09 May BEHAR BECHUKOSAI: HOW EASY IT IS TO FORGET LAST YEAR

Parshas Behar
begins with the laws
of Shmita [the
Sabbatical year].
Observance of the
Shmitah year is very
difficult, particularly for farmers. Just
imagine if the halacha required all of us
to take a sabbatical from our jobs, drop
what we have been doing, and forfeit
our means of income for an entire year,
once every 7 years!
The Torah anticipates the difficulty of
Shmitah-observance: “And if you will
say: What will we eat in the seventh
year? Behold! We will not sow and we
will not gather our crop! I will ordain
My blessing for you in the sixth year
and it will yield a crop sufficient for the
three years.” [Vayikra 25:20-21]
The Medrash calls the people who
observe the Shmitah: “Masters of

strength (giborei koach) who fulfill My
words”. In other words, it takes
tremendous courage and faith to observe
the Shmitah. Those who fulfill it are
deserving of great praise for being
highly spiritual individuals.
However, the question must be asked:
Where is the great strength of faith in
observing Shmitah? If the promise of “I
will ordain My blessing for you in the
sixth year…” comes true, then the
farmer has already put away income for
the seventh and eighth years from his
bumper crop on the sixth year. He can
sit back and draw on his reserves that
are already in the bank! Where, then, is
there manifestation of the attribute of
‘giborei koach’ [master of spiritual
strength]?
Had the promise been “Do not worry
in the seventh year because money will
come to you, somehow,” we would have

understood the appropriateness of the
term “giborei koach”. However, that is
not what the pasuk says. The pasuk
seemingly promises that already at the
end of the sixth year, the farmer will
have three times as much as normal. In
those circumstances, seemingly great
faith is not required to take a Sabbatical
during the upcoming Shmitah year.
The Shemen haTov makes an
interesting observation which is really a
reality of life. Human beings have an
unbelievable capacity to forget. In other
words, even though a person might have
made triple his normal income in the
sixth year, if in the middle of the seventh
year he sees that there will be no income
that year, he begins to get nervous. He
does not like to have to draw down the
reserves, which he has stashed away in
the bank from his bumper crop in year
six of the cycle! People forget that they
made more than usual the previous year.

We remember the “bad” but we do not
remember the “good” so well. All too
easily, we forget all the Kindnesses that
the Almighty is always showering upon
us.
In fact, it takes strength and faith
during the seventh year to not ask
“what’s going to be?” when the land is
lying fallow, regardless of how much
money one was able to stash away
during the sixth year. Such an attitude is
truly worth the accolade of “Masters of
strength (giborei koach) who fulfill My
words.”