Behar-Bechukotai: Shemittah—The Law that Defines Us

by Susan Hornstein '25

Our parsha opens with the laws of Shemittah, the Sabbatical year. Shemittah has it all! It has every kind of holiness—kedusha of the land, kedusha of the people, kedusha of time. It has interpersonal laws and laws between the people and God. In fact, it touches upon every aspect of our lives as God’s chosen nation.

At first blush, Shemittah appears to be solely an agricultural law. However, the context and application of its first mention is interpersonal. It is first recorded in Parshat Mishpatim, as part of the list of societal laws given at Sinai:

Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but in the seventh you shall let it rest and lie fallow. Let the needy among your people eat of it, and what they leave let the wild beasts eat. You shall do the same with your vineyards and your olive groves (Shemot 23:10-11).

The very next verse brings its partner law—Shabbat—worded in just the same way, with an emphasis on all the creatures who will benefit from the law.

Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor, in order that your ox and your ass may rest, and that your home-born slave and the stranger may be refreshed (Shemot 23:12).

The laws of Shemittah in Parshat Behar have a more agricultural bent. And here, unlike in Shemot, it is referred to as a “Shabbat of the Lord,” emphasizing its “bein adam laMakom” (between people and God) aspect, and repeatedly identifying Shemittah as a type of Shabbat. It ends with the permission for the household to eat the produce of the seventh year, but with no mention of the needy. 

The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: 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. Six years you may sow your field and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in the yield. 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. 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. But you may eat whatever the land during its sabbath will produce—you, your male and female slaves, the hired and bound laborers who live with you (Vayikra 25:1-2).

The land itself is commanded to rest, which infuses it with holiness. The people are commanded to help the land rest and to use the respite to provide food for the needy. Thus, the people too become holy. And, like Shabbat, a period of time is set aside, dedicated to the Lord, holy time. In this system, interpersonal relationships are enhanced, and the relationship between the people and God is also enhanced. Shemittah is the synthesis of all the types of holiness and of all the key relationships in our lives.

This point is brought home in the one other place in the Torah that mentions the laws of Shemittah. The book of Devarim discusses the cancellation of debts and other monetary applications of the Shemittah year, and adds the reward that will come for its observance: “There shall be no needy among you—since your God the Lord will bless you in the land that your God the Lord is giving you as a hereditary portion” (Devarim 15:4).

In this special land, observance of this special commandment will ensure the prosperity of the people.

With this understanding, we can answer Rashi’s famous question on the opening of our parsha. Rashi notes with surprise that the laws of Shemittah are described as being presented on Har Sinai. He asks: “Mah inyan shemittah etzel Har Sinai?” What relationship is there between Shemittah and Har Sinai? Were not all the laws given at Har Sinai? He goes on to answer that the different aspects of these laws that we mentioned above were all given at once, the generalities and the specifics. I’d like to suggest that the laws of Shemittah, discussed here at the end of Vayikra, many parshiyot after the revelation at Sinai, have to be identified with that seminal revelation. Just as Har Sinai provides the foundation of our faith, Shemittah is the observance that makes us into the Jews we need to be. Comprising care for the needy, respect for the land, the sanctification of time, and enhancement of our special relationship with God, it is a foundational mitzvah of Judaism—wherever we may be, whenever we may live. Along with its partner commandment, Shabbat, Shemittah had to be transmitted on Har Sinai. Together, these precepts form the very cornerstone of who we would become.

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Susan Hornstein is an educator and a lifelong student. Susan holds a BA from Brandeis University and a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Brown University. Susan completed a long career in User Experience, designing computer systems and websites so that their users would be able to understand them. Susan is a founder and gabbait of the Women’s Tefillah Group of Raritan Valley, where she works on education and inclusiveness. She has served on the boards of her Modern Orthodox synagogue and mikvah. Susan is also a musician, and is the conductor of the Central Jersey chapter of HaZamir, The International Jewish Teen Choir.