Commentary for Exodus 23:11

תשמטנה THOU SHALT LET IT REST — by not tilling it (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 23:11:1),

BUT THE SEVENTH YEAR ‘TISHM’TENAH U’N'TASHTAH’ (THOU SHALT LET IT REST AND LIE FALLOW). “Tishm’tenah — by not tilling it. U’n'tashtah by not eating of its produce after ‘the time of removal.’³⁵⁸See Leviticus 25:6-7. The produce of the Sabbatical year which grows of its own accord may be eaten by humans and animals in the house, as long as the wild beasts are able to eat of that produce in the field. But when it is no longer found by the wild beasts in the field, the food has to be “removed” from the house and made available to all alike. Another interpretation: Tishm’tenah — from real work, such as plowing and sowing; u’n'tashtah — from hoeing or manuring it.” This is Rashi’s language. But it is not correct, for according to the law of the Torah we have only been warned against plowing and sowing in the seventh year, but hoeing and manuring, and even weeding, hoeing under the vines, and cutting away thorns, and all other forms of agricultural work, are not forbidden by law of the Torah. This is the conclusion that the Rabbis came to [after a discussion of this matter] at the beginning of Tractate Moed Katan in the Chapter Mashkin:³⁵⁹Literally: “We may water” [an irrigated field…]. — Moed Katan 2 b-3a. that the Merciful One forbade only plowing and sowing in the seventh year, but did not prohibit secondary kinds of work [such as hoeing, manuring, etc.], which are all forbidden only by Rabbinic ordinance, and the verse mentioned [there in the Talmud] in connection with these secondary kinds of work is a mere support in the Scriptural text.³⁶⁰See in Seder Yithro Note 449. Similarly, the law of “removal”³⁵⁸See Leviticus 25:6-7. The produce of the Sabbatical year which grows of its own accord may be eaten by humans and animals in the house, as long as the wild beasts are able to eat of that produce in the field. But when it is no longer found by the wild beasts in the field, the food has to be “removed” from the house and made available to all alike. is not derived from this verse [as Rashi explained here].
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote: “Tishm’tenah means: every creditor ‘shamot’ (shall release) that which he hath lent unto his neighbor.³⁶¹Deuteronomy 15:2. — U’n'tashtah means that you should not sow your field.” But it is not a correct comment. Instead, [the true explanation is that] Scripture first said, six years thou shalt sow and gather in the increase thereof,³⁶²Verse 10. but the seventh year ‘tishm’tenah’ — you should not sow your land; u’n'tashtah — you should not gather in its increase, but instead you are to leave it so that the poor of your people and the beasts of the field may eat the fruits of the tree and the produce of the vineyard. In a similar sense is the verse, ‘v’nitash’ the seventh year,³⁶³Nehemiah 10:32. [which thus means: “and we will not gather in the increase of the field in the seventh year”].

תשמטנה, a reference to sh’mittat kessaphim, relinquishing outstanding overdue debts at the end of the agricultural Sh’mittah year. The legislation is spelled out in greater detail in Deuteronomy 15,2 .

לכרמך ולזיתך, parallel to what the Torah legislated concerning the grain harvest. It is a rule in the Torah to mention these agricultural products under the headings ofדגן, תירוש, יצהר, meaning different types of grain, orchard products, and oil produced by the olive trees. The legislation includes all food products grown from the soil.

תשמטנה ונטשתה, “you shall leave it untended and unharvested.” You must neither plough and seed it nor fertilise the earth for future use. Nachmanides questions that the only work prohibited by Biblical decree is ploughing and seeding. Other work in the field during that year is prohibited by Rabbinic decree. He therefore explains that what the Torah speaks about here, [seeing that the first mentioned prohibition of seeding and harvesting has been spelled out in Leviticus 25. Ed.] is the subject dealt with in the previous verse where seeding for 6 consecutive years has been permitted or even ordained. During the seventh year, neither seeding nor harvesting is allowed. Whatever has grown in the field during that year must be left for the poor, and if there are not enough poor it must be left for the beasts roaming the fields. Ibn Ezra understands the word תשמטנה to refer to the foregoing of seeding, planning, the root שמוט implying withdrawal from activity. This is the way in which an owner signals that ultimately his field is G’d’s.

From working. Rashi explains this way because שמיטה and נטישה always imply releasing a thing from something else. [Thus, the fields are released from working.]

ונטשתה, “you are to let it lie fallow;” in practice this means that you are not to collect the grain that has grown during that season in your field for your own use.

ונטשתה AND THOU SHALT ABANDON IT — by not eating of its produce (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 23:11:1) after “the time of removal” of the produce has arrived. Another explanation is: תשמטנה THOU SHALT LET IT REST, from what is real work, as, for example, ploughing and sowing, ונטשתה AND LEAVE IT ALONE — not even to manure and to hoe it.

ונטשתה ואכלו אביוני עמך, during the agricultural sh’mittah year the poor will also share in all the crops.

Hoeing. In Moed Katan (3a), Rashi explains לקשקש as hoeing under trees to make them grow. But in Bava Metzia (89b) Rashi explains it as covering tree roots with straw ( קש ) and manure, in the winter, so the cold will not damage them.

ואכלו אביוני עמך, “whereas the destitute people of your nation shall consume it.” In another verse the Torah writes in Leviticus 25,6: לך, ולעבדך ולאמתך ולשכירך ולתושבך, “for you, your male servant, your female servant, your hired hands and your residents.” How do we reconcile this? Answer: when there is an abundance of grain, etc., everyone is entitled to eat from it (so that it does not go to waste); when there is a scarcity only you and your household (servants male and female) (Mechilta on this verse.) An alternate interpretation: as long as the time for finally disposing of that crop has not arrived, both the poor and the rich may avail themselves of it. Once that time has expired, only the poor are allowed to avail themselves of it.

ויתרם תאכל חית השדה AND WHAT THEY LEAVE THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD (the wild animals) SHALL EAT — This cannot be a command that the wild animals shall eat it, viz., that you shall permit them to eat it. No such command is necessary since you have no control over wild animals; it intends by juxtaposition with the preceding words to place in the same category (more lit., to compare) the food of the poor with that of the beast. For how is it in the case of the wild animal? It eats food without the tithe having been separated from it! So too, the poor may in the seventh year eat food without the tithe having been separated from it. From this juxtaposition they (the Rabbis) derived the rule that the law of tithe is not to be observed in the seventh year (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 23:11:3).

ויתרם, after the poor have taken what they want,

So, too, do the poor eat without tithing. . . [Rashi explains it this way] because otherwise, why does it say, “What they leave over, the beasts of the field can eat”? It cannot be to permit the beasts to eat it in the seventh year, because these beasts are not under one’s control.

כך תעשה לכרמך IN LIKE MANNER THOU SHALT DO WITH THY VINEYARD — The first member of the verse, however, speaks of a “white field” (i. e. a bright, shadeless field — a grain field or a vegetable field — in contrast to a שדה אילן which casts shade), as it is said above, (v. 10) “thou shalt sow thy land”.

תאכל חית השדה, the poor people had first claim. We have been taught in Taanit 20 that one must not feed the dogs food which is fit for human consumption.

But the beginning of the verse deals with a grain-field. . . Rashi is explaining that the words “do the same” refer back to the beginning of the verse: just as you did with the grain-field, do the same with your vineyard.