If there is one thing that I ever thought was boring and inapplicable to my life it was the laws of Shmitta and Yovel. Literally! If you mentioned either of those words it was like I just heard a nice bed time story....Until this week. This week, I almost couldn't sleep after I hearing the truth behind Shmitta and Yovel.
I was once in a shul davening Mincha, when I began to feel it was bit stuffy. I reached my hand up near a fan to feel if it was blowing properly, when I suddenly felt as if someone's eyes were trying to pierce the back of my head. I turned around and saw an old man about 90, who had smoke coming out of his ears. His head had turned beet red and he was angry. He began approaching me in a rage, yelling and screaming about how I touched his fan. I spoke to him calmly trying to explain that I had not touched it, but was merely putting my hand near the fan to feel if it was on. He wouldn't listen. As I was walking home I was thinking to myself...this guy has a real anger problem. But it didn't develop at age 90, he has had it since he was my age, he just never got rid of it. I thought to myself; I too have negative characteristics, am I going to be 90 with the same negative characteristics as I do now?
This is what Yovel is about. G-d tells us to work for 6 years and every 7th year we should stop (shmitta year) and at the 7th year all our fields are free for everyone to take from. And G-d commands us to count these 7 year periods, 7 times, until we reach the 50th year. And do you know what happens at year 50? On Yom Kippur of that year, the Shofar is blown to announce the Yovel year, and all of our fields and houses go back to their original owners.
The whole thing sounds wierd. (Why do we have to work for 6 and stop at the 7th? Why do my fields become free for all in the 7th? Why seven? Why do I have to count 49 years? Why blow a shofar to announce it? Why do all houses and fields go back to their owners?)
The Kli Yakar explains that when we are counting the years of Yovel, we are really counting the years of our lives. He says that the first 20 years of a person's life are years where one has not yet developed his intellect or understanding of life. The following 50 years, from age 20 -70 (the numbers vary), are the prime years of a persons life, where we develop ourselves and affect the people around us. This 50 year period is what Yovel is a representation of. This period of our lives, is the period where we plant and harvest, and at the 50th year of Yovel, whatever we have done in our “fields”, and the houses we have built, go to someone else. So too in our lives, during the main part of our lives, we work, we acquire possessions, we collect things, we build our houses etc...But the day comes for every human being that he leaves this world, and when that happens, in that “50th” year, everything we own goes on to someone else. That is why we announce Yovel wth the blowing of the shofar, when else do we blow the shofar? Rosh Hashana and Yom kippur, which are days where we ask ourselves, are we good people? Are we spending our lives being givers? Are we going what G-d wants us to be doing?
It sounds kind of depressing doesn't it? But it's beautiful. Because many people wake up at age 90 or older and say, “If I only knew then what I know now”. And if they only really did have a constant reminder, then maybe at age 90 they would be at complete inner peace, having invested their lives in only good things, things that would be rewarding for them for eternity. This is Yovel, it is a constant reminder where we ask ourselves, “How can I be a better person? What is another Mitzvah I can do?”
I believe this can also be applied to the counting of Sefirah, where we are counting 49 days, and it is a time to be building ourselves and asking ourselves these questions.
There was once a 92 year old man standing on line for the semester registration at a University. An 18 year old guy asks him, “sir, do you know this line is for registering for the semester?” “Yes I know.” And do you know that it takes 4 years to get a college degree?” “Yes, I know”. “But that means you will be 97 when you graduate?” “That's true, but I'm going to be 97 anyway, so either I can be 97 with a degree or 97 without a degree”.
We are all getting older whether we like it or not, and as my friend likes to say, “You are either getting bitter or better” It is up to us to decide how we are going to utilize our time in this world and the Torah is giving us tools that serve as reminders for us to constantly ask ourselves this question, “How else can I be bigger? How else can I affect those around me?” And these tools ultimately lead us to living a happier, meaningful and more fulfilled life!
Have a fulfilling shabbos!
Tzvi
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