After spelling out the rewards that come in the wake of “If you will walk in the ways of my statutes...” (Vayikra 26:3), the Torah begins the Tochacha itself with the words “And if you will not hearken unto Me...” (Vayikra 26:14). The Torah lists terrible curses that will befall Klal Yisrael if they do not keep the Torah’s commandments. And then the pasuk says, “Then the land will finally have its Sabbaticals.” (Vayikra 26:34).
It seems from this pasuk that the Tochacha occurs because the Jews did not observe Shmitta (the Sabbatical year). Since the land was not allowed to lie fallow for the entire year as intended, the Jews will be exiled from their country and the land will finally lie fallow for many years, as a compensation.
Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky asks a simple question: Who mentioned Shmitta anywhere in this parsha? Shmitta is not specifically mentioned in Parshas Bechukosai – neither in any of the listed mitzvos that we are supposed to keep, nor in any of the listed aveiros that we should avoid transgressing. Suddenly, when commenting on the after-effect of the punishment (exile), the Torah comments “Then the land will have its Shmitta.” This seems surprising. The Torah here in Parshas Bechukosai never said that they didn’t keep Shmitta!
Not only that, but Rashi makes the calculation that from the entire time the Jews came into Eretz Yisrael, they NEVER kept Shmitta. That is incredible! How can it be that all those years they never kept Shmitta?
Rav Yaakov has a very beautiful approach to answer these questions. Rav Yaakov says that Parshas Behar and Parshas Bechukosai should really be read as one unit. Parshas Behar begins with Shmitta and then continues with Yovel (the Jubilee year). Next it continues with the halacha of cheating (Ona’ah). Then the Torah goes off on a tangent. But we should really focus on the beginning of Parshas Behar, which talks about Shmitta and then avoid getting distracted by all the intervening topics. Then, at the beginning of Parshas Bechukosai the Torah continues, “If you walk in the ways of my statutes...,” which Chazal say teaches us “You should be amelim b’Torah.”
In an agrarian economy (which was Jewish society – and virtually all society for that matter – in Biblical times), when you take off an entire year, what on earth do you do with your time? Remember the economy was 99% based on farming. The Torah says “stop farming” every seven years. Stop doing what you are doing. In years 49 and 50, “stop farming for two years straight.” What in the world are you supposed to do during Shmitta and Yovel? The answer is “You should be amelim in Torah.” That is why the Torah gave us a mitzvah of Shmitta.
Imagine if that were the situation today. Imagine if every seven years everyone would need to stop working. What are you supposed to do with your time? In those days, you could not even go onto the Internet – there was no Internet! What was there to do? The answer is that this is the way the system was set up. The system was set up so that every seven years, all of Klal Yisrael goes to Kollel. That is the way it was supposed to work.
The trouble is that we get sidetracked with all the intervening topics in Parshas Behar and we lose the main flow. The way it is supposed to really read is the mitzvah of Shmitta and then right after that “you should be amelim in Torah” – because that is what you are supposed to do during the seventh year. And then the Torah says, if you did not do that (“If you hearken not to Me...”) and you did not take advantage of the Shmitta, in other words, by doing what you are supposed to be doing during that year, THEN the land will take its Sabbaths. Parshas Behar and Parshas Bechukosai are meant to be read together. The Torah is saying to take off a year. Sit and learn that year. Be amel in Torah during that year. If you wasted the year (or you worked during the year), you will be exiled in punishment and then the land will get its rest.
Rav Yaakov further explains that when Rashi says they did not keep Shmitta for the whole 490 years they were in Eretz Yisrael, it does not mean that they didn’t observe the law to abstain from agricultural work on the land. It means they didn’t use their free time during Shmitta as they were supposed to!
What is the takeaway lesson from this parsha here in the United States of America in 2023 when there is no Shmitta, and no one is taking off a year from their work? The lesson is how to make use of our time when we have the opportunity to not work – a legal holiday, a Sunday, or whenever it is. We don’t have a Shmitta but we have mini-Shmittas every week! Chazal say that we have Shabbos for people to learn on Shabbos. In America, we need to take advantage of our “Shabbos sheni shel galiyos” (Sundays). What could be a more important message as we approach the holiday of Shavuos? Take advantage of the free time that we always have, and put that time to good use. This is what the Torah wanted out of Shmitta and this is what the Torah wants out of our vacations as well.
