There is pasuk in Tehillim [103:20] “Bless Hashem, O His angels; the mighty men who do His bidding, to obey the voice of His word.” Basically, Dovid HaMelech invokes a prayer that the people who do the will of G-d should be blessed.
The Medrash comments: Who are these “mighty men” who obey the Word of the Ribono shel Olam? Rav Yitzchak states: The pasuk is speaking about those individuals who observe the laws of the Shemita. Normally a person will do a mitzvah for a day, a week, or a month. But the Sabbatical year continues for an entire twelve-month agricultural cycle, during which you cannot as much as prune your tree! This is a tremendous nisayon (test) and it is ongoing. It is not a passing test that lasts a day or a week. It lasts a year! The farmer sees his field—his entire source of income—lie fallow for a whole year and he keeps quiet! Is there a greater “mighty person” that this?
However, we must ask a question: When the Torah commands the Jewish people to keep Shemita, it says that in the year before the Shemita, they will be blessed with a bounty of a crop, and their fields will yield double their normal produce. So, let us say that the after-expense profit of a farmer is normally $100,000 per year. In the sixth year of the Shemita cycle he suddenly earns $200,000. Therefore, he is set for the next two years! What then is the great “strength” alluded to by the pasuk in Tehillim? He is getting his payment “up front”! He has his money in the bank – so where is his nisayon?
Rav Ahaon Kotler explained – someone who asks this question does not understand human nature. If a fellow in the sixth year makes $200,000, he says to himself, if I could only plant in the seventh year, imagine how much income I would have then! I am not forgoing just $100,000—perhaps I am forgoing $200,000 or more! That is the nature of human beings.
This is how life works. Say you bought Apple stock at $100 a share. Apple then goes up to $300. You don’t sell. Apple goes up to $600. You don’t sell. Why don’t you sell? Because Apple is going to go higher. Apple goes up to $700. “Ahh! You see what a Chochom I am? I did not sell!” Now Apple falls back down to $400. You see what a shoteh you are! But why didn’t you sell at the peak? It’s because you always expect to make more money and more money.
That is what this farmer is thinking. Yes, I had a banner crop in the sixth year. I could have done even better in the seventh year! To walk away from that natural aspiration and expectation qualifies one as a Giborei Koach. That takes a strong person!
