By Rabbi Micha Odenheimer
Norman Gottwald, an American biblical scholar, expressed well the challenge of applying ancient wisdom to contemporary issues: “So we are left with the logically perplexing but morally empowering paradox that the Bible is both grossly irrelevant in direct application to current economic problems and incredibly relevant in vision and principle for grasping opportunities and obligations to make the whole earth and its bounty serve the welfare of the whole human family.”[1] When we speak about Shmita, our task is to imagine and reflect on how Shmita should and could be observed and celebrated today. This requires a double feat of the heart and mind: analyzing and intuiting the intent and meaning of Shmita as it appears in our texts and traditions while understanding our current context and reality, how it has been constructed and how it might be healed.
The Sova Project 