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Weekly Thought
by Rabbi Shimon Raichik
This week's parsha begins with the mitzvah of shmita. The Torah says that when the Bnai Yisroel enter Eretz Yisroel “the land must be given a rest period, a Sabbath to G‑d. For six years you may plant your fields, prune your vineyards, and harvest your crops, but the seventh year is a Sabbath of Sabbaths for the land” (Vayikra 25:2-4). At first glance, the possuk seems to say that the first year of entry into the land required a year of rest. We know, however, that in actuality there were six years of work, and the seventh year of rest, just like in all of the following shmita cycles. How should this possuk be interpreted?
The Alter Rebbe explains that right when they were to arrive in Eretz Yisroel, the Bnai Yisroel needed to know that the seventh year would be a shmita year. When they entered into the land, before they began to work in the fields, they needed to recognize that the goal is shmita.
What is shmita? Shmita is called a Shabbos. Just as on Shabbos a Jew doesn't do any work, so too during the year of shmita, a Jew does no work in his field. Shmita enables a Jew to recognize that everything he has is from Hashem, and that the whole purpose of his work is to bring kedusha into the physical world. Therefore, if one has shmita in mind before he begins the six years of planting and harvesting, he will keep the laws of the Torah by not mixing seeds in the fields, by leaving peah and leket for the poor, and so forth, and this will in turn help him so that during the seventh year he will be able to keep shmita.
Having shmita in mind means that when a person initially walks on to his field, he knows that the land is Hashem's and he will have to keep shmita. For six years, he plows and harvests so that at the end of the sixth year, he can look at his orchard or field, see how much he has accomplished, and let the orchard or field go wild. During shmita, anyone can come and eat from the wild growth, and the owner has no say. This is a very hard mitzvah to keep. But so long as during the six years of preparation he kept the Torah properly, he will be able to pull himself away from his labor in the field and connect himself to Hashem by learning Torah during the seventh year. This gives him the strength later, after shmita, to again remember that the land belongs to Hashem.
The same lesson applies to our lives. Every weekday, we must keep in mind that Shabbos is coming on the seventh day. If a person is doing successful business the whole week, then closing his business for Shabbos is a hard struggle. But if a Jew keeps Shabbos in mind from the beginning of the week, it will encourage him to conduct his business with honesty and in accordance with the Torah, and he will stay with the realization that the six days of the week are in order to prepare him for Shabbos.
The one who strives before Shabbos shall eat on Shabbos. The six days of the week help a person to keep Shabbos, and Shabbos helps a person act appropriately during the six days of the week, by imbuing the kedusha of Shabbos into every day of the week. Once Friday arrives, the Jew will have total trust in Hashem to provide for him, and he will honor Shabbos properly. And from honoring Shabbos, he will be blessed with a good week and good parnasah during the week that follows.
Based on Likutei Sichos, Vol. 1 & 12
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