but not from this week, but connect them to last week's פרשה. Last week's פרשה, we learned about the mitzvah of שמיטה. So, let's discuss a little bit the mitzvah of שמיטה. And obviously, not the הלכות of שמיטה, because this is not the הלכה שיעור and, anyway, in חוץ לארץ, outside of ארץ ישראל, the laws of שמיטה don't apply and this year not all year of שמיטה, anyway. But just to explain what it says in sefarim concerning the mitzvah of שמיטה. Just first a few technicalities about what the mitzvah of שמיטה is. Mitzvah of שמיטה is that when there was a cycle of seven years. And every seven years the cycle repeated itself again. And the pasuk says that שש שנים תעבוד שש שנים תזרע שדך שש שנים תזמור כרמך, six years you shall plow your field and you shall plant your field and you could do all kinds of work in the field. בשנה השביעית, the last seventh year, there is there has to be a rest for the land. ושבתה הארץ שבת לה׳. The land shall rest a resting, a Shabbos to Hashem. So during the year of שמיטה, you are not allowed to do any work in the field. Nowadays, the mitzvah of שמיטה still applies in ארץ ישראל. The mitzvah שמיטה is only in ארץ ישראל, but nowadays, it's only midrabanan. It's not from the Torah. From the chumash, from de'oraita, from the Torah, it was only when we had a בית המקדש, when the Yidden were in ארץ ישראל, when we had a בית המקדש. But now there is only midrabanan. There is an argument, there are different opinions whether the mitzvah of שמיטה was mide'oraita in the time of the second בית המקדש. Some hold that even in the time of the second בית המקדש, שמיטה was not mide'oraita. But the mitzvah is that we are not allowed to work in the field: all not to plow, not to plant. We're not allowed to sell any food that grows during the year of Shemitah. Basically, what it means is during the year of Shemitah, those things that did grow, because after all, things were planted, some things were planted the year before, and sometimes things grow by its by themselves, so during the year of Shemitah, you have to open up your fields. The fields have to become hefker. You can't show any ownership over your field. The fruit of your fields belongs to everybody equally. And therefore, anybody wants is able to come and take the fruit. You're not allowed to make any business with it, only a certain amount a little bit which are important, as the halachah's are. But anybody could come and take. When you do eat the fruits of Shemitah, there's a certain kedushah, certain holiness in these fruit, and you have to eat it with the kedushah of שביעית, with the kedushah of Shemitah. For instance, just use as an example, you're not allowed to throw it away. And therefore, when you peel fruit, the peel has to stay and you have to wait keep it till it rots, but you can't throw it away because there's a certain kedushah of שביעית. This is basically the halachah of שביעית, very general, besides the other halachah which we will not discuss today. I was just thinking maybe that should be a continuation next week. I'm not sure. And that is the other part of Shemitah, and that is שמיטת כספים. The fact that on the year of Shemitah, all loans, all debts drop. And if a person owes you money, the way it's from the din of the Torah, when the year of Shemitah comes, you don't owe the money anymore. And this applies to the way Shemitah is mid'oraita and even when Shemitah is miderabbanan. And this has nothing to do with Eretz Yisrael. This applies all over the world. That when it comes Shemitah the all debts drop. But Hillel made a takanah which we call prozbul. And when you make a prozbul, then this allows you to collect your debts. But we're not going to discuss שמיטת כספים, which means the Shemitah in connection to connection to money, but we will discuss שמיטת הארץ, the Shemitah of the ground. So basically, this is what the halachah of Shemitah is. Now, we know that Shemitah, inasmuch as it is one of the תרי״ג מצוות or a few of the תרי״ג מצוות, a few of the 613 mitzvot, nevertheless, we know that the mitzvah of Shemitah is a מצוה כללית, which means it's a very general mitzvah. It's a mitzvah which has certain lessons for the whole Torah. Now, every mitzvah has lessons for everything, but there are some more than others. And the mitzvah of Shemitah is a very מצוה כללית, a very general mitzvah, that from that, we take out a lot of lessons to the general kiyum, fulfillment of תורה ומצוות. The proof that the mitzvah of Shemitah is a general mitzvah is from the fact that the parashah starts, פרשת בהר starts with וידבר השם אל משה בהר סיני לאמר, השם spoke to Moshe at Har Sinai saying, and he continues with the mitzvah of Shemitah. And Rashi asks the question, famous question, מה ענין שמיטה אצל הר סיני? Why does the Torah mention that Hashem spoke to Moshe at Har Sinai specifically by Shemitah? We know that all mitzvot were given by Har Sinai, so why all of a sudden, all of a sudden in middle of Parashat, Chumash Vayikra, towards the end of Chumash Vayikra, when it comes to the mitzvah of Shemitah, it says Hashem spoke to Moshe at Har Sinai? So Rashi says to teach us that just like the mitzvah of Shemitah all, not only the general mitzvah, but all the details of the mitzvah were said by Har Sinai. And how do we know that? Because it says in this week's, in the parashah that Hashem spoke Har Sinai, told him the details. So this shows us that the details were said by Har Sinai. So too, all other mitzvot, all the details of the mitzvot were said at Har Sinai. Because one might think that just the general idea of a mitzvah was given by Har Sinai from Hashem, but the details, some might think maybe were made up later by other people, maybe by the chachamim, maybe it was even given by Hashem, but maybe not at Har Sinai, which would mean that it doesn't have the same strength, the same importance as the general mitzvah. So the parashah comes to tell us, no, you should know that every mitzvah, not only the general mitzvah, but all the details were given by Har Sinai. And how do we know that? We know that from the mitzvah of shemitah. Why did the Torah pick the mitzvah of shemitah to tell us this concept? The mitzvah, the Torah could have picked any mitzvah and tell us that the details of that mitzvah were said at Har Sinai, and that would teach us that the details of all the mitzvot were Har Sinai. But the mefarshim do say why. They say because shemitah actually we find earlier very general the Torah mentions it at Har Sinai. And nevertheless, the Torah repeats it again with all the details. So this is a mitzvah that the Torah wants to tell us that just like the klal, the general mitzvah was told at Har Sinai, so too the details. But the emet is this is not a good enough reason why the Torah chose shemitah, because there are other mitzvot the same which were given a little bit before, and the details are mentioned later, and the Torah could have chosen those mitzvot, one of those mitzvot to tell us that not only the klal, the general mitzvah was told at Har Sinai, but also the details. Why did the Torah pick the mitzvah of shemitah to teach us such a general concept which is important for the whole Torah? Obviously, it must be because the mitzvah of shemitah is a מצוה כללית, it's a general mitzvah. Inasmuch it's one of the mitzvot, or a few of the תרי״ג mitzvot, it has in it something which is very general, which is important for all the mitzvot, and therefore, when the Torah wants to teach us something for the whole Torah, for all the mitzvot, it chose the mitzvah of Shemitah. Now, why is the mitzvah of Shemitah so general? What is the concept of the mitzvah of Shemitah? So here we have a lot in the מפרשים, even in the ראשונים, going back all the way to the ראשונים, in the Sefer HaChinuch and other ספרים all the way down throughout all generations. In the מפרשים on חומש, we find the explanation of what the meaning of the mitzvah of Shemitah is. And when we think of what the meaning of Shemitah is, we'll understand why this is a very, very general lesson for all the mitzvot, and that's why this is a מצוה כללית. What is the meaning behind the mitzvah of Shemitah? The meaning is very simple: one year Hashem says don't work, don't work in the field. And when you don't work in the field, you expect not to make a living. Especially in those days when the work of most Yidden was agriculture. Not like nowadays where we just have very few who work in the field. As a rule, most people don't, but in those days most people worked in the field, and that was their livelihood. If you don't work in the field for one year, you can imagine what's going to happen: disaster. All the people now are not going to work. And therefore, the pasuk says that וכי תאמרו מה נאכל? You might say, so what am I going to eat? So Hashem says, don't worry, וצויתי את ברכתי, I will give the blessing, and the sixth year will grow so much that it'll last you for the sixth and the seventh and into the eighth, there'll be so much. And sometimes it even had to last for an extra year if it was the Shemitah right before Yovel, there were seven Shemitot, and the 50th year was Yovel, which also had the same din of Shemitah, you couldn't work in the field, so sometimes there were two years in a row that you couldn't work, once in 50 years, twice in a hundred years. But even a regular Shemitah year, if you don't work in the field for a whole year, you don't have what to eat. Hashem says, \"No, I'll give you enough food in the sixth year to last for the eighth year.\"

When a Yid would not work in the field during the year of Shemitah, this would be the greatest expression of the Yid's emunah and bitachon in Hashem, the greatest expression of his trust and belief in Hashem. Because this is the truth. The truth is that our livelihood comes only from Hashem, nothing else. Whatever we do makes no difference. There's actually a pasuk that says a person should not make a mistake and think, \"כחי ועצם ידי עשה לי את החיל הזה.\" My koach, my power, strength of my hand gave me all my riches, gave me everything that I own. So the pasuk says you're mistaking, \"כי הוא הנתן לך כח לעשות חיל.\" He, Hashem, gives us the koach. Which means, really, everything comes from Hashem, and the money that we make, the livelihood that we make, comes from Hashem. The reason we work is because Hashem wants us to work. And Hashem says, \"I want to give you the berachah, and I give it, but when you work.\" Which in some sefarim they call it, מוסר ספרים they call it, Hashem wants us to put in hishtadlut. We have to do things In Chassidut it's called we have to do things bederech hateva, we have to do things naturally. Hashem created the world, and there is a nature of the world. Now Hashem says, \"I want you to follow the nature of the world.\" And when you follow the nature of the world, you make a keli, that's the lashon in Chassidut and Kabbalah, you make a vessel in through which Hashem will give you His berachah. But while we work and it seems as if our work brings us our hatzlachah, our success, we have to always keep in mind that this is only a levush, it's only a garment, it's only a vessel in through which Hashem gives the berachah. Be'emet, if a person would sit down and think seriously, there is a question, how is also a person even allowed to work? Why? Because if we believe everything comes from Hashem, and Hashem is not limited, so Hashem, if He wants to give you, He'll give you whether you work or not. If He doesn't want to give you, you could work from today till tomorrow, you won't get anything. And that's why we have the famous Sifrei, and I repeated it many times, I'll repeat it again, the Sifrei quotes the pasuk, \"וברכך השם אלקיך,\" like I quoted before, \"בכל אשר תעשה.\" Hashem will bless you in everything that you do. And the Sifrei breaks the pasuk up in two halves. It says like this: The pasuk says, \"וברכך השם אלקיך,\" Hashem will bless you. He stops at that point and he says, \"יכול יהא יושב ובטל?\" If Hashem says, \"I will bless you, it's My blessing,\" then don't work. יכול, so I would think, יהא יושב ובטל, you shouldn't work. Sit and don't do anything. Learn Torah all day, don't work, and rely on Hashem. And the Sifrei says that's what we would think. Why does the Sifrei say that's what we would think? Because really that's what we should think! But then he says, \"תלמוד לומר,\" the pasuk continues and says, \"בכל אשר תעשה.\" He will bless you in everything that you do. That means Hashem wants that we should do, and He will bring the blessing in what we do. Hashem says, \"You should work as much as naturally it's required to work. But at the same time, you have to remember that it's only a vessel.\" If a person works and doesn't have the emunah, then just because Hashem wants there should be free choice, so Hashem so it looks like that people make money anyway. Because imagine if a person doesn't have bitachon and emunah doesn't make money, and a person who has bitachon makes money, there would be no free choice. So Hashem made it so that even people who don't have emunah also make money. But really, the reason you make money is because you have emunah and bitachon. The fact that is bagashmiyus that you work, that's only because Hashem wants us to work. Why is a different story, why does He want it that way, but that's the way it works. There's actually an interesting Yerushalmi which Tosafot in Gemara Shabbat brings down, and the mefarshim say we don't know where the Yerushalmi is, must be in the Yerushalmi that Tosafot had that didn't come to us, there it says like this: The Gemara in Shabbat quotes a pasuk which has six words, and the Gemara says that each word represents one of the six sedarim of Mishnayot. We know in Mishnayot we have six orders. Each word represents another order of the Mishnayot. The pasuk is, \"והיה אמונת עתיך חסן ישועות חכמת ודעת.\" These are the six words. And each one is another seder. The first one is, \"והיה אמונת.\" The word emunah, so the The Gemara says emunat, the word emunah, which means faith, זה סדר זרעים. It has to do with the order that deals with plants. What's the connection? See the next one for instance. The next word is עתך. עתך means your time. עת is time. That is Seder Moed. That is a סדר that deals with the Yomim Tovim. That makes sense, that the Yomim Tovim, the holidays, are connected to certain times of the year. But how does the word אמונה have to do with זרעים, with plants? And the Tosafot says, איתא בירושלמי, it says in Yerushalmi, because a Yid is מאמין בחי העולמים וזורע. When a Yid goes to plant, he plants because he believes in Hashem that He'll make it grow. What does that mean? You plant because you believe in Hashem? You plant it seems because you know that when you plant, naturally it grows. That's one of the laws of nature. And a goy who doesn't believe in Hashem also plants and it also grows. What does the Yerushalmi mean? The answer is, yes. We understand the truth. No matter what it looks like, we understand the truth. And the truth is that everything comes from Hashem. And the reason when we plant it grows because that's what Hashem wants. And Hashem makes it grow. The reason we plant is because Hashem said, \"I want you to do things naturally.\" So the reason we plant is because Hashem said so, that if you plant I'll make it grow, but it's because it comes from Hashem. And if this is how we are supposed to behave when we work, this is what is supposed to go through our mind. I have to add that Chassidut says that if a person doesn't believe this, it borders, imagine, it's very hard to say this, but I'll say it anyway, it borders with avodah zarah, with idol worship. Why idol worship? A person doesn't think, he feels that he works and naturally he makes a living, why is that idol worship? He believes in Hashem! He believes in Hashem, why is that idol worship? So it says like this, because what is idol worship? What is the true essence of idol worship? The Rambam explains, how did it start? You think people got so meshuga and they took a rock and they made a statue and they bowed down, \"You are my god!\"? Where's the seichel behind it? These are not stupid people, not meshugaim. Where did it all start from? It all started from worshipping the stars. עובדי כוכבים ומזלות, the stars, the constellations, the sun and the moon. How did that start? So the Rambam says, there are certain things that we get from the stars. There are. Things are written in the stars, and they have an effect on us. Certain hashpa'ot, influence, certain things that we get from the sun, we get heat, we get light from the sun, sunlight makes things grow, things we get from the moon, it is true, we do get from them. So these people thought to themselves, if we get so many things from these star, sun and the moon and the stars and the constellations, all this, then if I am in need of something, I might as well pray to the sun. If the sun gives me heat and the sun makes things grow, so I will get up in the morning and ask the sun, pray to the sun to give me. And when I finish and I want to thank, who should I thank? I'll thank the sun. And the same thing with the moon, and the same thing with the stars, different things. And then it developed that what happens if a person wants to pray to the sun at night? Sun is not out, so they made a image of the sun and they would pray to that, representing the sun. Later generations, they forgot the philosophy behind it, and they started bowing down to the image. That's how it developed, further progressed. But the original philosophy of avodah zarah is that they prayed and thanked to the different stars or constellations because of the power that they have. Now what is wrong with what they did? The wrong, the Rambam is very simple. We know it's true that the sun gives us heat and light or whatever and the stars, but what we know is that it doesn't do it on its own. It doesn't have its own power. The sun is only, the lashon in the ספרים, כגרזן ביד החוצב, like the ax in the hand of the chopper. How do you chop down a tree? You take an ax and you chop down the tree. So who chopped down the tree? The ax. So can someone say, \"I want the tree to be chopped down, I'll go over to the ax and say, 'Ax, please chop down the tree for me.' And after it chopped down the tree, I'll thank the ax\"? It makes no sense. You got to chop down the, you got to thank or ask the person who used it, because the ax was only a tool in the hands of the person. The sun and the moon and all the stars are only tools in the hands of Hashem. Hashem gives us the hashpa'ot through the sun and the stars and the moon and etc., etc. But they believed that it has its own power. That's avodah zarah. Avodah zarah is to believe that there's another power in the world other than Hashem. That's avodah zarah. Now let's stop for a moment to think, what difference does it make whether I believe in another power up there in the sun or another power that some believe in this statue, chas veshalom, has another power, or, which means another power other than Hashem, or I believe that I have power? What's the difference? If I think I have power on my own and what I will do will make a difference, and I will make more or less depending on what I decide and what I will do, that is the same as believing that the sun has its own power. Obviously you don't mean עבודה זרה, you don't believe him as a god, but it borders with עבודה זרה. So a Yid, when we work, we're supposed to always know that it's really Hashem that gives us, that's it. The problem is that it's very hard to feel that way, because after all, we see: we work, we make money; if you don't work, you don't make money; if you work more, you make more money. So it's very hard. Now, we know be'emet that it's not so. Even though we work more, we make more, it's all because Hashem wanted us to do that, and it's like Hashem wants to give us that way. And the truth is, sometimes you do see that you could work a lot and you could have all kinds of חכמות, and as the pasuk says, לא לחכמים לחם. Not because you're smart you'll make money. Sometimes you see fools, and you can say fools and are very rich, and they have no שכל, and they make money, could happen sometimes. And they call it they had good luck. What do you mean good luck? No such thing as luck! It's der Eibershter! But nevertheless, because daily life doesn't show that, we forget, it's hard to feel that way. So Hashem said, \"I want you to feel it really, so I'll give you one year, don't work. Don't work at all. Don't work in the field.\" And working in the field those years was the main livelihood. \"Don't work, and I'll give you your money. And when you don't work, by doing that,\" and you don't plan to starve, \"by doing that it instills in the person the feeling that everything comes from Hashem, and it is not כוחי ועוצם ידי, it's not my work that brings me my success.\" And Hashem says, \"If you don't work one year, you'll see that.\" So in order to do it you got to break yourself. Imagine, a person doesn't go out to work and doesn't know where it's going to come from, but he still does it because Hashem said so. So he relies on Hashem. So this is the best form of expression of your true emunah and bitachon in Hashem. And the whole purpose is not for that year. That year is the easiest to have emunah. You're not working anyway, you might as well have emunah, I mean it's not The hard part is when you work and you make money through your work, you should have emunah that it comes from Hashem. The purpose of shemittah was that all the years afterwards when you do work, you should have the feeling that you received in the year of shemittah that it all comes from Hashem. So the purpose of shemittah is not for itself only, but mainly for the next years, for the next six years, because one year zapt men zich ayn, you get absorbed with that feeling, and it becomes part of you. Remember, a whole year you don't work, and a whole year you express your emunah. So when you start working, even though you work, you still have that feeling. The problem is we are human beings, and as time passes, it wears off. So a year later you don't get the feeling so much, and it gets weaker and weaker till finally it comes after a while, you start forgetting. So Hashem says, \"Time for a new shemittah.\" So after six years, there's a shemittah again, and that's how it goes around and around, and it's all for the purpose of the six years. Next.

This is the reason interesting thing in Chumash, it says like this: If you look at the parashah, the parashah says Hashem spoke to משה, הר סיני, said like this, \"When you enter the land, ושבתה הארץ שבת לה', the land should rest.\" Then it goes on, \"Six years you shall work, and the seventh you rest.\" The way the halachah was, the cycle did not start with shemittah. When they entered ארץ ישראל, first it took seven years to conquer the land, seven years to settle. That didn't count. Then they started counting the cycles. What happened was, first they counted year number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, then was the seventh year of shemittah. It didn't start with a shemittah and then go on to the six years. So why does the pasuk say when you will enter ארץ ישראל, ושבתה הארץ שבת לה', the land should rest to Hashem, as if saying that's the first thing you should do? And then it continues, \"Six years you shall work.\" Should have started, you go into the land, work six years, and the seventh year shemitah, because that's how it was. The first year was not shemitah, it didn't start off with shemitah. Now there's another question: why does the Torah at all mention the six years of work? The six years of work has nothing to do with shemitah. Whether you worked the six years or not, the seventh year is shemitah. The seventh year, you're not allowed to work in the land. What happens if a person did not work for six years, whatever, and the seventh year comes? Say, \"Well, I didn't work six years, I don't have to keep shemitah.\" It's not true. Shemitah is shemitah regardless whether you worked or not. You could work, there is no mitzvah to work. You could not work, whatever you want. So why does the Torah say, \"Six years you shall plow, six years you shall plant, seventh year is shemitah.\" The Torah should have just said, \"You come to the land, remember, every seventh year is shemitah, that's all. The other six years, do what you want. Don't want to work, don't work. You're lazy, don't work.\" Why does the Torah mention the six years? The answer is very simple, because the whole purpose of the shemitah is for the six years. The whole purpose of the shemitah is that the six years that you work, you should have the feeling of shemitah. That's what shemitah is. And that's why the Torah starts off, tells you that the purpose, when you come to the land, the first thing you have to remember is shemitah. Shemitah is technically one year in seven. The concept of shemitah is right away for all the years. We have to put the goal right in the beginning. That's how it always is. You start off with the goal and then you know you continue. You comes the you go into Eretz Yisrael, when they came to Eretz Yisrael was the beginning of when they started to work. See, in the מדבר they didn't work. In the מדבר to have this feeling, in the desert to have the feeling that everything comes from Hashem and their food comes from Hashem was very easy to feel, because it physically came from Hashem. They got the man from heaven, so obviously it came from Hashem. And they didn't have to work hard. They would go out and collect a little bit, and they came home with a whole bunch. They would see it with their own eyes. Everyone had to get an omer, whether you'd collect a lot or a little, you had an omer. It was very easy. Water came from בארה של מרים, the well of Miriam that traveled with them, which was not a natural well, didn't come from underground, it was a rock and gave water. To believe in the desert everything comes from Hashem was not hard. They entered Eretz Yisrael, now starts a new lifestyle. Now they had to start working. No more man, they had to start working. So Hashem says, \"I want you The first thing I want you to know, as soon as you enter, the first thing, ושבתה הארץ שבת, the thing is shemitah. Even though physically, technically it did not start with shemitah, but that is the beginning of everything. You have to remember the concept of shemitah that you have to have ושבתה הארץ שבת לה'.\" And then, you work six years with the feeling of what you got during shemitah, and the six years are completely different. Now, the question really is: why do we need a shemitah for this, when isn't this what Shabbos is all about? Shabbos, Shabbos it says the same thing. Says in many sefarim, also go dating going back all to the Rishonim, what's the inyan of Shabbos? Shabbos is, one day a week we don't work. One day a week we have our emunah, bitachon in Hashem. We are a little bit higher than the world, we don't get involved in physical matters, and we trust Hashem, Hashem will give us. Some people, their business makes the most money on Shabbos, we don't work on Shabbos. It's supposed to instill within us the fact that everything comes from Hashem. And that's why in Parshas Vayakhel when it speaks about Shabbos, there it says, \"ששת ימים תעשה מלאכה, six days your work shall be done.\" Doesn't say you shall work, because you we have to feel that it's not that we physically work, but what's happening, Hashem makes it happen. So as far as as if it's done. And that's what Shabbos does. Shabbos makes that this next six days, even though we do work, we should keep the feeling of Shabbos, which is that we don't work, which means we rely on Hashem, we should keep it throughout the week. And the same thing, six days, by the end of the week we already start forgetting, it wears off, comes a new Shabbos. So we have this idea from Shabbos, why do we need the same thing through Shemitah? Why do we need once in seven years of Shemitah? And the answer is that there is something in Shemitah that's more than Shabbos. Shabbos is a holy day. Shabbos is a day that we don't have anything to do with work, not in the field, not in the house. We're completely, so to speak, higher than the world, that's what we are. The connection between the concept of Shabbos and a daily work, a work that we do daily during the week is much harder because they're two different levels. We could feel on Shabbos, when we're completely isolated from materialistic things, we could feel holy and we could feel Hashem, we could do all kinds of things. But then when we change over and we come over to the weekdays, when we do get involved in materialistic matters, then we there we're a different person. person. So then to say that the weekdays we should have the same feeling of Shabbos is very hard, because when we're not involved in materialistic things, then we have it. When we are involved, then we turn away, we don't have it. And that's much harder. We can't say, you'll say, we could always say when Hashem doesn't want us to work, then He gives us everything. But when He wants us to work and get involved in materialistic things, maybe then it goes through nature and it's not really from Hashem. Shemitah is not like that. See, Shemitah is a year that we are involved in physical things. The year is not Shabbos. During the week of the year of Shemitah, we are allowed to do melachah. We're allowed to do all kinds of work. So, we're not beyond the materialistic part of this world. We are involved in this world, and nevertheless, we realize that everything comes from Hashem. So, the effect that Shabbos is supposed to have, Shemitah will have much faster, much stronger, much more than Shabbos. Because Shemitah shows us that at the same time that we are involved in materialistic things, we are not Shabbosdik. A whole day, a whole week we work, other things, and we're allowed to cook, and we're allowed to do all kinds of More than Yom Tov. See, Yom Tov, we're also allowed to cook, but there are certain melachot, certain work we cannot do. The weekdays we could do anything mamash like any other time of the year. So, we get it from Shemitah more than we get from Shabbos. And that's why the Baal Shem Tov taytsh, says like this. When the pasuk says ושבתה הארץ שבת להשם, the הארץ shall rest, he says ושבתה הארץ, the the שבתה, the rest, which represents the fact that we have the emunah and bitachon in Hashem, penetrates all the way into the הארץ, into the land. In other words, while we're still involved in the land, or using the term in ארציות, we have the word ארץ, which means the land, the earth, the ground. ארציות means ground things, materialistic things. We're involved in the ארציות and then we have the Shabbos. The regular Shabbos, we don't have it. The regular Shabbos, we're not involved in ארץ. We're not involved in physical things. We eat and we drink, but other than that, we're completely different. Shabbos is different, Yom Tov is a different day, we're not involved in ארץ. So on Shabbos, we cannot say that the שביתה, the rest, which brings us closer to Hashem, penetrates into the ארץ, into the ארציות, into the low things. But Shemitah, it does, because Shemitah, we are involved in ארץ. The whole year, we're involved in materialistic things, because it's weekday, and we could do all kinds of melachah. And at the same time, we have the שביתה, we have the rest. So the Baal Shem Tov says ושבתה הארץ. And what does ושבתה הארץ, what kind of ושבתה? שבת להשם. And when it says laHashem here, which name of Hashem does it use? י-ק-ו-ק. ושבתה הארץ שבת להויה. What is Havayah? What is the difference between Shem Havayah and the other name, the common name of Hashem, which is Shem Elokim? So we all know שם אלקים is the גימטריא הטבע, is nature, because the word א-ל-ה-י-ם, the numerical value is the same as הטבע, the nature, ה-ט-ב-ע, 86. And הויה, י-ק-ו-ק, is the name of Hashem that represents beyond nature, because the word י-ק-ו-ק is made up of three words, היה, הוה, ויהיה, past, present, and future together, which is beyond nature. What it means is that we bring the הויה, which is beyond nature, into the ארץ. ושבתה הארץ שבת להויה, we bring it down into the ארץ. We're able to bring the feeling of הויה, which is beyond nature. See, when we work and we have the feeling of things come through nature, that's connected to שם אלקים. And the year of שמיטה, we're able to feel הויה in the ארץ. And interesting, when you look in Rashi, Rashi says like this: ושבתה הארץ שבת להשם, להויה, רש״י says כשם שנאמר בשבת בראשית. The same thing as it says by Shabbos. Shemittah, the same as it says by Shabbos. שבת בראשית means the Shabbos of the week. That means that whatever kedushah we get on Shabbos, which we know on Shabbos is the level of הויה, שבת we're beyond nature, we don't work, we connect ourselves not to Hashem the way He is מצמצם Himself, He contracts Himself into אלקים, which is the way He puts Himself in nature, but we connect ourselves to הויה the way beyond nature on Shabbos. During the week, it's אלקים. That's why throughout all the days of creation, it uses the שם אלקים. says, בראשית ברא אלוקים את השמים ואת הארץ. Actually, the Midrash says, ל״ב פעמים נאמר אלוקים, 32 times did it say the word אלוקים in the creation. When it comes to Shabbos it says, ויכל אלוקים. So the מפרשים say ויכל אלוקים means אלוקים is finished. No more אלוקים. What do you mean, no more אלוקים? Yes, Shabbos it's not אלוקים. Shabbos shines שם הוי׳. So Shabbos you have Havayah. The problem is that the Havayah that's there on Shabbos doesn't penetrate into the Eretz, because we're elevated from the Eretz. But the same Havayah that we have on Shabbos, in the year of Shemitah we have it ושבתה הארץ שבת להוי׳, the Baal Shem Tov says it goes into the Eretz. It's similar to the expression that we say in Minchah Shabbos, it says that the Yidden are called גוי אחד בארץ. That the simple meaning is we're one nation in the world. But the Alter Rebbe says a new pshat: גוי אחד בארץ, he says goy, we are a nation that what do we do? אחד בארץ, we bring the echad into the Eretz. השם אחד, השם אלוקינו השם אחד, השם is one. The problem is that this is true, but the Eretz doesn't feel it. The Eretz, the earth, the materialistic part of the world doesn't feel השם אחד. And our job is we are a goy, a nation of אחד בארץ, of bringing the echad into the Eretz. The same here also, when it says ושבתה הארץ שבת להוי׳, we have the power of bringing the Shabbos into the Havayah and the Shabbos into the Eretz. So it comes out that what Shemitah stands for is the same basically as Shabbos, but it's even more than Shabbos. It brings it into the Eretz. That means that the emunah and the bitachon that we have, even though logically it makes no sense, logically not to work makes no sense, but we have emunah and bitachon beyond logic, that penetrates also into the Eretz.

That's why there's an interesting Midrash, the Midrash says that who which shevet or where did it grow the most? It says that Hashem said if you will ask, מה נאכל, what will I eat? השם, וצויתי את ברכתי, I'll give you the berachah, it'll grow a lot. So it says, in which share of part of the Eretz Yisrael of which shevet did grow grew the most that was able to give food to the whole Eretz Yisrael, to all the Yidden was Shevet Asher. When it says, by אשר, מאשר שמנה לחמו, it says that by Asher, his bread was fat, in other words he had a lot of bread, a lot of produce, so the Midrash says that Asher was the one that was able to supply the לחם, the food for the Yidden throughout the שנת השמיטה, the year of shemitah. Why Asher? So we know it says in different places that Asher, the shevet of Asher represents קבלת עול מלכות שמים, represents the fact that you accept the yoke of Hashem regardless of whether it makes sense or not. And where is it hinted in the shevet of Asher? The berachah of Moshe Rabbeinu to Asher in Parshat Berachah, when he gave the berachah he said, וטובל בשמן רגלו, that they would immerse in oil, in olive oil their feet. What it means simply is that there'll be so much olives growing there, that whenever they'll walk there'll be so much oil they'll step into oil. But in Kabbalah and Chassidut it says a pshat like this: שמן, olive oil, represents seichel. It says בכלל olive oil is the source of light. Nowadays we have the bulbs, but always what did they use to make light? Olive oil. Light represents chochmah. Chochmah, when a person has chochmah, that's when you start understanding something, oh, s'iz geven lichtik, came light. I always use this as an example, lehavdil lehavdil in the comic books when they want to show that a person got a good idea, what do they show? A light bulb. Light, light is an idea, light is seichel. שמן, oil, שמן זית, olive oil, which is the source of light, is the source of the חכמה. So שמן represents חכמה. רגל, the foot, which is the lowest part of the person, has no שכל whatsoever. It's the lowest of the lowest of a person, that's something that you just step on. So it says that represents not שכל, but represents when you give yourself over to somebody, you put yourself under that person's jurisdiction, kabalat ol malchut shamayim is represented by the feet. The שמן, which is the חכמה represents the שכל. The טובל בשמן רגלו means that you will immerse your feet in שמן, that means that regardless of the שמן, even though you have חכמה, but you will put your feet in there, it means the main thing will be the kabalat ol. That's for the shevet of Asher. And there are a lot of reasons in Chassidus and Kabbalah why Asher specifically, but Asher represents kabalat ol. And this is the shevet that supplied the food to the Yidden in Shemitah, because Asher represents the kabalat ol, and Shemitah is the year that's supposed to teach us this inyan of kabalat ol. There are other things that it says concerning the year of Shemitah, which are general ideas, which is noge'a to all kinds of, all mitzvot, besides just what I said before that this is the general idea, knowing that we have to, everything comes from Hashem, and that's why this is a very general mitzvah. Just maybe one or two more points, we'll see, because I'm in a rush, I have to leave as soon as I finish. There's another thing concerning Shemitah.

We know that one of the, why it's a כללות'דיקע מצוה, general mitzvah, we know one of the foundations of the Torah is, התורה הזאת לא תהא מוחלפת, which means the Torah will never change, never changed and never will change. Regardless of changes that take place in the world, the Torah is beyond the changes. The Torah is eternal and true, no matter what happens. Changes upon changes, things change, and the Torah is the same. Which is connected with the fact that we Yidden are beyond changes. What is the difference between the Yidden and all other nations, lehavdil? We see there were so many nations throughout history, and some lasted for 100 years, for 200 years, the Roman Empire, this empire, that empire, and as time passed, nothing left of them. Why? The technical reason is they were a certain style, a certain way. When things started changing, they couldn't handle those changes. Their style, their lifestyle did not fit with those changes, so they went down, someone else, another group came up. When that changed, because as years pass things change. So it's the changes that take place in the world, that is what brought down all the nations. We Yidden lasted throughout all the changes, no matter what. Even though we're the weakest, אתם המעט מכל העמים, we're the least, we're the smallest, we're the minority, we're the weakest, and we lasted throughout all the changes. Why? Because we have a Torah, and the Torah is beyond changes. Nothing, no it makes no difference what, it's the same Torah beyond changes. And that's a foundation in Torah. It's one of the עיקרים in Torah, one of the the principles in Torah that the Torah will not change, and the Torah does not change, and the Torah is beyond any changes. Now, we have one mitzvah that this mitzvah lasts throughout all the possible changes that exist. Now, we know in a year we have all kinds of changes. We have summer, and we have winter, and we have spring, and we have fall. And in the summer itself there is the beginning of the summer, the end of the summer, the beginning of the winter, we have all kinds of seasons and changes that take place. So when a person wants to think of changes, a year cycle encompasses all the natural changes that take place. Every mitzvah is connected to a certain season. Pesach is matzah, and Sukkos is the etrog with the sukkah, Chanukah, all the different mitzvot. Now there are mitzvot which are not dependent on time at all, so they're beyond time. But the mitzvot which are connected to time have different seasons. The mitzvah of שמיטה is a mitzvah that what goes through all the seasons, all the changes. So this is a symbol of all Torah, of the fact that there is Torah that is beyond time and could last through and make it through all the seasons. See, we find this concept, it says בנוגע an etrog, but in a different way. It says etrog, the the פסוק refers to etrog as פרי עץ הדר, a nice fruit. But the word הדר, the Gemara says, has another meaning. The word הדר comes from the word הדר באילנו משנה לשנה. It's a fruit that lasts on the tree for a whole year. Which I have to tell you the truth, I never understood it till I started going to Italy with the etrogim, then I found out the pshat. Because I always knew that the etrog, from when it starts blossoming till it comes out, is a few weeks. So I never understood, what does it mean? And it says clearly, הדר באילנו משנה לשנה. But when I came there, and I spoke to the גוים there who are involved in the trees, I figured out the pshat. Pshat means like this: All other fruits have their season when they start blossoming and when they grow, and then when they become ripe, after a few weeks or whatever the amount of time, you have to pick it. If you don't pick it, it falls off. It can't stay on An etrog could stay on the tree, if you don't cut it, it'll grow bigger, it could stay on the tree for a whole year. When you see some people have big etrogim that you know they have very big, they say, \"Oh, this comes from a place that grows big big fruit.\" It's not true! They just let it on the tree. If you leave it on the tree, if you leave it for two-three weeks, it will come out like this. If you leave the big etrogim that you buy because they were on the tree longer, and if they're even longer, it'll it'll stay there. It won't rot. Like an apple, if you leave it on the tree and after the season, it will start getting brown, it'll rot, it'll fall off. The etrog could stay on the tree for a whole year, and it could be there in winter and summer. That's what it means הדר באילנו, it could live on the tree משנה לשנה. And it says that shows that this is something that is connected beyond שינויים, beyond any changes, because the other fruits, the reason they fall, because it only fits for one type. When things change, it can't stay there. And the etrog could stay on, and it shows achdus, all kinds of things it says. But nevertheless, the mitzvah is not a whole year, the mitzvah is just Sukkos. We take a fruit that could be on the tree for a whole year, but the mitzvah of Shemitah is a mitzvah for a whole year, which means a mitzvah that is not limited to winter, to summer, to spring. And this is a mitzvah that this is what this one mitzvah shows us that Torah mitzvot is not limited to changes. Since this is the mitzvah, that's why the Rashi says it's a general mitzvah which contains everything, because this is what the whole Torah is, that it's beyond the changes of summer and winter, which teaches us to us ourselves also. Every person in his life also has changes. Just like in a year you have summer, winter, and spring, and fall, every person in his life also. You have the early young age, and then you have the older age. You could divide a person's life into four stages, generally. And one is the summer, one is the winter, then when you start getting weaker, it's like the fall, when you get older. And here we see that there's a mitzvah that has to do with all times of the year the same, no changes. And this is something that we don't find in other mitzvot. That's why this is a mitzvah that is a very general mitzvah. Then there are many more lessons that we learn, not not only lessons, things that the mitzvah of Shemitah represents על פי חסידות, and על פי קבלה, and על פי הלכה. But it's all because Shemitah is such a very very special mitzvah, all based on what I said in the beginning, that Shemitah is the mitzvah that brings out within us our true kabbalat ol and emunah and bitachon in Hashem. And this is the foundation of all Yiddishkeit. The foundation of all Yiddishkeit is the fact that we know that we connect ourselves to Hashem. The mitzvot is an expression of our emunah and bitachon. We believe in Hashem, we do what He told us. Everything is an expression, but that's what we have, and that's what we find in the mitzvah of Shemitah. And if we do the mitzvah of Shemitah, at least in our feeling, then the Aibershter helps and we will get the mitzvah of shemitah back in הלכה בגשמיות, not only the way it's now in ארץ ישראל מדרבנן, but we will get it m'doraita, the way it's going to be when Mashiach will come במהרה בימינו ממש. Amen. Yes. You would say that this שבתות משמיטה. Ah, שבתות משמיטה, exactly! שבתות שבתות משמיטה the year are higher. Yes, you wanted to ask something before. In Yovel, you say they don't work, right? So are we obligated to learn Torah then? Shemitah also. See, I didn't There's a lot of aspects to shemitah which I didn't touch, and he touched. Since someone mentioned that, I'll I'll I'll just mention. I didn't It says in ספרים, the Sforno actually writes that one of the reasons why Hashem gave us the mitzvah of shemitah, so before I gave a different reason because to instill emunah, he says Hashem wanted that the Yidden should have at least one year in a cycle of seven to spend full-time studying, learning Torah. And since those years most of the occupation was in the field, so a year that you can't work in the field, people were free. If people were free, they studied Torah, so they were obligated to study Torah. And when Yovel came, there were two years in a row that they studied Torah. And that's why I bring this up, because you said there was no explanation to them how they could be sustained if they were learning. But by learning Torah you're sustained. Well, Yeah, but that's not בגשמיות! So that's still emunah and bitachon! You still have to have emunah, too! People should believe that by studying Torah, studying Torah, one second, you get you have to believe in Hashem. When you study Torah and you say, \"If I study, Hashem will give me,\" that's because you believe in Hashem! If we don't have that emunah, no one understands how you sit in yeshiva and you study and all of a sudden you make parnasah! Sometimes we don't understand it now, either! If you don't have If you don't have a a rich father-in-law, how are you going to how are you going to survive by studying Torah? What about bringing proof from the Torah, by rich father-in-law? You work! Yeah, but by rich father-in-law's, why does that But you work also! That's because the Eibershter is my is my father-in-law. No, but you you work בגשמיות! You work on the field! But who paying. But who's my rich father-in-law? Exactly! See, you you know it, you feel it. Yeah, but I'm telling you you're a paid player. Yeah. And a guy like me, I'm not a paid player, so I can see it more clearer. You're learning because you're getting paid. If you wasn't paid, would you learn? That's true. That that a person that's out there in the field could feel it even more. Yeah. So that's why I say So you have to have more emunah. that people can be sustained. If they're learning, that's work, they should be paid so they get sustained. But that's also emunah. That's not emunah, they're doing a job, like you. They get paid! Can fruit be brought to the attic? What? Can fruit be brought through your attic? Ah, that's maaser. What? That's from because of maaser, not Shemitah. Can fruit also become hefker? Yeah, you can't sell work. That's something else. There are so many things in Shemitah and more. Anybody could come and take. That's why I said לשלש השנים. וצויתי את ברכתי לשלש השנים. And keep in mind what else will stop us, could be רוב יושביה in Eretz Yisrael. רוב יושביה, it's a machloket if רוב יושביה. That's Yovel, not Shemitah, it's Yovel. When Some say רוב, some say כל. כל יושביה עליה. How do we pask? Like the Rambam? There are like conversations going on here.