SABBATICAL YEAR (mv, ray:vri r2v nrizv, or simply ; ifiZogarothr, or act13 panxds 4incturbs), the septennial rest for the land from all tillage and cultivation enjoined in the Mosaic law (Exod. xxiii. ro, ; Lev. xxv. 2-7 ; Deut. xv. 1-1r ; xxxi. to-13).
1. Names and their signification.—In the Mo saic legi.slation this festival is called by four names, each of which expresses some feature connected with the observance thereof. Thus it is called- nnmv, ray, Rest of entire Rest, or Sabbath of Sabbatism (Lev. xxv. 4), because the land is to have a complete rest from all tillage and cultiva tion ; rozzy my, the Year of Sabbatism or Rest (ibid. xxv. 5), because the rest is to extend through the year ; ;1v/3v, or more fully nvnum nyy, Release, Remission, or the Year of Release (Deut. xv. I, 2, 9), because on it all debts were remitted ; and iv. pavri nlv, the Seventh Year (Deut. xv. 9), because it is to be celebrated every seventh year, for which reason it is called in the Hebrew canons tcar' rorntY, the Seventh (i.e. mv, Year), as is also the name of the Tractate in the Illishna treating on the Sabbatical year.
2. The laws connected with this Festival. —Like the year of Jubilee, the laws respecting the Sab batical year embrace three main enactments— (1), Rest for the soil ; (2), Care for the poor and for animals ; and (3), Rcmission of debts.
The jirst enactment, which is comprised in Exod. xxiii. to, ; Lev. xxv. 2-5, enjoins that the soil, the vineyards, and the olive-yards, are to have perfect rest, there is to be no tillage or cultiva tion of any sort. What constitutes tillage and cultivation, and how much of labour was regarded as transgressing the law, may be seen from the following definitions of the Hebrew canons The planting even of trees which bear no fruit is not allowed on the Sabbatical year ; nor may one cut off withered or dried up boughs of trees, nor break off the withered leaves and branches, nor cover the tops with dust, nor smoke under them to kill the insects, nor besmear the plants with any kind of soil to protect them from being eaten by the birds when they are tender, nor besmear the unripe fruit, etc. etc. And whoso does one of these things in
the Sabbatical year is to receive the stripes of a transgressor' (Maimonides, lad Ha-Chezaka Hit choth Shemita Ve- yobel, 5). Anything planted wittingly or unwittingly had to be plucked up by its*roots (111ishna, Teruma, 3).
The second enactment, which is contained in Exod. xxiii. 11 ; Lev. xxv. 5-7, enjoins that the spontaneous growth (ITMD) of the fields or of trees is to be for the free use of the poor, hirelings, strangers, servants, and cattle (Exod. xxiii. ; Lev. xxv. 5-7). This law is thus defined by the Jewish canons He who locks up his vineyard, or hedges in his field, or gathers all the fruit into his house in the Sabbatical year, breaks this positive commandment. Everything is to be left common, and every man has a. right to eveuthing in every place, as it is written, that the poor of thy people may eat' (Exod, xxiii. 11). One may only bring into his house a little at a time, accord ing to the manner of taking things that are common' (Maimonides, ibid. iv. 24). 'The fruit of the seventh year, however, may only be eaten by man as long as the same kind is found in the field ; for it is written, and for the cattle and for the beast that are in thy land shall all the increase thereof be meat' (Lev. xxv. 7). Therefore as long as the animals eat the same kind in the field thou mayest eat of what there is of it in the house, and if the animal has consumed it all in the field thou art bound to remove this kind from the house into the field' (Maimonides, ibid. vii. 1). The people, who are enjoined to live upon the harvest of the preceding year, and the spontaneous growth of tbe Sabbatical year, are promised an especially fruitful harvest to precede the fallow year as a reward for obeying the injunction (Lev. xxv 2o-22). That the fields yielded a crop in the Sabbatical year, and even in the second fallow year—i.e., in the year of Jubilee—has been shown in the article JUBILEE,