Is It Time for Jews to Leave the UK?
4 min read
It’s commonplace to assume that time can be used for whatever we please. Optimally, we can “manage time” and “save time.” Alternatively, we often “waste time” or even “kill time.” Truth be told, time is one of life’s most precious assets. We can prudently invest our money to outlast us, but eventually everyone runs out of time. It’s irreplaceable. How we relate to time influences the quality and significance of our lives.
Judaism views time as having inherent holiness. Our role is to reveal time’s Divine dimension and be mindful of it. The Torah is replete with mitzvos that sanctify time. One such commandment, the mitzvah of shemittah, the sabbatical year, is given prominence in Parashas Behar. Every seven years in the Land of Israel, Jews refrain from working their fields. All forms of plowing, planting, picking, and reaping are prohibited. The land is left fallow; produce that grows on its own becomes ownerless. The seventh year manifests the belief that God has total dominion over the world in which we live. Shemittah pushes a spiritual reset button. It restores the Land of Israel and sanctifies the seventh year. Those who normally work the land have time to engage in regular Torah study. As the land is renewed, likewise is the Jewish spirit. Faith is put to the test and strengthened. God promised that by observing and sanctifying the Sabbatical year, the bounty of the sixth year would be abundant enough to last for three years.
Unfortunately, shemittah was not observed by the entire Jewish nation. After the destruction of the first Temple, the Jews were exiled to Babylonia for seventy years, which corresponded to the seventy shemittah years that were not properly observed. The Torah emphatically states:
“And I will scatter you among the nations…Then the land shall enjoy its Shabbosos as long as it is desolate and you are in your enemy’s land; then the land shall rest what it did not rest during your Shabbosos when you dwelled upon it.”
Jewish time has a Divine flow. In six days, the world was created, as “God rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.”158 The six days of the work week culminate in Shabbos. In the Land of Israel, six years of agricultural labor are followed by the Sabbatical year. This correspondence underscores its Godly significance. The entire nation is reminded that the Land of Israel has been sanctified by the Creator of Heaven and Earth. Integrating this mindset into our lives increases our awareness of how freedom of choice, human efforts, and God’s providence interact.
At the time of Creation, a Divine cycle of time was set into motion. As a central part of that cycle, shemittah provides us with an entire year to partake in a spiritually elevated consciousness. The sabbatical year is a Divinely ordained opportunity for spiritual and personal growth. To enjoy its bounty, we are to stretch beyond our comfort zones and take a leap of faith beyond out comfort zones.
How can we integrate a shemittah mindset into our lives? Here are some takeaways to consider.
Being mindful of time will enrich our lives. Just as God sanctifies time, we can.
