ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף תהילים 69:13

What is the nature of the commandment of the sabbatical year? One should note that this is not a simple commandment at all. It is a commandment that confounds the whole way of life and brings into question man’s ability to sustain himself. It is a commandment that throughout history, from all that is apparent, was not carefully observed. In the Bible, we hear that the exile at the time of the First Temple was a punishment for not observing the sabbatical year. ¹²See II Chronicles 36:20-21; Jeremiah 17:4. And in the Midrash of the Sages, may their memory be blessed, its great difficulty is emphasized.¹³See for example, Vayikra Rabbah 1:1: “Mighty in strength, who perform His bidding” (Psalms 103:20) – regarding whom is the verse speaking? Rabbi Yitzchak said, “The verse is speaking of those who observe the Sabbatical Year. The way of the world is that a person performs a commandment for one day, for one week, for one month. But does one do so for the rest of the days of the year? Yet this one sees his field fallow, his vineyard fallow, pays his land tax and remains silent. Is there anyone mightier than that?” The Midrash in Eikhah Rabbah also shows how strange this idea was in the eyes of the [other] nations, who would mock it in theatrical parodies.¹⁴Rabbi Abbahu began: “Those who sit at the gate talk about me” (Psalms 69:13) – these are the nations of the world, who sit in theaters and circuses. “I am the subject of songs by ale drinkers” (Psalms 69:13) – after they sit, eat, drink, and become intoxicated, they sit, speak about me, mock me… They would bring the camel into their theaters with its garments on it. They would say to each other, “Why is this one mourning?” They would say, “These Jews observe the sabbatical Year, and they do not have any vegetation, and they eat its thorns; and it is mourning over them.” (Eikhah Rabbah, Petichta 17) It is possible that the dig in the appearance of the camel is that part of the point of the sabbatical year is equality with animals. See also Y. Heinemann, “Judaism in the Eyes of the Anceint World,” Jews and Judaism in the Eyes of the Hellenistic World (Jerusalem, 1974), p. 18. If so, why does the Torah nevertheless command the sabbatical year? It appears that the different sections [of the Torah discussing] the sabbatical year present different answers to this question.