Shemittah: Acquiring True Bitachon

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

In Parashas Behar, we learn about the mitzvah of shemittah. Every seventh year, tending and harvesting our crops is forbidden. The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Tehillim, chap. 103) calls a person who refrains from agricultural activities during the shemittah year a genuine hero. Indeed, shemittah is nothing less than a mitzvah to fully trust in Hashem. The Torah says (Vayikra 25:20–21), “And if you will say, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year? We are not planting or gathering our produce,’ I will command My blessing on the sixth year, and it will produce enough for three years.”

Upon reading these verses carefully, you may have a question: The Midrash describes those who trust in Hashem and keep shemittah as heroes, whereas the verse seems to say that farmers will have already received the food they will need before shemittah begins. If so, how is shemittah a test? Why should trusting in Hashem pose any sort of difficulty?

The Kli Yakar explains that the blessing of the sixth year is not discernible to the human eye. It appears to be a normal crop, with no apparent surplus. However, one who trusts in Hashem and keeps shemittah will be satiated with much less food than he would normally need. Even though it doesn’t look like he will have enough food to last him through the shemittah year and the year after when he is still planting, he will be pleasantly surprised to discover that his warehouses never seem to run out. However, he must rely on Hashem’s promise that he’ll have enough to eat, believing that the blessing is there.

There is an important lesson to learn from this blessing: Sometimes people think that they lack Hashem’s blessing, because they failed to get a job, close a deal, or get a raise in their salary. Here we can learn that Hashem has many different ways to provide for us, and He’s taking care of us even when we can’t tell.

The Madreigas HaAdam states that shemittah presents another test: One might think it prudent to save up produce to last him until he reaps the crop of the eighth year. He may deprive himself and his family in order to amass enough food to get by. From a business perspective, this seems like commendable foresight. Even from a Torah perspective, a person could claim to be saving up food for the sake of Heaven, as his efforts are an expression of his desire to observe shemittah.

However, by taking this course of action, a person is displaying a lack of trust in Hashem. Hashem promised to give him a blessing in the sixth year! Why is he starving himself? Ironically, he is actually defeating the purpose of the mitzvah. Shemittah is an opportunity to strengthen his trust in Hashem, but he is living as if Hashem was not taking care of him at all.

Sadly, it’s a well-known phenomenon in the United States that some families decide to have fewer children because they are unable to afford Jewish education. The message of shemittah is that when we do the will of Hashem, He will take care of us. There is no reason for anxiety over the future.

Developing trust in Hashem is essential for our relationship with Him. If one struggles in his trust, he is really doubting Hashem Himself. Such thoughts come either from a lack of belief that Hashem can help, or the notion that Hashem doesn’t want to help even though He has called us His children. Either way, such a person doesn’t really believe in Hashem as described to us in the Torah and Chazal. Obviously, he can’t have a real relationship with Him. He has abandoned His trust, and in turn, Hashem will abandon him. This is what the Chovos HaLevavos is describing when it says (in Sha’ar HaBitachon) that one who trusts in things other than Hashem (his business, his connections with powerful people, or his health) will be left in the hands of those things. If he goes bankrupt, his friends in high places will ignore him, or if he becomes ill, Heaven forbid, he’ll have no one to turn to.

The Midrash (on Tehillim 121) relates a fascinating thought about trusting in Hashem. The psalm refers to Hashem as the “Shadow at your right side.” The Midrash explains that trusting in Hashem is like a shadow: the more one’s arm is stretched out, the bigger the shadow is. Similarly, the more we trust in Hashem, the greater is Hashem’s response to our trust.

I was once speaking with a Jew who told me that he works as a gardener. I asked him how, as a resident of Eretz Yisrael, he manages during the shemittah year. He told me a fascinating story:

In his first shemittah year as a gardener, he didn’t know how he was going to support his family. However, he knew that Hashem wanted him to keep shemittah, so he concluded that he may as well spend the year in yeshivah.

His financial situation became increasingly difficult. One of the avreichim in his kollel came up with an idea for him: if he would collect scrap metal that people leave on the street, like old washing machines, refrigerators, and other appliances, he could sell the metal for a profit. He took the advice and started collecting scrap metal between sedarim. He became known in the neighborhood, and people would call him when they wanted to throw something out. Miraculously, that year the price of metal skyrocketed, and he made more than enough money to support his family. The following year, when he returned to gardening, the price of metal returned to its normal value. Even in our times, we see clearly that when we trust in Hashem, He always watches over us.

May we be zocheh to trust in Hashem completely!

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Rabbi Krieger’s “Gedolei Yisroel on the Parashah & Yamim Tovim” is now available from the Yeshiva office, Jewish bookstores worldwide and can be ordered online at https://www.feldheim.com/gedolei-yisroel-on-Parashah-yamim-tovim-2.