Shmita and Jubilee Years
Title
Shmita and Jubilee Years
Creator
Innovations in Jewish Life Collections
Date
2023
Contributor
Gregg Drinkwater, Hilary Kalisman, Samira Mehta, Maggie Rosenau
Rights
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Format
Portable Document Format
Language
English
Text
Jews interested in tying Jewish religious practices with sustainable agricultural have focused on the biblical commandments around shmita, or the “Sabbath of the Land.”
As outlined in chapter 25 of the Book of Leviticus, shmita commands that every seven years the fields in the biblical Land of Israel are to lie fallow. In a shmita year, most agricultural labor is prohibited and the fruit and other produce growing naturally during the sabbath year can be picked by anyone, including the poor.
For proponents of Eco-Judaism, the shmita rules from Leviticus offer a blueprint for humans to let the earth and its ecosystems rest. For Rabbi Waskow, the self-restraint and mindful stewardship of the land in the practice of shmita implies a rejection of the consumerist mentality always striving for more – more production, more growth, and more profit. Shmita is practiced today in Israel. The most recent shmita year was from fall 2021 to fall 2022 and the next will start in 2028.
After a cycle of seven shmita years (so after 49 years), Leviticus commands a Jubilee year when debts would be forgiven, land ownership would return in most cases to the original owners (or to the Divine), and indentured servants and the enslaved and imprisoned would be set free. Under traditional Jewish law, Jubilee has not been applicable for over 2,600 years, since the period when the original 12 tribes of Israel all dwelt in the land. But for Eco-Judaism activists like Rabbi Waskow, even if Jubilee would not or could not be observed strictly according to Torah law, the principle of Jubilee fosters a link between environmental activist and biblical law.
As Waskow wrote “The root of the Jubilee is the flow of sacred time…the fifty-year cycle …teaches about the rhythms of time and timelessness, doing and being, wealth and sharing, work upon the earth and healing with the earth” [8]. Further, that the process must repeat every 49 years suggests that no solution to social or environmental problems is absolute. Rather, justice and sustainable practices require constant attention and rededication.
[8] Arthur Waskow, “Proclaim Jubilee!,” The Other Side, September & October 1998, p. 10.
As outlined in chapter 25 of the Book of Leviticus, shmita commands that every seven years the fields in the biblical Land of Israel are to lie fallow. In a shmita year, most agricultural labor is prohibited and the fruit and other produce growing naturally during the sabbath year can be picked by anyone, including the poor.
For proponents of Eco-Judaism, the shmita rules from Leviticus offer a blueprint for humans to let the earth and its ecosystems rest. For Rabbi Waskow, the self-restraint and mindful stewardship of the land in the practice of shmita implies a rejection of the consumerist mentality always striving for more – more production, more growth, and more profit. Shmita is practiced today in Israel. The most recent shmita year was from fall 2021 to fall 2022 and the next will start in 2028.
After a cycle of seven shmita years (so after 49 years), Leviticus commands a Jubilee year when debts would be forgiven, land ownership would return in most cases to the original owners (or to the Divine), and indentured servants and the enslaved and imprisoned would be set free. Under traditional Jewish law, Jubilee has not been applicable for over 2,600 years, since the period when the original 12 tribes of Israel all dwelt in the land. But for Eco-Judaism activists like Rabbi Waskow, even if Jubilee would not or could not be observed strictly according to Torah law, the principle of Jubilee fosters a link between environmental activist and biblical law.
As Waskow wrote “The root of the Jubilee is the flow of sacred time…the fifty-year cycle …teaches about the rhythms of time and timelessness, doing and being, wealth and sharing, work upon the earth and healing with the earth” [8]. Further, that the process must repeat every 49 years suggests that no solution to social or environmental problems is absolute. Rather, justice and sustainable practices require constant attention and rededication.
[8] Arthur Waskow, “Proclaim Jubilee!,” The Other Side, September & October 1998, p. 10.
Files
Citation
Innovations in Jewish Life Collections, “Shmita and Jubilee Years,” IJL Digital Exhibits, accessed May 2, 2024, https://embodiedjudaism.omeka.net/items/show/139.