The Spiritual Nature of Shemitah and Eretz Yisrael

Full Summary

The shiur begins by addressing the Ramban (רמב"ן)'s explanation that the mitzvah (מצוה) of Shemitah was given at Har Sinai during Moshe's second ascent, before the laws of Vayikra which were taught in the Ohel Moed. This raises the question of why the Torah (תורה) places Parshas Behar after Vayikra if it was chronologically given earlier. The Rambam (רמב"ם)'s agricultural explanation for Shemitah - that letting the land rest energizes it - faces several challenges from the Kli Yakar: Why is the punishment for not observing Shemitah exile from the land rather than weakened soil? Why is it called 'Shabbos (שבת) L'Hashem (ה׳)' if it's merely agricultural? How does the land rest during the 70-year exile when non-Jews continue farming it? To address these questions, the shiur develops a fundamental distinction between Eretz Yisrael and the rest of the world. Using the complaint of the generation in the wilderness that Hashem 'hated' them by taking them from well-irrigated Egypt to arid Canaan, the shiur explains that this reflects two different spiritual realities. In Egypt and all lands outside Israel, humans must take from the land through their own efforts - man is master over nature. In Eretz Yisrael, Hashem gives through the land - it is a place where His divine providence and desire to bestow good (ratzon l'heitiv) is most manifest. This distinction is illustrated through Rashi (רש"י)'s poetic description of the mountains of Eretz Yisrael protecting the Jewish people like 'a maidservant going out to meet her mistress.' The land itself becomes an animated reality responding to Israel's needs, programmed by Hashem's love to serve and protect them. The shiur explains that Shemitah is not an agricultural commandment but a spiritual one. When Jews continuously take from the land without pause, they transform Eretz Yisrael into a place like the rest of the world where man dominates nature. The seventh year allows the land to express its true nature as a giver rather than something being taken from. This is why the land produces triple in the sixth year - a lover gains energy and pleasure from giving to the beloved. This understanding resolves the blessing 'v'nochal mi'piriyah' (that we should eat from its fruit) in bentching. While the Tur questions whether eating fruit is a proper motivation for wanting to return to Israel, the shiur explains that eating fruit in Eretz Yisrael is itself a spiritual act - it is receiving Hashem's direct giving through the land, unlike in chutz la'aretz where one makes a blessing to elevate the physical act of eating. The placement of Parshas Behar after the laws of the Mishkan and Korbanos reflects that after the sin of the Golden Calf, which created a barrier between Israel and Hashem, the spiritual mechanics of Eretz Yisrael could only function once that relationship was restored through the Mishkan and its service. The shiur concludes by connecting this to the previous parsha's discussion of the blasphemer (mekalel), who wanted to create a void (nekev) empty of Godliness. Shemitah represents the opposite - a system designed to make Hashem's constant care and provision manifest in the world.