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For the children of
(Vayikra 25:55)
You shall not make false gods for yourselves, nor
shall you set up a statue or a monument for yourselves. And in your land you
shall not place a pavement stone on which to prostrate yourselves, for I am the
Lord, your God.
(Vayikra
26:1)
You shall not
make false gods for yourselves: [This]
is addressed to the one who has been sold [as a servant] to a non-Jew, that he
should not say, "Since my master has illicit relations, I will also be
like him! Since my master worships idols, I will also be like him! Since my
master desecrates the Sabbath, I will also be like him!" This is why these
verses are stated here. – (Torat Kohanim 25:106). Also, the passages [in
this whole section (namely, from the beginning of Chapter 25 until the end of
Behar),] are written in a meaningful order, [as follows]: At first, Scripture
admonishes us to observe [the laws of] Shemittah [and Jubilee (25: 124)]; then, if
one covets money and becomes suspect of [unlawfully doing business with produce
of] Shemittah, he will eventually [become destitute and] have to sell his
personal belongings. Therefore, Scripture juxtaposes to it, And when you
make a sale [to your fellow-Jew] (25:14) (What is written therein? or make a
purchase from the hand..., something that is transferred from hand to
hand). If he still does not repent, he will eventually have to sell his
inheritance (25:25).
If he even then does not repent, he will eventually have to sell his home, and
if even then, he does not repent, he will eventually have to borrow money with
interest (verses
25:35-38). Now, the later the scenario in this passage, the more severe
it is [i.e., first he sells his belongings, then his property, then his home
and then even borrowing with interest which is more severe than selling one’s
property; (Nachalath
Ya’akov) thus, the passage continues accordingly, for] if he still does
not repent, he will eventually have to sell himself [to his fellow Jew as a
servant] (verses
25:39-46); and [finally,] if he has still not repented, not enough that
he had to be sold to his fellow Jew - but he will [be forced to sell himself]
even to a non-Jew!- (25:47-55;
Kidd. 20a).
(Rashi Vayikra 26:1, Judaica Press translation)
You shall not make false gods [elilim]
for yourselves. He calls the celestial forces that are
worshipped elilim, as in the word eiylut - power. He did not say eilim
- the powerful, but rather elilim [a diminutive formed by repetition of
the last syllable, as the word kelev - "dog" - becomes klavlav
- "puppy"] to denote their slight power, for while they are great,
they are not autonomous, but rather derived from Another. After mentioning the elilim,
which are celestial powers, he mentions statues and monuments, which are human
artifacts made to receive those [celestial] powers...
you shall not place a pavement stone - [Not] even one dedicated
to God. It was the custom of idolaters to paint a beautiful picture on a rock
and place it before the idol; they would prostrate themselves on the rock
towards the idol. This was similar to the monument which is prohibited by the
Torah even if it is dedicated to God, and so too with saplings planted by the
altar, for all of these were customs of the idolators. In Sifra (Behar 9:5) they expounded upon the verse, in your land... on which to prostrate yourselves - in
your land you shall not prostrate yourselves, but you shall prostrate
yourselves upon the stone [floors] of the Temple.
(Rabbeinu
Behayeiy ad loc)
For all the land is Mine
Ronen
Ahituv
Shmitat hakarka
- leaving the land fallow in the seventh year - is not currently practiced in
any significant way. Halakhic scholars took various steps to neutralize this
commandment in recent generations: heter mekhira [sale of land to
gentiles], otzar beit din [produce made property of the court], matz'a
menutak [horticulture disconnected from the earth], etc. These methods are
usually explained to be necessary for the protection of modern agriculture and
agricultural consumption, which are completely different from ancient
agriculture; modern agriculture is intensive and its products are traded in a
global market, making it unfeasible to stop working the land and selling its
produce for the course of a year.
Despite being
neutralized in practice, Shemittah has become the subject of ever-increasing
attention. People aspire to observing Shemittah as fully as is possible, and
its complete annulment arouses opposition. This discourse is common both to
those accepting heter mekhira as well as those opposing it. Everyone
annuls shmitat hakarka in practice, and everyone views that annulment as
an unfortunate necessity and expresses the hope that all the laws of Shemittah
will be observed in their original form as soon as conditions allow. This
discourse bears halakhic significance; it ranks the various means for bypassing
the Shemittah and it seeks the method which leaves the laws of Shemittah as
intact as possible.
Shmitat hakarka
has been dealt with differently from shmitat ksafim [annulment of
debts]. Ever since Hillel the Elder bypassed shmitat ksafim through the
legal instrument of the pruzbul, no one has seriously suggested that pruzbul
should be discontinued and that shmitat ksafim should be genuinely
practiced.1 The halakhic sages
understood that which Hillel understood: annulment of debts is impossible
within human reality. The Torah itself points out the flaw in shmitat ksafim
- that it is liable to keep people from lending to the poor - and tried to
correct it with a warning: Beware, lest there be in your heart an unfaithful
thought, saying, "The seventh year, the year of release has
approached," and you will begrudge your needy brother and not give him... You shall surely
give him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; for because
of this thing the Lord, your God, will bless you in all your work and in all
your endeavors (Devarim 15:9-10). Hillel
saw that this was not a practical solution and that shmitat ksafim would
cause great societal harm, and so he bypassed the commandment.
The Torah explicitly expresses a fear regarding shmitat
hakarka as well: And if you should say, "What will we eat in the
seventh year? We will not sow, and we will not gather in our produce!" [Know then, that] I
will command My blessing for you in the sixth year, and it will yield produce
for three years (Vayikra 25:20-21).
The economic challenge facing shmitat hakarka is met by a serious positive consideration which is neither social nor economic, but rather educational and ideological. Shmitat hakarka is essentially a matter of relinquishing land-ownership, and this reflects God's statement, for the land belongs to Me, for you are strangers and [temporary] residents with Me (25:23). The Torah offers this explanation as a rationale for the Jubilee Year, but it also seems to be the most cogent explanation of shmitat hakarka as well (Sefer HaHinukh 84).
This explanation forms the basis for the different attitudes taken by the halakha towards shmitat kesafim and shmitat hakarka. The non-economic rationale for shmitat hakarka keeps us from depending on an economic argument of the form what will we eat? for its circumvention. Since shmitat hakarka has no economic rationale, the farmer's economic difficulties do not offer sufficient justification for its cancellation; rather, the farmer's difficulties simply require the non-agricultural sectors of society to support the farmer so that he may observe the commandment.
While shmitat ksafim was by-passed in order for a law of the Torah (the obligation to make loans to the poor) to be upheld, today's sages do not seem to think that the rationale for circumventing shmitat hakarka has no basis in Torah law; as a result, they present such circumvention as a temporary and contingent fix. The claim that there is no deep foundation in the Torah for annulling shmitat hakarka rests upon the incorrect assumption that modern agriculture does not jibe with the spirit of the Torah.
The book of Bereishit describes the two foundational occupations of the ancient world: farming and herding. These two modes of existence can be associated with two different cultures and their typical attitudes towards property. Stereotypically, the herdsman relates to the land and its flora as ownerless territory that can be utilized for grazing. In his eyes, land does not belong to particular people, rather it is God's property; human beings wander across the face of the earth without gaining private ownership of it. People can only possess livestock; people cannot posses real estate. The herdsman lacks any emotional connection to the soil, he is only attached to his family and flocks. He is faced by the spiritual danger of disconnection and alienation from places and people that can arise from his disconnection from everything stable and unmoving.
The farmer, in contrast, views his land as part of his being; he invests his work and wealth into it. He works it intensively, returning again and again to the same plot - and he expects to reap rewards from it. The farmer plants himself in his land, fulfilling the notion of you are dust and to dust you shall return. He cannot live without land; without land he would be like a tree without roots. God brings rain to bestow a blessing upon the farmer and his land, and the farmer, in return, brings God the first-fruits and tithes of his land's produce. Usually, however, he does not give his actual land to God. The farmer is beset by the danger of being overly tied to the soil, to a place, and to the land's pressing and compulsive needs.
These two types feud recurrently throughout the book of Bereishit: Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Esau and Jacob. In most cases the farmer is portrayed as violent and dangerous, and the herdsman is clearly the preferred character. The books of Shemot and Bamidbar also depict our forefathers as nomads lacking a permanent home. Even their temple - the Tabernacle - was portable.
The commandments of Shemittah and the Jubilee Year address the ancient farmer. They limit his ownership of the land and remind him every seven years of the nomadic life. In the Shemittah years the farmer is uprooted from his place and his fields and must go off to gather food in other people's lands. These commandments offer one expression of the need not to become too rooted in the farming culture; they are symbolic reminders of the nomadic element, as is the commandment to remember the Exodus from Egypt.2
The book of Devarim portrays the farmer in a
positive light. The People Israel is portrayed as a nation living on its land,
and the covenant between the people and their God is tied to the blessings of
the soil and the threat of exile away from it. The tithes and first-fruits
appear as the principle offerings and the
We find that our tradition makes room for both of the foundational cultures. Jewish history is characterized by their combination; we have undergone periods both of extended settlement and of wandering; culturally and religiously, we have managed to adjust ourselves to both situations. This combination generates a permanent condition of unease and cultural dynamism: when in exile, the people longs for permanent settlement in its land, as depicted in Devarim. However, when settled in its land, the people's wanderlust keeps it from becoming too attached to the land.
Western culture is based on a global outlook which gives preference to no particular place but which also calls for intensive cultivation of the land and exploitation of its resources. This would seem to be a further development of the nomadic; now land - like cattle and other property - can be owned. The modern farmer is no longer tied organically to his land; the land has become a means of production and a commodity; it is no longer seen as a source of life. The modern farmer, like every modern person, is portable. He works great expanses of land and tends to be less psychologically and emotionally attached to a particular plot of land or to a particular vocation. His God is not the God of Heaven, nor is He the God of earth. He is the God of humanity and of success. The modern farmer faces the spiritual danger of pride, alongside the danger of disconnectedness and alienation from his territory that threatened the ancient nomads.
The modern world has internalized and deepened the nomadic outlook originating in the Torah. This outlook itself presents a message that jibes with the principles of the Torah; it should not be seen as in opposition to the spirit of the Torah. Globalization and intensification of agriculture - which require the annulment of shmitat hakarka - do not contradict the Torah, but rather constitute its strengthening.
The modern outlook on existence, and the modern farmer himself, are not in danger of being overly connected to the land. On the contrary, they face the danger of being overly alienated from the land. There is no longer any need to proclaim for all the land is Mine and to take the land away from its human owners in order to keep the farmer from becoming too attached to it. On the contrary, such a policy might make people turn away from agriculture, which has become nothing more than one job among many alternatives. In such a world there is no place for the aspiration to observe Shemitta completely; such an aspiration may work against the Torah's goals.
The Torah-based need to fight against contemporary rootlessness makes shmitat hakarka and the Jubilee year irrelevant; today, the nullification of those commandments better fits the spirit of the Torah. One might say that today the Torah is kept through nullification of the commandment of Shemittah [via one of the recognized halakhic methods]. There is no need to apologize for that nullification and it should not be viewed as a contingent fix; rather, it is the ideal.
1. It is possible - but not necessary - to
understand Shmuel as wanting to discontinue pruzbul and reinstitute the
annulment of debts (Gittin 36b). Other Babylonian sages present pruzbul in a
favorable light and even interpreted Shmuel's complaint, "This pruzbul is
an assumption on the part of the judges" positively: Havivuta
hu gaban - "He still shows his love for us."
2. See, for instance, Franz Rosenzweig's remarks in The
Star of Redemption Part II book 1, pg. 300 (Hallo translation): "And
so even when it has a home, this people, in recurrent contrast to all other
peoples on earth, is not allowed full possession of hat home. It is only a
'stranger and a sojourner.' God tells it: 'The land is Mine.' The holiness of
the land removed it from the people's spontaneous reach while it could still
reach out for it."
Ronen Ahituv lives in Mitzpe Netufa. He
is a teacher and darshan.
"Great is Peace
for the Entire Torah was Given in Order to Make Peace in the World"
(RaMBaM Hilkhot Megilah
ve'Hannuka 4:14)
On the book Sim Shalom - Tefillot
liShlom Ha'Olam, a selection of prayers from Likutei Tefillot,
edited by Yael Levin, Sifrei Maggid,
In parashat Behukotai we read: And I will grant peace in the Land, and you will lie down
with no one to frighten [you]. The Amidah prayer concludes
with Birkat HaShalom - the blessing of peace. The Mishnah concludes with
R. Shimon ben Halafta's dictum: "The Holy One, blessed be He, found no
vessel to preserve blessings for
These and other examples demonstrate that Jewish source texts throughout the ages promote peace as an aspiration and as an important religious value.
Rabbi Natan Sternhaltz, better known as R. Natan of Nemirov or R. Natan of Breslav (1780-1844), was a close disciple of R. Nahman of Breslav. He composed prayers for world peace based upon his master's teachings.
Dr. Yael Levin has edited a collection of all these prayers and wrote an introduction to it full of historical details and insights into the way R. Natan composed the prayers that make up Likutei Tefillot. These were originally written as personal prayers, but they took on a universal character making them suitable to be uttered by any person.
R. Natan intended to translate his teacher's ideas, in accordance with R. Nahman's instruction "to make the discourses into prayers." R. Nahman himself taught about world peace in his discourses.
In Likutei MoHaRan 14, R. Nahman writes that in order to maintain peace in the world, God's honor must be raised up to its roots in the virtue of awe. Study of awe allows one to gain household peace, prayer, and general peace, which is peace in all the worlds. The verse and His mercy is upon all He made refers to the universal peace gained through prayer; it means to say that God's compassion will abide for all His creatures, that all creatures will have compassion towards each other, and that through that there will be peace between them. Some of the prayers suggest that peace will first appear in more confined circles - between man and his fellow, between man and wife, among all Israelites - and then it will spread and grow to encompass the entire world.
In one prayer from Likutei Tefillot (33
- pg.
Let the wonderful peace that You will reveal in the future
be drawn also now into this world,
as it is written:
And a wolf shall
live with a lamb,
and a leopard
shall lie with a kid;
and a calf and a
lion cub and a fatling [shall lie] together,
and a small child
shall lead them. (Isaiah 11:6)
They shall neither
harm nor destroy on all My holy mount,
for the land shall
be full of knowledge of the Lord
as water covers the sea bed. (Isaiah 11:9)
All religious Zionist congregations recite the Prayer for the State of Israel each Sabbath, and that prayer includes the verse, and grant peace in the land and eternal joy to its inhabitants. A very few congregations, including the synagogue in which I pray, also recite one of the prayers for peace composed by R. Natan and which appears in the end of Dr. Yael Levin's anthology.
Yael Levin has done us a great service by redeeming these prayers from oblivion, and she also took pains to present them in an aesthetic and enlightening fashion.
I think that on Yom Yerushalyim, on which we long for the city joined together - which makes friends of all its inhabitants - these prayers gain special significance; they can develop and deepen the appreciation of peace as a central and important religious value.
Pinchas Leiser, Editor
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