By: Rabbi Rory Meyerson
Trusting Instead of Toiling
For six years, we work, produce, and enjoy the fruit of the land. Come the seventh year and we are commanded to rest and let the land lay fallow. This abrupt transition from work and toil into a restful sabbatical year is the מצוה of שמיטה.
This מצוה is not limited to farmers. We all work hard — building businesses, solving problems, and striving to accomplish meaningful things. In fact, we are commanded to work. The pasuk (Bereishis 3:19), in response to the sin of Adam and Chava, states:
בְּזֵעַת אַפֶּיךָ תֹּאכַל לֶחֶם
“By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread.”
We get up in the morning, hustle through our morning routines, a little davening and perhaps some learning, and we are off to our busy days. We work to provide for our families. We all have routines.
What, then, is the purpose of שמיטה? What is the connection between Adam and Chava’s exit from Gan Eden — a place of absolute closeness to God — and the need to work the land? What does this one-year sabbatical accomplish for us?
The מצוה of שמיטה comes to restore us to the mindset of Gan Eden, one rooted not in self-reliance, but in reliance on ה'.
This is no small task. At its core, the מדה of בטחון is rooted in אמונה. Simply put, אמונה is the intellectual belief in God, while בטחון is the emotional commitment that brings that belief into action. In practice, בטחון means that once I recognize that ה' runs the world and personally provides for every creature, I can rely on His abundant kindness to grant me what I need — including my פרנסה.
The Gemara (Kiddushin 82b) discusses which type of פרנסה is best to pursue. In that context, R’ Shimon ben Elazar wonders:
“Have you ever seen a bird or animal with a trade? Yet they earn their sustenance without anguish. These animals were created to serve me. And I, a human being, was created to serve the One Who formed me. Shouldn’t I earn my livelihood without anguish!? Rather it must be that I [and humanity] have evil actions, and this lost me abundant sustenance.”
R’ Shimon suggests that had we not sinned in Gan Eden, we never would have needed to work for our livelihood. We could have lived like animals, with endless pastures to graze and no struggle.
But is that such a good thing? Man should sit back and be idle? With no ambitions and no accomplishments?!
Furthermore, the pasuk (Bereishis 2:15) describes Adam HaRishon’s role even before the sin as:
וַיַּנִּחֵהוּ בְגַן־עֵדֶן לְעָבְדָהּ וּלְשָׁמְרָהּ
“He placed him in Gan Eden to serve and tend to it.”
In general, when making decisions, a person can ask: Is this helping me serve ה', or is it primarily for my own benefit? Life’s decisions can always be boiled down to this dialectic: Me or God.
Before the Sin, Adam and Chavah lived with an iron-clad mindset: everything exists to serve God. Hence the פסוק above — לְעָבְדָהּ, to serve God.
From this lofty mindset, the Gemara (Sanhedrin 59b) says that Adam merited to be fed by heavenly angels who roasted meat and prepared wine for him.
Gan Eden is not a place that inherently has abundant sustenance like birds and animals. Rather, the פרנסה is merited from a mindset that ה' is the Master of the World and He will take care of me.
Similarly, if a person were to be hosted in someone’s house, he rests assured the בעל הבית will provide for him.
However, when Adam HaRishon sinned by eating from the Eitz HaDa’as, he stepped into the world of the ego and began worrying:
“What can I do to benefit myself?”
Thereby exiting the mindset that everything in this world is here to serve ה', and entering the world of the ego. This shift caused him to lose the abundant פרנסה from ה' and forced him to work for his sustenance.
Adam left the world of ה' being the Master and I am His servant, and entered a world in which he must toil for his own sustenance.
When a person is locked into בטחון, the mind’s natural fear mechanisms begin to quiet. Consider a child who, amid the terror of thunder crashing or shadows of imagined bandits lurking, clings desperately to his father’s arms. The storm rages beyond the father’s power; he can do nothing to stop it. Yet in his father’s embrace, the child feels utterly safe, his little heart at peace. He doesn’t question or doubt — he simply knows his father will take care of him.
That is the power of בטחון.
In the embrace of רבונו של עולם we are always taken care of. This sense of security emerges when we truly internalize that ה' alone determines our outcome.
The year of שמיטה is a one-year workshop to ingrain within us that ה' is the בעל הבית, the Host of this World, and we are His guests.
We pause from our work to recognize that it is not by our own hand that we accomplish; rather, it is at the Hand of ה' who graciously gives to us.
By placing our trust in ה', we open ourselves to a deeper closeness to God. A byproduct of such a relationship is as the פסוק promises:
וְצִוִּיתִי אֶת־בִּרְכָתִי לָכֶם בַּשָּׁנָה הַשִּׁשִּׁית וְעָשָׂת אֶת־הַתְּבוּאָה לִשְׁלֹשׁ הַשָּׁנִים
“I will give blessing to you in the sixth year, and it will produce enough for three years.”
ה' is telling us: trust in Me, and your success will triple.
May we all be זוכה to achieve this high level of בטחון and merit to be fully taken care of by God.
Taken from the Kollel Avreichim Hollywood
