Rest and Return

At Sinai, Israel is commanded, “When you come to the land that I am giving you, the land shall rest, a Sabbath to the Lord.” It’s a reference to Shmitah, which opens the double Torah portion of Behar-Bechukotai (Leviticus 25:1–27:34). Planting ceases every seventh year, while the fiftieth year is a Yovel (Jubilee) allowing the land to be released to its original owner and servants are set free. Calling Shmitah, “a Sabbath” hearkens back to Genesis 2:3, when the seventh day is identified as kadosh (holy). This is the first appearance of the word kadosh in Torah.

Bechukotai speaks of abundant blessings for keeping Shmitah, followed by a frightening series of woes should the nation forget the Sinai covenant. The Torah lists seven transgressions resulting in seven punishments that can multiply sevenfold—all linked to the seventh day.

The law of Shmittah represents the totality of living a life of Torah, only possible in the Promised Land—so much that in Parsha Bechukotai, God warns Israel they will be exiled for rejecting His covenant:

“And you I will scatter among the nations, and I will unsheath the sword against you. Your land shall become a desolation and your cities a ruin. Then shall the land make up for its sabbath years throughout the time that it is desolate and you are in the land of your enemies; then shall the land rest and make up for its sabbath years. Throughout the time that it is desolate, it shall observe the rest that it did not observe in your sabbath years while dwelling upon it.”

- Leviticus 26:15-35

The Mishnah tells us that one of the reasons for Israel’s exile was their failure to observe some of the Sabbatical years. The Torah court requires two witnesses needed to convict. Then, those witnesses were to initiate the sentence. Just before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses warned that Heaven and Earth would be witnesses against them if they failed to follow the Torah. This was eight hundred fifty years before the Churban, the destruction of the First Temple. The Sages teach that it was destroyed in the year 3338 on the Jewish Calendar. It's also when the 70 years of Babylonian exile began. By that time, Israel had ignored the Shmitah for a total of 70 years. Read Leviticus 20:22:

"You shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them; that the land, where I bring you to dwell in it, that the land not vomit you out."

The above is the 3338th verse of the Torah. The year 3338 on the Jewish Calendar was the beginning of the Babylonian Exile.

The Shabbat principle is not optional—it is the prototype for all cycles of holiness in Torah. The Ramban sees the repetition of seven (days, weeks, years) as a divine blueprint—a spiritual rhythm embedded in the world. In his commentary on Leviticus 25:2, he says that just as the land must rest in the seventh year, it represents the same spiritual truth as Shabbat, that there is a higher reality of rest and return to God. Though Shabbat is innately holy, the Ramban emphasizes that we must recognize and live in alignment with this sanctity of Shabbat, Shemittah, and Yovel—all patterns of rest and return

                                 "In returning and rest you shall be saved"

                                                         - Isaiah 30:15

Even our brain operates in rhythms of rest and return, between both hemispheres and across different functional modes. The left and right hemispheres actually alternate dominance in subtle ways throughout the day. Each hemisphere may be slightly more active, while the other is resting, and they switch roles periodically. This dynamic balance allows us to engage the world intellectually and intuitively, resting one mode while activating the other. It also keeps us sane.

During the Fourth Day of Creation God formed the Sun, moon and stars:

“God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate day from night; they shall serve as signs for the set times—the days and the years…”

The translation from the Hebrew moadim is God’s “appointed times”, including Shabbat and Israel’s festivals. Not coincidentally, the Fourth Commandment instructs Israel to keep Shabbat. The Jewish calendar serves as guide for living and the Jewish nation partners with the Creator in sanctifying time—making history a vehicle for holiness.

God gave Israel the festivals to sanctify time, and Shmitah to sanctify the Land.

Parashat Bechukotai concludes the Book of Leviticus with promises of unimaginable peace and comfort enveloping the people of Israel as they fully live according to Torah. Before that era of blissful enlightenment, Israel ignored the Creator’s instruction. Terrible judgements followed, accompanied by the Jews being dispersed among the nations. Sadly, history has witnessed the latter. Some misguided souls cite these calamities as “proof” that God forgot His people and passed the mantle of priesthood to others. But no matter how many rockets they fire into eretz Israel, no matter how much the nations rage and imagine a vain thing, the words of our God, found in this very same parasha G-d promise, in Leviticus 26:44:

“Even when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away; nor will I ever abhor them, to destroy them and to break My covenant with them; for I am the L‑rd their G‑d.”