By Rabbi Yosef Shemtov
This week’s Torah portion talks about the Sabbatical year, that planting and harvesting are forbidden. We need to let the land rest and should let anyone come to our fields and take produce as they desire.The Philosophy of this commandment is that we should realize everything we have is a gift and a deposit. It is not ours. The Almighty gives us, and every seven years we will be reminded by not working in the land for one full year.
Nowadays even though we don’t have the temple, we still have this mitsva. It is true that this only applies for people who work the land, but the lessons should be applied to every profession.
Just like we have one day off (Shabbat) , so do we have one year off in the seventh year. We are obligated to work six days and make a living but we need to bear in mind it was not me that made money but was because of the Almighty blessings. Just as Shabbat is a reminder for the next six days of the week, so too the sabbatical year is a reminder for the next six years.
We live in a society in which everyone is proud of his accomplishments. People forget that all our blessings are only and only from G-d. This portion of Torah is teaching us to maintain our trust and belief in HaShem. And when we have this trust we will be privileged to have even more.