Bitachon Chapter 6

"You shall eat to satisfaction and you will live secure in the land. And if you should ask, 'What should we eat in the seventh year?' We will not sow the land and we will not gather the produce” (ויקרא כה יט).

We must try to understand the connection between the question of what we will eat during the Shemitah and the previous Pasuk, which mentions eating to satiety and living securely in the land. By then, the Torah had already ceased discussing Shemitah at that point. Why did the Torah circle back to discuss it once more?

Furthermore, a more fundamental question: At what point in the Shemitah cycle will the Yidden ask this question? Before the sixth year, a person has nothing to worry about because he has all his needs and the Mitzvah did not yet arrive -- he does not push to ask what he will eat in the seventh year. If, however, the Torah means that he will ask this question when he is on the threshold of the seventh year, that seems quite unlikely! Surely, he will not ask where his food from the seventh year will come from because he has already seen, with his own eyes, the extra crops of the sixth year that readily suffices his needs. There would be no need for such a question, so why does the Torah relate this question and answer?

An incredible insight is hidden here for one who seeks to achieve perfection in Torah. Despite all of the Torah's assurances that you will eat to satisfaction, as the previous Pasuk indicates, it is still possible that a person will not feel secure and he will return to ask the age-old question: What will we eat during the seventh year? Therefore, the Torah tells him that Hashem will send forth blessing, so a person should hear and understand the foundation of Bitachon -- which is to rely on Hashem's decrees without persisting in asking questions. It seems that this question will be asked not in the sixth year, since by then, the answer will be before him. He will not ask the question in the seventh year, either, for the future Shemitah but rather in the first year he will ask the question. A person tends to look far into the future, and he worries years in advance. If it occurs to his mind that after a time he will need a certain thing, he becomes immediately afraid to face the future with empty hands, for perhaps he will go lacking. Therefore, he will start to economize right away; he will be frugal for his legitimate needs, so that he will have stores in the future. This is what the Pasuk means when it says, “The belly of the wicked shall go wanting” (משלי יג כה). The nonbelievers future worries lead him to cut back on what he eats today. Then, when tomorrow comes, he again worries for the future, he does not eat to satiety, and the result is that his belly always goes wanting.

The Mitzvah of Shemitah present a challenge: As soon as Bnei Yisroel will enter the land of Israel, and they will plant and reap for the first time, they will begin to worry how they survive the seventh year without cultivating their crops. One who lacks confidence in the fulfillment of the blessings in the sixth year, will worry deeply about how he will possibly fulfill all of the dictates of the Halacha in the Shemitah year. As a result, he will begin to save his crops from the first year because what will he eat otherwise? And he will live in fear all of his life. Therefore, he will be afraid for all the days leading up to Shemmitah, and he will begin to save his crops from the first year. He behaves frugally in the early years, so he can build up a large enough storehouse to survive the seventh year. He never allows himself to eat to satisfaction, instead consuming only exactly what he needs so that he can board the rest for the years without planting. He even considers his actions a Mitzvah, because his intentions are pure and done wholly to withstand the trials of Shemmitah. After all, poverty drives people toward self-destructive actions, so he rightly wants to avoid such a situation. What claim can we even have against such an individual?

The result is that Shemitah turns into a great trap of anxiety, which completely undermines the whole “din” of Shemitah. The main thrust of the Mitzvah is to teach a person that Hashem runs and controls the world. Even while a person works his fields for the first six years, he should not make the mistake of thinking that his own strengths and talents that make the produce grow. Instead, he should understand that it all comes from Hashem alone. During the Shemitah, the Torah prohibits even that which grows from seeds that fell in the previous years, in order to lead a person to the opposite extreme of relying on his own efforts. That is, he doesn’t benefit even from the efforts he expended in the past: This reminds a person of the forty years that Hashem provided food for the Jews; this shows civilization and desert are equal before Hashem to provide. If a person didn’t silence his fears, he will miss out on learning this lesson from Shemitah. By missing this lesson, he will fall further because of it.

At first, he will fear the future because he wishes to fulfill the Mitzvah, but this will spread to other areas as well and he'll then lose the intense feeling of Divine Providence. These questions pertain particularly for those who observe the Torah laws; as the verse evidences, we are discussing a person who sacrifices to fulfill the Torah, saving and economizing years in advance to be able to keep the Mitzvah of Shemitah. However, his imperfection in Bitachon leads him to a trap, even though the purpose of Shemitah is to teach him Bitachon and how to rely on Hashem in every and all circumstances.

Instead of learning Bitachon, he fears the future despite having food for today. How can it be that he keeps Shemitah in actuality, yet he lacks the essential fulfillment of the Mitzvah. He sustains a huge financial risk by carrying out the Mitzvah with all its precepts, and yet he misses its essential purpose! Eventually, the stress will be too much for him and he will work the land during Shemitah.

Therefore, the Torah prefaces this discussion of Shemitah, saying, "You shall eat to satisfaction and you will live securely in the land" (ויקרא כו ה). The Pasuk is not saying that a person may eat to satisfaction, but rather it warns him against conserving produce for the seventh year. The Torah anticipates the way a person's mind works and knowing that he will be tempted to worry about the future because of the Mitzvah of Shemitah, so therefore he'll economize for it when it comes. The Torah sternly cautions against this path and instead urges him to eat to satisfaction and to not be worried about the future of Shemitah at all.

On that, the proximity of the question, what will we eat the seventh year? The question relates to the warning not to skimp, so what shall we eat -- if we don't skimp today, what will we eat tomorrow? And the Torah exclaims: "And I command my blessings." The man doesn't need to prepare the prepare the workload, for Hashem Himself commands the blessings. You will not have to be stingy, rather trust in Hashem and see the blessings.

A problem remains: Why does the Torah warn against hoarding produce in anticipation of Shemitah, since such fears are only relevant for the first Shemitah, before Bnei Yisroel has a chance to see the bounty of the sixth year? After a single Shemitah cycle, they will no longer need to be warned against Shemitah! They will realize that economizing is useless. It seems unlikely that the Torah included this warning for the purpose of the first Shemitah alone.

In truth, we must assume that these instructions are even for future Shemitah and not for the first one alone. It contains a hidden revelation about the workings of Bitachon: Hashem's promises to bless the sixth year's crops are conditional; Hashem bestows supernatural blessings only on those who trust in Hashem and nestle in His shadow. As the Pasuk says, "Hashem is your shadow“ (תהלים קכא ה). Chazal explain the Pasuk to mean: Just as when you hold up a finger before a shadow it responds in kind, Hashem deals with people in like fashion. The closer a person draws to Hashem, the more He spreads his providence and goodness (מגילה יב; סוטה ח; סנהדרין ק). They way a person measures is the way matters are measured out to him. Therefore, if a person worries about the future and is too timid to rely on the Torah's promises, and instead hoards for years before Shemitah, he will not receive the divine promised blessings. Since he didn't cast his burden upon Hashem, and he chose to devise clever methods to care for himself, why does he need the blessings?

The Chovos HaLevavos in Sha'ar HaBitachon makes the point that if someone who trusts in anything or anyone other than Hashem, is excluded from the divine providence and he is left to the power of whomever he chose to trust (בפתיחה לשער הבטחון). The person who hoarded for Shemitah will not receive the blessings of the sixth year, because he took matters into his own hands and didn't rely on Hashem. He is thereby confused by his effort and proves absolutely from his own circumstances that he did right in preparing for the seventh year. Since in the sixth year he didn't receive the blessings, he thinks that had he not readied himself in the previous year, he would've died of starvation. In this mind, he congratulates himself for his prescience.

This is the result of foolishness. He will never realize that the blessings didn't come because he ruined them for himself by trusting in himself and not Hashem. He will think he acted good. The Torah declares: "If you treat me with happenstance, I will treat you in a fury of happenstance” (ויקרא כו כח). A person who lives in a world of coincidences, will fail to see the salvation of Hashem at work for him. Instead, he will remain trapped all of his life worrying about the future. He sees evidence that his approach is correct, and he teaches this kids as well. The result is that this error will not only be proved wrong initially, it will endure for all future Shemitah until the end of days, because a generation without insight is like a group of blind people walking in a single file line leaning onto the person in front of him. When the first falls, the rest fall after him.

Regarding this, the Torah admonishes us sternly: "East your food to satisfaction." The message is clear: Don't worry about the future! If you will worry how to to fulfill the Shemitah, remember that I am Hashem who commanded you to keep the Shemitah and I am the same Hashem who will command the blessings to increase your crops. Do not worry at all, and do not economize. Instead, eat to your satisfaction and live security and peace of mind. For even without preparations, you will have plenty during the Shemitah, if you follow my commands.

Thus, one who observes the Shemitah while embracing Bitachon benefits two-fold. The first, is that he benefits from the blessings of the sixth year and the second, is a clear recognition of Hashgacha Pratit. On the other hand, one who observes Shemitah without Bitachon loses in these two regards. The first, he doesn't profit from the sixth year and receive double and the second, he doesn't see Hashem's Hashgacha Pratit.