The Year of Heroes
Aug 20th, 2010 | By admin | Category: 2007-8, Archivesby Rabbi Yisrael Rutman
The seventh year is a year of heroes.
For every seventh year, the Torah declares shmitta, a year of rest for the Land of Israel. Just as every seventh day of the week is a day of rest for the Jew, so the seventh year is a year of rest for the land. No plowing, planting, or harvesting. The Jewish farmer is to treat his land as hefker, owner-less, allowing anyone who wishes to take the produce. Any agricultural benefits accruing from letting the land lie fallow is secondary. The reason for shmitta is because it is a way of acknowledging that the land is God’s, not ours. He is the true owner, who claims possession every seven years.
Of course, it’s not easy. The temptation to cultivate the land as others do is very great. Who can stand by and sacrifice a year’s farm income, while others all around (still the majority) are working their land as usual? And then there is the threat of being done in by the competition, who are ready and willing to fill in the gap and take over your customers from among the big purchasers of produce. One observant farmer recently explained that his biggest fear was not the loss of income from the seventh year, but the consequences once the shmitta year would be over. There is no guarantee that your old customers will come back. Indeed, this is what all his neighbors told him would happen. Fortunately, it didn’t. All the buyers returned. But until the time for the last laugh arrives, one must endure the anxiety over what the future will bring, as well as the mockery.
This is why those who observe shmitta in spite of the sacrifices involved are called heroes by the Sages. They are heroes of the spirit; people who are willing to risk all in living their lives according to the Torah and the counsel of the Sages.
But you don’t have to be a farmer to merit the appellation of “shmitta hero.” Recently, an old friend let me in on another dimension of sacrifice. As an employee in a winery, he acted as go-between for the owner and the rabbinical authorities supervising shmitta observance. Late last year, the rabbi came to the winery and explained the details of shmitta observance as it pertains to vineyards.
Pruning the vines is one of the sensitive issues. Pruning as it is normally done entails a precisely measured cutting back of the vines to ensure proper growth. If not done, or if not done properly, the vines may wither, and somebody’s livelihood along with it. However, the Torah disallows normal cultivation in shmitta, pruning included. Only if the pruning is done with a shinui, a halachically-sanctioned alteration in method, is it permissible. The accepted shinui calls for the use of a power cutter without careful measuring. It is imprecise, but experience has demonstrated that it is nevertheless adequate for maintaining the viability of the plants.
The owner and his business partners agreed, committing themselves in writing to abide by the halacha. All was well—until a few days ago. Then the owner announced that he was opting for “pruning as usual.” My old friend informed his employer that he could not be a party to such flagrant violation of halacha. So, after twenty years on the job, he was summarily fired.
It was a risk he was willing to take, and he is cheerfully accepting the consequences. For the issue is not only that of faithful adherence to Jewish law, which is important enough. A Jew must be prepared to give up his livelihood rather than transgress a Torah prohibition. Concerning shmitta, at stake is much more than an individual’s religious integrity. The Sages teach that the seventy years of Babylonian exile were decreed at the end of the First Temple due to the failure to observe shmitta as prescribed by halacha. As Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman said recently, it follows then that keeping shmitta, and supporting those who do so, will hasten the end of the present exile and bring the ultimate redemption.
May it come speedily, in our days.
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