The True Owner

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah

In this week’s parsha, we are introduced to the shmitta, a year-long mitzvah in which we refrain from working the land and declare all produce that grows hefker. The Torah refers to Shmitta as “Shabbos for Hashem.” In Shmos (20:10) as well, the mitzvah of Shabbos is referred to as “Shabbos for Hashem.” This is hard to understand. Aren’t all mitzvos “for Hashem?” Why does the Torah specify this only for Shabbos and Shmitta?

While indeed all mitzvos are for Hashem, Shabbos and Shmitta are unique in that they inculcate in us the idea that everything belongs to Hashem. A person has a natural inclination to see himself as in control, as possessing what he makes or acquires. On Shabbos, he teaches himself that this is not true. When Hashem tells me to work, I work; now He is telling me not to work, therefore today He will support me through means other than my own efforts. Shabbos is “for Hashem” in that it teaches us that all belongs to Him.

The same is true of shmitta. A farmer naturally views the fields he plowed and planted as “my land.” Shmitta teaches him Who in fact owns his estate and when it can be worked or not. This lesson, explains Rav Yerucham Levovitz, is the main theme of Shabbos and shmitta. Therefore only these two mitzvos are described as “for Hashem.”

Shmitta has yet another way to teach us that everything belongs to Hashem: Not only must we cease from working the land, we can derive no benefit from the fruit that grows there of its own (Vayikra 25:7). When we obey this law we merit bracha (ibid. 25:21), and if we fail in this difficult test and revert back to tilling the soil, we incur the punishment of exile (ibid. 26:34).

The next mitzvah of the parsha, Yovel, goes even further. This time the lesson of lack of ownership is not symbolic — whatever land one acquired over the past 49 years literally reverts back to the original division of Eretz Yisrael by Yehoshua Bin Nun. The land one “owned” for the past two generations is now suddenly given back to descendants of the tribe that received it over a millennium ago. Can there be a greater way of showing that Hashem is the true owner and apportions the land as He sees fit?

What about today? Most of us are not farmers, and until the complete ingathering of the exiles, the mitzvah of Yovel is not in effect. Is there any way that we can tap in to the great lesson of Shmitta, to feel that all is Hashem’s and free ourselves of the illusion that our possessions come from “my strength and the might of my hand” (Devarim 8:17)?

Rav Shimshon Refael Hirsch answers that alongside the parsha of Shmitta appear two mitzvos that seem unrelated, but are the key to making the lesson of Shmitta real to us:ona’ah and ribis — the prohibitions against selling items at inflated prices and taking interest on money loaned to a Jew.

Why are these issurim mentioned together with such lofty concepts as Shmitta and Yovel? Rather, anyone engaged in business, even a pious Jew, relates to his business as belonging to him. “I fix the prices; if someone else wants to pay me why shouldn’t I accept?” No, teaches the issur of ona’ah, you are not free to charge whatever price you want. So too with interest — “This is my money. Lending it to a Jew means tying up my capital. I’m losing profits I could have made. What’s unreasonable about adding some interest to the loan to offset my loss?” No, teaches the issur of ribis, the money is not “yours” in an absolute sense. The dinim of ribis and ona’ah are what teach us — who are not farmers — that we never truly own anything. Everything belongs to Hashem.

The Siach Yitzchak (Drasha of Shabbos Shuva) cites the Talmudic tradition that the first question asked in the beis din shel maala is “Were your business dealings done with emuna?” (Shabbos 31a). Why is this the first question? Because a person’s attitude toward money shows what his level of emuna is. This is our test.

And for many of us, it’s not just a test but an ordeal. The world we see before us teaches just the opposite: The more one works, the more he earns. And those who violate the Torah and demand high prices or accept interest earn still more. How can we keep the proper hashkafa when immersed in such a misleading environment?

Rav Dessler offers three suggestions:

1-When it comes to hishtadlus, don’t overdo it. And in small ways, try to curtail your efforts in gaining a livelihood and use the extra time for avodas Hashem.

2-One’s main worry should not be over his business, but whether his business is taking too much time away from his Torah study.

3-To daven with kavana until one recognizes and feels that everything is from Hashem.

Rav Moshe Sternbuch recalls that when he was a boy, his parents frequently hosted Rav Elchanan Wasserman in their home in England. When Rav Sternbuch’s father passed away, his mother was left with nine orphans and her husband’s extensive business operations. Everything fell on her shoulders. Rav Elchanan would visit often to give her chizuk.

Once, she asked him: “If I devote myself to the chinuch of my children, it will take up the whole day; and if I devote myself to running the business my husband left me, that too will take up the whole day. What should I do?”

“One’s parnassa is determined in advance,” answered Rav Elchanan. “Some people work very hard and it seems that they earn more, but they then lose this money or are sent problems that end up costing the extra amount. Devote yourself to your children’s chinuch, however much time it takes. Then use the remaining time to tend to the business, and Hashem will bless your efforts. In any case, whatever you are destined to earn will come to you.”

May we live with the knowledge that all belongs to Hashem!