Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

The commandment of counting the seven [cycles] of seven years: To count the years — seven years — seven times to the Jubilee year, when we are in the Land of Israel after we have settled it, as it is stated (Leviticus 25:8), “And you shall count for yourself, seven cycles of seven years; seven years seven times.” And this commandment — meaning this counting of the sabbatical years until the Jubilee year — is given over to the great court, meaning to say, the Sanhedrin. And the commandment is such that they would count each year and each cycle of seven years until the Jubilee year, like we count the days of the omer. Afterwards, they would sanctify the fiftieth year with resting the land and proclaiming freedom for all of the slaves and maid-servants. And all the lands return to their [ancestral] owners.

It is from the roots of the commandment from the angle of the simple understanding that God, may He be blessed, wanted to inform His nation that everything is His; and in the end everything will return to those to whom He wanted to give it at first — for the earth is His, as it is written (Exodus 19:5), “for all the earth is Mine.” And with this commandment of the counting of forty-nine years, they will distance themselves from stealing land of their fellows and they will not covet it in their hearts; in that they know that everything returns to the one that God wishes it to be his.

And this matter of Jubilee is a little similar to that which is practiced by the earthly monarchy — that from time to time, the [kings] take lands from the fortified cities that are [owned] by their ministers, to remind them of the fear of the master. And so [too,] is this thing — that God wanted that all the land return to the one who has a holding in the land from Him, blessed be He. And so [too,] every slave of a man goes out from under his hand and will be in the domain of his Creator. However the kings of the earth do this from their fear lest their ministers rebel against them; whereas God, blessed be He, commanded this to His people to give them merit and to do good to them — as God, may He be blessed, desires to do good to them in His great goodness.

And I have also heard from the mouth of sages that there is a great secret in the matter of the Jubilee and that all the days and years of the world are hinted to in it. (See Ramban on Leviticus 25:2 and Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 25:2.) Also in the matter of the sevens — that we were commanded to count the years seven at a time, and not eight at a time or nine at a time, or less than [seven] — did they say that there is a great and goodly matter of wisdom about it as well. They have known it, but did not want to give it over to every person. And even though their secret was not revealed to us, we have paid heed to this thing — that the span of sevens is arranged in many of our commandments: Behold, we continue our work six days, and we rest on the seventh; we work the land six years, and we rest on the seventh; after seven cycles of seven years, we also rest a year — and that is the Jubilee that we have come [to write] about [here]; behold the holiday of Pesach is seven days, and likewise the holiday of Sukkot is seven, and after the seven, we celebrate [Shemini] Atseret; likewise, we count seven seven-year cycles from Pesach to [Shavuot], and after the tally of the seven, we celebrate [Shavuot]; likewise the cutting of a covenant (treaty), which is something done for preservation of a matter, is on the basis of seven, as it is written (Genesis 21:30), “Rather take these seven sheep from my hand”; likewise Bilaam, who was a wise man, made seven altars; so too, some of the sages said that the word, oath (shevuah) — which is translated [into Aramaic] as preservation — is derived from the expression, seven (sheva); and so [too,] many that I have not raised now on the tip of my pen. And you, my precious son, should merit and research and see and add to your knowledge and understand the matters. But I have already finished my work here to arouse your spirit about the question.

And if you shall ask, why did they, may their memory be blessed, obligate to count the seven [cycles of] seven from that which is written, “And you shall count for yourself”; and [yet] we have never seen that the zav counts the days of his counting, nor the zavah the days of her counting, and even though it is written about them, “and he shall count for himself” (Leviticus 15:13), “and she shall count for herself” (Leviticus 15:28) — besides that they are obligated to pay attention to the days, but not that they be obligated to count them orally and recite a blessing on their count — the answer to this thing is what I prefaced at the beginning of my book: that every matter of the Torah is dependent upon the traditionally received explanation. And for the one that does not know this, how many verses will appear to be the opposite of one another, and how many difficulties and contradictions will arise? But for the one that knows it clearly, he will see that all of “its ways are the ways of pleasantness and all of its paths are peace” and truth. And so, the tradition came to us that the command of, “And you shall count for yourself,” of Jubilee requires an oral counting; whereas the command of counting, written about the zav and the zavah, is only paying heed to the days — and such is the practice of all of Israel in every place. “And even though they are not prophets, they are the children of prophets.” And similar to this matter is that which we found in the Torah about the expression, remembering. As remembering is written about Amalek, and remembering [is written] about the [incident] of Miriam, and remembering is also written about the matter of leaving Egypt: And the tradition came to us about the remembering of Egypt to do it orally — and as they, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 21a), about the blessing of “True and firm” (which mentions the leaving of Egypt), “It is from Torah writ.” But with the other rememberings, it is enough for us with just remembering of the heart and paying heed to the things.

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sifra, Behar, Section 1:2) that the obligation of the commandment of this count is only after the conquest and division of the land, as it is stated (Leviticus 25:3), “Six years shall you sow your field and six years shall you prune your vineyard” — until each and every one recognizes his land. And from when the tribe of Reuven and Gad and half [of the] tribe of Menashe were exiled, this commandment became negated, because the Jubilees were negated from that time and onward; as it is stated (Leviticus 25:10), “and you shall proclaim freedom in the land for all of its inhabitants” — only when all of its inhabitants are upon it; and also that they not be mixed up (see Arakhin 32b), but rather sitting in their proper order. And at the time when the Jubilee is practiced in the Land [of Israel], it is [also] practiced outside of the Land; as it is stated (Leviticus 25:11), “It is a Jubilee” — meaning in every place (Kiddushin 38b). And at the time when the Jubilee is practiced, the law of the Hebrew slave is practiced, as well as the law of the houses of a walled city, the law of a consecrated (cherem) field and the field of a holding; and we accept a resident stranger (ger toshav).

The [laws of the sabbatical year] are practiced in the Land — and the release of monies in every place — from Torah writ. But at the time when the Jubilee is not practiced, none of these are practiced [either] — except for the release of land on the seventh [year] which is practiced in the Land [rabbinically]; and also the release of monies on the seventh [year] in every place [rabbinically]. And which is the sabbatical year? It was concluded like this in Tractate Avodah Zarah in the statement of Rav Huna, the son of Rav Yehoshua in the first chapter (Avodah Zarah 9b) — that it is the seventeenth year (5017), specifically according to the opinion of Rashi, may his memory be blessed; and the eighteenth year (5018) according to the opinion of Rabbenu Chananel, may his memory be blessed. And all of the matter of the release of monies is elucidated nicely in the last chapter of Tractate Sheviit. (See Mishneh Torah, Laws of Sabbatical Year and the Jubilee 10.) And the rest of the details of all of the laws of the [seventh] year are there in the same tractate that is built on this. And they, may their memory be blessed, mentioned the matter of this commandment — which is to count the years — in Sifra and in other places. And I have already written above that this commandment is given over to the Great Court — which is the Sanhedrin [and] which is called the eyes of the congregation — and that it is only practiced when the Jubilee is practiced.