Faith at Har Sinai and Shemitah: Connecting Hashem's Revelation to Agricultural Rest
By: Rabbi Chanania Engelsman, Upper School Judaic Studies Principal
The Parsha begins with the pasuk:
וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר ה׳ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בְּהַ֥ר סִינַ֖י לֵאמֹֽר׃
"Hashem spoke to Moses on Har Sinai."
The very next pasuk begins to talk about the mitzvah of Shemitah, the commandment to let the land rest every seven years.
Rashi raises a famous question: what is the relevance of Shemitah being mentioned at Har Sinai? All the events of Har Sinai took place a long time ago. Why is Har Sinai mentioned here, especially when there have been many commandments between then and now?
Rashi answers that just as the details of Shemitah were given at Har Sinai, so too were all the other mitzvot in the Torah. Shemitah is used as the example to teach us this general rule that all the mitzvot and their details were taught to Moshe at Har Sinai.
However, the question that remains is why Shemitah was chosen as the example to teach this general rule. What is special about this mitzvah?
One answer given is that the mitzvah of Shemitah is, in theory, the furthest from the events at Har Sinai. Shemitah talks about agricultural practices in the land of Israel, whereas Har Sinai was a time when the Israelites were sustained by manna from heaven and thoughts of working the land were far from their minds. Therefore, by using a mitzvah that seems the least connected to Har Sinai, we include all the mitzvot that make more sense and show they too were taught at Sinai.
However, with a little introspection, we can see that Har Sinai and Shemitah may actually be closely related, which could be why it was chosen.
Rav Shaviv explains that the events of Har Sinai and receiving the Torah represent faith, an event that epitomizes the relationship between the Jewish people and Hashem for many years to come. Similarly, the mitzvah of Shemitah is also about faith. While it is true that the land needs to rest to regain its nutrients, it makes more practical sense for a farmer to rotate resting pieces of land each year. Yet, Shemitah requires complete faith in Hashem to rest all the land in the seventh year, trusting that He will sustain them.
May we merit, through the mitzvah of Shemitah and our connection to the land of Israel, to increase our faith and connection with Hashem.