I spent way too much time - and probably not enough - preparing this shiur. A rabbit hole in time; the more I got into the historical calculations and the halachic arguments and the manuscript variations, the further away from clarity I felt. Yes yes, so either this year or last year or next year is called 'Shemita', and yes yes, if the laws are important then it's important to know which. If I was that kind of rabbi, I would give my opinion on when the 'real' Shemita year is.
But I'm not, and I want to enjoy holding the tension and confusion for a few more moments. What to do with the fact that we're not sure of our calendar? In the shiur I suggest - of course - to celebrate our doubt. It's the only mentally healthy way to live, I feel, in this shaky world with shaky systems. We don't control our destinies, and even the systems we've created aren't as serious as they seem. Let's play with them, rather than abandon them (or worship them blindly).
You can find all the sources for this shiur here.
As usual, the audio recording is in the podcasts directories, and here.
You can find the first part of this shiur, about Shmita and cancelling debt, here.
And I went back to recording myself on Youtube, here. It's long and the sound isn't great and there's a cauliflower in the background, but if you prefer visuals, here you go:
One more idea on the same theme. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, and his disciple Rebbe Natan, look at another Jewish calendar phenomenon, the fact that many of the festivals are celebrated twice outside of Israel, just to be sure.
וְזֶה שֶׁנּוֹהֲגִין בְּחוּץ-לָאָרֶץ שֶׁעַל-פִּי רֹב עִקַּר גֹּדֶל שִׂמְחַת יוֹם-טוֹב הוּא בְּיוֹם-טוֹב שֵׁנִי שֶׁל גָּלֻיּוֹת שֶׁעוֹשִׂין מֵחֲמַת סָפֵק, וּבִפְרָט בְּשִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה שֶׁעוֹשִׂין אוֹתוֹ בְּיוֹם-טוֹב שֵׁנִי דַּיְקָא... כִּי זֶה עִקַּר תִּקּוּן הַחוֹבְלִים, כְּשֶׁמִּתְקָרְבִים מִתּוֹךְ מַחֲלֹקֶת וּסְפֵקוֹת וּמַאֲמִינִים בְּכָל הַצַּדִּיקִים אַף-עַל-פִּי שֶׁחוֹלְקִים זֶה עַל זֶה, לֹא כְּמוֹ הַלֵּיצָנִים שֶׁאוֹמְרִים מֵאַחַר שֶׁחוֹלְקִים זֶה עַל זֶה הוּא שׁוֹמֵעַ דִּבְרֵי שְׁנֵיהֶם וְחוֹלֵק עַל שְׁנֵיהֶם, כִּי זֶהוּ דִּבְרֵי לֵיצָנוּת וְנוֹגְעִים בִּכְפִירוֹת רַחֲמָנָא לִצְלָן. רַק הָאֱמֶת הוּא לְהֵפֶךְ שֶׁצָּרִיךְ לְהַאֲמִין בְּכֻלָּם וְלִבְלִי לְהִסְתַּכֵּל כְּלָל עַל הַמַּחֲלֹקֶת שֶׁבֵּינֵיהֶם.
"[Summary:] We often have most of our joy specifically on the second day of the festivals, which are only celebrated because of doubt. Because evil forces come from arguments that exist, and the solution is to use those arguments to believe in everybody and everything. Some clowns will tell you that if two leaders argue, then you can't trust either of them. But the truth is that you have to believe in everyone, and ignore the argument. (Likkutei Halachot : OH Mincha 6:12)
Rather than try to solve contradictions, with potential for violence and pain, we can leap over them by accepting the paradox as it is. I can hear your suspicions already: but what about all those crazy extremists out there? I don't know. At the end of the day, of course we need to make decisions about what we believe and how we act, and trust ourselves. But there's still something missing if we only trust ourselves and only listen to those who we already agree with. Rebbe Nachman's system - believe in both sides! - shakes up our certainty, pushes the ego to the side, and opens up all sorts of exciting and dangerous possibilities. (Maybe today is Shabbat? Maybe next year is Shemita? Maybe I'm living my life wrong? Maybe I'm in the wrong job, or country, or body? Maybe maybe maybe!)
I apologise, as usual, for the unpredictable intervals between these newsletters/shiurim/podcasts . I hope to keep producing them fairly regularly, because I enjoy them! As always, I love and appreciate your feedback.
Happy Shemita year,
Josh