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The




                                         Revolution




                                                   of Rest







                                                Rabbi Binyamin Zimmerman






                     In this feature article, the head of World Mizrachi’s Musmachim Semicha
                    program and author of The Shemitta Sensation explains how Shemitta holds

                      the power to rejuvenate our lives, and alter the future of Jewish history








                            ot too long ago, a five-day   they are given a “year off.” But what is   back. The Torah promises Divine
                            workweek was unheard of.   this rest all about?           blessings for shevi’it observers, includ-
                            The idea of refraining from                               ing a blessing during the sixth year,
                   Nwork on Shabbat was novel.       For a farmer, this means a year with-  which assures at a minimum basic
                                                     out production. Another meaning of
                   Struggling immigrant Jews in Amer-  the word shevitah in Modern Hebrew   food sustenance during the years
                   ica faced heart-wrenching decisions   is a strike. It almost seems as if one is   directly affected by shevi’it. When an
                   weekly, as observing  Shabbat often   “striking” from performing agricultural   entire nation takes that break at once,
                   meant there would be no job to return   work for an entire year! How is that   Hashem, the “hidden partner” in our
                   to on Sunday. Even in contemporary   possible? This question is multiplied   economy, promises to pick up the slack.
                   society, many face similar dilemmas   when one recognizes that unlike in our   Moreover, although a year of resting
                   in the winter, when Shabbat begins   times when only two percent of the   from normal production might seem
                   earlier on Friday (although, at least   Israeli population works in agriculture,   like financial suicide in the short run,
                   on paper, laws are more protective of   in the past, this was the primary line   there is good reason to believe that it
                   religious needs).                 of work. Imagine a year with no farm   might actually herald economic bene-
                   The seventh year of the agricultural   production. Could the Jewish nation   fits. In what might seem paradoxical,
                   cycle in Israel, often called Shemitta   possibly  support  itself  financially?   taking a break can help us take a fresh
                   but more often referred to in the Torah   What were the implications of refrain-  look at our activities and thus breeds
                   as Shabbat haAretz, multiplies this rest-  ing from work for an entire year? What   success.
                   ing from work considerably. Shabbat   did they do with their time? How did   We live in an age where rest is often
                                                     they cope?
                   haAretz, literally “the Sabbath of the                             denigrated: “You snooze, you lose.”
                   Land,” calls for far more than a year                              Studies show that a quarter of office
                   of letting the land rest, as it requires   The power of rest       workers never leave their desks except
                   all agricultural workers to rest from   The seventh year of the agricultural   for lunch. After all, the more time
                   planting and harvesting for an entire   cycle, known as shevi’it, is much more   people spend doing, the more they
                   year. With little to tend to in the fields,   than a year of resting and holding   achieve. But is that true?


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