Shabbos Parashas Behar - 5779
Shabbos Parashas Behar - 5779
Rabbi Hal Miller
The aftergrowth of your harvest you shall not reap, the grapes of your guarded
vine you shall not glean. A year of rest shall there be for the land. [Vayikra 25:5]
Most of this section of the Torah, and most of the commentaries, discuss what a Shabbos for
the land means, why it is commanded, and such. Our verse teaches something about how to
accomplish this commandment. Three questions pop up in our verse, what is aftergrowth,
what is a guarded vine, and what is rest for the land?
The verse before ours may give us the answer to what rest for the land means when it says,
"Your field you shall not sow and your vineyard you shall not prune." But the verse that
follows ours complicates it, "The resting of the land shall be yours to eat." The first seems to
refer to actions, the second to produce. Rashi reads these together and understands that
the rest for the land refers to a prohibition on agricultural work, but that other work, for example
excavation for a building, is not prohibited. He sees this further from the phrase "guarded vine"
in our verse, limiting the prohibition to produce that one grows when keeping other people out
of his land.
Ramban interprets the interesting word, nizirecha, as "keeping away", or "separating" and he
equates the clause to the aftergrowth clause that precedes it. He then equates "you shall not
glean" with "you shall not reap", and explains the need for both as separate prohibitions, both
on sowing and also on harvesting.
If we cannot sow and also cannot harvest, what do we eat during the Shevi'is year and following?
That's where aftergrowth comes in. Ramban defines it as "what sprouts on its own in a field
without deliberate plowing and sowing is referred to as the aftergrowth."
So what is the actual prohibition here? The Gemora [Avodah Zarah 50] says that we are enjoined
from working the land, including preparatory activity. But that cannot be the entirety of our
answer, as it leaves us hungry at least one year in seven. We are prohibited from doing anything
to bring forth food from the ground during this period. We are allowed, though, to eat from what
God has provided from the land without our working it.
But it isn't quite so simple. Our verse says that we may not reap nor glean, which seems
incongruous if we are supposed to eat the aftergrowth. The answer comes from that word,
nizirecha. If we follow Ramban's process of equating the parts of our verse, and apply this word
not only to the vine but also to the harvest, we can understand the command here to be a
positive mitzvah rather than a negative one. Instead of prohibiting something to us, the Torah
is giving us the directive to separate ourselves from our ownership of land. Since all the land
belongs to God, we are merely tenants at His will. What the land produces by our hand in
combination with His is given to us for six years, but what it produces in the seventh year,
without our involvement at all belongs to all people, the "wealthy" and also the poor. Our
verse is a reminder that all belongs to God, and that food does not come from our efforts
alone.