שְׁמִטָּה — Shemitah changes how a person sees ownership. During the six working years, a farmer may feel that the field is fully his. He works it, plans it, invests in it, and depends on it. In the seventh year, the Torah teaches him to step back.

The land rests, and the person learns אֱמוּנָה — faith. He sees that his livelihood is not produced by his hands alone. Hashem gives the soil its strength, the rain its timing, and the crop its growth. Human effort matters, but it is never independent.

This mitzvah also builds humility. A person who owns land must remember that he is not the final owner. Eretz Yisrael belongs to Hashem. The Jew is allowed to work it only within the boundaries of Torah.

Even for people who are not farmers, Shemitah teaches a deep way of living. Work is important, but it cannot become a person’s master. Productivity is valuable, but it must bow before holiness. Every seventh year, the Torah places rest into the land itself, teaching that the world is held by Hashem.

Rambam

• Source: Rambam, Sefer HaMitzvos, Positive Mitzvah 135; Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Shemitah V’Yovel 1:1–2.
• Rambam defines this mitzvah as the command that the land rest from work during the seventh year. He explains that one must cease from agricultural labor in the Shemitah year, as the Torah says that the land shall rest. Rambam frames the mitzvah as a positive command of שְׁבִיתַת הָאָרֶץ — resting the land, not only as a list of forbidden activities.

Sefer HaChinuch

• Source: Sefer HaChinuch, Mitzvah 112.
• Sefer HaChinuch explains that the root of the mitzvah is to fix in the heart that Hashem created the world and owns it. By leaving the land alone every seventh year, a person learns that the land and its produce are gifts from Hashem. The mitzvah also builds generosity, because the owner must loosen his hold on what grows.

Gemara

• Source: Gemara Moed Katan 3a.
• The Gemara discusses which agricultural labors are prohibited during Shemitah and how the Torah’s commands define work that improves the land. This shows that שְׁמִטָּה — Shemitah is not only a general idea of rest. It has practical halachic boundaries that protect the land’s seventh-year rest.

Gemara

• Source: Gemara Avodah Zarah 15b.
• The Gemara discusses concerns of assisting forbidden work during Shemitah. This teaches that the mitzvah shapes not only the farmer’s hands, but also the surrounding economy. A person may not help turn the holy rest of the land into ordinary agricultural business.

Gemara

• Source: Gemara Sanhedrin 39a.
• The Gemara records the challenge of why the land must rest in the seventh year and answers that Hashem commands Israel to rest the land so they will know that the land belongs to Him. This gives the mitzvah its core message: Shemitah is a public testimony that ownership belongs to Hashem.

Sifra

• Source: Sifra, Behar, Parashah 1.
• Sifra expounds the opening verses of Shemitah: [וְשָׁבְתָה הָאָרֶץ שַׁבָּת לַה׳ — “The land shall rest, a Shabbos for Hashem”]. The Midrash shows that the land’s rest is not empty inactivity. It is שַׁבָּת לַה׳ — a rest dedicated to Hashem.

Vayikra Rabbah

• Source: Vayikra Rabbah 1:1.
• The Midrash praises the strength of those who keep Shemitah, because a person sees his field left open and still accepts Hashem’s command. This reveals the spiritual courage of the mitzvah. Shemitah is not passive. It demands strong faith and restraint.

Tanchuma

• Source: Midrash Tanchuma, Behar 1.
• Tanchuma teaches that Shemitah was given at Sinai with all its details, showing that even land, farming, and economic life are part of Torah from Sinai. The mitzvah teaches that holiness does not live only in the beis midrash. It enters the field, soil, and harvest.

Rashi

• Source: Rashi on Shemos 34:21.
• Rashi explains that the command to rest from plowing and harvesting refers to work whose timing is especially important to the land. His explanation shows that Shemitah rest reaches the core actions by which a person develops his field. The land is not treated as a tool without limits.

Ramban

• Source: Ramban on Vayikra 25:2.
• Ramban explains that Shemitah is called שַׁבָּת לַה׳ — a Shabbos for Hashem because the land’s rest reflects the holiness of sacred time. Just as Shabbos testifies that Hashem created the world, Shemitah testifies that the land and its blessing belong to Him.

Ibn Ezra

• Source: Ibn Ezra on Vayikra 25:2.
• Ibn Ezra explains the plain meaning of the mitzvah as a year when the land stops being worked. His reading highlights the directness of the command. The field itself enters a different state, and the farmer must change his behavior to honor it.

Sforno

• Source: Sforno on Vayikra 25:2.
• Sforno explains that the land rests so the people can turn more fully toward Hashem and His Torah. When agricultural pressure is reduced, the year becomes open for spiritual focus. The rest of the land creates room for the soul to grow.

Abarbanel

• Source: Abarbanel on Vayikra 25.
• Abarbanel explains Shemitah as part of the Torah’s social and spiritual order for life in Eretz Yisrael. The mitzvah interrupts economic routine and teaches that the land is not controlled by human strength alone. It belongs to Hashem and must be lived in according to His command.

Rabbeinu Bachya

• Source: Rabbeinu Bachya on Vayikra 25:2.
• Rabbeinu Bachya connects Shemitah to the deeper pattern of seven in Torah. Six years of work lead into a seventh year of rest, showing that creation itself points toward holiness. The land’s rest trains the person to see the world as ordered by Hashem.

Chizkuni

• Source: Chizkuni on Vayikra 25:2.
• Chizkuni explains that Shemitah applies to the land of Eretz Yisrael and changes how the land is used during the seventh year. His reading keeps the mitzvah grounded in place and practice. The sanctity of the land becomes visible through agricultural restraint.

Kuzari

• Source: Kuzari 2:14.
• The Kuzari teaches that Eretz Yisrael has a unique spiritual quality, and mitzvos tied to the land reveal that quality. Shemitah fits this system because the land itself becomes part of avodas Hashem — service of Hashem. The soil is not spiritually neutral. It has a Torah rhythm.

Maharal

• Source: Maharal, Gur Aryeh on Vayikra 25:2.
• Maharal explains that Shemitah reveals that the natural world is not independent. The seventh year breaks the illusion that growth comes only from human control and natural process. The land rests so that its higher connection to Hashem becomes visible.

Ran

• Source: Derashos HaRan, Derush 6.
• Ran explains that the mitzvos of the Torah build a nation whose economy and land are ruled by Divine purpose. Shemitah creates a society that does not make production the highest value. It places livelihood inside faith, justice, and holiness.

Ritva

• Source: Ritva on Moed Katan 3a.
• Ritva explains the halachic categories of Shemitah labor and how Chazal define work that improves the land. His approach shows that Shemitah rest has a careful legal structure. The mitzvah is spiritual, but it is lived through precise halacha.

Rashba

• Source: Rashba, Teshuvos 2:314.
• Rashba discusses Shemitah observance and its halachic force in later times. His treatment shows that the mitzvah remains a serious framework for Jewish agricultural life, even when its Torah or rabbinic status may depend on larger conditions of settlement and yovel.

Shulchan Aruch

• Source: Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 331:19.
• Shulchan Aruch rules that the laws of Shemitah apply to agricultural work in Eretz Yisrael. This establishes the practical setting of the mitzvah. The land’s rest is not a general spiritual idea, but a halachic obligation tied to the sanctity of the land.

Rambam

• Source: Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Shemitah V’Yovel 1:1–4.
• Rambam rules that planting, pruning, reaping, and harvesting in the Shemitah year are forbidden, with some acts carrying Torah-level prohibition and others included by rabbinic decree. This defines how שְׁבִיתַת הָאָרֶץ — resting the land is protected in practice.

Shulchan Aruch

• Source: Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 331:20.
• Shulchan Aruch discusses the status of agricultural mitzvos in our time. This is important because practical Shemitah observance depends on the halachic status of Jewish settlement, land obligation, and rabbinic application. The mitzvah remains central for farming in Eretz Yisrael.

Chazon Ish

• Source: Chazon Ish, Shevi’is 17:25.
• Chazon Ish explains the practical seriousness of Shemitah observance and the need to guard the land’s rest with care. His rulings shaped modern Shemitah practice in Eretz Yisrael, especially for farmers seeking to keep the land’s holiness without weakening halachic standards.

Rema

• Source: Rema, Yoreh Deah 331:19.
• Rema records the practical Ashkenazic approach to agricultural mitzvos tied to Eretz Yisrael in later times. His comments help frame how communities outside the land still recognize the special halachic status of Eretz Yisrael and its land-based mitzvos.

Chasam Sofer

• Source: Chasam Sofer, Toras Moshe, Behar, s.v. “וְשָׁבְתָה הָאָרֶץ.”
• Chasam Sofer explains that Shemitah is a public declaration that the land belongs to Hashem. A farmer who stops working at the height of productive possibility shows that Torah, not profit, rules the field.

Netziv

• Source: Netziv, HaEmek Davar on Vayikra 25:2.
• Netziv emphasizes that the land’s rest is called שַׁבָּת לַה׳ — a Shabbos for Hashem. The year is not only for agricultural recovery. It is a year dedicated to Hashem, teaching that the land’s life and blessing are bound to Him.

Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch

• Source: Rav Hirsch on Vayikra 25:2.
• Rav Hirsch teaches that Shemitah breaks the pride of ownership. For six years the landowner may act like a master, but in the seventh year he learns that he is only a steward. The field belongs to Hashem, and its produce must be treated according to His will.

Malbim

• Source: Malbim on Vayikra 25:2.
• Malbim highlights the Torah’s language of the land resting. The mitzvah is not only that the farmer stops. The land itself must be given a year of holy rest. This wording teaches that the land of Eretz Yisrael has a covenantal relationship with the mitzvos.

Meshech Chochmah

• Source: Meshech Chochmah on Vayikra 25:2.
• Meshech Chochmah explains that Shemitah reshapes the relationship between nation, land, and Hashem. The Jewish people do not live on their land like other nations. Their agriculture is governed by Torah, showing that national life in Eretz Yisrael is built on holiness.

Rav Kook

• Source: Shabbos HaAretz, Introduction.
• Rav Kook teaches that Shemitah reveals the inner holiness of the nation and the land. During the six years, people are busy with labor and ownership. In the seventh year, the land and the people are lifted into a more spiritual rhythm, where trust, equality, and holiness become more visible.

Baal Shem Tov

• Source: Baal Shem Tov al HaTorah, Behar.
• The Baal Shem Tov teaches that stopping ordinary control can open a person to deeper trust in Hashem. Shemitah trains the heart to release the illusion that life depends only on human action. Rest becomes a doorway to closeness.

Tanya

• Source: Tanya, Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, Chapter 1.
• Tanya teaches that creation is constantly brought into being by Hashem’s word. Shemitah makes this truth visible in the field. The farmer stops acting as if growth is self-powered and remembers that every blade of produce exists only through Hashem’s life-giving will.

Sfas Emes

• Source: Sfas Emes, Behar 5635.
• Sfas Emes teaches that Shemitah reveals the hidden holiness inside the land. During the six years, that holiness is covered by work and ownership. In the seventh year, when labor stops, the inner point of Hashem’s blessing can be felt more clearly.

Kedushas Levi

• Source: Kedushas Levi, Behar, s.v. “וְשָׁבְתָה הָאָרֶץ.”
• Kedushas Levi presents Shemitah as an act of loving trust in Hashem. The farmer leaves his field because he believes that Hashem’s kindness will sustain him. The mitzvah turns restraint into a warm expression of faith.

Shem MiShmuel

• Source: Shem MiShmuel, Behar 5672.
• Shem MiShmuel explains that Shemitah lifts the person from attachment to material control. The field rests, and the soul learns to rest from constant grasping. The mitzvah refines desire and teaches that blessing is received, not seized.

Ramchal

• Source: Ramchal, Derech Hashem 4:7:2.
• Ramchal explains that sacred times carry spiritual influence that reshapes the soul. Shemitah extends this idea into years and land. The seventh year brings a special spiritual order, where the land and the nation are called into deeper recognition of Hashem.

Mitzvah 279 begins the Shemitah cluster. It is the positive command that the land rest during the seventh year. The following mitzvos define parts of that rest: not working the land, not working trees, not reaping ownerless growth in the normal way, and not gathering grapes in the normal way.

Shemitah belongs to the holiness of Eretz Yisrael. It can only be lived fully in the land, where Jewish farming becomes part of Torah life. The mitzvah teaches that the land is not merely a national possession or economic resource. It is Hashem’s land, entrusted to Israel under His commandments.

The seventh year also changes society. Fields are not guarded in the ordinary way. Produce receives special sanctity. Owners loosen control. The poor, the stranger, and even animals are included in the year’s blessing. The land’s rest therefore becomes a teacher of faith, humility, justice, and trust.

Shemitah also mirrors Shabbos. Just as the seventh day interrupts weekly labor, the seventh year interrupts agricultural labor. Both teach that creation belongs to Hashem. Both train the Jew to stop, release control, and live inside holiness.