We must conclude that when the Torah assures us a question will be asked, it also tells us why the question will be asked. That is, the grammatical construction of When-Then, of When you will ask, Then there will be such-and-such a response, indicates the nature and appropriateness of the question.
For example, the Torah uses the same construction elsewhere, in regard to redemption of the first born. It says, “When your son will ask, what is this?” and we are told to answer him in a certain way. Later, the Torah advises us regarding a different situation. There it says, “When your son will ask, what are these testimonies, statutes and ordinances?” There, too, we are to answer according to his motivation and mental capacity.
We see, therefore, that there are different types of questions, each with a different motivation. The grammatical construction of When-Then tells us the type of question and the nature of the response. That a particular question must and will be asked doesn’t necessarily indicate a lack of faith. Rather, it indicates the relationship the questioner has with G-d.
Let’s look at the verse in question with this in mind. It states: “When you will ask, what shall we eat in the seventh year? We may not sow, nor gather in our increase.” The details – “We may not sow, nor gather in our increase” – may seem superfluous, but they’re not. They are part of the question. So, the question is not really about what we will eat, but how we will eat. (This is reminiscent of the wise son, one of the four sons discussed on Passover. He, too, asks about details – “When your son will ask, what are these testimonies, statutes and ordinances?” The details indicate that his question is not if we should observe the laws, nor even what laws should be observed, but rather, how should we observe them.)
In other words, since G-d has already promised that the land will be fruitful and that there will be plenty to eat, we are only asking, how will that happen? What method will G-d use to provide us with our needs during the Shemittah year? Will it be natural or miraculous? Will it be manna, as in the desert? To this G-d answers that the land itself will produce enough for three years. The sixth year will be bountiful beyond measure, beyond nature, beyond reason.
G-d’s statement that “I will command my blessing in the sixth year, and it will provide produce for three years” is not only a situation beyond nature, it’s the opposite of nature. According to nature, the land becomes weaker each year. This fact is one of the reasons for Shemittah, to give the land a rest and allow it to renew itself. And precisely when the land is weakest does G-d promise it will produce three times as much! This is why the Jewish people will certainly ask, “What shall we eat” – because the answer goes beyond reason and logic.
The question applies not only to the past, to Shemittah during the years when the Temple stood, but to the future as well, to the times of Moshiach, that of the Third Temple. We are in the sixth year, the sixth millennium, that which precedes Moshiach. Since our sustenance in the era of Redemption depends on our actions now, what shall we eat? G-d has promised Redemption if we observe the mitzvos. “But we can neither sow, nor gather in our increase.” We cannot even maintain the level of Torah and mitzvos of previous generations, much less increase it. How can we bring Moshiach?
We are the weakest generation. The strength of our observance has decreased from generation to generation. The ability of Torah and mitzvos to sustain us seems depleted.
G-d answers and promises “I will command my blessing.” Let the Jewish people perform the work of the sixth year, the mitzvos of the time of exile. Let them act with self-sacrifice and a devotion beyond reason and logic. Then G-d will give a blessing from Above; that which is sowed in the sixth year will be blessed threefold. Regardless of the weakness of the land – of the generation – its efforts will bring about revelation after revelation. The produce of the ‘sixth year’ will provide the spiritual sustenance for the seventh – the era of Moshiach.
(Based on Likkutei Sichos 27:183-190)
