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2 โ[1] ** ืื ืจ ืื ืื ื ืืฉืจืื, "speak to the children of Israel, etc."** The reason the Torah repeats ืืืจ ืืืืจืช is that this legislation involves both a prohibition to work the land (for a limited period) as well as denying oneself ownership of what one's field or orchard produces during that year (especially the fruit of the trees which grow without planting). The Torah uses the relatively harsh expression ืืืจ to introduce the prohibition to work the land seeing it is difficult for a farmer to reconcile himself to such a commandment. The expresssion ืืืืจืช applies to the requirement to declare one's produce ืืคืงืจ, i.e. accessible to anyone who finds it, something which does not involve too much hardship as the farmer becomes the beneficiary of his neighbour's parallel declaration. Moreover, G'd's promise that the land would produce an extra generous harvest during the sixth year of the cycle (compare verse 21) will gladden the heart of the farmer and reconcile him to loss of ownership of what his own field or orchard produces during the seventh year.
โ[2] Another reason why the apparent duplication of ืืืจ ืืืืจืช is justified is the dual nature of the "Sabbath" i.e. rest, of the land. One aspect of this legislation is that the King commanded us to let the land lie fallow, ergo we carry out this command. 2) Although the practical performance of this commandment involves the relationship between man and man rather than the relationship between man and G'd, our obligation to comply is anchored in our relationship with G'd, i.e. the fact that the gift of the land to the Jewish people had been made conditional on our observing the Torah. When G'd did not say: "**I have given** you the land," but "**I am giving** you the land," He made it plain that the condition which is attached to that gift is an ongoing one, i.e. the land never became ours irrevocably. The word ืืืจ therefore alludes to G'd's right to legislate; the word ืืืืจืช on the other hand, refers to the social element of this legislation which also is the prerogative of the King to legislate. The Torah is under no obligation to furnish us with the reasons which motivated G'd the legislator, when He commanded us to perform these statutes.
โ[3] **ืืฉืืชื ืืืจืฅ ืฉืื ืืฉื, "and the land shall keep a Sabbath for G'd."** What precisely does the Torah have in mind here? If the Torah refers to the seventh year, this is already stated in verse 4, "in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land."
โ[4] We must therefore understand this verse as belonging to the previous verse in which G'd proclaimed that He was giving us the land. Our verse is a codicil, i.e. that G'd has made a reservation concerning that gift. The reservation is that we, the new "owners," agree to to let the land rest from time to time; "to G'd," i.e. to the G'd who still has title to the land. In verse 4 the Torah defines the nature of this "rest," i.e. when and for how long it is to occur. First we are to work the land for six consecutive years and only the seventh year is to be a year of rest. If the Torah had not written the verse ืืฉืืชื ืืืจืฅ and contented itself with verse 4, I would not have known that G'd had reserved a claim to that land for Himself.
โ[5] Upon closer examination we find that G'd was extremely kind in this matter. Generally speaking when a gift is conditional, such a gift may be revoked when the party who received it violates the condition attached to it. In this instance G'd did us a favour by retaining part of the land He had given us as a conditional gift. When the Jewish people violated the conditions of the gift by not observing the *Shemittah* legislation they did not lose the entire land but merely had to recompense G'd for having deprived Him of what He had reserved for Himself, i.e. the seventh year, the ืฉืืช ืืฉื. We find proof of this in 26,34-35 where the Torah writes: "then the land shall be paid her Sabbaths, โฆthe rest it had not had, etc." As a result of G'd retaining part ownership of the land of Israel the gift part of the land will never be cancelled.
โ[6] The reason why the Torah wrote the word ืืฉืืชื next to the words ืืฉืจ ืื ื ื ืืชื is connected to what we learned in *Baba Metzia* 23 that when a Torah scholar identifies an object he claims as belonging to him this is accepted without an accompanying oath. G'd's word is certainly at least as trustworthy as that of the greatest Torah scholar and there was therefore no need for Him to use an oath when giving the land of Israel to us. Besides, the gift may be considered an act of charity and G'd's utterance concerning it is to be considered as equivalent to a vow (compare *Rosh Hashanah* 6) so that the words ืืฉืืชื ืืืจืฅ **immediately** after the promise ืืฉืจ ืื ื ื ืืชื are actually part of the gift itself and not an afterthought. If the Torah had relied only on verse 4 the ืฉืืื legislation could no longer have been considered as an integral part of the gift of the land. The verse speaking about our working the land for six consecutive years, etc., would have constituted an interruption of the subject matter.
Version: Or Hachayim, trans. Eliyahu Munk
Source: http://www.urimpublications.com/or-hachayim-commentary-on-the-torah-5-vols.html
License: CC-BY