The General Mitzva of Resting
כלל מצוות השביתה
There is a positive commandment to rest from working the land in the seventh year, as it is stated: “The Lord spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai, saying: Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall observe a Shabbat for the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its produce. But in the seventh year there shall be a Shabbat of solemn rest for the land, a Shabbat for the Lord… it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land” (Vayikra 25:1-5).
The Torah further added four negative commandments, which prohibit four labors. They are: sowing and pruning, reaping and harvesting grapes. As it is stated: “You shall not sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. That which grows of itself from your harvest you shall not reap, and the grapes of your untended vine you shall not gather; it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land” (ibid. 4-5).
Two of the labors involve making produce grow: sowing is work in the field, and pruning is work on the tree. And two of the labors involve gathering the produce: reaping is gathering grain and other field crops, and harvesting (betzira) is gathering grapes and tree fruit. In this chapter we will address the two labors intended to make produce grow, and the toladot (derivative labors) stemming from them, which are prohibited by rabbinic law. In the next chapter we will address the two labors intended for gathering the produce.
The Sages said that the Torah could have mentioned only the labor of sowing, and from it we would have learned its tolada, which is pruning, since it too promotes the growth of produce. Likewise, it could have sufficed with mentioning the labor of reaping, and from it we would have learned its tolada, which is harvesting grapes, since it too involves picking produce. But the Torah specified two avot (primary labors) and two toladot in order to teach us that only these four labors are prohibited by a Torah negative commandment. They are: a) sowing (below section 4); b) pruning, which includes any trimming that promotes the growth of fruit (below section 5);
c) reaping, which includes picking all types of field crops; d) harvesting grapes, which includes picking all kinds of tree fruit (below 3:3). One who transgresses one of these four labors is liable to lashes by Torah law. But one who performs one of their toladot – that is, other labors that promote the growth of the yield of fields and trees, such as fertilizing, clearing stones and hoeing – does not transgress a Torah negative commandment; however, the Sages made a fence around the Torah and prohibited them. And all that we have learned – that these labors are prohibited by rabbinic law – applies on condition that they are done in a temporary manner. But one who does them in a regular manner, the way a person works his field in all other years, even though he has not transgressed a negative commandment, has neglected a positive commandment of the Torah, for he has neglected the mitzva to rest from agricultural work.¹
Notes (1)
- In the laws of Shabbat there are thirty-nine avot melakha, and every tolada of an av is prohibited by Torah law just like the av. For example, sowing is an av melakha, and its toladot are: pruning, fertilizing, watering, and anything that assists the growth of a plant. Likewise, reaping is an av melakha, and its toladot are harvesting grapes or picking any type of fruit, branch or leaf. By contrast, regarding Shevi’it we find that the Torah prohibited only four labors; not only that, but pruning is a tolada of sowing, and harvesting grapes is a tolada of reaping. The Sages learned from this that in the laws of Shevi’it only the labors enumerated by the Torah are prohibited by Torah law, and one who transgresses them receives lashes; and the Sages decreed and prohibited their toladot, and one who transgresses them receives rabbinic lashes. So the halakha was ruled, in accordance with Rava (Mo’ed Katan 2b-3a; Rambam, Shemita 1:2-4). Abaye holds that all the toladot are prohibited by Torah law, in accordance with the plain meaning of the baraita in the Gemara there (Mo’ed Katan there).
However, one who does the work of the field in his usual manner of all other years, even though he did not perform one of the four labors, has neglected a positive commandment of the Torah, as it is stated: “But in the seventh year there shall be a Shabbat of solemn rest for the land, a Shabbat for the Lord… it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land” (Vayikra 25:4-5) (Ramban, Vayikra 23:24; Ritva, Rosh Ha-shana 32b. Our master Rav Kook elaborated on this in Shabbat Ha-aretz 1:4; Kuntress Aḥaron 7. And in Kuntress Aḥaron 2:2 he explained that this is also implied by the words of the Rambam 1:1; 1:4).
Accordingly, we can understand the words of R. Akiva in the Mishna (Shevi’it 1:4), that there is a Torah mitzva to refrain from plowing in Shevi’it, as it is stated: “In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest” (Shemot 34:21). This is difficult, since plowing is not one of the four labors prohibited by a negative commandment; rather, one who plows in a regular manner neglects a Torah positive commandment (and see below n. 7). One can understand from this that anyone who performs one of the toladot in a regular manner as in all other years, if he exerts himself greatly in it, neglects a Torah positive commandment. Arukh Ha-shulḥan 19:3 wrote similarly.