“And God spoke to Moshe at mount Sinai, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say unto them, when you enter the land which I give you, you shall let the land rest a Sabbath unto Hashem.” (Vayikra, 25:1–2) Here God promises Israel that when they come to the land of Israel their hearts will be at peace. “Land” teaches of the heart. This is “let the land rest,” that their hearts shall be at peace.

“Speak to the children of Israel … you shall let the land rest a Sabbath unto Hashem.” (Vayikra, 25:2) Three subjects are discussed here: Shmitta, the seventh “release” year when the land lies fallow, freeing slaves, in the fiftieth year, the Yovel, and Ribit, the prohibition of lending at interest. In all three, God is warning Israel against putting their trust in anything in the world that, from man’s view, it is possible to rely upon. These three subjects—Shmitta, Yovel, and Ribit—each take a category of place, time, and person (olam, shana, nefesh). The acquisition of fields and vineyards is an acquisition of place and putting his trust in it. Concerning this the Blessed One commanded the Shmitta. That is to say, mankind cannot put his trust in places, but should rather see that they belong to God, for in the seventh (Shmitta) year there is no recognition of ownership in one’s acquisitions. Anyone can come and eat from his field. And thus he sees that the land is God’s. Corresponding to placing one’s trust in time, meaning, relying on amassing wealth from selling time, which we call taking interest, the Torah says, “do not take interest from him.” The whole point of interest and the sale of time is discussed in the Gemara (Baba Metsia, 63b) which says, “all compensation of money for waiting [postponing paying a debt] is forbidden.” As for man’s acquisition in people, where he trusts his ability to use servants for his needs, God commanded Israel to free slaves in the Yovel (the fiftieth year, the Jubilee). Thus he sees that he has no ownership of their bodies and must set them free. Even when they are slaves, God commanded “not to force him to serve with hard labor,” and to understand that the body of a servant is not his domain. God commanded these three mitzvot to show man that he may not put his trust in anything connected to time, place, or person. Our trust is in God alone. This is why these three sections end with the statement, “I am Hashem your God who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan.” Man cannot assume that since these things are prohibited God’s influence towards us is in any way reduced. “I am Hashem your God who took you out of Mitsrayim (Egypt).” Mitsrayim comes from the word for narrowness, meitzar, meaning limitation. This is to show how pleasures of the world that do not come from Holiness are rooted in narrowness and constriction. “To give you the land of Canaan,” that the goodness that God gives will be that of Kedusha (holiness) and we can extend it into our surroundings, for the goodness of Kedusha that is our inheritance from God**is *“*an inheritance without narrowness [limitations].”

“… and give the land a Sabbath unto Hashem.” Shmitta (the Sabbatical Year), is a sign for Israel that “the land is God’s and the fullness thereof.” Concerning this the holy Zohar says (Bereshit 3b), “[God created] large letters and small letters” referring to the occasional large or small letter in the Torah scroll. The word for sign as well as a letter in Hebrew is oat. The small oat is Shabbat.Shabbat is a sign for Israel. Shabbat is a sign that God motivates everything and man’s actions do nothing. The large letter is Shmitta, for with the passing of seven years there must necessarily be an entire year in which it is clear that the land is God’s, and that no man has the power of action, only God alone.

“and you shall count seven Sabbaths of years … then proclaim with the call of the shofar… and each man shall return to his portion … in the Yovel year each man shall return to his possession.” (Vayikra, 25:8–10) Shmitta and Yovel correspond to the behavior mentioned in the Pirkei Avot (Ch. 5:10), “[one who says] what is mine is yours, what is yours is yours [is a hasid].” Shmitta, the seventh rest year for the land,⁵⁸ is the sabbath of the land, once every seven years, where agricultural work in the land of Israel is suspended, and the land lies fallow. Also the produce within fields and orchards are free for public consumption. corresponds to the attribute of “what is mine is yours.” In one sense, “the land was given to mankind” (Tehilim, 115:16). One can acquire the land, bringing forth from it all the good things of the world. All manner of goodness in the world are included in the land, as it is written (Kohollet 3:20), “all was from the dust.” But still, in the seventh year he returns the land to God. At this time he voluntarily ceases from toil and working according to God’s will, keeping His ordinances. This is called “what is mine is yours.” The Yovel, the fiftieth “jubilee” year,⁵⁹ (Jubilee) year, once every fifty years, slaves are freed, and acquired property returns to its original owners. corresponds to the next mode kind of behavior mentioned in the Mishna in Avot, “what is yours is yours.” This is because the commandment of Yovel requires that everyone gets back his possessions and returns to his family. Truly, God was fair in how He placed man in the land, dividing up the inheritance to each one according to his level and based on the root of his particular soul. He upheld each one on his particular banner, saying to them, “they are My servants” (see Vayikra, 25:42). And yet, a progression of events caused mankind to demand so many accounts from each other. This one had the merit of ascending and extending into another one’s land, or to purchase a slave to serve him, and the other descended and had to sell his possessions until he eventually had to sell his very body into slavery. Yet since the word of God endures forever and cannot change based on the actions of mankind, God’s temporary judgments that pass over man will not reach the depth of the root of his soul. This is because God created a time for everything to return to its initial portion. Thus He created the Yovel year so that each could return to his place and to the portion God gave him, as it is said, “the Yovel year shall be holy to you” (Vayikra, 25:12). During the Yovel, the light of God’s Kedusha will one day be revealed to all by means of the blast of the shofar on Yom Kippur. Each one will then recognize that the portion of his fathers that was given to him by God and will remain with him. But what of that which came to him from the actions of man? Even thought there was a purchase and sale placing him under another’s domain up to this point still he does not belong to the other one at his roots! He must be returned to the place that was initially given to him. This is God’s illumination in the Yovel, that everyone can return to his place, that everything has its own place. This recognition and understanding can come only after fulfilling the mitzvah of Shmitta, that is, delivering everything over to God, and by means this reaching the attribute of “what is yours is yours.” This is recognizing the place ascribed to everything at its root, as in the saying of the Midrash (Bereshit Rabba, 43:19), “all is in the possession of the blind until God comes and opens their eyes.” This means that even though the mortal eye will see that this servant belongs to this master, and this field to this one who bought it, still, whoever God shines His light into and opens his eyes will see that all the actions of man will not create even the slightest change in the depths of God’s will. In the Yovel this light will be revealed. This is the attribute of “what is yours is yours,” and is greater than the attribute of “what is mine is yours.” By means of Shmitta and Yovel he sees that all the good and wealth he has amassed not according to God’s will, but by his own efforts, does not belong to him even though it is in his possession. Therefore this Parsha warns against theft, deception, and interest, to show that in the future it will be clear that anything that came by means of these methods is not his. This is to counter the one who says to himself, “if it is true that eventually a person will have only what was originally given him by God, then all efforts to gain wealth, to acquire things or expand borders, are in vain. Only what God gave him will remain his.” Concerning this Shlomo haMelech said (Kohollet, 10:1), “a little folly is more precious than honor or wisdom.” Although a man would tend to refrain from toil and acquisition if he understands that nothing gained by his own efforts will remain with him, there is this “little folly” pushing him to gather wealth even though he knows it is only temporary. Just the same, he is rewarded with the merit of the energy he exerted to a certain degree. Even though the time will come for everyone return to his portion and everything to return to its place, he still profits, for he will return to the other only the physical measure of what is allotted him. Yet the limit and the border that God set to recognize between one man’s portion and another’s will be added to his border since at the beginning he extended his border into theirs. In his very efforts to extend, a little security in the value of his toil remains for him, even from the other’s portion that will be returned. Thus from all the efforts that one exerts in this world, this understanding will remain with him forever.

footnotes: ⁵⁸ Shmitta ⁵⁹ In the Yovel

“And you shall not wrong one another, and you shall fear your God ….” (Vayikra, 25:17) This verse is also directed to great and precious souls who see another going against God’s will, accusing him and deeming him fit for punishment. On this the Holy One, blessed be He said, “do not wrong one another,” and similarly did David haMelech say (Tehilim, 50:20–21, following R. Hirsch’s translation), “You sit and speak against your brother, you slander your own mother’s son. You have done these things, and I stood by in silence, so you thought I was the same as you. Therefore I will reprove you, and set them in order before your eyes.” “You sit and speak against your brother, you slander your own mother’s son” means that he does so even though he is obliged to love his neighbor, as is commanded of him (Vayikra, 19:18), “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Man is supposed to pray to God to be merciful with his fellow, yet here he is judgmental and accuses! Therefore God says, “you have done these things, and I stood by in silence.” If God sees fit to clarify matters, then even the actions of the Tsaddikim will not be meritorious in His eyes, for in the presence of God who can justify himself, and who can say, “I have refined my heart?” (Mishlei 20:9) And still, God is silent, not revealing the shame of any man even if he sins. “You thought that I was the same as you,” for he who brings accusations against his fellow man considers himself and his actions as refined as the very will of God. He believes wholeheartedly that it is God’s will when he accuse the man who sins. To this grave error God says, “Therefore I will reprove you, and set them in order before your eyes.” God will reveal the truth to the face of one who points to the guilt of his neighbor and declares that it is God’s will that he do so. God reproves him by showing that His will is only to conceal all the sins of Israel. This is it written (Micha, 7:19), “and cast all their sins to the depths of the sea.” He will conceals man’s sins them to the point where they are never seen again. So how could one say that God wants us to expose our neighbor’s guilt, expanding upon their sins?¹ Even though God indeed commanded man to reprove his neighbor when he sees wrongdoing, and to try to distance his fellow from all evil as much as is possible, this is only possible in a place where he clearly knows he can help him by bringing him to the good,¹ or through prayer, which arouses God’s compassion and returns him to the observance of the Torah. However, if he cannot return him to the fold, he should rather judge him meritoriously and not accuse him. Thus it is inconceivable that one could judge his neighbor as guilty, for perhaps his neighbor’s yetser hara, his inclination to evil, is greater than his own. Or, perhaps what he sees as an error or sin is actually permitted to his neighbor, for there are many things that are forbidden to one but permitted to another.¹

footnotes: ¹ As Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, of blessed memory used to say, “Before Passover, don’t mess around with another man’s Chametz. ¹ See Yevamot, 65b, “just as it is a mitzvah to say something that will be listened to, it is a mitzvah not to say something that will not be listened to.” ¹ Such as how a Cohen cannot marry a divorcee and the like. Furthermore a posek [halakhic authority] can give rabbinic dispensation to a person and permit something that would otherwise be forbidden. Here the author refers to cases withing the bounds of the law (issur ve’heter). In other places in the book the so called sin is evaluated according to the more radical Izbitzian sense, i.e. though it may look or even be wrong in the eyes of the community, it is infact God’s will.

“A man who sells his house in a walled city, he may redeem it a year after it is sold, for a full year he shall have the right of redemption. And if it not be redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established forever to him that bought it throughout the generations, it shall not go out in the jubilee.” (Vayikra, 25:29–30) The great lesson in these verses dealing with houses in walled cities is that all the matters of the Yovel, the Jubilee year, make it clear to us that there is a time for everything. ⁶⁰ Even if a man sinned against God, He will not be angry with him forever. This passage teaches that such a situation only arises when man sins in affairs between him and the Omnipresent. Although this arouses the attribute of stern judgment, forced to sell his property or be sold as a servant, it is not forever! He will go free in the Yovel and return to his portion. However, a man may arouse God’s judgment when committing a sin between him and his fellow man, and the prime example of this is (the grave sin of) shaming another person in public.¹ This is what the verse meant when it said, “if a man shall sell his house in a walled city.” The tongue is “a house in a walled city,” as it says (Arachin, 15b), “I have given you two walls, the lips!” By means of this he could, God forbid, sell and lose all his merits, and another could buy them. On this Shlomo haMelech said (Mishlei, 25:28), “He who cannot control his own spirit is like a city with its walls broken down.”⁶¹, “spirit,” can also mean breath, and hence one who refrains from using his breath and voice to shame another. The advice? Reconcile with him within a year, as it says, “for a full year he shall have the right of redemption.” “And if it not be redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established forever to him that bought it throughout the generations,” as if to say that if he does not reconcile with his fellow man, then all his merits will permanently remain with his fellow. This is the explanation of the difference between the “kriand the ketav.” Sometimes a word in the Torah is spelled one way, the ketav, but read another way, the kri. “The house that is in the walled city” or “the house which has a wall” is written in Hebrew asher lo homa. Lo is written in Hebrew lamed aleph, which would mean “which does not have a wall.” However, we read it as if it were written as lamed vav, “has,” or, “which has a wall.” A man who has no control over his emotions has no wall, and the one who controls his emotions has a wall.¹ “sweetens” the ketav. I.e. transforms a negative into a positive. And so we find that one who cannot control his emotions will remain in the possession of the one who controlled is emotions and remained silent.

footnotes: ⁶⁰ See previous note. ¹ The Talmud in Bava Metzia 58b equates public shaming with murder ⁶¹ It needs to be noted that the word ruach ¹ Rav Isaac of Komarno ztz”l in his Otzar HaChaiim teaches that the kri

“But with the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem the houses of the cities of their possession at any time.” (Vayikra 25:32) The Levi is one who serves God. By serving God, a man can reclaim all he had lost and receives even greater good.

“… you shall not set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it, for I am Hashem your God.” (Vayikra, 26:1) “Maskit (image of stone, or ‘figured stone’),” means that he abandons his consciousness and intellect, becoming like a stone, and delivers over his very life to God. This is a problem. As we read in the Sifre (Shoftim 6), “even though it was beloved before Me in the days of the Patriarchs,” in our generations, man only sacrifices his life to avoid three cardinal transgressions (sexual offence, idolatry, and murder). It is only in the Beit Hamikdash (the Holy Temple) that a man can completely abandon his intellect before God.