"shabbat is called a delight" - עונג קרא לשבת

Recently, a close friend was let go from a job. Someone who was incredible at what he did was sent home for one reason and one reason only - his salary was no longer in the budget. On paper another person is on the job hunt but what has been lost is so much more than a salaried position.


And so I awoke at five o’clock this morning in tears, feeling acutely the impact if the world economic collapse, recognizing it as the beginning of the steps in the “birth-pangs of mashiach,” the steps leading us towards the Redemption. I cried begging Hashem not to give us more reasons to cry and being unable to fathom how this friend could go into shabbat with the oneg and enjoyment that the day demands of us. If the day is indeed “a taste of the world to come,” how are we to experience this slice of heaven amidst heartbreak and uncertainty?


What makes shabbat special? Certainly halacha provides us with a blueprint of the “don’ts” but among the “dos” provided by the guidebook is the singing of zemirot. Singing zemirot is but one of the ways we bring joy to shabbat and going over the words in my head I suddenly I understood the zemirah that we sing each Friday evening and understood a message I had overlooked millions of times. The zemirah where every USY kid will yell out “valley chicken!” during the refrain and where girls will sing “u’leshadech habanot” in decibels to rival the deafening tones at mt. Sinai. The words of the last verse of “ma yedidot" - "what a beloved friend" jumped out at me:

מֵעֵין עוֹלָם הַבָּא יוֹם שַׁבָּת מְנוּחָה
כָּל הַמִּתְעַנְּגִים בָּהּ יִזְכּוּ לְרוֹב שִׂמְחָה
מֵחֶבְלֵי מָשִׁיחַ יֻצָּלוּ לִרְוָחָה
פְּדוּתֵנוּ תַצְמִיחַ וְנָס יָגוֹן וַאֲנָחָה

Gleaned from midrashic literature the zemirah tells us the following:

Shabbat, the day of rest, is a taste of the world-to-come.
All those who enjoy themselves on it will merit such happiness
They will be spared from the birth pangs of the messiah (an era of tumult and suffering even if its final outcome is redemptive, TB Shabbat 118a)
Make our redemption flourish, so that sorrow and sighing will take flight

It is a message I have heard countless times. Our sages teach us that as much as the Jewish people keep shabbat it is shabbat that guards the Jewish people. The zemer illuminates this idea so poignantly. When life in this world is most difficult shabbat comes to us as a gift, a rose among the thorns, a diamond beckoning from the rough. It is not a matter of searching for enjoyment in shabbat during times of tribulation but it is shabbat itself that saves us from the hardships.


May we approach each shabbat as the inheritance and treasure it is meant to be and may we have added kavanah and intention when we sing this zemirah to ease our inevitable suffering in the times ahead.


With blessings for a peaceful, restful, meaningful and joyful shabbat.


Ma Yedidot was composed by Rabbi Menachem ben Machir of Ratisbonne (France, 11th Century). English translation was taken from here

An explanation of the zemirah in hebrew can be found here.


מה ידידות מנוחתך - סימן מנחם
מַה יְּדִידוּת מְנוּחָתֵךְ אַתְּ שַׁבָּת הַמַּלְכָּה
בְּכֵן נָרוּץ לִקְרָאתֵךְ בּוֹאִי כַלָּה נְסוּכָה
לְבוּשׁ בִּגְדֵי חֲמוּדוֹת לְהַדְלִיק נֵר בִּבְרָכָה
וַתֵּכֶל כָּל הָעֲבוֹדוֹת לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ מְלָאכָה
לְהִתְעַנֵּג בְּתַעֲנוּגִים בַּרְבּוּרִים וּשְׂלָיו וְדָגִים

מֵעֶרֶב מַזְמִינִים כָּל מִינֵי מַטְעַמִּים
מִבְּעוֹד יוֹם מוּכָנִים תַּרְנְגוֹלִים מְפֻטָּמִים
וְלַעֲרוֹךְ כַּמָּה מִינִים שְׁתוֹת יֵינוֹת מְבֻשָּׂמִים
וְתַפְנוּקֵי מַעֲדַנִּים בְּכָל שָׁלשׁ פְּעָמִים
לְהִתְעַנֵּג בְּתַעֲנוּגִים בַּרְבּוּרִים וּשְׂלָיו וְדָגִים

נַחֲלַת יַעֲקֹב יִירָשׁ בְּלִי מְצָרִים נַחֲלָה
וִיכַבְּדוּהוּ עָשִׁיר וָרָשׁ וְתִזְכּוּ לִגְאֻלָּה
יוֹם שַׁבָּת אִם תִּשְׁמֹרוּ וִהְיִיתֶם לִי סְגֻלָּה
שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תַּעֲבוֹדוּ וּבַשְּׁבִיעִי נָגִילָה
לְהִתְעַנֵּג בְּתַעֲנוּגִים בַּרְבּוּרִים וּשְׂלָיו וְדָגִים

חֲפָצֶיךָ אֲסוּרִים וְגַם לַחֲשׁוֹב חֶשְׁבּוֹנוֹת
הִרְהוּרִים מֻתָּרִים וּלְשַׁדֵּךְ הַבָּנוֹת
וְתִנּוֹק לְלַמְּדוֹ סֵפֶר לַמְנַצֵּחַ בִּנְגִינוֹת
וְלַהֲגוֹת בְּאִמְרֵי שֶׁפֶר בְּכָל פִּנּוֹת וּמַחֲנוֹת
לְהִתְעַנֵּג בְּתַעֲנוּגִים בַּרְבּוּרִים וּשְׂלָיו וְדָגִים

הִלּוּכָךְ תְּהֵא בְנַחַת עוֹנֶג קְרָא לַשַּׁבָּת
וְהַשֵּׁנָה מְשֻׁבַּחַת כְּדַת נֶפֶשׁ מְשִׁיבַת
בְּכֵן נַפְשִׁי לְךָ עָרְגָה וְלָנוּחַ בְּחִבַּת
כַּשּׁוֹשַׁנִּים סוּגָה בּוֹ יָנוּחוּ בֵּן וּבַת
לְהִתְעַנֵּג בְּתַעֲנוּגִים בַּרְבּוּרִים וּשְׂלָיו וְדָגִים

מֵעֵין עוֹלָם הַבָּא יוֹם שַׁבָּת מְנוּחָה
כָּל הַמִּתְעַנְּגִים בָּהּ יִזְכּוּ לְרוֹב שִׂמְחָה
מֵחֶבְלֵי מָשִׁיחַ יֻצָּלוּ לִרְוָחָה
פְּדוּתֵנוּ תַצְמִיחַ וְנָס יָגוֹן וַאֲנָחָה
לְהִתְעַנֵּג בְּתַעֲנוּגִים בַּרְבּוּרִים וּשְׂלָיו וְדָגִים


Ma Yedidot / What a Beloved Friend
Refrain: This is the time to enjoy pleasures: geese (like King Solomon’s fare) (I Kings 5:3),
quail (like those God sent with the manna in the desert) (Exodus 16:12),
and fish (like those the children of Israel remembered so fondly from the Nile in Egypt, when they were
bored with manna) (Numbers 11: 8).

Ma. What a beloved friend your Rest is! (See Psalm 84:2-314)
You are Shabbat, the queen! /
So let’s run to greet you: Come, my princess bride/kallah (just as the ancient Rabbis
Hanina and Rabbi Yannai used to welcome her at sunset - TB Shabbat 119a)/
Dressed in desirable clothes, we light the (Shabbat) candle with a blessing.
All labors are finished (just as Moshe finished all the labors in making the Mishkan in the desert)
(Exodus 39:32): So “you shall do no work” (Leviticus 23:3).

Mei-erev. In advance all is prepared, all sorts of tasty delicacies. /
While it is still daylight, the juicy, plump chickens are ready. /
We set a (table) - with assorted foods, to drink fragrant wines, and /
(to taste) a connoisseur’s special dainties – three times, (the three Shabbat
meals).

Nakhalat. One will inherit “Jacob’s legacy” (Isaiah 58:14), “an inheritance without
boundaries” (“which is granted only to those who take pleasure in observing
Shabbat”).( TB Shabbat 118a) /
Both rich and poor should honor Shabbat and thereby all of you will earn
redemption.
(In fact, “if all of Israel were to keep Shabbat twice, then they would be redeemed immediately”) (TB
Shabbat 118a; TJ Ta’anit 1:1) /
So if you keep Shabbat, “you will be a treasure to Me” (as God promised Israel at Mount
Sinai) (Exodus 19:5):/
“Six days you shall labor” (Exodus 20:9), but on the seventh let us celebrate.

Khafatzekha. (Pursuing) your business affairs are forbidden, as are computing
your accounts. /
However purely mental calculations are permitted. So too are:
(1) matchmaking for your daughters (which often involves dowry calculations) (TB Shabbat
150a), /
(2) teaching a child to study a book (or arranging to hire a teacher),
(3) singing melodies / and (4) contemplating, wherever you are, “beautiful words
of wisdom” (Genesis 49: 21). 15
Hilukhakha. Let your gait be relaxed (TB Shabbat 113a), since “Shabbat is called Oneg
, a delight” (Isaiah 58:13)./
Sleep is highly commended, for it properly restores the soul. /
Hence my soul longs for you - Shabbat, to rest with affection. /
Shabbat is “encircled by lilies” (Song of Songs 7:3) (fenced in by protective prohibitions) (Avot
d’Rabbi Natan source???).
Both son and daughter will rest on Shabbat (Exodus 20: 10) .

Mei-ein.
Shabbat, the day of rest, is a taste of the world-to-come. (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:36) /
All those who enjoy themselves on it will merit much happiness. /
They will be spared from the birth pangs of the messiah (an era of tumult and suffering
even if its final outcome is redemptive, TB Shabbat 118a). /
Make our redemption flourish, so that sorrow and sighing will take flight.

Embracing the Whole of Judaism, Embracing your fellow Jew.

In the early years of Zionism, those who were most active in founding the Jewish State labeled themselves as secular. They may have studied in batai midrash and been steeped in Torah knowledge but they rejected religious observance if not rejecting the Divine altogether. For the early Zionists the land of Israel and building the State replaced religion. And in a sense they were right. In no way do I wish to denigrate the Torah that was amassed in the exile. Great torah leaders arose throughout our bitter separation from our Land and their light spreads out through the generations and fills yeshivot and midrashot throughout Eretz Yisrael. But while the stature of torah giants in the exile is awe inspiring the early movers and shakers of the Zionist movement recognized a serious lack in Jewish life. For exilic Jewry religious life was “only” Shabbat a list of dos and don’ts, dietary laws. The life of a Jew in exile, his “religious existence” is all but an empty shell of the potential of a full Jewish life in Israel. Even a Jewish life unmarred by persecution and anti-semitism like the one I knew growing up in the states is but a weak shadow of the life I lead here. I can never seem to fully express what I mean by this - a full Jewish life. After five years it is only something that I am beginning to grasp and even more so in this Sabbatical year. The founders of the state shed what it deemed “religious Judaism” and embraced a national Jewish existence. For them it was one or the other. Judaism encompasses many teachings and values. Keeping shabbat, honoring parents, not speaking lashon hara, saving the whales, reciting the Shema, finding a cure for AIDS, building a State, supporting an army, combatting litter and protecting the environment - these all fall under the rubric of Torah values. There are Jews who affiliate with groups that hold “tikun olam” to be of the highest value but dismiss Shabbat as “for the religious” and vice versa so called “religious Jews” who leave the crucial task of repairing environmental damage to “the secular.” Again, it’s one or the other. One of the fundamental teachings of Rav Kook, is that there is no disparity between these endeavors and rather than treating one as “kadosh” “sanctified” and another as “chol” “secular” we recognize it all as “kadosh”. All of our actions are kadosh, everything we do is directed in service of Hashem.

The model of most yeshiva day schools is to have religious studies in the morning and secular studies in the afternoon. My high school among it’s lofty ideological goals tried to instill in us the idea that one is not a Jew only in the morning but that one is a Jew all the time and therefor spread “religious studies” courses throughout the day. The practical outcome of this was that the gemarah shiur could be couched between math and american history. While this idea is lacking in that it fails to address the concept directing all your activities towards G-d and infusing G-d consciousness into every action, teaching kids to be conscious of their Judaism at all times is praiseworthy.

Exilic Jewry compartmentalizes Judaism. In the house I wear a kippah. Outside I wear a baseball cap. In my heart I know it’s Shabbat but beyond the walls of my home it’s just a peaceful Saturday morning. On Thursday nights I wish my friends a Shabbat Shalom but bid a good evening to the cashier. Even when living in Israel the exile mentality is embedded within us so that one thinks “my unaffiliated friend will go help kids in Africa, I’ll say tehillim at the kotel.” It is time to recognize that it is not one or the other. It is both. It is all.

One of my most vivid memories from my year at Nishmat was a teaching of Rav Kook on “Tshuva” that I learned from one of my rabbis, Rav Sperling. Rav Sperling who counts some of the most influential students of Merkaz HaRav Kook as his greatest teachers. Rav Kook explains that when one embarks on the path of Return (repentance), in the process of suppressing his desire to sin he ends up stifling desire itself. Like a sick person who receives treatment to cure his illness may initially be weakened by the medication before returning to good health. Rav Sperling expounds upon Rav Kook’s idea. We often see yeshiva students, people who were once passionate and active lose that passion in the pursuit of a Torah lifestyle. “I used to save the whales but now I learn in the Beit Midrash.” According to Rav Kook this loss can only be temporary. It is crucial to the health of a Jew to expunge sin from his life. However removing of sin is not the end of the Tshuva process. One must rebuild his desire and redirect it to fulfilling Mitzvot. Tshuva is deemed complete when that desire that was once used towards sin is channeled to positive endeavors, social action, simple acts of kindness. Throughout the year Rav Sperling taught us much more about Rav Kooks philosophy but what I remember most are those shiurim infused with ideas of Jewish unity and exuding of a genuine love for each and every Jew. Students of Rav Sperling are left with a deep rooted love of halacha but more importantly an insatiable desire to promote this love and tear down the labels that create invisible but seemingly insurmountable barriers between the Jews of the world. It is too easy to compartmentalize and box each other up into little groups. It is much harder to appreciate the contribution of every Jew and to recognize that each action ensures the well-being and health of the entire nation. We can not dismiss the work of somebody working for the welfare of children in Africa just because the one doing the work does not include prayer in his daily activities. It is ridiculous to neglect one mitzvah at the expense of another. Most importantly we need to completely redefine our perception of what a mitzvah really is and the meaning of a religious life. Judaism is so much broader so much more encompassing than what our exilic day schools taught us. It is time to embrace Judaism for what it really is. It is time to start living a full Jewish life.

in the wake of the terrorist attack on Yeshivat Merkaz haRav

So here I am, Thursday night in Jerusalem, Rosh Chodesh Adar Bet 5768. I’m at a meeting for “chesed united” a project undertaken by organizations including the Orthodox Union, Ohr Olam, and Shir Hadash to help the traumatized children of Sderot this Purim. We hear speakers from the Sderot Media Center. The videos offer us but a glimpse into the ongoing suffering and daily trauma the people of Sderot and the western negev cope with every single day.

Sirens sound, a faraway ambulance.

Sirens in Jerusalem. I think to myself: “It’s amazing how only a few years ago Jerusalem was constantly under terrorist attack and now it’s our job to reach out to our brothers and sisters in Aderot.”

Except that those sirens tonight weren’t just regular ambulance sirens. Those ambulances were headed to Merkaz HaRav Kook where terrorists had walked into the yeshiva and were indiscriminately shooting innocent students. Eight have been murdered. Several others injured.

My first week in Jerusalem saw the infamous Cafe Hillel bombing on Emek Refaim. Nearly five years later and I call Emek Refaim home. Five years ago the word “disengagement” meant nothing. Later that year when Prime Minister Sharon announced his plans for Gaza at the Hertzeliya conference the National-Zionist community was up in arms. Mass protests were organized, the country was electric with defiance. People were passionate, they were fighting. I can personally attest that people honestly did not think the plan would go through, that thousands would be kicked out of their homes. I remember the feeling. We cried and screamed and warned “today Gush Katif, tomorrow Ashkelon and then Tel Aviv,” and we were just brushed off “this is the price for peace.”

The government did nothing to help the Israeli citizens it so callously uprooted from Gush Katif. The reports of mental health problems, attempted suicide and divorce rates among former residents of Gush Katif are staggering and the government does nothing. Rockets rain down on Sderot at the rate of 6 to 8 per day and the government (aside from the obvious of STOPPING the launch of kassams) does nothing for the terrorized citizen of Israel. Ashkelon is under attack. Nothing. Students are murdered at Sapir College. Nothing. With the government so completely inept, somehow the responsibility of helping the citizens of Israel lies on the shoulders of the citizens of Israel on the Jewish people themselves. We have no leadership. The current Israeli government is the most corrupt the modern Jewish state has ever seen. Putting aside whatever lawsuits and indictments members of keneset face, including the Prime Minister himself, the government is allowing it’s own citizens to be terrorized and murdered and doing nothing to help in the fallout. Sderot residents who have seen direct hits on their homes deeming them unlivable wander from the homes of family members and friends as the government has provided no compensation to fix the damage.

Post disengagement there is a shift in the Israeli consciousness. At the most basic level we were simply shocked. And of course, launching from areas formerly inhabited by the Jews of Gush Katif, the rocket attacks intensify against Sderot. Mass protests do not materialize. The Prime Minister is suspect in several scandals. No response. The President is suspect of sexual harassment and rape. It gets some people moving. Israeli citizens, former residents of Gush Katif still have not received compensation and live in caravans near the Gazan border and the public is all but silent. Something changed. People are more reflective it seems as though many rather than fighting publicly are re-evaluating their relationship with G-d. They’re fighting by intensifying their torah study, increasing their concentration during prayer. On the one hand we are tired of fighting and running against a brick wall and are outwardly apathetic and yet there is a revolution bubbling beneath the surface.

We look around and see we really have no central figure to lead us. There are no words that are printable to describe Prime Minister Olmert and even within the “religious” camp there is no single leader or gadol that everyone agrees to follow. With no human leader to guide us we begin to see that we have nobody to rely on, there is nobody to guide us but G-d himself. The psalms in our daily prayers are replete with verses reminding us so and they never rang so true: “ אַל-תִּבְטְחוּ בִנְדִיבִים-- בְּבֶן-אָדָם, שֶׁאֵין לוֹ תְשׁוּעָה.” “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” (Psalms, 146) “לֹא בִגְבוּרַת הַסּוּס יֶחְפָּץ; לֹא-בְשׁוֹקֵי הָאִישׁ יִרְצֶה. רוֹצֶה יְהוָה, אֶת-יְרֵאָיו-- אֶת-הַמְיַחֲלִים לְחַסְדּוֹ.” “He delighteth not in the strength of the horse; He taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man. The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that wait for His mercy.” (Psalms, 147) G-d desires those who fight for Him. When it seems as though no human measure can bring relief for our suffering we have no choice but to turn to G-d.

Recently my friend and I started learning Sefer Shoftim - the book of Judges. The last time I read its pages I was an eleven year old kid in LA and the events described were gory, ancient and unimportant as I gazed out the window and was distracted by the hum of traffic on Olympic blvd. Today I read the words and they are so relevant and resonate so strongly that I wonder if I’m indeed reading the bible or if I’ve accidentally picked up todays paper. The beginning of the book of Shoftim picks up where Joshua left off. In Sefer Yehoshua the tribes of Israel managed to conquer great parts of the Land of Israel and while most of it was under Jewish sovereignty the Jewish people still lived among the Cananites, Moabits and Jebusites. Much like today where the heart of biblical Israel was won back in the six day war in 1967 but 41 years later much of it remains to be properly settled, so to in the book of Shoftim, most of the Land remained to be settled with the building of communities, towns and cities. So, Sefer Shoftim begins. Joshua, has died leaving the Israelites leaderless with no one of his stature to replace him. The entire generation that wandered the desert has died and the new generation “knew not the LORD nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel.” (Shoftim 2:10) and thus begins the cycle that any fifth grader in the yeshiva day school system can tell you: “Israel sins, serving other gods, adopting the ways of the surrounding cultures --> G-d delivers them to the hands of their enemies in battle --> Israel cries out to G-d --> G-d appoints a leader to save them --> the leader dies --> Israel returns to sin, repeat cycle.”

The opening chapters present the overall theme of the book:
"Because this nation have transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto My voice; I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died; that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.' So the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered He them into the hand of Joshua." (Shoftim, 2)

With the new generation not having had the experiences of their fathers in the desert and forging a new relationship with the G-d that redeemed their ancestors from Egypt they now had to learn how to fight their own wars. It was a new type of warfare that they did not experience in the time of Yehoshua when G-d easily delivered their enemies into their hands. What really struck me was the following verse: “ק, לְמַעַן דַּעַת דֹּרוֹת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, לְלַמְּדָם, מִלְחָמָה--רַק אֲשֶׁר-לְפָנִים, לֹא יְדָעוּם.” “only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as beforetime knew nothing thereof;” One would expect that if the point was to teach Israel about war the book would go into a lengthy discussion about the military, how to fight a war, and weaponry. There is no such discussion. What comes out is that these wars, more than gaining control over territory, spoke to the relationship between Israel and G-d. Essentially, Israel’s success on the battlefield had little to do with the weapons at their disposal and instead was contingent upon the strength of their relationship with the Creator. The wars were tests of Emunah - faith. When our faith in G-d was strong, we were worthy of success. When we transgressed on the covenant with G-d we suffered immeasurably.

As our government continues to prove its incompetence, anti semitism rises and world opinion intensifies against the Jewish state and our feelings of helplessness grows, it dawns on us: We have no one to rely on but G-d. There is no question that the “tshuva movement” has been sweeping across the Jewish nation for several decades. Outreach programs are available across the world and Jews everywhere are exploring their roots and returning to their people, the Torah of Israel, the G-d of Israel, the Land of Israel. The similarities between current events and the events in Shoftim are striking. We can’t rely on our leaders to lead us in our battle, we must wage it ourselves. Tonights terrorist attack has triggered a feeling among the people of Israel that has laid dormant for a long time. We must fight for our brothers and sisters in Sderot and throughout Israel. We must work on ourselves and strengthen our personal relationship with G-d. We must work on our relationships with our fellow Jew. We are waking up and realizing that the responsibility is ours. Now, as in the time of the Judges, G-d is testing our faith. Will we fight proudly for G-d or meekly bow to the cries of world opinion? May we merit to face the challenge and emerge with strong emunah so that Hashem finally avenges the blood of those murdered tonight and delivers our enemies as He did in those times.

With blessings that the promise of Adar of "increased joy" is realized and a peaceful Shabbat to all of Am Yisrael.

Shalom from Jerusalem.



ישראל ישראל
בטח ב-ה'
עזרם ומגינם הוא
ישראל ישראל
בטח ב-ה' עזרם ומגינם הוא

אנחנו מאמינים בני מאמינים
ואין לנו על מי להישען
אלא אלא על אבינו
אבינו שבשמיים

Thoughts on our current state of affairs and Shmitta

A friends post finally gave me the push I needed to write that note I’ve been rolling over in my mind for a few weeks now.

I think I should start with the following. I increasingly find that I approach life - politics, history etc. - through a G-d conscious lens. I sometimes worry that this lens blurs my message and makes it difficult for others to relate. Perhaps. But, I guess everyone runs the risk of being misunderstood.

With this in mind I turn to our current political situation. The term “leaders” is used in the loosest sense when speaking of our current Israeli government sneaking through the back door at Annapolis...with Olmert speaking to the President in way that prompted John Stewart on the Daily Show to ask: “I wonder if Bush's ass is kosher?” Bush, a supposedly G-d fearing man, calls for the division of Jerusalem and the founding of a Palestinian state on land G-d promised to the Jewish People. Sderot is under siege and the world doesn’t blink on eye but bemoans the fate of Gazan residents who have seen the price of luxury commodities such as chocolate, cigarettes and Coke double and triple as a result of the evil Israeli embargo.

Some wonder “why is this happening, why are we in this mess?” A better question is “why is this happening, why are we in this mess now?”

This year is a shmitta year. We tend to think of shmitta purely in terms of agriculture - letting the land rest on the seventh year. But why do we let the land rest? To show that this land is not ours. The land is G-d’s. Just as “Shabbat hayom la’hashem” - “Shabbat is a day for G-d” so to the Sabbatical year. When the laws of shmitta are dismissed there are consequences as set forth in mesechet Shabbat (33a) “Because of the sins of idolatry, illicit sexual relations, and murder and the abrogation of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, exile is brought to the world and they [Israel] are exiled.” And so the Temple was destroyed on a shmitta year and the number of years of the first exile corresponds to the number of shmitta years we failed to observe when we came to Israel the first time around.

We live in a time where many of us are not only witness to the Jewish peoples prophetic return to Zion but we ARE the Jews returning to Zion! In this age of return current events parallel those that transpired centuries ago. Sometimes we forget that this Land belongs not to us but to G-d and every seven years shmitta comes along to remind us. Our grasp on our promised land is tenuous and shaky at best and with every passing shmitta year this point is driven home. G-d puts it in our hands to determine how much of our land we continue to hold. Therefor, 2007-2008 is a shmitta year and the world is calling for the Jewish state to relinquish its claim on Jerusalem and our biblical heartland in Judea and Samaria. 2000-2001 - post camp david when the Israeli government offered Jerusalem to the arabs and was followed by the outbreak of the intifada - was a shmitta year. 1986-1987 the outbreak of the first intifada was a shmitta year. 1979-1980 the signing of the peace treaty between egypt and israel that ultimately lead to the evacuation of Sinai and the destruction of Yamit was a shmitta year…. sensing a pattern? All the players are in place should we not do our utmost to follow the shmitta year. It is not a coincidence that this year is the last of Bush’s presidency and the US is heading towards elections. It’s not “stam” that Jerusalem is on the table. G-d promised this land to the Jews and during shmitta we are forced to grapple with that responsibility and assert our claim on the Land of Israel. Only time will tell the outcome of this shmitta year.

This year with the majority of the Jewish people residing outside of the Land (although those numbers are slowly shifting...) shmitta remains a rabbinical obligation. May we merit to observe the coming shmitta year as a torah obligation among a whole and united people in a complete Eretz Yisrael crowned with our rebuilt Temple.