary or liberatory reforms. What do we make of this?