Mishneh Torah, Sabbatical Year and the Jubilee 1-2

Sugya Map

• Issue: The ontological status of the mitzvah of Shemitah—does it reside in the gavra (the actor) or the cheftza (the land)?
• Nafka Mina: Liability for a non-Jew working a Jewish-owned field, and the conceptual scope of Melacha (prohibited labor) during the Sabbatical year.
• Primary Sources: Leviticus 25:2, Exodus 34:21, Mishneh Torah, Sabbatical Year and the Jubilee 1:1, Mo'ed Kattan 3a.

Text Snapshot

• "It is a positive commandment to rest from performing agricultural work... as Leviticus 25:2 states: 'And the land will rest like a Sabbath unto God.'"
• Leshon Nuance: Rambam pairs the mandate of the person ("You shall rest") with the status of the land ("And the land will rest"). The Sefer HaChinuch (Mitzvah 112) leans toward the cheftza (land), while the Rambam’s formulation in the Mishneh Torah centers the gavra (person) as the subject of the obligation.

Readings

• Shabbat HaAretz (R. Kook): Argues that if the mitzvah is cheftza-based, a Jew might violate the positive commandment even if a non-Jew performs the labor, as the land itself fails to attain the required "Sabbath" status.
• Chazon Ish (Shevi'it): Contends that the mitzvah is purely gavra-based; the land is merely the arena of the prohibition. Thus, if a non-Jew works the land, the Jew has no active duty to stop them, provided they are not facilitating the act.

Friction

Kushya: If the prohibition of choresh (plowing) is only derabanan (Rabbinic) for some (as suggested in Mo'ed Kattan 3a), how can the Rambam categorize it as a violation of a positive commandment of the Torah in Mishneh Torah 1:1? Terutz: The prohibition consists of two layers: a Torah-level Asmachta (support) for the general rest, and a specific Lav (negative commandment) for the four Avot (primary labors). The "Rabbinic" classification refers only to the Malkot (lashes) penalty, not the underlying violation of the Mitzvat Aseh.

Intertext

• Compare with Shabbat 70a regarding Melacha She'eina Tzaricha L'gufa (labor not needed for its own sake). In Shemitah, even "improving" actions (like clearing stones for the sake of the soil) are forbidden, paralleling the stringency of Shabbat, yet the Shemitah framework is uniquely tied to the sanctity of the land rather than the creator’s act of creation.

Psak/Practice

The meta-psak heuristic: Because the mitzvah involves both gavra and cheftza, contemporary Heter Mechira (selling land to non-Jews) is not merely a legal workaround but a fundamental pivot on whether one believes the land can be "discharged" from its Sabbath-status via ownership transfer. In practice, the Rambam treats the "person's" labor as the primary violation, making the prohibition of hiring someone to work your field a central point of Halachic caution.

Takeaway

Shemitah is not just a year off for the farmer; it is a year of "land-sanctity." Whether you view the mitzvah as a duty of the person or the land determines whether you see the Sabbatical year as a discipline of the soul or a sanctification of the earth.