In this week’s parashah, we are taught the laws of Shemittah – when every seven years farmers had to allow their fields to lie fallow – and Yovel – the 50th year, when they had to do the same.
Essentially, every 50 years, they were unable to work their fields for two consecutive years.
The Torah goes on to tell us that if people ask, “What will we eat?” Hashem will provide them with so much produce in the 48th year, that they will enough food to last through the following seasons, until the crop planted in the 51st year grows.
A frequently-asked question is: We seem to be rewarding a person’s diminished faith. After all, it appears that this blessing will only come in response to the question, “What will we eat.” What about those farmers who have faith in Hashem and do not ask this question?
The Rebbe Reb Zushia of Hanipoli offers a beautiful insight:
Hashem knows what we truly need, what will bring us the most blessing, what will offer us the fulfillment and contentment. Money is not always the answer; there are often other areas of life where we can better use blessing.
The Torah assures us that the farmer who worries what he will have to eat will be granted all the food he needs.
The farmer who has complete faith and reliance on Hashem, on the other hand, may have a hard time scraping by during those same years. But he will be blessed by Hashem’s bounty in those areas where he truly needs it.
May we all merit Hashem’s brachah in our own lives, in every way.
Gut Shabbos
Help me out here "A" ... "B." What exactly is the distinction we're positing here between the two farmers?
ReplyDeleteOne farmer has faith and confidence in Hashem and simply follows his command. He doesn't worry about where his sustenance for the following years will come from.
ReplyDeleteThe other farmer, in anticipation of Shemittah followed by Yovel, frets about what he'll eat. It is this farmer the Torah discusses when it says, "If you ask what will we eat...Then I will send you food for all three years.”וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ מַה־נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת הֵן לֹא נִזְרָע וְלֹא נֶאֱסֹף אֶת־תְּבוּאָתֵנוּ. וְצִוִּיתִי אֶת־בִּרְכָתִי לָכֶם בַּשָּׁנָה הַשִּׁשִּׁית וְעָשָׂת אֶת־הַתְּבוּאָה לִשְׁלֹשׁ הַשָּׁנִים.
It seems that the blessing of abundant provisions was only promised to those who doubt.
As an illustration of R' Zusia's thought, R' Fishel Schechter tells of a non-Shomer-Shabbos farmer with whom he spoke. The man decided to keep Shemittah, with the help of Keren Hashviis.
The man suffered serious financial setbacks from the decision, no miraculous windfalls.
But at the end of the year, he had a much greater blessing: After 15 years of a childless marriage, his wife was expecting. He was glad to forego the blessing of money in order to gain the blessing he needed most.