What does “the land shall rest” mean?
(25,2) “Speak to the children of Yisrael and you shall say to them: When you come to the land that I am giving you, the land shall rest a Shabbos for Hashem.”
Various commentaries have raised a difficulty with this posuk - since the next posukim clearly teach that we are allowed to work the land for six years and that in the seventh year the land should rest completely, what is this first posuk coming to teach us?
But it seems to me that since Hashem planned to tell Yisrael that in the seventh year they cannot sow and reap, He first wanted to tell them that they should not be distressed by this and think that they will be losing a whole year’s produce, especially since Eretz Yisrael produces abundant produce and so this will apparently result in a great loss of money.
Therefore, Hashem preceded to inform them that they will suffer no great loss with this mitzvah, because even if they would not rest from the land and sow even in the seventh year they would not profit very much from this, since the land itself will not produce as it does in other years. Because, as the commentaries explain, the reason for the year of Shemittah is in order that we will recognise that the land and all that is in it belongs to Hashem, and that He is the one who gave it to us.
Therefore, even if we would sow the land in the seventh year, the land itself will rest from its work of producing produce as a Shabbos for Hashem, (the bringing forth of produce is the work that the land does), and only bring forth a small amount of produce in order to distinguish between the seventh year and the other years. Therefore, it would be better for us not to sow and not to reap at all and thereby actively keep the mitzvah of Shemittah ourselves, rather than have the land do so by itself.
How can one guarantee a good livelihood?
(25,2) “Speak to the children of Yisrael and you shall say to them: When you come to the land that I am giving you, the land shall rest a Shabbos for Hashem.”
Rashi explains that the words “a Shabbos for Hashem” mean for the sake of Hashem, like it says concerning the weekly Shabbos. But what is the connection between the weekly Shabbos and the Shemittah year?
It seems to me that there is a clear connection between the weekly Shabbos and here, because both of them are a foundation of our faith in Hashem, Because a person by his nature thinks that his efforts and devotion to work and chasing after money will make him rich, and thus thinks that if he does not work he will suffer great financial loss.
Therefore, Hashem shows him that the opposite is true, that a person does not flourish by his efforts, but on the contrary, resting from doing work on Shabbos will make him wealthy. As Chazal teach: How did the wealthy ones of Bavel merit to become rich? Because they made the Shabbos a day of pleasure. Similarly, the Midrash on parshas Bereishis teaches: “The blessing of Hashem makes one rich (Mishlei 10,22)” - this refers to Shabbos, because from Shabbos comes the abundance of blessing and success to all the days of the week.
And the reason why Shabbos is the source of blessing for the rest of the week can be understood from the end of the gemora in Kiddushin: Did you ever see a fox who was a shopkeeper, or a bear who was a porter. They have a livelihood without suffering, and yet they were created to serve me, and I was created to serve my Creator. Therefore, logically I should have a livelihood without suffering. But alas, I have done evil with my deeds, and caused my livelihood to be held back.
We see from this that a person should have an easy livelihood, but his sins cause this not to be. But the gemora teaches that if he keeps Shabbos according to halachah all his sins are forgiven. And if all his sins are forgiven, then he will be restored to the state of having a livelihood with ease. For this reason the wealthy ones of Bavel became rich, because they made the Shabbos a delight, that is, they observed the day properly.
But this is only so if he does not sin again during the week. But if after observing Shabbos he returns to sinning, he will again cause his livelihood to be held back and not become wealthy. This is the meaning of the Midrash quoted above - “the blessing of Hashem makes wealthy”, this refers to Shabbos, but the posuk continues “but he should not add עצב to it”. The word עצב can mean a sin, as Chazal taught on the posuk in Tehillim 139:24 “And see if there is any עצב way about me” - if there is any sin in me. Thus the Midrash teaches that by observing Shabbos his sins are forgiven, and so he will have a good livelihood and wealth. But this is on condition that “he should not add עצב to it” - that he does not return to sinning during the week, because then Shabbos will not help him and he will return to the state of being lacking in his livelihood.
And just as Shabbos itself is the source of blessing for the whole week, so too from the resting of the land, from its Shabbos, comes abundance and blessing to all the seven years, and so by observing the Shemittah one will have a good livelihood and wealth.
This is the meaning of the posuk according to the explanation of Rashi - “the land shall rest a Shabbos for Hashem”, for the sake of Hashem, as it says by the weekly Shabbos. That just like when a person keeps Shabbos for the sake of Hashem he merits an easy livelihood and wealth, so too by letting the land rest he will have an easy livelihood all the years of Shemittah. This can also be seen very exactly in the words of the posuk later on: “and the resting of the land will be for you for eating” - by letting the land rest you will have eating (a livelihood). Thus, Hashem is coming to show us that refraining from work makes us wealthy more than doing work.