Emor: Sabbaths for Me and for the Land
The 23rd chapter of Vayikra opens with a directive from God to Moshe:
שֵׁ֣שֶׁת יָמִים֮ תֵּעָשֶׂ֣ה מְלָאכָה֒ וּבַיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗י שַׁבַּ֤ת שַׁבָּתוֹן֙ מִקְרָא־קֹ֔דֶשׁ כׇּל־מְלָאכָ֖ה לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֑וּ שַׁבָּ֥ת הִוא֙ לַֽיהֹוָ֔ה בְּכֹ֖ל מוֹשְׁבֹֽתֵיכֶֽם׃
Six days shall tasks be done, and on the seventh day, an absolute sabbath, a sacred convocation. No task shall you do. It is a Sabbath for the Lord in all your dwelling places. (Vayikra 23:3)
This kind of directive about Shabbat and the prohibition against doing melacha (tasks, creative activity) on Shabbat is one we see in many places throughout the Torah. We briefly discussed this term melacha just a few weeks ago in parashat Acharei Mot.
The Meshech Chochma will focus on the term “all your dwelling places,” which appears in our verse. Why is this locational clarification needed, and what might have been our hava amina (i.e. what might we have come to think) if it weren’t there?
שבת היא לד' בכל מושבותיכם. עיין סוף פ"ק דקדושין. ויתכן, דהצדוקים דורשים בחריש ובקציר היכי דאיכא חריש וקציר, אבל בשביעית אין שבת. יעוין רש"י פ' משפטים, שלכן סמך הכתוב שבת לשמיטה, יעו"ש. לכן הצדוקים דדרשי כן בפ"ק דהוריות, א"כ בשביעית בארץ ישראל אין שבת ובחוצה לארץ יש שבת, לזה אמר שבת היא לד' בכל מושבותיכם, כי היכי דנוהג בחו"ל, דשם איכא חריש וקציר, כן נוהג אף בארץ ישראל, דליכא חריש וקציר. ויאות מאוד לשון הגמ' פ"ק דברכות דאמר ר"א לצדוקי אתון דלא דרשיתו סמוכים, קשיא לכו כו', דהם לא דרשי סמוכים, היינו הדרשא של המכילתא, דנסמך שבת לשביעית בפ' משפטים, דאתם אומרים דאין שבת בשביעית.
It is a Sabbath for the Lord in all your dwelling places. See the end of the first chapter of Kiddushin, [where it is established that in verses that say “dwelling,” the law only applies in Eretz Yisrael] (Kiddushin 36b-37a). Perhaps it is how the Sadducees interpreted “plow time and harvest”--there is Shabbat when there is plowing and harvesting, and thus in the seventh year there is no Shabbat. See Rashi on Shemot 23:12, where he writes that for that reason Shabbat and shemittah were juxtaposed (i.e. meaning that Shabbat is not abrogated during the shemittah year). But the Sadducees interpreted as such in the first chapter of Horayot (BT Horayot 4b) that during the shemittah year there is no Shabbat in Eretz Yisrael, and there is Shabbat outside of Eretz Yisrael. For this reason, it said, “It is a Sabbath for the Lord in all your dwelling places,” that just as Shabbat is observed outside of Eretz Yisrael--where there is plowing and harvesting--it is also observed in Eretz Yisrael--where there is no plowing or harvesting. And this goes nicely with the gemara in the first chapter of Berachot, where Rabbi Abahu says to a Sadducee, “For you who do not interpret juxtaposition, this is difficult” (BT Berachot 10a), that they do not interpret juxtapositions, while the Mechilta does, that Shabbat and shemittah were juxtaposed in Shemot 23:10-12, whereas you say there is no Shabbat during the shemittah year.
This interpretation is, in part, a paean to rabbinic modes of Biblical interpretation. If we did not have juxtaposition as a rabbinic method of expounding upon the Torah, we could have read the Torah’s words much differently when it comes to Shabbat and the shemitta year.
We are in a perfect time to be talking about this here in 5782, a shemitta year itself. The shemitta year is the final in a seven-year cycle. During the first six years, we are permitted to work and harvest the land. In the seventh, though, we are commanded to let it lie fallow. Shemitta, however, only applies in Eretz Yisrael. In the 23rd chapter of Shemot, the verses about shemittah and Shabbat come back-to-back:
וְשֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים תִּזְרַ֣ע אֶת־אַרְצֶ֑ךָ וְאָסַפְתָּ֖ אֶת־תְּבוּאָתָֽהּ׃ וְהַשְּׁבִיעִ֞ת תִּשְׁמְטֶ֣נָּה וּנְטַשְׁתָּ֗הּ וְאָֽכְלוּ֙ אֶבְיֹנֵ֣י עַמֶּ֔ךָ וְיִתְרָ֕ם תֹּאכַ֖ל חַיַּ֣ת הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה כֵּֽן־תַּעֲשֶׂ֥ה לְכַרְמְךָ֖ לְזֵיתֶֽךָ׃ שֵׁ֤שֶׁת יָמִים֙ תַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה מַעֲשֶׂ֔יךָ וּבַיּ֥וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֖י תִּשְׁבֹּ֑ת
And six years you shall sow your land and gather its produce. But in the seventh year you shall let it go and let it lie fallow, and your people’s indigent may eat of it, and what is left, the beast of the field will eat. Thus shall you do for your vineyard and your olive grove. Six days you shall you do your deeds and on the seventh day you shall cease. (Shemot 23:10-12)
The connection between Shabbat and shemittah is clear: six units of work followed by one unit of rest. But what exactly can this juxtaposition teach us?
We’ll start in BT Kiddushin, where there is a discussion about which mitzvot apply only in Eretz Yisrael and which apply regardless of location. The first chapter of the Mishnah in Kiddushin reads:
כָּל מִצְוָה שֶׁהִיא תְלוּיָה בָאָרֶץ אֵינָהּ נוֹהֶגֶת אֶלָּא בָאָרֶץ. וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ תְּלוּיָה בָאָרֶץ נוֹהֶגֶת בֵּין בָּאָרֶץ בֵּין בְּחוּצָה לָאָרֶץ
Every mitzvah which is dependent upon the land is only applicable in [Eretz Yisrael]. Those which are not dependent on the land are applicable both in [Eretz Yisrael] and outside of [Eretz Yisrael]. (Mishnah Kiddushin 1:9)
Shabbat, it would seem, is not a mitzvah dependent on the land. If this is true, why was the phrase “in all your dwelling places” necessary? Shouldn’t it have been obvious that it applied regardless of location?
The Sadducees--a sect of Second Temple Judaism around the turn of the first century and leading up until the destruction of the temple--seemed to have misinterpreted this very question in reading from Shemot 34:21, which reads, “in plow time and in harvest you shall cease.”1 According to the Sadducees, this verse teaches that when there is plowing and harvest (i.e. the first six years of the shemittah cycle), there are prohibitions of Shabbat.2 Therefore, they would say, when there is no plowing and harvesting (i.e. during the shemittah year), there are no corresponding prohibitions against plowing and harvesting on Shabbat. If this were true, there would be no Shabbat (of the week) in Eretz Yisrael during the shemittah year.
It is for this reason and potential misinterpretation that the Torah had to say “in all your dwelling places.” This statement about location was not obvious! One could somewhat easily have made the mistake of nullifying Shabbat for those living in Eretz Yisrael once every seven years, an outcome that seems impossible to conceive of, even though it could be arrived at by reading the Torah according to the Sadducees.
This hava amina (something you might have thought) is a difficult one to envision. It’s hard to imagine a world in which Shabbat was operative in the Diaspora but not in Eretz Yisrael for one out of every seven years, let alone at all. It’s hard to envision that kind of distinction in practice among Jews (even though it’s a distinction we recognize when it comes to shemittah).
This is ultimately a suggestion that Eretz Yisrael gets rest for the land and the Diaspora gets rest for the individual. Instead of that conclusion, though, the rabbis affirm for us that these periods of rest work together. I think this broadly helps us understand the Torah’s emphasis on rest. It is no accident that Shabbat and shemittah are placed next to each other back in Shemot. The only question is what we do with that data.
It means recognizing the gift that Hashem and the Torah give us when rest is commanded. One occurrence of the formula--six units of activity followed by one unit of cessation--might not have been enough to fully convey the necessity of letting ourselves rest and letting our land rest.
By interpreting this juxtaposition in the way they do, our rabbis are telling us that one cessation doesn’t cancel out another. Instead, we affirm the benefit and necessity of more rest for us as individuals and thank Hashem for charging us, in all of our places, to take a break and enjoy that which is around us. Shabbat shalom.
There is also a discussion of this verse and our topic in the Mishnah in Sheviit, 1:4.
It’s important to note here that two of the first three prohibited melachot of Shabbat are plowing and harvesting (Mishnah Shabbat 7:2)