Commento su Levitico 25:19

ונתנה הארץ וגו' וישבתם לבטח עליה AND THE LAND SHALL YIELD [HER PRODUCE AND YE SHALL EAT YOUR FILL], AND ABIDE THEREIN IN SAFETY — The latter words imply that ye shall not have to worry about years (lit., a year) of drought.

ואכלתם לשובע, the produce of the land will prove nutritious. An example of this is the manna when the same quantity, an omer per head, whether for a baby or a fully grown person proved adequate, showing that G’d had imbued it with the nutrients needed by the person eating it. [It was the most individualised diet ever. Ed.] Our sages describe this as an example of food adjusting to the body’s needs after it had come into a person’s entrails. (Torat Kohanim, Bechukotai 1,7) This is also how we can understand that the crops grown in the sixth year of the sh’mittah cycle were able to be sufficient for the people’s needs during the seventh year.

ונתנה הארץ פריה, "And the earth shall yield her fruit, etc." The meaning of "her fruit" is that which corresponds to the potential it has been endowed with. When we observe the earth producing fruit this does not prove that the amount of fruit we observe the earth produce is equivalent to the amount the earth is capable of producing. We find in Ketuvot 112 that a certain sage was angry at the earth and decreed that it be prevented from yielding its fruit. As a result of this curse the earth produced far less than previously. If someone had not seen the amount of fruit that piece of earth produced before the sage cursed it, he would have thought that the amount it produced subsequently was the maximum it was capable of producing.

ונתנה הארץ פריה...וישבתם לבטח עליה, “and the earth will yield its fruit and you will dwell on it in safety.” This is a promise that you will not have to leave the land of Israel on account of a scarcity of food during the sh’mittah year, or as a result of the observance of these regulations.

Within your stomach. Because once it is explicitly written “The land will give forth its fruit,” we already know that you will eat one’s your fiull, so why write “You will eat your fill”? Therefore Rashi explains, “Within your stomach...” You might ask: Why does Rashi turn the verse around and explain “You will live securely on it,” before explaining “You will eat your fill”? Also, why does Rashi cite two phrases of the verse, “The land will give forth..., etc. and you will live securely on it,” and then only explain “And you will securely on it”? The answer is: Learning the verse according to its order one could understand that “you will live securely” refers to “you will eat your fuill,” and is answering the question that once [the Torah writes] “the land will give its fruit,” why does it need to write “you will eat your fill”? If it is to tell you that “there will be blessing even within your stomach,” as meaning that you will eat [only] a little and it will bring provide blessing in your stomach, as implied by the verse writing לשובע (to fullness) and not ושבעתם (you will be filled), as the satiation will come afterwards by itself, why should the Torah give such a blessing? Is it not better to taste food and enjoy eating one’s food? The verse answers this question by saying “you will live securely.” You will not need to worry about years of famine (בצורת) that might come. [Even though the Torah promised there will always be fruit], בצורת can also mean that money will be scarce. Thus the Torah blesses you that you will be filled with the little food that you buy with a few coins. And thus it [the verse] is all one blessing. Rashi rejects this explanation of the verse, because if so, the verse could have omitted “you will live securely.” Because if it comes to explain why the food needs to be blessed in one’s stomach, people would in any case understand the reason when a shortage [of money] occurs, as [explained] above. Therefore, he explains that “You will live securely” refers to “the land will give its fruit,” and means that both fruit and money will be available so that there will never be any shortage. And if so, [the blessing] that “you will eat your fill” even by eating a little, is perforce another blessing, that you will have more than you need and be able to buy whatever items you want [by selling your surplus food]. (R. Yaakov Taryosh)

וישבתם לבטח עליה, “you will dwell safely in it.” The land itself will provide you with its strength so that your enemies cannot consume you. \compare Judges 6,3: ועלה מדין ועמלק, “and the Midianites and the Amalekites would come up (and raid them.) During serious times of hardship, they would not only raid you but would exile some of you and not leave any food for you to be able to subsist on.

ואכלתם לשבע AND YE SHALL EAT YOUR FILL — [even if you eat only a little — cf. Rashi on Leviticus 26:5] it will be blessed in your stomach.

וישבתם לבטח עליה, you will not need to be embarrassed by having to import food because your land did not provide you with sufficient means of nutrition.

ואכלתם לשבע, "and you will eat to your satisfaction, etc." Perhaps the Torah had to emphasise this as we could have thought that if the earth were to produce fruit according to its full potential the excess fat of the produce would be so filling that one could not eat one's fill, i.e. לשבע. The Torah therefore reassures us that we will be able to enjoy such fruit to the full.

וישבתם לבטח עליה. "and you will dwell on it in safety." Although the Torah had already written in verse 18 that we would dwell in the land in safety as a result of performing G'd's comandments, the Torah repeats this promise to assure us that the excellence of the land's produce will not attract raiders bent on stealing our harvests. This verse contains G'd's promise that neighbouring countries would not attack us out of greed for our excellent land.