Free at Last

כי אתה תבוא את העם הזה — Translate this as the Targum does: ארי אתה תעול עם עמא הדין, THOU SHALT GO WITH THIS PEOPLE. Moses, by the statement “Thou shall go with this people” (as one of them) said in effect to Joshua: The elders of the generation will be with thee: everything has to be done according to their opinion and their advice. The Holy One, blessed be He, however, said to Joshua, (v. 23) “For thou shalt bring (תביא) the children of Israel into the land which I swore unto them” — thou shalt bring them even against their will; everything depends on you alone: if necessary take a stick and beat them over the head: there can be but one leader for a generation, and not two leaders for a generation (Sanhedrin 8a).

מקץ שבע שנים במועד שנת השמטה בחג הסוכות, “at the end of seven years, at the time of the Sabbatical year, on the festival of Tabernacles;” this is a reference to the commandment known as הקהל, “assembly.” The word מקץ means “at the end.” Wherever we encounter the expression מקץ it means “at the end.” [I suppose the reason that our author tells us this is that the preposition” מ in front of the word קץ might have suggested a different meaning. Ed.] The first time we encounter the word in Genesis 6,13 it also means “end.” In our instance, the Torah refers to the end of the Shemittah year (the year concluded 2 weeks before the festival of Tabernacles). In other words, “after that year has passed completely.” In actual fact the commandment is observed during the eighth year during the intermediate days of the Sukkot festival. When we have a different verse in which the word מקץ is also used in connection with the year when the Shemittah is being observed, (Deut. 15,1), the meaning is that the duty to relinquish overdue loans falls due on the last day of that year by sunset (Erchin 28). If the Torah there uses the term בשנת השמטה, it means: “while the Shemittah year is still in force.” Although in both instances the word מקץ means “at the end” [as opposed to Ibn Ezra. Ed.], here it means “after the end,” whereas in Deut. 15,1 it means “just before the end.”

(Fol. 41) MISHNAH: How was the chapter dealing with a king to be read on the eve following the first day of Tabernacles? On the eighth year, immediately after the closing of the seventh, a wooden stand would be erected in the sanctuary, whereupon the king would sit, as it is said (Deut. 31, 10) At the end of every seven years, at the fixed time of the year of release, on the feast of Tabernacles, etc. The officer of the congregation would take a Holy Scroll and hand it over to the chief of the congregation, then the chief in return would hand it over to the associate priest, the associate-priest would give it to the High-priest and the High-priest in return would give it to the king and the king would accept it while standing, and sit down afterwards and read [the chapter concerning Kings]. King Agrippa was accustomed to accept it while standing and would also read it while standing, and the Rabbis praised him for this act, and when he would reach the passage (Deut. 17, 15) Thou mayest not set over thee a stranger who is not thy brother, tears would roll down from his eyes. The Rabbis then said: "Do not be afraid. King Agrippa, thou art our brother, thou art our brother." Then he would read from the beginning of Deut. [up to Chapter 6, 4].

§ The mishna teaches: The first of Tishrei is also the New Year for Jubilee Years. The Gemara asks: Is the New Year for Jubilee Years on the first of Tishrei? Isn’t the New Year for Jubilee Years on the tenth of Tishrei, Yom Kippur? As it is written: “Then shall you cause the shofar to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, on Yom Kippur shall you sound the shofar throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants; it shall be a Jubilee for you” (Leviticus 25:9–10). The Gemara answers: In accordance with whose opinion is this mishna? It is the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Beroka, as it is taught in a baraita: What is the meaning when the verse states: “And you shall hallow the fiftieth year”? Since it is stated that the shofar is blown “on Yom Kippur,” one might have thought that the year is sanctified only from Yom Kippur and onward. Therefore, the verse states: “And you shall hallow the fiftieth year,” which teaches that the year is sanctified from its beginning onward, from the first of Tishrei, when the year begins. From here, Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Beroka, said: From Rosh HaShana until Yom Kippur of the Jubilee Year, Hebrew slaves were not released to their homes because the shofar had not yet been sounded. And they were also not enslaved to their masters, as the Jubilee Year had already begun. Rather, they would eat, drink, and rejoice, and they would wear their crowns on their heads like free people. Once Yom Kippur arrived, the court would sound the shofar, slaves would be released to their houses, and fields that were sold would be returned to their original owners.

(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 for you: each of you shall return to your holding and each of you shall return to your family.