The Shemittah Year

The Sabbath year (shmita Hebrew: literally "release") also called the sabbatical year or sheviit (Hebrew: literally "seventh") is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle and it's every seven years after that. As soon as the Jews settled in the Holy Land, they began to count and observe seven-year cycles. Every cycle would culminate in a Sabbatical year, known as "Shemitah," literally: to release. The year following the destruction of the second Holy Temple was the first year of the seven-year Sabbatical cycle. In the Jewish calendar, counting from Creation, this was year 3829, 68-69 CE in the secular calendar. By counting sevens from then, we see that the next shemitah year will be the year 5775 after Creation, which runs from Sept. 25, 2014 through Sept. 13, 2015. Those who put their trust in G d were richly rewarded: G-d, will command My blessing for you in the sixth year, and it will yield produce for three years. And you will sow in the eighth year, while still eating from the old crops. Until the ninth year, until the arrival of its crop, you will eat the old crop! -- Leviticus 25:21-22. As well as giving the people an opportunity to put their faith in G-d and see it fulfilled, the yearlong abstention from farming also allowed them to collectively take a breather and focus on higher, more spiritual pursuits -- as the people packed the synagogues and study halls. Even today, when the vast majority of Jews are not involved in the farming industry, the lessons of Shemitah are very germane. During this holy year we are expected to concentrate more on our spiritual mission in life, and a little less on our material pursuits. More on why we are needed, less on what we need. More on faith in G d, less on faith in our own talents and wiles The first cycle started after the fourteen years of conquering and dividing the land -- the fifteenth year after they crossed the Jordan River (1258 BCE). While the Torah ordinarily counts months starting from Nissan (in the spring), the years of this cycle -- and the Shemitah, too -- begin with Rosh Hashanah, at the start of the autumn month of Tishrei. When all the twelve tribes lived in Israel, in their ancestral estates, the year following seven complete Shemitah cycles – the fiftieth year – was observed as Yovel, the Jubilee year. During Yovel, too, the land was not worked, as during Shemitah. In addition, during the Yovel year all slaves were freed and all fields and houses sold during the past fifty years were returned to their original owners. Unlike Shemitah, however, the Yovel year is no longer observed. the next Jubilee year the Hebrews say they are eagerly await the day when G d will bring their entire nation back to our homeland—including the ten “lost” tribes—and they will again resume observing the Jubilee year, as well as so many other mitzvot which they are incapable of performing until that awaited day.