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By Rabbi Shloimie Lindenbaum
ובשנה השביעית שבת שבתון יהיה לארץ…שדך לא תזרע וכרמך לא תזמר (פרק כה פסוק ד)
The Torah tells us about the mitzvah of שמיטה, how every seven years a person must let their fields lay fallow. The Yalkut Shimoni quotes a פסוק in תהלים קג:כ, “Bless Hashem, O His angels, the strong warriors who do His bidding…” and applies it to those who observe שמיטה. The מדרש expounds that normally people can perform a mitzvah for a day, a week, or a month, but one who observes שמיטה spends an entire year willingly leaving his field barren because of a mitzvah! Can there be a greater warrior than he?! This can be his entire livelihood, but he will ignore it for a year to fulfill Hashem’s Will. For this he is compared to an angel and a mighty warrior. R’ Yehudah Zev Segal points out that even though this person is described as being incredibly powerful, this is a mitzvah that is demanded of every single individual! Clearly, Hashem recognizes that we all have the potential to rise to the challenge and act as powerful warriors and angels. We are an incredible nation with amazing abilities, but with this comes our responsibility to listen to Hashem even when it seems nigh impossible. R’ Segal applies to this the מסילת ישרים who describes the obligation of לא תקם ולא תטר- of not taking revenge or harboring any hatred against one who has wronged us, as something that is only for מלאכים, for angels. He says that people are very sensitive to insults and only revenge puts them at ease. He describes revenge as being sweeter than honey, yet we are obligated to fully put aside any feelings of hurt or anger at the antagonist. Even though this is a job for angels, Hashem knows that we have the ability to do it if we strive and try to fulfill His Will. This is the awesome potential and responsibility of כלל ישראל.
ואכלתם לחמכם לשובע (פרק כו פסוק ה)
The Torah tells us that if we listen to Hashem and follow His Torah then we will merit many ברכות including abundance of food and “eating bread to satisfaction”. Rashi explains that we will be able to eat just a little bit and that will suffice to satisfy our hunger- it will be a blessing in the ability of food to fill us. R’ Moshe Feinstein asks, what is the point of this ברכה, the Torah already said that we will be blessed with plentiful food, why do we need to be full from just a little? R’ Moshe answers that even if we can easily access תענוגי עולם הזה, physical worldly pleasures, we should still try not to be immersed in those pleasures. By being involved in physical pleasure, we are inevitably distracted from our true focus in this world, to become close to Hashem. Therefore it is a ברכה to only have to eat a little. Even if we are able to eat a lot, by eating little we can be less involved in this world and we can focus our energies on Torah and יראת שמים, fear of Heaven.
