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| In this 2008 photo a resident of Holon, Israel, announcing that the fruits on the trees in his backyard are hefker (abandoned property) on the occasion of shnat shmita, the Sabbatical year. |
At this
terrible time for those who lost their lives or livelihoods it would seem wrong
to talk about anything else. However, alongside care for those who are
suffering, there are other valid concerns such as the emotional wellbeing and
spiritual development of all people.
People like
me still have jobs and our health. Yet, there is something that feels a bit off
for me. It is hard to put my finger on it. I feel disoriented after not having
gone to the office for two months and a little detached from the world of work,
despite working long hours.
I wonder if
this “disruption” might lead to a social reset so that when it is over we might
be better for having been through this. My colleague, Shaykh Wesam Charkawi
thinks it is possible. He wrote that “in this current time, people are faced
with a situation that [forces them]... to disengage from the general worldly
interactions into the sphere of “tajrid”, …similar to what the Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh) did when he went into the cave to contemplate and reflect” (1).
The Torah’s
process of a Sabbatical year once every seven years has some interesting
parallels to our current experience. The Sabbatical year requires withdrawal
from harvesting, planting and any way of showing ownership of one’s land (2).
Instead of the normal farming process, the people were meant to live off their
savings and surplus from other years and to share whatever grew by itself
between landowners, all people and animals.
While some
would explain the Sabbatical as a form of land management (3) this seems
implausible in light of the emphasis on this practice as a Sabbath for God (4).
Instead, it is explained as a year of withdrawal of one's focus from material
matters, to be redirected to spiritual ones (5). It is a time for finding joy
in both body and soul, in reading the Torah and away from the hassles of
business (6).
The
Sabbatical year is a time for developing the capacity to let go and be more
relaxed about ownership of our possessions, to relinquish control, and have
faith that things will be OK (7). While private ownership is legitimate
according to the Torah, it exists side by side with an obligation to ensure
that the poor also have what they need. The Sabbatical year that loosens the
grip of owners on their land for a year is meant to be a time for reinforcing
caring for the poor. This link is clear when this practice is introduced in the
Torah. It states: “Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its
yield; but in the seventh [year] you shall let it rest and lie fallow. Let the
needy among your people eat of it, and what they leave let the wild beasts eat”
(8).
Desmond Tutu
said, “I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from
the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of
rights.” There is something of this spirit in one tradition of the
Sabbatical that forbids owners displaying ownership of their crops by gathering
the produce into their homes and then distributing some of these to the poor.
Instead the owner is told that by right they should be required to smash
breaches in their farm fences, so that the poor can help them to produce as
equals to the owners (9).
At its
heart, the Sabbatical year is a radical ritual of disruption of the normal
order of things. In addition to not working the land, all debts were meant to
be forgiven. It has been described as “a harsh, severe and far-reaching
reminder, the test of which, in reality, the people of Israel “never [fully]
withstood”… instead finding and creating loopholes to get around at least
some of the requirements (10). One of my
favourite stories in the Talmud involves priests working the land during the
Sabbatical year, two scholars making excuses for them while their fiery
colleague points out their failure to adhere to the rules of this ambitious
social experiment (11).
There is a
real risk that when this time is over we will all go back to normal in the
sense of having learned nothing from it. I hope this is not the case. Over the
long term, it is vital that we all learn to balance a sense of ownership of
that which we are fortunate to have, with solidarity for our neighbours and
fellow human beings so that all have what they need.
Notes
1) Charkawi,
Shaykh Wesam, 5/5/20 on Facebook.
2) Leviticus
25:2-7, see rashi.
3)
Maimonides in the Guide for the Perplexed 3:39, also cited in Klei Yakar to
Leviticus 25:2
4) Kli Yakar
ibid.
5)
Seforno to Leviticus 25:2
6) Torat
HaChido, p. 118.
7) Sefer Hachinuch, p 193, Mitzvah 84, and as
adapted by Alex Israel in a Facebook post 11.05.20.
8) Exodus
23:10-11 See Lichtenstein, A. https://www.etzion.org.il/en/shiur-22-conceptual-foundations-shemita
9) Mechilta,
In Torah Shlaima, p.187, 140.
10)
Lichtenstein, A. ibid, here refers to Pruzbul and Heter Mechira.
11)
Sanhedrin 26a.
