Behar: The Land Shall Keep a Sabbath to the Lord

Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: "When you come to the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath to the Lord." Regarding this verse Alshikh asks:

When you come to the land which I give you: " There is none who does not know that it is God Who gives, for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, and this is also stated several times in the Torah. It therefore seems superfluous here – why does the Torah mention it?

Man is possessed of a strong feeling of proprietorship. It is perhaps most strongly rooted in the peasant who dwells and lives on his own land. The sensation of mine is fraught with danger. It is to counter it that the Torah emphasizes that the Land is a gift from God to Israel, and in order to remind him that not the power and the might of his hand have gotten him his wealth.

Then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. 25:2 Rashi comments (citing Sifra): "To the Lord": For the sake of the Lord, as it is stated in regard to the Sabbath day. The commentators on Sifra and Rashi's super-commentators observe that none of the Festivals, not even Yom Kippur, is predicated Sabbath to the Lord. This distinction has fallen only to the Sabbath day and to the Sabbath year, indicating a close link between them. Indeed, we find juxtaposition of the two in Parashat Mishpatim: And six years thou shall sow thy land, and shall gather in its fruits, Ex. 23:10 but the seventh year thou shall let it rest and lie fallow… 23:11 Six days thou shall do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shall rest… 23:12 A study of verses 2-8 in our chapter which deal with the subject of the Sabbath Year reveals an even closer link between the Sabbath Year and the Sabbath day. …then shall the land keep a Sabbath to the Lord Lev. 25:2 Six years thou shall sow thy field, and six years thou shall prune the vineyard, and gather in its fruit. 25:3 But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath for the Lord; Thou shall neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. 25:4 That which of its own accord of thy harvest thou shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of thy undressed vine, for it shall be a year of rest for the land. 25:5 And the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you, for thee and for thy servant and for thy maid and for thy hired servant and for thy stranger that sojourns with thee. 25:6 We note the poetic style of these verse, the metrical harmony between the verses dealing with field and vineyard (first part of v. 3, and of verse 4, and beginning of v. 5) as well as the chiasmus – in v. 3 the order is predicate – object (sow thy field, prune thy vineyard), whereas in v.4 the order is object-predicate (thy field thou shall not sow, thy vineyard thou shall not prune), and this occurs also in v. 5. Derivatives of the root Sabbath appear seven times, either as a verb or as a noun. This is reminiscent of the first chapter of Genesis, which is divided into seven passages, and where "that it was good" appears seven times. Prof. M.D. Cassuto draws our attention to some other multiples of seven in Genesis 1: The first verse contains seven words, the second fourteen, i.e., twice seven. The seventh passage, dealing with the seventh day, contains three successive verses, each one with seven words: (And by the seventh day God ended His work which He had done) (7 words in Hebrew) (And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done) (7 words in Hebrew) (And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it) (7 words in Hebrew)

The number of words in the seventh passage is 35 (5X7). That all this is just coincidence, is inconceivable.

Indeed, many commentators consider that, similarly to the Sabbath day, the remembrance of the Creation is the main reason for the Shemitah year of rest for the land. And this is one of the reasons that R. Yitzhak Arama states for the Shemita year, in his work Akedat Yitzhak, Chap. 69:

…its purpose is to bring home to us the Truth, and to open our ears and illuminate our hearts through great and wonderful signs, and to open the eyes of those who are steeped in the illusions of this world, and are addicted to earthly labor. But seeing that they (the Children of Israel) agreed to serve God out of love, He enlightened us and opened for us windows in order to open the blind eyes, to bring those that sit in darkness out of the prison house, and to bring out of prison those who are prisoners of their own greed, shackled by vain and futile things. He fixed periodical milestones in the course of our days, weeks, and years, which cannot go unnoticed, unless we foolishly ignore them and are blind to them…For the six days of work and the seventh day of rest bear testimony that the world was created by God's will…and this is the genuine sign and symbol for truth of God's existence…and this is the most fundamental article of faith of every believer…

This analogy between Shemitah and Shabbat is emphasized also by the author of the Meshekh Hokhma, since Shemitah, like Shabbat testifies that the world was created by the Lord – for the Land is mine (Lev. 25:23). And he found a further allusion to this principle in the Torah:

Six years: The six years correspond to the six days of Creation. Similarly, Torat Kohanim points out that the seventh day of Creation and the seventh year are both referred to as Sabbath to the Lord. It may be noted also that "that it was good" is stated twice both on the third and on the sixth day! It is therefore that the Tithe for the poor must be given every third and sixth year, in order to be good to one's fellow man. This is a very appropriate hint.

However, he considers this only as one of the reasons for the Shemitah precept, and in another place he makes the following observation:

The reasons for Shemitah are many and unfathomable, known only to God the Omniscient. This, let it be understood, is indicated by "Sabbath to God."

The reading of the texts will show the conspicuous similarity between the Shemitah law and the commandment to rest on the Sabbath day. The designation of the Shemitah year as the Sabbath of the land is not without significance. The Torah thus bears out as being the most obvious reason the one which underlies both the Sabbath day and the Sabbath Year. And the principal reason for the Shabbat (without ignoring a wealth of reasons, including some mentioned in the torah) is without a doubt, for in six days that Lord made heaven and earth.

The ideological importance of the belief in the Creation of the world lies not in its lesson about the formation of the universe but as Prof. Y. Guttman writes in his work Dat uMada (Religion and Science) (Jerusalem 5715-1955), p. 263:

Rather than in the origin of the world, faith is interested in teaching man about his origin. The ideological import of the account of the Creation is to show man that God is Master and lord of the world: the universe is His creation. And I am His creature.

The idea of our dependence on God, His sovereignty and of our duty to accept the yoke of His commandments is based on our belief that He has made us, and we are His. The Sabbath and the Shemitah year are, therefore, reminders of God's creation of the world.

However, not all commentators have accepted this as being the reason – and certainly not the only reason – for the law of Shemtah. In order to understand the various interpretations of the significance of the Shemitah year, we must first know something about its basic rules. We shall content ourselves with two rules referring to the resting of the land. Maimonides. Hilkhot Shemitah veYovel 1:1:

It is a positive commandment to suspend work on the land and the cultivation of trees. Maimonides, Hilkhot Shemitah 4, 24: It is a positive commandment to release all agricultural produce on the seventh year, as it is stated (Ex. 23:11) "but the seventh year thou shall let it rest and lie fallow." Thus, whoever, encloses his vineyard, or fences in his field on the seventh year, violates a positive c. So, too, if he gathers in all his produce into his house. Rather let him abandon it all and allow everything unrestricted access, as it is stated (ibid., ibid.) "…that the poor of thy people may eat." He is permitted to bring into his house small quantities, as is done in the case of abandoned produce.

Thus there are two precepts to be complied with by the Jew in the Shemitah year, which will leave their imprint on life during that year; The suspension of all agricultural work, and the renunciation of ownership of all agricultural produce, declaring it public property. (we shall not now deal with the third precept, the cancellation of all monetary debts mentioned in Parashat Re'eh (Deut. 15:1-11).

Whoever wishes to find a reason for the institution of the Sabbatical year of the land, must bear in mind, not only one, but both above mentioned aspects of the Shemitah year. We present some of the views regarding the reason for the Shemitah laws, in their chronological order, and will subsequently classify and compare them.

Maimonides, Guide to the Perplexed, 3,39:

As to the precepts enumerated in the laws concerning the year of Shemitah and the Yovel (Jubilee) year, some of them imply sympathy with our fellow men and promote the well-being of mankind; for in reference to these precepts it is stated in the Torah: That the poor of thy people may eat (Ex. 23:11); and besides, the land will also increase its produce and improve when it remains fallow for some time.

The first motive explains the precept of renunciation of all produce (mentioned by Maimonides in Chapter 4), and the second reason a purely agricultural one—explains why the land must lie fallow.

Many commentators reject the agricultural motive. Abarvanel strongly repudiates this explanation:

The truth is that this is not so.

And Abarvanel adduces two arguments against Maimonides' view. One from verses 20-21, from whose text it is obvious that uninterrupted working of the land for six years does not result in its weakening, but on the contrary – its yield will be exceedingly bountiful (in the sixth year). We cite Abarvanel:

If the Torah is concerned about the natural weakening of the land in consequence of working year after year, how then is it going to yield produce for three years?

A counter-argument could be that what the Torah promises is not a natural phenomenon, but as it explicitly states – this will occur if you will keep the Lord's commandments:

And I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. (25:21)

The text and style of the verse indicate clearly a very special and wondrous blessing. However, there is another argument which motivates the rejection of the agricultural reason for the Shemitah law.

We find that argument in Akedat Yitzhak 89, whose author also opposes this idea of Maimonides:

Our Sages have said (Avot 5,11): Captivity comes into the world on account of…and the neglect of the year of rest for the soil. Why should this transgression be punished so severely?…If the suspension of work is for the benefit of the soil, in conformity with the custom of farmers to let the land lie fallow for some years, in order that it may gather strength and yield more…then their failing to keep the Shemitah law…will be punished by the resulting poor crops – why should they be punished with exile into captivity? Other commentators adduce the text of the verse for their counter argument. Thus Keli Yakar states: Many affirm that the purpose of the rest for the land is it reinvigorate it and increase its field. The master (Maimonides) also adopted this view. However, many commentators reject it, arguing that if that had been the purpose of the Torah – to avoid the weakening of the soil – why should the violation of this law be punished by exile… Furthermore, in this case the Shemitah year would not be a Sabbath to the Lord) but for the benefit of the land.

On the other hand the commentators agree with Maimonides' first reason, of social significance, i.e., sympathy with our fellow men and to promote the well-being of mankind, or as expressed by the author of Minhah Belulah:

And the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord: this law was given in order that we may show sympathy for our fellow men who have neither land nor vineyards, and that they may be happy in the Shemitah year, as the rich are happy every year.

Giving emphasis to brotherhood and not only to equality, Keli Yakar in Deut. 31:12 explains the Shemitah of the land, relating it to the Shemitah (cancellation) of debts:

Gather the people together: The Shemitah year contains factors conducive to union and peace. For since no sowing and planting is allowed, the poor may eat freely and none may store produce and treat it as his own, this undoubtedly creates favorable conditions towards peace, because all strife originates from the attitude of "mine is mine" and people claiming their rights. But in the seventh year all are equal – this can indeed generate peace.

The Or Hahayim sees also in the last verse of the Shemitah chapter an allusion to the atmosphere of peace, which the Shemitah promotes, as being the reason for the commandment:

"Shall be food for you" – for thee and for thy servant and for thy maid and for thy hired servant and for thy stranger that sojourns with thee (v.6): Although the above-mentioned had already been included in the general statement for you (plural), the Torah enumerates them. Why then does the Torah state for you? It would have sufficed to state: And the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for thee and for thy servant, etc. But (for you) precedes for thee, etc., in order to intimate that the sequence in the list that follows does not indicate any priority (contrary to the example of "If there be among you a poor man, one of my brethren, within any of thy gates" (Deut. 15:7) (se Rashi's comment), where the sequence indicates that the poor of your city have priority over those of other cities). The collective implies that in regard to food in the Shemitah year all are equal and none enjoy any priority.

However, all the reasons cited explain only or mainly the precept of the renunciation of ownership, but not the suspension of agricultural work.

Let us, therefore, cite Ibn Ezra's very concise comment in deut. 31:10-12:

At the end of every seven years: At the beginning of the year. And that they may learn: Throughout the years, including the Sabbath days.

In this case, the suspension of work (in the Shemitah year) is to facilitate the study of the Torah.

Among the several reasons adduced, the Akedat Yitzhak elaborates on this point emphasizing the danger inherent in continual work without limits which leaves no time for matters of spiritual interest:

The second point …that the seven years of work and the suspension of work in every seventh year causes us to realize that our mission on earth is not to be slaves to the soil but a much higher and nobler one. Work should only serve the purpose of providing food and other needs, while our task is to attain to the supreme end; the purpose of giving this land to this people was not to be brought into the land in order to be enslaved by it, and addicted to tilling it and gather in the crops and enrich themselves, as do the other nations in their lands, as it is stated, "… let them dwell in the land and trade in it; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them" (Gen. 34:21). Their purpose is to accomplish themselves and seek perfection, according to the will of their Creator, while satisfying the needs of their sustenance.

In order to underscore this vital task they were given this great sign to remind them that they should work the land six years and let is rest in the seventh, to make them realize that earthly work

And toil were not intended to be the road to man's might but something from which they should take a rest for the sake of the Lord. This is implied in the verse, "And the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you, for thee and for thy servant and for thy maid and for thy hired servant and for the sthat sojourns with thee," this should bring home to you the fact that you should work no more than just to provide food for you, your servant and maid, your hired servant and the stranger, i.e. the poor among your people. Any surplus should be given to the cattle and beasts of the land.

Accordingly, the Shemitah year should lift man out of his materialism. Interestingly, Akedat Yizhak cites Hamor, the father of shekhem, as the archetype of the seeker of material gains, of those enslaved by it (the soil) and its cultivations, work it and gather in the crops, as representing this outlook on life, who wishes to persuade his townspeople to undergo even conversion to the Jewish faith for the purpose of commercial expansion and the raising of the material quality of life.

Now comes the Shemitah year with its two demands—suspension of work, implying the foregoing of profit, and the renunciation of ownership, with the consequent renouncing of existing possessions – in order to gain the right moral values. R.A.Y. Kook, following this idea, explains admirably the meaning of Shemitah, in the introduction to his work Shabbat HaAretz (The Sabbath of the Land):

The treasure of the nation, the Divine blessing that is implanted in it, the order of the world, the righteous and good life, lived in harmony with justice and honesty, peace and tranquility, grace and courage, permeated by the all-embracing contemplation of the Diviner purpose, as it exists in the national soul – none can be activated in the day-to day life. The very nature of this life obfuscates the spiritual majesty of the Divine soul (which dwells in the nation) and prevents its bright and shining light from penetrating the profane reality.

Life can only be perfected through the affording of a breathing space from the bustle of everyday life. The individual recovers from the influence of the mundane at frequent intervals, every Sabbath day… What the Sabbath achieves regarding the individual, the Shemitah achieves with regard to the nation as a whole. This nation (in which the Divine spirit dwells prominent and eternal) has special need of expressing from time to time the revelation of its own Divine light at its fullest brightness, not suppressed by the cares and toil of the passions and rivalries of everyday life, so that the totality of the soul's purity may be revealed within it. And if that callousness which is bound to be present in the life of a community, causes the deterioration of the moral standard of life, and the constant conflict between the ideal heeding of the appeal top practice of loving kindness and truthfulness, compassion and pity, on the one hand, and the raging oppression, coercion, and pressure of the quest for material gain, inevitable in daily life, on the other, cause the distancing of the Divine light from the cognitive capacity of the nation… The periodical suspension of the normal social routine raises this nation – when morally settled – spiritually and morally, and crowns it with perfection. This is achieved through the divine content that is rooted in the nation, and which stands high above any social system and order, and which raises and perfects the social order.

A year of solemn rest is essential for both the nation and the land, a year of peace and quiet without oppressor and tyrant—he shall not oppress his neighbor and his brother, for a Shemitah has been proclaimed to the Lord. It is a year of equality and rest, in which the soul reaches out towards divine justice, towards God who sustains the living creatures with loving kindness. There is no private property and no punctilious privilege but the peace of god reigns over all in which there is the breath of life. It shall be a Sabbath of the land to you for food, for your manservant and hired servant and the sojourner who sojourns with you, and for your cattle and the animalism your land, all its produce shall be for food. Sanctity is not profaned by the exercise of private acquisitiveness over all this year's produce, and the covetousness of wealth stirred up by commerce is forgotten. For food – but not for commerce. Generosity and gratefulness for the blessing of God over the fruits of the earth – for food – but not for loss (Pesahim 52b – that is, it is forbidden intentionally to spoil food fit for human consumption). Man returns to the pristine nature before he required drugs to combat disease, which is largely the result of upsetting the equilibrium of life, and is symptomatic of his divorcement from nature in its spiritual and material aspects. For food and not for drugs, for food and not for making an emetic (Sukkah 40b). Pour out a spirit of sanctity and nobility over all! – it shall be a solemn Sabbath for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord.

Thus Ibn Ezra and Rav Kook see in the raising of the spiritual level the main purpose of the Shemitah, through the farmers dedicating the year to the Torah studies and thus reaching higher spiritual levels, as Ibn Ezra explains. R. Kook, on the other hand, sees in the suspension of the normal social order of labor, of the quest for sustenance, of commercial activities (including the cancellation of debts), in the abstention from the profanation of the holy as reflected in the passionate consciousness of private property – in all these he sees a means of purifying the soul and of uncovering and activating the Divine treasure which dwells in the soul of the nation.

Nothing more need be added to his words.

***

Behukotai: The Blessing

The Parashah is popularly known as the Tochecha, the reproof (more precisely, the minor reproof, as against that in Ki Tavo (Duet.28), the great reproof). But is this title justified, seeing that the Parashah opens with the theme of blessings?

This name reflects a superficial glance at the Parashah, wherein thirty verses consist of reproof or curses as against thirteen of blessings.

Ibn Ezra was one of the first to protest against the misnomer, thus:

"Upright" (26:13)… the empty-headed have asserted that these curses exceed the blessings, but that is not true.

The blessings were stated in a general fashion, the curses in detail, in order to frighten and deter the hearers. A closer look at the text will reveal that it bears me out.

R. N.H. Weisel in his Biur (26:16) elaborates on Ibn Ezra's viewpoint:

I go further than this and say that the blessings outnumber the curses. If you consider our view of the distribution of the curses, you will infer from the abundance of curses God's kindness and mercy for His people. Thus, with the blessings God promised that if they followed His statuses, they would immediately enjoy the entire range of infinite blessing. Accordingly, if they disobeyed and violated His covenant, all the curses should likewise materialize immediately. However, the text states that even if they rebelled, they would not be struck by all the curses at once. Rather, first they would suffer minor blows, to deter them and make them repent. If they failed to repent, God would strike them with but one series of curses. If they still refused to repent, God would expose them to the second range of curses. And if they persisted in their rebellion, the third and fourth wave would set in. Only if they still refused to reform, would the major curse materialize.

Our Parashah thus reflects the principle which our sages discerned throughout Scriptures, whereby the measure of Divine Goodness outweighs that of Divine retribution (cf. Yoma 76a).

There is likewise an asymmetry between the prerequisites of the blessings and those of the curses.

Before the blessing the Torah states:

If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments and do them (26:3)

Before the curses the Torah states:

But if you will not hearken to Me, and will not do all these command. (26:14)

And if you shall despise, or if your soul abhor My judgements, so that you will not do all My commandments, but that you break My Covenant. (26:15)

The standards applied to the blessings evidently differ from those relating to the curses. Thus, the curses are not to be administered upon the mere transgression of the laws; only upon despising and abhorring them, as noted by Seforno:

If you shall despise My statutes – beyond mere violation, you will despise them; and if your soul loathe My judgments – consciously… i.e., loathe them as one might willfully spew out something objectionable…

Thus the preconditions of the blessings radically differ from those of the curses.

But the blessings as such (23:1-13) give rise to a different and more complex question, variously posed by our commentators:

R. Yosef Albo, in his Sefer HaIkkarim 39,4: Jewish authorities throughout the ages have never ceased puzzling why the Torah omits to specify any spiritual benefits alongside the material gains that it lists. Moreover, since the Torah does not mention the spiritual benefits which constitute the principal reward, why does it elaborate the material benefits which are not the main reward?

R. Yizhak Arama, in Akedat Yithak, Behukotai: Adherents of religion who believe in Divine reward and punishment (for those who please or anger God, respectively), assail the Torah's silence concerning the spiritual remuneration that constitutes the chief aim of the Torah, which holds up transitory, material rewards, as the goal of those obedient to its laws.

R. Yitzhak Abarvanel, Behukotai 26: Why does the Torah confine its goals and rewards to material things, as mentioned in his comment, and omit spiritual perfection and the reward of the soul after death – the true and ultimate goal of man? Our enemies exploit this text and charge Israel with denying the principle of the soul's judgement in the afterlife.

Whereas Albo poses this problem within the Jewish context, Abarvanel is concerned with the critique of Judaism by Christian theologians who point to the sublime reward promised in their doctrines, as demonstrating the superiority of their own religion. R. Judah HaLevi in the Kuzari (1, 104) puts in the mouth of the king of the Kazars the arguments of Muslim theologians on this subject. The Kazar king turns to the Jewish philosopher and says:

I note that the reward held out by other faiths are greater and more substantial.

From the context and the gist of the scholar's reply it is evident that the Kazar king is referring to the afterlife.

The view that the Bible did not subscribe to an afterlife, and that the ancient Israel believer was content with the material boons of timely rain and bountiful crops, and that only after the exile did they substitute the Hereafter, to compensate themselves for the loss of their land, represents a native concept of the formation of religions and human yearnings. Kaufmann in his classic (Hebrew) History of the Israelite Religion (Vol. V, Life and Death), was not the first to refute this and similar fallacies, He states:

The belief in the soul's separate existence from the body after death is most ancient, and is even claimed to mark the very beginning of the religion. This doctrine is found in the Scriptures as well.

The view that Scripture refrained from affirming the immortality of the soul as a dogma owing to its repudiation of the cult of the dead (especially the Egyptian version) from which Israel was to be weaned is unacceptable. The Torah repudiates paganism in toto ( not only the Egyptian cult of the dead). The view of the individual's lack of importance in ancient Israel and hence no need for a belief in the eternity of the individual's soul was felt, is incorrect. We have seen that the individual was considered important.

We cite some of the answers offered by our classical commentators to this problem.

Ibn Ezra (Deut. 32:39): I, even I, am He…I kill and I make alive": Many claim that life in the Hereafter can be inferred from this verse, since it states first I kill and then I make alive. Similarly, the Lord kills and gives life, He brings down the grave and brings up… (there follow several other verses which allude to the afterlife). But I feel that the Torah was given to all, and not to an individual alone, whereas only one in a thousand van fathom the Hereafter, for it is profound.

But many commentators argue that the Torah does not take account of popular fallacies. Thus, the rejection of anthropomorphism was hardly within the primitive person's grasp. Yet, the Torah declares "you saw no likeness," concerning the Revelation on Mount Sinai. Elsewhere we read that the leaders of Israel saw god, and ate and drank (Ex. 24:11), which cannot be taken literally. Here the Torah "Relied upon the intelligent" (Albo ad loc.), without being concerned about possible misunderstanding. Rather it was guided by the principle that the righteous shall walk therein and the wicked stumble therein (Hoshea 14:10). It is inconceivable that such an important principle as the immortality of the soul and the Hereafter should be omitted by the Torah on account of its being beyond the grasp of the uninitiated.

Let us cite Nahmanides' view on this problem (Ex. 6:2):

And god spoke to Moses:…the reward of virtue and punishment of vice is miraculous. Left to nature or to the constellations, his deeds would neither add to nor detract anything from his fate. Indeed, all reward and punishment in this world promised by the Torah constitutes mysterious miracles. They may appear as natural phenomena, yet in actual fact, they denote reward and punishment. The reason that the Torah elaborates the reward in this world and omits the recompense of the soul in the world of the souls, is because the former is a super-miracle whereas the survival of the soul and its reunion with God is a natural process, whereby the soul returns to its Divine progenitor.

Nahmanides comments similarly on the concept of karet ("cutting off" i.e., premature death) (Lev. 18:29):

"(They) shall be cut off:" …you must realize that the punishment of cutting off the soul implies a firm assurance of the immortality of the soul and of a Divine reward in the Hereafter. By stating "this soul shall be cut off from before Me," the torah teaches us that only the soul of the sinner is cut off, for its iniquity, but other souls, which have not sinned will live eternally and enjoy the Divine splendor. This is so because the human soul is the lamp of the Lord which He breathed into our nostrils… and so it rests in its natural setting and will not die. It is not composite and thus is not subject to generation and dissolution as are compound substances. Indeed, it is intrinsically imperishable as are the immaterial intelligence's (i.e., angels).

It is therefore unnecessary for the Torah to state that as a reward for a good deed the soul will live forever. It states rather that as a punishment for transgressing, the soul will become tarnished and defiled and thus cut off from its natural life of eternity. Accordingly, the torah chose the term karet, as with a branch cut off from a tree that brought it forth. As already noted, all the rewards and punishments promised by the Torah are supernatural, mysterious miracles… thus it (the Torah) does not hold out eternity (for the soul) which is natural (and therefore, self-evident).

In our Parasha (26:12), Nahmanides sums up this view briefly:

"And I will walk among you": The torah does not mention here the eternal life of the soul in the world of the souls and in the Hereafter after the resurrection, for the soul's endurance is constitutional, as I have explained in the context of karet. It is the punishment which brings about extinction of the guilty souls, whilst the others, by their very nature, live forever.

We have quoted Nahmanides extensively to demonstrate the consistency of his view of immortality as the natural consequence of the soul's Divine source. Hence the Torah's silence on immortality, just as it omits to mention other natural phenomena.

The Akedat Yizhak provides a different solution (Sha'ar 70):

Indeed, the spiritual bliss whose source is the Torah and the reward of the Divine commandments, are more than amply recorded in the frequent accounts throughout the Torah of the Shekhinah (Divine Presence) resting in our midst and in the ongoing communion with the Divine thus attained by us…And so in the present Parashah the cardinal and transcendent reward of the Commandments is held out: "And I will set My dwelling among you…And I will walk among you, and I will be your God" (26:11-12). How could the critics fail to perceive the intensity of the Divine communion and the spiritual wealth attained by members of our nation while still dwelling in this ephemeral world wherein our souls remain anchored in the crudeness of the earth. How much more so will this come to pass upon man's separation from the matter. This wondrous message underlines Moses' declaration: "But you that did cleave to the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day…" – this day, in your this-worldly existence, wherein you are able to experience, the proximity of and communion with God.

The elation and joy caused by the Divine reward of the God fearing already in the present world, as expressed above, recall the Psalmist's renunciation of all benefits in the present of future worlds, once he has discovered the true reward, thus, But as for me, the nearness of God is my good (73:28).

If, in our earthly lives we experience the proximity of God and even communion with the Divine, how much more so will the soul be able to bask in the Divine Glory in the world to come.

Countering the claim of a superior spiritual reward of the soul in Christian dogma, Abarvanel (following, as often, Akedat Yizhak) retorts as follows:

How can the Gentiles flourish their reward after death, seeing that we Jews attain that (spiritual) bliss and communion with the Divine in this life.

Rambam's comment in two places deals chiefly with Albo's second question. Why, at all, did the Torah mention material rewards? In his introduction to Chapter XI (Helek) of Sanhedrin, he states:

The idea behind the material rewards promised in the Torah is as follows. The almighty says to you: If you perform the precepts I shall assist you to carry them out and to perfect yourself through them and remove from you all obstacles in your path. For a man cannot perform the precepts if he is sick, hungry, or thirsty, in the hour of battle or under siege. The Almighty therefore promised that He would rid them of these situations and that they would enjoy health and tranquility, enabling them to perfect their knowledge and merit the Hereafter. These material rewards are thus not an end in themselves but a means. Conversely, if they transgress the Torah, evil would overtake them, preventing them from carrying out the precepts – "because thou did not serve the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; therefore shall thou serve thy enemy" (Deut. 28:47-48). If you ponder over this deeply, you will discern that the Torah means to tell you the following: If you have performed some of the precepts out of love and by dint of your own efforts, I shall help you to perform all of them and remove any obstacles in your path. But if you forsake and despise them, I shall put obstacles in the way of your performance, till you are deprived of spiritual perfection and immortality. This is the implication of our sages' dictum: The reward of a precept is a precept.

In his Hilkhot Teshuvah 9,1, Maimonides elaborates on the same theme. (Owing to the importance of Maimonides' statement, we cite it in full).

It is known that the reward for the fulfillment of the commandments and the good to which we will attain if we have kept the way of the Lord, as prescribed in the law, is life in the world to come, as it is said, "That it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days" (Duet. 22:7), while the retribution exacted from the wicked who have abandoned the ways of righteousness prescribed in the Torah is excision, as it is said, "That soul shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him" (Num. 15:31). What then is the meaning of the statement found everywhere in the Torah that if you obey, it will happen to you thus; if you do not obey, it will be otherwise; and all these happenings will take place in this world, such as war and peace; sovereignty and subjection; residence in the Promised Land and exile; prosperity in one's activities and failure and all the other things predicted in the words of the covenant (Lev. 26, Deut. 28)? All those promises were once truly fulfilled and will again be so. When we fulfill all the commandments of the Torah, all the good things of this world will come to us. When, however, we transgress the precepts, the evils that are written in the Torah will befall us. But nevertheless, those good things are not the final reward for the fulfillment of the commandments, nor are those evils the last penalty exacted from one who transgresses all the commandments. These matters are to be understood as follows: The Holy One blessed be He, gave us this law – a tree of life. Whoever, fulfills what is written therein and knows it with a complete and correct knowledge will attain thereby life in the world to come. According to the greatness of his deeds and abundance of his knowledge will be the measure in which he will attain that life.

The Holy One Blessed be He, has further promised us in the Torah that if we observe its behests joyously and cheerfully, and continually meditate on its wisdom, He will remove from us the obstacles that hinder us in its observance, such as sickness, war, famine, and other calamities; and will bestow upon us all the material benefits which will strengthen our ability fulfill the Law, such as plenty, peace, abundance of silver and gold. Thus we will not be engaged all our days in providing for our bodily needs, but will have leisure to study wisdom and fulfill the commandment and thus attain life in the world to come. Hence, after assurance of material benefits, it is said in the Torah, "And it shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this commandment before the Lord our God as He commanded us" (ibid. 32:15), the true Judge will deprive the foresakers of all those material benefits which only served to encourage them to be recalcitrant, and will send upon them all the calamities that will prevent their attaining the life hereafter, so that they will perish in their wickedness. This is expressed by the Torah in the text: "Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things, therefore hall you serve your enemy whom the Lord shall send against you" (ibid. 28: 47-48).

Hence, all those benedictions and maledictions promised in the Torah are to be explained as follows: If you have served God with joy and observed His way, He will bestow upon you those blessings and avert you those curses, so that you will have leisure to become wise in the Torah and occupy yourselves therewith, and thus attain life hereafter, and then it will be well with you in the world which is entirely blissful and you will enjoy length of days in an existence which is everlasting. So you will enjoy both worlds, a happy life on earth leading to the life in the world to come. For if wisdom is not acquired and good deeds are not performed here, there will be nothing meriting a recompense hereafter, as it is said, "For there is no work, no device, no knowledge, no wisdom in the grave" (Eccles. 9:10). But if you have forsaken the Lord and have erred in eating, drinking fornication, and similar things, He will bring upon you all those curses and withhold from you all those blessings till your days will end in confusion and terror, and you will have neither the free mind nor the healthy body requisite for the fulfillment of the commandments so that you will suffer perdition in the life hereafter and will thus have lost both worlds – for when one is troubled here on earth with diseases, war or famine, he does not occupy himself with the acquisition of wisdom or the performance of religious precepts by which life hereafter is gained.

(Translated from A Maimonides Reader by I. Twersky)