YISD 0309-0310_5785

(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 יהוה.

(1) שבת לה׳ [THEN SHALL THE LAND KEEP) A REST ‎'לה‎ — This means a rest in honor of the Lord (not a rest for the Lord, as in v. 4: שבת שבתון יהיה לארץ, “there shall be a strict Sabbath for the land”, i. e. for the land to rest) in the same sense as these words are used in the case of the weekly Sabbath (lit., the Sabbath of Creation) (Exodus 20:10) where 'שבת לה‎ cannot mean “a day for God to rest” (Sifra, Behar, Chapter 1 2).

(1) A SABBATH UNTO THE ETERNAL, “[This means] in honor of the Eternal [and that it is not primarily intended for man’s benefit], in the same sense as this expression is used in the case of the Sabbath of Creation” [i.e., the weekly Sabbath, of which it is also said, a Sabbath unto the Eternal]. This is the language of Rashi. But this was not the intention of the Rabbis in their interpretation, for all [weekly] Sabbaths, and also the festivals, are in honor of the Eternal, and yet in not one of them [i.e., the festivals] does Scripture say that they are “unto the Eternal.” Instead, it says it shall be a solemn rest unto you, and in the case of the Day of Atonement it states, It shall be unto you a Sabbath of solemn rest. The text of the Beraitha in the Torah Kohanim [quoted by Rashi] is as follows: “A Sabbath unto the Eternal. Just as it says with reference to the Sabbath of Creation, so is it said regarding the Sabbatical year, a Sabbath unto the Eternal.” But the meaning of a Sabbath unto the Eternal thy G-d stated in connection with the Sabbath of Creation, is that on it He ceased from work and rested and therefore thou shalt not do any manner of work. It was with reference to that idea that the Sages, of blessed memory, said that the same expression is also stated in the case of the Sabbatical year, since it is the seventh in [the cycle of] the years [just as the weekly Sabbath is the seventh day in the cycle of days; and the meaning thereof here is that since the seventh year is a Sabbath to the Eternal, as will be explained, we are to desist from working the land]. Now here [in the Torath Kohanim mentioned above, the Rabbis] have roused our attention to one of the great secrets of the Torah. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra has already given us a hint of it when he wrote: “The meaning of a Sabbath unto the Eternal is like that of the Sabbath-day. The secret of the years of the world is alluded to in this place.” [Thus far is Ibn Ezra’s comment.] Bend now your ear to understand that which I am permitted to inform you about it in the words that I will cause you to hear, and if you will be worthy, you will contemplate them [and understand them]. I have already written in Seder Bereshith that the six days of creation represent [all] the days of the world, and the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the Eternal thy G-d, for on it will be the Sabbath to the Great Name, just as we have been taught [in a Mishnah]: “On the seventh day what psalm did the Levites sing [in the Sanctuary? They sang] A Psalm, a Song. For the Sabbath-day — [a song] for the World to Come, which will be wholly a Sabbath, and rest for life everlasting.” Thus the [seven] days [of the week] allude to that which He created in the process of creation, and the [seven] years [of the Sabbatical cycle] refer to that which will occur during the creation of all “the days” of the world. It is for this reason that Scripture was more stringent regarding [the transgression of the laws of] the Sabbatical year than with respect to those guilty of transgressing all other negative commandments, and made it punishable with exile, just as He was stringent with respect to forbidden sexual relations [for which the punishment of the people, as opposed to that of the individual, is also exile]; as it is said, Then shall the Land be paid her Sabbaths, and He repeated this matter many times: As long as it lieth desolate it shall have rest, and it is further said, And the Land shall lie forsaken without them, and shall be paid her Sabbaths. “And so we have been taught [in a Mishnah]: “Exile comes for the delaying of justice, and for the perversion of justice, and for [the neglect of] the year of rest for the Land.” [This stringency of punishment is] because whoever denies it [i.e., the law of the Sabbatical year], does not acknowledge the work of creation and [life in] the World to Come. Similarly the prophet [Jeremiah] was stringent, and decreed exile for neglecting to send [Hebrew] servants to freedom in the seventh year [of their service], as it is said, I made a covenant with your fathers … At the beginning of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother etc., for in the case of a servant the seventh year is also like a [complete] Jubilee; and the Jubilee is known also [at the very beginning of the Torah] — from ‘Bereshith’ (In the beginning) to ‘Vayechulu’ (And there were finished) — intimating that in the Jubilee everything is to return [to its origin], every man unto his possession, and every man unto his family. For it is a sure foundation, and he that believeth shall keep silence. This is what is meant in saying, ‘v’shavtah ha’aretz shabbath’ (and ‘the land’ shall keep a Sabbath); and ye shall proclaim liberty ‘ba’aretz’ (throughout ‘the land’), for the reference here is to “the land of eternal life” which is alluded to in the first verse [of the Torah], and of which it is said, ‘v’ha’aretz ezkor’ (and I will remember ‘the land’). I have already mentioned this several times. Perhaps it is to this that our Rabbis alluded in saying: “Fifty gates [degrees] of understanding were created in the world, and all were transmitted to Moses with one exception.” For each cycle of seven years constitutes “the gate of one house” [creation], and thus He informed him of all existence from beginning to end, with the exception of the holy Jubilee.

(17) Do not wrong one another, but fear your God; for I יהוה am your God.

(18) You shall observe My laws and faithfully keep My rules, that you may live upon the land in security; (19) the land shall yield its fruit and you shall eat your fill, and you shall live upon it in security.

(22) When you sow in the eighth year, you will still be eating old grain of that crop; you will be eating the old until the ninth year, until its crops come in.

(3) If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments,

(9) A seventh reason for the Torah's use of the word תלכו may be related to the statement of our sages in Avot 4 to exile oneself to a place where Torah is to be found. One needs to beat a path to Torah centers in order to study there, hence the Torah speaks of תלכו, "you shall walk." There is a story in Chagigah 5 about a certain Rabbi Idi who used to have to travel 3 months in one direction to attend to his business and three months back home in order to spend a single day in the house of his Rabbi. The Torah suggests here that even if one has the opportunity to study at home it is better to to leave home in order to study and to fulfil the commandment to "walk in My statutes." (10) As to the words ואת מצותי תשמרו, these may be understood in light of a comment by our sages in Shabbat 31: "Rabbi Yannai proclaimed: 'how sad if a person who does not own a courtyard constructs an entrance-gate to such a non-existent courtyard.' He referred to people who do not have reverence for G'd and yet study Torah. The important thing is to observe the commandments. Unless studying Torah has as its objective performance of its precepts, such study is of questionable value. When the Torah speaks of בחקותי תלכו it referred to study whereas it admonishes us that this must be in order את מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם אותם, 'to observe and perform My commandments.'" We have a statement in Berachot 17 according to which if someone studies for unwholesome reasons he would have been better off if he had never been born. Tossaphot question this statement in light of the well known principle that it is acceptable to do things for the wrong reason because this leads to one eventually doing the right thing for the right reason. They answer that there are two ways of doing things for the wrong reason. 1) To find a reason to criticise G'd's Torah; 2) to gain personal fame due to one's Torah knowledge. If one studies Torah in order to criticise G'd and the Torah scholars it is better if one had not been born at all; if, on the other hand, one had ulterior motives such as wanting to be called Rabbi and the like, we may assume that eventually one will study Torah for the right reasons without ulterior motives. The Torah here assures us that if one does not pursue Torah study for the wrong reasons תשמרו ועשיתם אותם, you will observe and perform My commandments even when confronted with temptation, etc. The Torah you have studied for the right reasons will protect you against the pitfalls and the temptation by Satan. Sotah 21 is on record that Torah protects and saves from the evil inclination; Avodah Zarah 17 tells of Rabbi Chaninah and Rabbi Yonathan who were faced with the choice of either passing a house of idol worship or a whorehouse. They debated which was the worse temptation and decided to pass the house of ill-repute in order to merit the reward for resisting the temptation to enter there. When they reached the house in question the harlots withdrew to the inside. One Rabbi asked the other how they had merited to not even have to come face to face with temptation. The colleague answered by quoting Proverbs 2,11: "Foresight will protect you, understanding will preserve you." If one is on one's guard against temptation one will be fortified against it. Rava concluded that the word מזמה (which we translated as "foresight") refers to matters of harlotry against which Torah study is an effective defence. The word ועשיתם is also understood by Kidushin 39 as follows: "When a person sits still, not committing a sin, he receives the reward due for performing a commandment; they understood this to mean that when a sin approaches him he will be saved from committing it; we learn from here that though a person was only passive in abstaining from wrongdoing it is accounted for him as an activity, i.e. ועשיתם אותם. (11) It is true that in Pessachim 50 the Talmud interprets the difference between the expression: "for your kindness extends to the Heavens" (Psalms 57,11) and Psalms 108,5 "for Your kindness extends beyond the Heavens" to mean that the former refers to a person studying Torah שלא לשמה, but to gain honour for himself. The reason for this is not that G'd is so delighted with this kind of Torah study but He is confident of the eventual impact Torah study makes on the student, refining his character and changing his outlook in life. This kind of Torah study does not possess the power to protect the person studying against the temptation by the evil urge. This fact helps us answer the statement of Rabbi Yoseph that Torah protects the student both at the time he is busy studying as well as at other times. The world asks that if this statement is true how was it that the Torah study of Doeg and Achitophel did not protect them against the evil urge in their time? According to our approach we can answer this simply by assuming that their Torah study was not לשמה but that they had ulterior motives and this is why the merit of their Torah study did not act as a shield against the יצר הרע, the evil urge.