Commento su Esodo 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 .