In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes the Mitzvah of Shemittah which means that every 7 years all fields and vineyards in the Land of Israel lay fallow. No farmwork may be done and all produce from the previous year that remained in the field is considered ownerless and anyone who wants may help themselves to that produce. This to instill in us the lesson that all the land is owned by Hashem and we are mere guests in this world. Furthermore, we learn that all our sustenance is in G-d’s hand and not a result of our own efforts.
When the Torah introduces this astonishing Mitzvah it states that Hashem spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai… Why specifically by this Mitzvah does the Torah need to recount where it was given?
One approach given is that this particular Mitzvah is an eternal proof that the Torah was given on Mount Sinai and not a set of laws dreamt up by a group of men. How is this proven? If the entire nation did not experience the revelation at Mount Sinai, it would be impossible to imagine that any sane person would accept this Mitzvah upon themselves. To actually allow our fields to remain bare for an entire year?! How will we feed ourselves?! Agriculture was the primary force of the entire economy! Yet, having experienced hearing the voice of Hashem and knowing that this set of Mitzvos was spoken by G-d himself, the Jews had no problem doing the impossible, totally abandoning their source of livelihood for an entire year.
In a similar vein, the Possuk relates that Hashem guarantees that if the Shemittah is observed properly then the produce of the 6th year will suffice for the 6th, 7th, and 8th year until the harvest of the 8th year is gathered in. It is only G-d himself who can make such a promise. If the Torah would have been a human invention, it would have been utterly disproved in the 6th year of the Shemittah cycle when the promised bumper crop wouldn’t materialize!

By Rabbi Sharaga Thav
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