Halakhah su Levitico 25:2

The sabbatical and Jubilee years are interconnected in time,²In Leviticus 25, the primary biblical source for shmita, the sabbatical and Jubilee years are interconnected parts of a fifty-year cycle; see Lev. 25:2–10. like the sun and the moon in the universe, like Israel and humanity in the world of souls.³Rav Kook alludes here to the foundational kabbalistic notion of ashan, an acronym of olam, shana, nefesh, or world, time, and soul, the three dimensions that shape the finite world. The concept of ashan first appears in Sefer Yet-zirah, the oldest extant work of Jewish mysticism, references to which occur in texts from the first century (see Sefer Yetzirah 4:7–4:14, trans. Aryeh Ka-plan [York Beach, Me.: Samuel Weiser, 1990]). Rav Kook’s otherwise rather enigmatic reference to the sun and moon as instances of the particular and the universal appears to refer back to Sefer Yetzirah 4:7. See Orot hakodesh (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1938, 1985), 2:313, for an expanded expla-nation of Rav Kook’s understanding of the holiness inherent in these three basic dimensions of existence. The particular and the universal are profoundly interdependent in the most vital and spiritual sense; the particular needs the universal, and the universal needs the particular.⁴The interdependence of the particular and the universal is a major theme in Rav Kook’s writings. For an especially penetrating discussion of the relation-ship between these poles of Rav Kook’s thought, see Yehudah Mirsky, Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2014), 107–11. See also the introduction to this volume, p. 51.

Here are honest witnesses that the day begins with dusk. Similarly for all the holidays and the Sabbath, for all are “appointed seasons of God, holy gatherings” (ibid. 23:4). Only the Sabbath is called “a Sabbath for God” (Exodus 20:10, Deuteronomy 5:14), for God rested during Creation. Since both the year and the day are dependent on the sun, for both motions are similar one to another, therefore the seventh year is comparable to the Sabbath day. Hence it is also written with regard to the seventh year “a Sabbath for God” (Leviticus 25:2). Therefore, just as the Sabbatical year begins with the autumn season, so the beginning of the Sabbath day is in that period of the day corresponding to autumn, which begins with dusk.

“Just as it was said about the Sabbath of creation, ‘it is a Sabbath for God,’ so, too, it was said about the Sabbath of shmita, ‘it is a Sabbath for God.’ ”¹⁹Rashi’s commentary on Lev. 25:2. The distinctive character of the people and the land dovetail with each other. Just as the people has a special aptitude for reaching spiritual heights from within the depths of everyday life, so, too, the land—God’s land—forms the people who dwell there as an everlasting inheritance that comes through a covenant and promise, with faith in the Eternal One of Israel, and is founded on the divine nature immovably infused in this wonderful country, which is married to the people whom God chose. The soul of the people and the land intertwine, working from the basis of their being to bring into existence the intricate patterns of inner holiness that lie within them during the sabbatical year. The people works with its soul force on the land, and the divine seed is revealed through its spiritual influence; the land, too, works on the people, refining their character in line with the divine desire for life inherent in their makeup.

And [it] is practiced by males and females in the Land of Israel only, at the time that [the people of] Israel is there - as it is stated about it (Leviticus 25:2), "When you come to the land." And it is practiced rabbinically even at this time, only in the Land. And any place (Mishnah Sheviit 5:1) that those [Jews] that came up form Babylonia controlled until Keziv - but not including Keziv - is included in the prohibition of work, and all of the aftergrowth that grows there is forbidden to eat. As [these Jews] sanctified the places that they controlled forever. But in the places that those [Jews] that came up from Egypt controlled, but not those that came up from Babylonia - which is from Keziv to the river and to Amanah - even though, since they were stringent about [it], they are rabbinically forbidden today regarding work on the seventh [year], [nonetheless] the aftergrowth that grows there is permissible to eat; as it was not sanctified by those that that came up from Babylonia. And it is permissible even [for work] from the river and from Amanah and further. [With regards to] Syria, even though the seventh [year] is not practiced in it from Torah writ, they decreed that those places should be forbidden in work like the Land of Israel. And Syria is from the places that David conquered before all of the Land of Israel was conquered - and that is what our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, called the conquest of an individual (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Heave Offerings 1:3, 9). And that land corresponds to Aram Nehorayim and Aram Tsovah, all along the Euprates to Babylonia, [including] such [places] as Damascus and Allepo and Charan and other places close to these. But the seventh [year] is not practiced in Ammon, Moav, Egypt and Shinnar, even though they are obligated in tithing (Mishnah Yadayim 4:3). And all the more so is it not practiced in the other places outside of the Land. And one who transgresses it and seals his vineyard or his field on the seventh [year] - or gathered all of his fruits into his house at the time that Israel is on their land - has violated a positive commandment. And nonetheless it is permissible to gather from them to his house a little bit at a time to eat - so long as the hand of everyone is equal in them, as if there were no known owners to the land.

The commandment of the land resting on the seventh year: To cease work on the land on the seventh year, as it is stated (Exodus 34:21), "from plowing and from reaping you shall rest." And the explanation comes that it is speaking about the seventh year, that we were commanded not to be occupied with work on the land at all. And this commandment is repeated in its stating in another place (Leviticus 25:5), "it shall be a year of complete rest for the land." And so [too,] "the land shall observe a Shabbat for the Lord" (Leviticus 25:2). And above I have already written all of its content completely (Sefer HaChinukh 84) in the Order of Eem Kesef Talveh et Ami in the commandment of "But in the seventh you shall let it rest and lie fallow" (Exodus 23:11) - even though its place is here.

That is that He commanded us to rest from any agricultural work on the seventh year. And that is His, may He be exalted, saying, "you must cease plowing and harvesting" (Exodus 34:21). And this command has already been repeated several times: He said, "[But] in the seventh year, the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest (shabbaton)" (Leviticus 25:4) - and we have already seen (Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive Commandments 90) that this, "shabbaton," is a positive commandment. And He also said, "and the land shall rest" (Leviticus 25:2). And the regulations of this commandment are also already explained in Tractate Sheviit. But its obligation by Torah law is only in the Land of Israel. (See Parashat Ki Tissa; Mishneh Torah, Sabbatical Year and the Jubilee 1.)

And I have also heard from the mouth of sages that there is a great secret in the matter of the Jubilee and that all the days and years of the world are hinted to in it (see Ramban on Leviticus 25:2 and Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 25:2). Also in the matter of the sevens - that we were commanded to count the years seven at a time, and not eight at a time or nine at a time, or less than [seven] - did they say that there is a great and goodly matter of wisdom about it as well. They have known it, but did not want to give it over to every person. And even though their secret was not revealed to us, we have paid heed to this thing - that the span of sevens is arranged in many of our commandments: Behold, we continue our work six days, and we rest on the seventh; we work the land six years, and we rest on the seventh; after seven cycles of seven years, we also rest a year - and that is the Jubilee that we have come [to write] about [here]; behold the holiday of Pesach is seven days, and likewise the holiday of Sukkot is seven, and after the seven, we celebrate [Shemini] Atseret; likewise, we count seven seven-year cycles from Pesach to [Shavuot], and after the tally of the seven, we celebrate [Shavuot]; likewise the cutting of a covenant (treaty), which is something done for preservation of a matter, is on the basis of seven, as it is written (Genesis 21:30), "Rather take these seven sheep from my hand"; likewise Bilaam, who was a wise man, made seven altars; so too, some of the sages said that the word, oath (shevuah) - which is translated [into Aramaic] as preservation - is derived from the expression, seven (shevah); and so [too,] many that I have not raised now on the tip of my pen. And you, my precious son, should merit and research and see and add to your knowledge and understand the matters. But I have already finished my work here to arouse your spirit about the question.