פירוש על ויקרא 25:6

'והיתה שבת הארץ וגו‎‎‎‎ AND THE SABBATH OF THE LAND SHALL BE [FOOD FOR YOU] — Although I have forbidden them (the fruits of the sabbatical year) to you by stating “thou shalt not harvest etc.”, I do not mean to forbid them to you as food or to be used for any other beneficial purpose but what I meant was that you should not comport yourself in respect of them as the exclusive owner but all must be equal as regards it (the Sabbatical year’s produce) — you and your hired servant and your sojourner.

AND ‘SHABBATH HA’ARETZ’ (THE SABBATH-PRODUCE OF THE LAND) SHALL BE FOR FOOD FOR YOU. Because He said it shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the Land,¹¹¹Verse 4. He states [here] that the rest mentioned shall be for food for you to maintain all of you — you and your servant, and the cattle and the beast — so that you should all support yourselves from that which the land will bring forth by itself whilst it is resting. Or [it may be that] the year itself is called shabbath ha’aretz, just as the [seventh] day is called “the Sabbath of the Eternal,”¹¹²Above, 23:38: Beside the Sabbaths of the Eternal. or just “Sabbath;” and the reference thereof is to the produce of the Sabbath [year], for the Sabbath [year] itself is not something to be eaten.

והיתה שנת הארץ לכם לאכלה, "And the Sabbath-produce of the land shall be for you as food;" The principal reason for this verse is to inform us that contrary to other sacred matters which are restricted to the altar or to the priests, in this instance everybody is entitled to consume what has grown during the seventh year. The Torah then details who are all the people who are included in that permission. You may well ask that in view of this, why did the Torah have to write the word לכם, "to you," which is normally a restrictive word, i.e. "you and no one else?" All the Torah had to write was הארץ לך לאכלה! I suppose the best approach to this is as follows. Normally, I would have expected that whosoever is mentioned in the verse first is first in line for the permission to eat. We have a parallel to this when the Torah legislated the order of priorities when giving charity. In that instance (Deut. 15,7) The Torah lists: "your poor (family members)," followed by "the poor of your town," followed by the people in "your land" (based on Sifri on that verse). To ensure that we do not understand the last half of our verse in the same way as Deut. 15,7 the Torah here first wrote the word לכם to tell us that all people have an equal claim on what grows in the fields during that year.

והיתה שבת הארץ לכם לאכלה, “the Sabbath produce shall be for you to eat, etc.” Seeing that the objective is for the earth to enjoy rest, it is in order for you or your servants or the beasts to consume on an ad hoc basis what grows on it during that year

All shall be equal in it. You might ask: Rashi already explained above, “’You shall not reap,’ [in order] to retain it with the rest of the harvest, but it should be ownerlessùfree to all,” which implies that one may benefit from it or eat it. The answer is: Above too, Rashi proved this from here. Because if not for this verse, “[It] shall be for yourselves, for food,” I would say that “you shall not reap” forbids even eating and benefit.

והיתה שבת הארץ לכם לאכלה, “what the earth produces during that year is for all of you to serve as food.” You are not obligated to tithe any part of it, nor to set it aside for the poor, as it is not yours to distribute. Neither is what it produces to be converted into libations to be offered in the Temple. (Sifra)

שבת הארץ לכם לאכלה THE שבת OF THE LAND [SHALL BE] FOR FOOD FOR YOU — Since Scripture does not state והיתה תבואת הארץ לכם לאכלה‏ but‎‎ והיתה שבת הארץ לכם לאכלה it intimates: Only that which has been treated according to the Sabbatical law (שבות) and been declared free to all may you eat, but not that which has been kept by you (Sifra, Behar, Chapter 1 5).

From that which has been “rested.” שבות is an expression of permission. I.e., you may eat whatever everyone has permission to take from, i.e., [whatever is] ownerless.

לך ולעבדך ולאמתך [AND THE SABBATH OF THE LAND SHALL BE FOOD FOR YOU]; FOR THEE, FOR THY SERVANT, AND FOR THY MAID SERVANT — Because it states (Exodus 23:11) “[but in the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still]; that the needy of thy people may eat”, one might think that they (the fruits of the Sabbatical year) are forbidden as food for the rich (and thus also for the owner of the field and his household), Scripture therefore states here: “[it shall be for food for thee,] for thy servant, and for thy maid servant” — thus you have the mention of the owners (the rich) here as well as of the servants and the maid servants — the poor (Sifra, Behar, Chapter 1 6).

From that which is kept. Explanation: From the fruits of the Sabbatical year that someone kept for himself, by not making them ownerless. [Rashi understands that שבת means שבות] because the verse writes “The land’s Shabbos[-year] (shall be for yourselves),” instead of writing, “The produce of the land’s Shabbos[-year] shall be for yourselves.” Thus [he understands that] שבת means שבות. Even though above, Rashi commented on the verse “You shall not gather,” that “Those you may not gather, but from [that which is] ownerless, [you may gather],” there he was only talking about grapes, whereas here the verse includes all produce from the land. Alternatively, that [law of the earlier verse] is derived from here, because, as I explained above, if not for this verse, you would think that one may not gather at all.

ולשכירך ולתושבך AND FOR THY HIRED SERVANT, AND FOR THY SOJOURNER — Even non-Jews (Sifra, Behar, Chapter 1 7).

By the wealthy. And you might think that when the verse includes the owner by writing, “The [produce] of the land’s Shabbos[-year] shall be for yourselves, for food,” that is only if he too is poor since it is written (Shemos 23:11), “And let the needy among your people eat it.” Therefore Scripture writes, “For you, and for your servant,” to teach that even if he is wealthy he may eat it. You might ask: Why does it write here “(you), your servant and your maidservant?” It should only write “you,” since poor people are already mentioned in the verse “And let the needy among your people eat it”? The answer is: Here it is speaking of before [the time of] bi’ur, when there is still produce in the field, [in which case rich and poor are equal]. But there it is talking about after [the time of] bi’ur, when the householder has to put his [produce that he had taken indoors back] in the field. Therefore it is written “And let the needy among your people eat it,” because [only] they eat without having to put [anything] in the field. (Gur Aryeh) You might ask: If so, why do I need [the words] “And let the needy among your people eat it”? If a wealthy person may eat, how much more a poor person! The answer is: “The needy among your people” have precedence over a wealthy person. Therefore, it is written “And let the needy among your people eat it.”

Even the non-Jews. Nachalas Yaakov explains: You cannot say the verse is talking about a Jew and that שכיר (hired hand) means [a Jew] acquired for [six] years, and (resident sojourner) means [a Jew] acquired forever [i.e., until the Yovel], like every [other use of the words] שכיר and תושב in Scripture, because the verse already said “your slave and your female slave,” and these are Jews. The verse is telling us that even though the year is called “holy,” its fruit is permitted to non-Jews. Gur Aryeh asks: Why does the verse need to write [both] “for your hired hand” [and also “for your resident sojourner”]? The answer is: If it only wrote “for your hired hand,” I might think that only he [eats Sabbatical year produce] because he is a Jew’s worker and it is normal to give him food, whereas, since a Jew is not responsible to provide food for “your resident sojourner,” I might think he may not [eat food of the Sabbatical year]. So it tells us [otherwise]. And if it [only] wrote “for your sojourner,” I might think [only] a sojourner who accepted upon himself not to serve idols [may eat food of the Sabbatical year], but not a regular non-Jew, so it tells us [otherwise].