Almost all great civilizations have a common life cycle. They organize, ascend, mature, overextend and decline. Their rise often comes from a collective narrative or goal. Their descent, from abandoning or not cherishing it. Their rise often comes from the toil of earlier generations. Their decline, from the sloth of their successors. The cycle is predictable: the motivation for hard work is often privation; the temptation of laziness is born from excess. The cycle can rarely be broken.

In this week’s parashah, we encounter a phenomenon that may be designed for that purpose. Parashat Behar begins with the mitzvah of Shmitta, the sabbatical year, in which no agricultural work is permitted:

God spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai, saying: Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land shall observe a Shabbat to God. Six years you may sow your field and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in the produce. But in the seventh year the land shall have a Shabbat of complete cessation, a Shabbat to God; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard… (Vayikra 25:1–4)

This mitzvah is interesting, but its framing is intriguing: the Torah specifies that this mitzvah was given on Sinai. This need not be said. The Jews had not left Mount Sinai. Hundreds of other mitzvot were given there. The location of where a mitzvah was first commanded is not generally mentioned. It is irrelevant; it is bound to neither that particular time or place. Thus, almost all the main commentators are bothered by this question: What is it about Shmitta that lends it to be associated with Mount Sinai above and beyond all other mitzvot?

To understand this mystery, we must understand the purpose of Shmitta. Every seventh........

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