Why Sabbaticals are Important for Optimal Functioning

EXEGENETICAL PAPER
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Exegetical Paper
Introduction
The year of release, which is also known as the sabbatical year, began like any other year and is related to the release of debts. It is a law that first appeared following Moses’s command that “but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.” According to this law, at the end of seven years, one has to make a Release. According to the commandment: he shall release, every possessor of a loan of his hand, what he has lent to his neighbor. He is not to oppress his neighbor or his brother, for the Release of Hashlem has been proclaimed. This commandment is espoused in Deuteronomy 15: 1-18, which states that at the end of every seven years, you must cancel debts. That every creditor is to cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite.” The chapter encourages everyone, both the rich and the poor, to not only focus on themselves but to also on other organisms around them. The world exists as an ecosystem, where people and animals need each other for survival. The rich, who seem to be self-sufficient appear to not need anything but in actual sense, they rely on the poor in the same magnitude as the poor rely on the rich. Similarly, the domestic animals that people rare at home need humans in the same way that humans need them for survival. Therefore, based on this commandment, we can conclude that in life, sabbaticals are important for optimal functioning.
Social-Historical Analysis
This law dates back to the Exodus, when Moses commanded the Israelites to rest and allow their lands to lie fallow every seventh year. According to him, the Israelites were supposed to allow their lands to rest after a long harvest and during the harvesting period, they are not supposed to take everything from the farm. Instead, they are supposed to eat what is enough for them and leave the rest for others to eat. While all nations had specific days to rest on different times of the year, the Israelites had entire years of rest. This rest was important as it allowed the poor and the needy to also eat (Lev. 25: 1 – 7). While people went to the farms to work and get food, whatever the farm brought forward did not only belong to them but even to those who did not work, such as the beasts of the field. The rest period also allowed the land to replenish its resources because in most cases, people relied on a single type of crop for sustainability, which was likely to drain the soil of its minerals. With no crop rotation practices or minerals that are prominent in the modern world, continuous farming without allowing the farms to rest would amount to robbing the farm, which would ultimately lead to a poor harvest.
Besides, this law transformed the “Year of Release” (Deut. 31:10-11) into one of the religious events, in which the holy reading of the law at the Feast of Tabernacles was to occur. Consequently, the sabbatical year was a time of self-examination and reflection towards spiritual development. The commandment ...