Behar תרמ"ו 1

ענין שמיטין ויובלות להר סיני.

The matter of the shemittin (Sabbatical years) and yovlos (Jubilee years) being connected to Har Sinai.

The Sefas Emes addresses why the Torah specifically links the laws of Shemittah to Sinai ("on Har Sinai").

ע"פ המד' ברכו ה' מלאכיו כו' עושי דברו.

Based on the Midrash: "Bless Hashem, His angels... who do His word" (Tehillim 103:20).

The Midrash applies this verse about angels to a particular group of people.

בשומרי שביעית הכ' מדבר כו'.

"The verse speaks of those who observe the seventh year (shomrei shevi'is)," etc.

Chazal say this praise of angels actually refers to Jews who keep Shemittah — they are likened to angels.

וחז"ל דרשו כשהקדימו בנ"י נעשה לנשמע אמר הקב"ה מי גילה לבני רז שמה"ש משתמשין כו'.

And Chazal expounded: when Bnei Yisrael said "we will do" before "we will hear" (naaseh before nishma), Hakadosh Baruch Hu said: "Who revealed to My children this secret that the ministering angels use?"

By placing action before understanding at Sinai, Bnei Yisrael employed the very mode of the angels, who carry out Hashem's word without hesitation.

כי בנ"י היו מוכנים בקבלת התורה להיות כמלאכי השרת כי באמת גם התחתונים שלוחיו של מקום הם דהכל לכבודו ברא.

For at the receiving of the Torah, Bnei Yisrael were prepared to be like the ministering angels; for in truth those below are also messengers of the Omnipresent, since "everything He created for His honor."

At Sinai Klal Yisrael reached an angelic level. In fact every created being is a messenger of Hashem, for all was created for His glory.

רק ההפרש הוא שהמלאך אין בו דבר אחר רק זה השליחות.

Only that the difference is that within the malach there is nothing else but this one shlichus (mission).

The distinction is that an angel is nothing but its mission — it has no other interests or distractions.

ונק' כולו מלאך ע"ש השליחות.

And it is called entirely a "malach" (messenger), named for the shlichus.

The word "malach" itself means messenger; the angel is wholly defined by its appointed task.

ולפי שבטל במציאות אליו ית' לכן ניזון מזיו השכינה כמו שעתידין צדיקים להיות בעוה"ב.

And because it is utterly nullified (batel bimtzius) to Him, Yisbarach, therefore it is sustained from the radiance of the Shechinah, just as the tzaddikim are destined to be in Olam Haba.

Because the angel is completely nullified before Hashem, it needs no physical food but is nourished by the glow of the Shechinah — the very state the tzaddikim will enjoy in the World to Come.

ובנ"י בקבלת התורה היו מוכנים ג"כ לזה.

And Bnei Yisrael, at the receiving of the Torah, were also prepared for this.

At Sinai, Klal Yisrael reached this same nullified, angelic readiness.

לכן ניזונו מלחם שמה"ש אוכלין כנ"ל.

Therefore they were sustained from the "bread that the ministering angels eat," as above.

This is why the mann is called the food of angels — at Sinai Bnei Yisrael lived on that angelic, supernal sustenance.

כי באמת בזעת אפיך תאכל לחם היא הקללה לאחר החטא ומקודם הי' כל אכילת אדם מגן עדן.

For in truth, "by the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread" (Bereishis 3:19) is the curse that came after the sin; but beforehand all of Adam's eating was from Gan Eden.

Toiling for one's food is a consequence of Adam's sin. Before the sin, sustenance came effortlessly, directly from Gan Eden.

וכמו כן היו בנ"י מוכנים להיות בהר סיני.

And likewise Bnei Yisrael were prepared to be at this level at Har Sinai.

At Sinai Klal Yisrael were restored to that pre-sin state of effortless, Eden-like sustenance.

וכ"כ אמרתי אלהים אתם כו'.

And so it is written: "I said, you are like Elokim (godlike)" etc. (Tehillim 82:6).

This exalted, sin-free state is what the pasuk means by calling Bnei Yisrael "godlike" at Sinai.

אך גם אחר החטא נשאר לבנ"י זמנים שמתעורר להם זה הכח הראשון וכמו בש"ק שמבטלין מכל מלאכה ומוכנים רק לעבודת הש"י.

However, even after the sin, there remain for Bnei Yisrael certain times when this original power is reawakened, such as on Shabbos Kodesh, when they cease from all labor and are ready solely for the avodah of Hashem Yisbarach.

Even after the sin of the Golden Calf, the original angelic power can resurface at special times — preeminently on Shabbos, when, free of all melachah, a Jew is devoted entirely to serving Hashem.

לכן המזון ביום ש"ק הוא בקדושה.

Therefore the food on Shabbos Kodesh is in holiness.

Because Shabbos reawakens the angelic state, even the physical food eaten then is imbued with kedushah.

ובזמן שהיו שמיטין ויובלות הי' כל שנה שנת שבתון ולא היו עוסקין בזריעה וקצירה.

And in the era when there were shemittin and yovlos, every such year was a "year of complete rest" (shnas shabbason), and they did not engage in sowing and reaping.

The Shemittah year is a year-long Shabbos: the people refrained entirely from agricultural work.

דאיתא בגמ' פלוגתא דר"ש ור' ישמעאל רש"א אפשר אדם זורע בשעת הזריעה כו' תורתו אימת נעשית כו' ור"י אומר הנהג מנהג דרך ארץ ואחז"ל הרבה עשו כרשב"י ולא עלתה בידם.

As is brought in the Gemara, the dispute of Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yishmael: Rabbi Shimon says — is it possible that a man plows in the plowing season, sows in the sowing season... when is his Torah accomplished? And Rabbi Yishmael says: conduct yourself in the way of derech eretz (worldly occupation). And Chazal said: many acted like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and it did not succeed for them.

The Gemara (Berachos 35b) records the debate over whether one should give oneself wholly to Torah and trust that physical needs are met (Rashbi), or combine Torah with earning a living (R' Yishmael). Most people, Chazal note, cannot sustain Rashbi's purely spiritual path.

ובאמת זה הוא אחר החטא כמ"ש במ"א במשנה אם אין תורה אין ד"א זה הי' קודם החטא.

And in truth this is only after the sin, as we explained elsewhere on the Mishnah "if there is no Torah there is no derech eretz" — this was the case before the sin.

Before Adam's sin, Torah came first and derech eretz flowed from it ("no Torah, no derech eretz") — the ideal of Rashbi's wholehearted Torah was then attainable.

ואח"כ אם אין ד"א אין תורה כמ"ש וישכן מקדם כו' לשמור כו' דרך עה"ח ודרשו חז"ל מכאן שד"א קדמה לתורה ע"ש.

And afterward, "if there is no derech eretz there is no Torah," as it is written: "And He placed at the east... to guard... the way to the Tree of Life" (Bereishis 3:24), and Chazal expounded: from here we learn that derech eretz preceded the Torah — see there.

After the sin the order reverses: now one needs the foundation of derech eretz (worldly engagement) before Torah, as Chazal derive from the verse about guarding the way to the Eitz HaChaim.

ובשמיטין ויובלות ושבתות יש לבנ"י הארה מדרך הראשון שקודם החטא.

And in the shemittin, yovlos, and Shabbosos, Bnei Yisrael have an illumination from the original path that preceded the sin.

Shemittah, Yovel, and Shabbos all grant a glimmer of the pre-sin order, when Torah alone sufficed and physical needs followed effortlessly.

ולכן היו שובתין בזמנים הללו והיו חוזרין למדרגה הראשונה שקיבלו בהר סיני.

Therefore they would rest during these times and return to the original level that they received at Har Sinai.

By ceasing from labor at these times, Klal Yisrael return to the elevated, angelic madreigah they attained at Sinai.

וזה עיקר החירות ביובל דכ' ושבתם איש אל אחוזתו כו' שהי' להם דביקות בשורשם.

And this is the essence of the freedom (cheirus) in the Yovel, as it is written: "and you shall return, each man to his ancestral holding (achuzah)" (Vayikra 25:10) — that they had dveikus to their root.

The true freedom of Yovel is not merely returning to one's land but returning to one's spiritual "holding" — reattaching to the supernal root from which the soul stems.

ולכן שומרי שביעית נק' מלאכיו עושי דברו שאין להם רק זה השליחות ואין עוסקין בדרך ארץ כלל רק כמלאכי השרת.

Therefore those who observe the seventh year are called "His angels who do His word," for they have nothing but this one shlichus and do not engage in derech eretz at all, but are like the ministering angels.

During Shemittah, the farmers devote themselves wholly to Hashem's word with no worldly labor — exactly the angelic, single-mission existence — earning them the title "His angels."

ולכן הי' המזון שלהם ע"פ נס ואיתא בספרים בפ' וכ"ת מה נאכל כו' כי רצונו ית' הי' שלא יהרהרו כלל ואז היו נהנים ממעשה נסים ממש וע"י השאלה הוצרך להיות המזון בדרך ברכה.

Therefore their sustenance was through a nes (miracle); and it is brought in the sefarim on the passage "And if you shall say, what shall we eat?" (Vayikra 25:20) — that His will, Yisbarach, was that they should not worry at all, and then they would have benefited from outright miracles; but because of the question, the sustenance had to come by way of "beracha."

Ideally the Shemittah-keepers would have been fed by open miracles, had they fully trusted Hashem without worrying. Because the people asked "what shall we eat?", the provision was instead channeled through a "blessing" (the bumper crop of the sixth year) rather than open miracle.

ויתכן לומר הואיל ואין דרך נס להיות בפרסום כדאיתא גבי אלישע.

And one may say that this is because it is not the way of a miracle to be public, as is found regarding Elisha.

The Sefas Emes suggests another reason: open, public miracles are generally avoided — as with Elisha, where the miraculous oil was provided privately.

ולכן אם לא ישאלו כלל יהי' המזון בנס ממש וכמו המן לחם מן השמים.

And therefore, if they would not ask at all, the sustenance would be through an outright miracle, like the mann, "bread from heaven."

Had Klal Yisrael not asked and instead trusted completely, they would have received food by a true miracle, just as the mann fell from heaven in the wilderness.

וכתי' והיתה שבת הארץ לכם לאכלה.

And it is written: "And the Shabbos of the land shall be for you to eat" (Vayikra 25:6).

The Torah promises that the produce of the Shemittah "rest of the land" itself will feed them.

פי' אכילת השמיטה לא יהי' ע"י הכנת האדם רק ע"י המנוחה והוא בחי' עונג שבת:

The explanation: the eating of the Shemittah will not come through man's own preparation, but through the rest (menuchah) itself — and this is the aspect of oneg Shabbos.

Shemittah sustenance comes not from human toil but from the very state of rest and trust — the same quality as the delight of Shabbos, where holiness and provision flow from menuchah rather than labor.

Summary: Shemittah and Yovel are linked to Sinai because at Sinai Bnei Yisrael reached an angelic, pre-sin level — wholly devoted to Hashem and sustained from the radiance of the Shechinah. After the sin, derech eretz became a prerequisite for Torah, but Shabbos, Shemittah, and Yovel reawaken the original state, when a Jew lives like an angel with a single shlichus, reattached to his root, sustained not by his own toil but by the menuchah and trust that are the essence of oneg Shabbos.