Sabbatical Year and Jubilee

(1) It is a positive commandment to refrain from working the land and caring for trees in the seventh year, as it says, "and the land shall rest a Sabbath for the Lord" (Leviticus 25:2), and it says "in plowing and in harvesting you shall rest" (Exodus 34:21). Anyone who performs one of the forbidden labors from the working of the land or caring for trees in this year has abrogated a positive commandment and transgressed a negative commandment, as it says, "you shall not plant your field, nor shall you prune your vineyard" (Leviticus 25:4).

(2) It is from the roots of this commandment to affix in our hearts and make a strong impression in our minds [about] the matter of the world having been created. As (Exodus 20, 11) "in six days did God make the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day" - in which He did not create anything - He imposed rest on Himself. And in order to remove and uproot and eradicate from our thoughts the idea of the eternity [of the world] - which the deniers of the Torah believe in, through which they destroy all its principles and break through its walls - did the requirement come upon us to expend all our time, day by day and year by year, for this matter, by counting six years and resting on the seventh so that this matter will never depart from between our eyes for all time. And this is similar to the manner in which we count the days of the week [by dividing them] into six days of work and the seventh is a day of rest. Therefore, He, blessed be He, did command to render ownerless all that the land produces in this year - in addition to resting during it (i.e. during the year) - so that a person will remember that the land which produces fruits for him every year does not produce them by its [own] might and virtue. For there is a Master over it and over its master - and when He wishes, He commands him (i.e. the master of the land) to render them (i.e. the fruit) ownerless. And there is another benefit in this matter - to acquire the trait of letting go (i.e. of one's possessions), for there is no one more generous than he who gives without hope for recompense. And there is another benefit - the outcome of this is that a person will add to his trust in God, may He be blessed, since anyone who finds it in his heart to give and abandon to the world all of the produce of his lands and his ancestral inheritance for an entire year - and educates himself and his family through this for all of his days - will never have the trait of stinginess overcome him too much, nor will he have a deficient amount of trust.

(24) It is a positive commandment to annul [ownership of] everything that comes out of the ground in the seventh year as it says "and in the seventh [year], annul it and forsake it" and anyone who locks up his vineyard or fences in his field in the seventh year has violated a positive commandment, and similarly someone who harvest all his fruits and brings them inside. Rather everything should be seen as ownerless and everyone has equal claim as it says " and the destitute of your people will eat it." [The owner] may bring in small amounts the way one does from ownerless property e.g. five pitchers of oil or fifteen of wine and if he brought in more it is permitted.

(1) One does not sell goods of the fruit of the seventh year. If one wants to sell a small amount from the fruit of the seventh year, one may sell. And the same money he receives, this is like the produce of the seventh year. And he can take from it food and eat with the sanctity of the seventh year. And the same produce that was sold still has the holiness it has previously.

(1) It is a biblical positive command to cancel a cash debt in the sabbatical year, as it is written: "Every creditor shall remit the due that he claims from his neighbor" (Deuteronomy 15:2). If a man claims a debt which has remained over the sabbatical year, he breaks a prohibitive command, as it is written: "He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother" (2).

(16) When Hillel the Elder saw that the people refrained from giving loans one to another and transgressed what is written in the Torah: "Beware lest you harbor the base thought…" (9), he ordained a prozbul whereby a loan is secured and not cancelled, so that the people might extend loans mutually. The prozbul is effective only in regard to remission of cash debts at the present time, being applicable on rabbinic grounds; the biblical remission, however, cannot be counteracted by the prozbul at all.

(18) This is the formula of the prozbul: "I inform you, judges so-and-so in such-and-such locality, that I will collect any debt due to me whenever I please." And the judges, or witnesses, sign below.

(1) It is a biblical positive command to count off seven times seven years and to consecrate the fiftieth year, as it is written: "You shall count seven weeks of years … and you shall hallow the fiftieth year" (Leviticus 25:8-10). These two precepts are within the power of the supreme court alone.

(2) It is from the roots of the commandment from the angle of the simple understanding that God, may He be blessed, wanted to inform His nation that everything is His; and in the end everything will return to those to whom He wanted to give it at first - for the earth is His, as it is written (Exodus 19:5), "for all the earth is Mine." And with this commandment of the counting of forty-nine years, they will distance themselves from stealing land of their fellows and they will not covet it in their hearts; in that they know that everything returns to the one that God wishes it to be his.