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Dear Yeshiva Family:
In this weeks Parshah we discuss the mitzvah of Shemittah, allowing one's field to lay fallow for a full year. This is not an easy thing to do, especially for people living in an agricultural society, where the main source of income was from one's farm. Asking a person to not work the field was akin to asking a person in today's world to stay home from work and not earn any money for a full year! Sure, some people can afford the occasional Sabbatical, but your average citizen is not financially stable enough to just sit back and watch everyone else go to work and earn money, while he is not permitted to work. Yet, the Torah promises that keeping Shemittah will not cause one to starve, and there will be sufficient food and sustenance for the farmers during their year off.
The Kli Yakar explains that the purpose of Shemittah is to instill in ourselves the concept of bitachon, relying on Hashem. In order for one to have a reliance on Hashem, he must practice it. Many people approach the Willis Tower Skydeck which has a glass floor trepidatiously. They gingerly step out onto the floor which looks and feels like one is stepping out unto thin air. After a while one gets used to having faith that the glass will hold them up, and they walk around more comfortably. It takes practice and a little bit of testing before they are comfortable. In a similar way, the mitzvah of Shemittah is helping us practice reliance on Hashem. When a person goes ahead and does not utilize his farm for a full year, and ostensibly has nowhere to bring food home for his family from in the upcoming year (in a culture that existed before welfare) he was doing a physical act practicing his bitachon. If one were to never have to take those steps, he may not realize how shallow his reliance on Hashem may have been. This was a physical mitzvah which demanded one to face the fact that he relies on Hashem.
It helps to sometimes understand Hashems view of us by looking at our relationship with our own children. One's children trust him implicitly. The Vilna Gaon explains Dovid HaMelechs references to people being like a nursing infant from Hashem (Tehillim 22:10, 131:2) that just as an infant after he finishes a meal does not worry where his next meal will come from, so too should an adult not worry where his next meal will come from. I heard the following idea brought out from my good friend R' Daniel Yarmush Shlita. Imagine one walks into his child's bedroom and he sees his child sneaking a tuna fish sandwich under the covers. Bewildered you ask him what he is up to and he says, "well, just in case you don't give me a lunch tomorrow". That is how we deal with Hashem. We have our Father in Heaven who provides us daily for everything we need; life, oxygen, food, etc., and yet we constantly worry about what will be tomorrow. One has to practice relying on Hashem, and abiding by the laws of Shemittah helps one practice this reliance. It is like the steps we force ourselves to take unto the glass floor, and once we feel comfortable, we are able to then fully trust Him in all areas. This is the mitzvah that helps us practice bitachon.
My child was on top of my minivan playing. After a while the child wanted to come off and asked me to take them off. I held out my hands and told him to jump. But the child was frightened to jump. I responded "what are scared about, that I can't catch you? Don't worry!! I then realized this is Hashem talking to me!! These are all things that we expect our children to trust us in, and we have to place this trust in Hashem.
We all know the story of Nachshon Ben Aminadav who was the first person to jump into the Yam Suf, even before it split. We would like to imagine that our Emunah and Bitachon in Hashem is so strong that we would have been able to have such faith in Hashem. Yet we are constantly faced with far smaller nisyonos - tests, in our faith and not always do we jump right in!
We believe that Hashem has allotted for each person a specific amount of money at the beginning of each year. Hashem is always watching us, and nothing we do can change that final figure. Yet, some of us struggle with scenarios that challenge that belief. Common examples include people who are faced with a dilemma if they should declare something on their taxes, or saying a grey lie or omitting a small detail in a business deal. How about someone who found a way to skim off just 'a little money' from the company and of course they'll pay back, or the company owes them anyways. Insider trading… All of these present moral dilemmas, that if one truly believed in Hashem, that Hashem has an exact accounting of how much has been allotted to him, and no matter what he tries he will not a make a penny more or penny less, then there would be absolutely no point in doing anything even mildly 'gray'. If halacha dictates not to do something, then there's no point in doing the other way, because by abiding by Halacha you are listening to Hashem and you will not lose by that.
There are other quandaries people face where they feel they have to sacrifice their standards of religion because of the job. Sometimes people question if they should wear a Yarmulka to work. Should we go to a company party that is sure to have lower standards of dress just so we can prove our dedication to the team. Should we take on an extra job at the expense of our learning seder or prayer with a minyan. In all these cases if we can reasonably be sure that Hashem would not 'approve' of our choice because it lowers our religious standards, then we know what Hashem wants us to do, but for our business purposes we are not willing to rely on Him. This is what shemittah would teach us. We would learn the art of relying on Hashem. We would learn the art of doing what is right if it is right and let the chips fall where they may.
There are countless stories of people who persevered in the face of a dilemma, they wore a Yarmulka when it was hard, they closed a store or left an office early when they felt it was improper for them to stay because of yichud (the prohibition of being in a confined space with a member of the opposite sex), they shut down a business deal that was just too close to Shabbos, all at tremendous risk, and even though it was not expected they gained tremendously from it.
We have many times throughout our lives that we can be the Nachshon. Nachshon did not know the water would split but he knew Hashem wanted him to go in. There are things we know Hashem wants from us, just sometimes it's hard. We have to be Nachshon and just jump on to Hashems back and do what He wants. And the way we know it is what he wants is if that is the Halacha. There are times when we are not clear, and that is where one's Rav comes in, but once we know what the halacha is in a certain case then that is what Hashem wants you to do.
Sometimes we don't know for sure what Hashem wants from us specifically but we feel that we would like to move closer to Hashem. An example would be moving to Eretz Yisrael which takes tremendous bitachon. We are giving up living in a country which we know and are familiar with to be closer to Hashem. But one can only do that if he has practice relying on Hashem throughout his life.
This is the reason why shemittah is just such a big deal. So just jump. Wear the Yarmulka. Don't go to the party. Close the store. And don't worry. This is the message of Shemittah. Hashem has your back!
Have a great Shabbos!
Rabbi Moshe Revah Rosh HaYeshiva, HTC - Beis HaMidrash LaTorah moshe.revah@htc.edu | 
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