Poverty as preparation for the test of wealth

בענין סמיכת שמיטין להר סיני.

Regarding the juxtaposition of the laws of shemittah to Har Sinai.

Rashi famously asks why shemittah is singled out as having been taught "at Har Sinai"; the Sefas Emes will explain the connection.

יובן ע"פ המשנה המקיים את התורה מעוני סופו לקיימה מעושר.

It can be understood through the Mishnah: one who fulfills the Torah in poverty will in the end fulfill it in wealth (Avos 4:9).

Keeping the Torah while poor is a preparation that earns one the ability to keep it later in a state of wealth.

כי יש נסיון לעני מתוך דוחקו.

For there is a test (nisayon) for the poor man amid his hardship.

Poverty is a trial: the pressure of need challenges a person's emunah.

ויש לעשיר נסיון שלא ירום לבו בעשרו לשכוח את הש"י.

And there is a test for the wealthy man, that his heart should not grow haughty in his wealth and forget Hashem.

Wealth is also a trial — perhaps a greater one — for prosperity tempts a person to become arrogant and forget Hashem.

והמקיים התורה מעוני זוכה שיקיימנה בעושר ולא יבעט ע"י העשירות.

And one who fulfills the Torah in poverty merits to fulfill it in wealth and not to "kick" because of the wealth.

Withstanding the test of poverty trains a person so that when wealth comes, he will not rebel against Hashem out of comfort.

וכמו כן הי' בכלל בנ"י בדור המדבר ויענך וירעיבך.

And so it was with Bnei Yisrael as a whole in the generation of the desert: "and He afflicted you and made you hunger" (Devarim 8:3).

The desert generation underwent the national version of the test of poverty — affliction and hunger.

והי' זה הכנה שיקיימו אח"כ התורה בא"י מתוך העושר.

And this was a preparation so that they would afterward fulfill the Torah in Eretz Yisrael amid wealth.

The hardship of the desert was meant to ready them to keep the Torah faithfully once they entered the prosperity of the Land.

והיא העצה שיעצה התורה בשמיטין ויובלות שלא לעשות עיקר בעבודת האדמה ולשבות בשמיטה לשמו ית'.

And this is the counsel that the Torah advised through the laws of shemittah and yovel: not to make the working of the land the main thing, and to rest in shemittah for the sake of His Name.

Shemittah is the Torah's remedy against the arrogance of wealth: by ceasing to work the land every seventh year, a person remembers that prosperity comes from Hashem, not from his own efforts.

וגם הצדקה לעניים א' לשבע שנים שעי"ז יתקיים ברכת הארץ בידם.

And also the tzedakah to the poor, once in seven years, through which the blessing of the land is sustained in their hands.

The release of debts and produce to the poor in the shemittah year is what keeps the blessing of the Land flowing.

וע"ז מברכין אותו ית"ש ברעב זנתנו ובשבע כלכלתנו.

And about this we bless Him: "in famine You fed us, and in plenty You sustained us."

We praise Hashem both for providing food in times of scarcity and for granting us the capacity to handle abundance properly.

מה שמזמין לנו מזון בעת הרעב.

That He prepares food for us in a time of famine.

"In famine You fed us" refers to Hashem supplying sustenance even when there is scarcity.

ומה שנותן לנו דעת לקבל המזון כראוי.

And that He gives us the understanding to receive the food properly.

"In plenty You sustained us" refers to the gift of the right mindset to handle abundance without being corrupted by it.

זה ברכת א"י ארץ טובה ורחבה.

This is the blessing of Eretz Yisrael, "a good and spacious land" (Shemos 3:8).

The true blessing of the Land includes not only its bounty but the spiritual capacity to receive that bounty correctly.

כי הנה להמאכל נצרך כח הזן והמעכל והדוחה.

For behold, food requires the power of nourishing, of digesting, and of expelling.

The Sefas Emes uses the three bodily faculties of digestion as a model for the three blessings of Birkas HaMazon.

וזה ענין ג' הברכות.

And this is the matter of the three blessings.

The three blessings of Birkas HaMazon parallel these three powers of digestion.

ואמרו חז"ל משה רבינו תיקן ברכת הזן כשהוריד לנו המן שזה הי' הפקת המזון במדבר שהיו חסרים מכל.

And Chazal said that Moshe Rabbeinu instituted the blessing of "the One who nourishes" (Birkas HaZan) when he brought down the mann for us, for that was the provision of food in the desert when they lacked everything.

Birkas HaZan, established by Moshe, corresponds to the "nourishing" power — the raw provision of sustenance, exemplified by the mann in the barren desert.

וכשנכנסו לארץ הי' הברכה על הארץ שהוא נבחר מכל הארצות שיכולין לקבל המאכל כראוי לזון הנפש שלא לבעט מתוך השובע זהו בחי' המעכל שיהי' המזון לתועלת הנצרך.

And when they entered the Land, the blessing was upon the Land, which is chosen above all lands, where one can receive food properly so as to nourish the soul and not to "kick" out of satiety — this is the aspect of digesting, that the food should serve its needed purpose.

Birkas HaAretz corresponds to "digesting": the Land enables one to internalize sustenance properly, channeling it to good rather than letting plenty lead to rebellion.

זה בשבע כלכלתנו.

This is "in plenty You sustained us."

The power to handle abundance correctly is the gift of "in plenty You sustained us."

אח"כ כשנבנה ירושלים הי' הברכה על בחי' הדוחה כי ע"י בנין בהמ"ק הי' בירור האוכל בלי פסולת.

Afterward, when Yerushalayim was built, the blessing was upon the aspect of expelling, for through the building of the Bais Hamikdash there was a sifting of the food without waste.

The third blessing, "Boneh Yerushalayim," corresponds to "expelling": the Bais Hamikdash effects a purification in which the good is separated out and the waste discarded.

לכן דרשו הטובה זו ירושלים שהי' בירור הטוב מתערובת טו"ר.

Therefore Chazal expounded, "the good" — this refers to Yerushalayim, where there was a sifting of the good from the mixture of good and evil.

Yerushalayim is "the good" because it is the place where good is filtered out from the admixture of good and evil.

נחזור לדברינו כי המן במדבר ויענך הי' הכנה שיוכלו לקבל העשירות כראוי אח"כ בכניסתן לא"י.

Let us return to our matter: the mann in the desert, "and He afflicted you," was a preparation so that they could properly receive the wealth afterward upon their entry into Eretz Yisrael.

The deprivation of the desert trained Bnei Yisrael to handle the prosperity of the Land in the right way.

לכן תלה הכ' שמיטין ויובלות תיקון הארץ בהר סיני וכ"כ להטיבך באחריתך.

Therefore the verse made the laws of shemittah and yovel — the rectification of the land — dependent on Har Sinai, and so it is written, "to do you good in your end" (Devarim 8:16).

This answers the original question: shemittah is tied to Sinai because the desert training "at Sinai" is the foundation that makes it possible to keep the land-laws properly later, "for your ultimate good."

ובאמת אם הי' מקיימין בשלימות התורה מעוני לא הי' הגלות.

And in truth, had they fulfilled the Torah perfectly in poverty, there would have been no galus.

Had Bnei Yisrael fully passed the test of poverty in the desert, they would have been able to withstand the test of wealth and would never have gone into exile.

אבל הי' לנו חטאים במדבר ג"כ.

But we had sins in the desert as well.

The desert generation did not pass the test of poverty perfectly; they too sinned.

ולכן נתקיים אח"כ ג"כ בנו סיפא דמתניתין המבטל התורה מעושר סופו לבטלה מעוני.

And therefore the latter clause of the Mishnah was also fulfilled in us: one who neglects the Torah out of wealth will in the end neglect it out of poverty.

Because the test of poverty was not perfectly met, the reverse came true: neglecting the Torah amid wealth led to the poverty of galus.

כמ"ש תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' כו' בשמחה כו' מרוב כל כנ"ל:

As it is written, "because you did not serve Hashem... with joy... out of an abundance of everything" (Devarim 28:47), as above.

The Torah explicitly warns that failing to serve Hashem with joy precisely when one has "an abundance of everything" brings the curses of exile — the descent from wealth back to poverty.

Summary: Shemittah is linked to Sinai because the desert generation's trial of poverty ("and He afflicted you") was the preparation for keeping the Torah amid the wealth of Eretz Yisrael — just as the Mishnah teaches that one who keeps the Torah in poverty merits to keep it in wealth. Shemittah and yovel are the Torah's remedy against the arrogance of prosperity. The three blessings of Birkas HaMazon (nourishing, digesting, expelling) correspond to the mann, the Land, and Yerushalayim — the stages of receiving and refining sustenance. Had Yisrael perfectly passed the test of poverty, there would have been no galus; their failure brought the Mishnah's reverse clause upon them, descending from wealth back to poverty.