Shmita helps us redefine and renew the ancient category of mitzvot ha’tal’u’yot ba’aretz, commandments which hinge on the Land of Israel.  Though traditionally referring to those commandments which need be performed only by those currently in Israel, shmita — and the rich global Jewish conversation it engenders — tosses this wide open.  Why not consider practices which are in effect only when diasporans and Israelis are in dialogue around them?  Laws which apply only while there’s a State of Israel, whose government can bring an added dimension unavailable for most of the last two millennia?  And most radically, if we’re going literal, what about “laws which hinge on the land”, period – what about ecologically-minded regulations and norms that derive inspiration from the Land of Israel (and from the texts which wrote lovingly of that land), but which are now operative wherever there is “holy ground”, which is to say everywhere?  If we’re serious that shmita is key to the covenant (as the sole mitzvah cited after Sinai as being given “Be’har”) which includes yet transcends Israel, and if we truly wish to spread shmita’s much-needed wisdom about sustainability and justice and resilience beyond the comparatively small land of Israel and Jewish diaspora, then let the insights of shmita be a central part of the or chadash, the new light that shines not only on Zion, but from there, out to the whole world.

Let’s reconsider the ancient category of mitzvot ha’tal’u’yot ba’aretz, commandments which hinge on the Land, as ecologically-minded norms that derive inspiration from the Land of Israel (and from the texts which wrote lovingly of that land), but now would be operative wherever there is “holy ground”, which is to say everywhere? If shmita is key to the covenant  which includes yet transcends Israel, and if we truly wish to spread shmita’s much-needed wisdom about sustainability and justice and resilience beyond the small land of Israel and Jewish diaspora, then let the insights of shmita be a central part of the or chadash, the new light that shines from Zion, out to the whole world.