Blessings of Anticipation

by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine

In this week’s parsha, the Torah describes the mitzvah of shemitah. We are told that the farmer is not permitted to plant, to prune, or to harvest the produce of his field. This is a tremendous demand to make of the farmer, and of a society that depended on local agriculture.

The Torah acknowledges the enormity of the test and states: “If you will ask, ‘What will we eat during this seventh year…?’ I shall direct My blessing in the sixth year,” so that you will be provided for during shemitah.

Likewise the Medrash declares that those “of great strength,” the people of fortitude described in Tehillim 103, are those who observe shemitah. Such is the magnitude of the test that they have passed by allowing the land to lie fallow during shemitah.

One simple question: If Hashem promises that there will be a bumper crop in the sixth year [and there certainly will be if shemitah is properly observed, because the Torah guarantees it] then what is so hard about observing shemitah? Once that guarantee was in place, why is this mitzvah viewed as such a great challenge?Consider: If in the sixth year your harvest was double or triple its norm, wouldn’t you also observe shemitah happily?Why are those who observe shemita considered to be people of great strength, faith, and fortitude?

There are different times in the shemitah cycle that the question, “What will we eat during the seventh year?” might have been asked. The question might have been asked before the bumper crop of the sixth year, in which case the abundance of blessing in the sixth year would indeed remove the challenge to observance. But it is possible that the question might have been asked after the bumper crop, but before observing the shemitah year.

I would like to suggest that the question, “What will we eat during the seventh year?” was indeed asked after experiencing the blessing of the sixth year, but before the shemitah year began. The challenge in observing shemitah is one that is basic to the human condition. The human being thinks, “The blessing provided until now is mine. I pocketed it. I spent it.” If a person thinks that way, he will be challenged by the mitzvah. He may sincerely ask: Where will I get the wherewithal to do the mitzvah?

The Torah’s statement, “I shall direct My blessing in the sixth year,” is not just a promise. The statement, “I will provide in the sixth year,” is educational. The Torah recognizes that a Jew may say, “The blessing of the sixth year was nice. But how will I observe this mitzvah?”  So, the Torah proceeds to introduce a new way of thinking. The blessing preceding a challenge isn’t yours to do with it as you choose. The blessing of the sixth year was given to you in anticipation of the challenge, so that you will have the tools to meet the challenge of shemitah properly.

I recall a story of a young man who lost his job and approached his father for financial assistance. His father asked, “You’ve been working for awhile son. Don’t you have any money saved away?” The son responded that he did, “But I’m saving it for a rainy day.” “Well son,” the father said with a gentle smile, “I think it’s raining.”

There are times that Hashem provides the “refuah before the makkah, the solution before the challenge.”  He recognizes the challenges ahead of us as formidable, so he grants us the talents, the contacts, or the resources so that we will be equipped and ready. A person who pays attention will recognize a blessing as foreshadowing a mitzvah opportunity.

Our generation is historically the wealthiest of all the exiles. Hashem has declared upon us, “I have directed my blessing.” May we merit to be people of strength, and use our resources for mitzvah opportunities.

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