Open rebuke must come from a deep love - I

There are two important factors in helping people rectify their behavior. First off, it is only by recognizing their inner purity that you can be inspired to help others change and improve their behavior. Secondly, those behaving improperly need to believe in their inner purity if they hope to change anything.

If one looks only at the superficial, they will be struck by the improper actions and give up on any hope of improvement. By emphasizing the sins the person may feel that he is so disconnected from his spiritual side that his situation is hopeless. Once he gives up, he may just sink lower and lower.

We can use children as an example. If a child lies or steals the father needs to rebuke him from a place of knowing the true depth of the child. If he only looks at the negative behaviors and allows himself to feel anger, even more so if he screams at the child, "YOU LIAR," he will cause great damage and accomplish nothing. The father needs some self-control, and to know what is truly in the child's heart. He needs to know that stealing and lying are not truly what the child is all about. It is because the child doesn't realize that that isn't who he is, that he allows himself to engage in these negative behaviors. The father needs to inspire the child, and possibly even punish him, but it must all come from a place of a deep understanding of the child, Open rebuke must come from a deep love. Only love and believing in the child, which will awaken feelings of concern for his lowly activities, need to motivate the judgement and punishment.  Any critique must come from a deep love. And when the father is full of love for the child, the child will feel his father's love, he will know that his father believes in him, and that will awaken within him a desire to change.

When the father educates the child and points out his undesirable behaviors, he needs to concern himself that the child understands two things. First, that the actions are not good and they should not be done. Second, that these behaviors are unworthy of who the child is. Inside they are good and pure. That's why, if the child lies you can't shout at him, "LIAR." Saying that will instill within the child that he is connected to falsehood and that his identity is that of a liar. Why then should he change himself? If that is who he is then lying is what he should do! The desire to change must emanate from the feeling that he is not a liar, and that is the father's job to communicate.
ט"ח במדבר שנ"ח

Perverting the Truth to Attack Israel

The Ariza"l writes that the nations of Midian, Moav and Amalek, who are all relatives of Avrohom Avinu, each have within them sparks of holiness. These sparks are points of light from the holiness of Klal Yisroel which were scattered among the nations and appear in different forms. For example, the soul of a convert is a spark that landed among the nations. So too there are good values and good ideas that are found that emanate from Judaism. However, they are often hidden amongst the Klipos, which creates a situation in which that which is true and valuable is taken and twisted into something false and perverted. The Klipah needs the holiness of truth to sustain it.

One example of this is Christian morality which expresses itself today in the false morality of Europe. It comes and accuses Israel of war crimes when its true aim is just to find cause to attack Israel. They have assumed the mantle of justice - morality and human rights - to further their evil and perverted goals. This is the idea of sparks held captive by the Klipos. The Klipah is well aware of the holiness of these sparks and captures them and utilizes them to its own poisonous end.

In the same vein they draft "peace" as a way of attacking out possession of the Land of Israel. Morality and justice are used to handcuff us in our fights against our enemies. The spark is a bit of true godliness which the Klipah hijacks to use in its goals of evil and perversion. It fights against Jewry and increases impurity in the world.
ט"ח בלק שמ"ה

Shemittah - A Return to Normalcy

Shemittah is an elevator that lifts us to a higher experience of life than that which we experience on a daily basis. Generally speaking each person exists within his own personal experience of life. He worries about his family's financial needs. The underlying concept is that each person lives his own life and everyone else is a stranger. This finds its expression throughout the full gamut of economic activity. If I have something of value I will not give it away unless I receive something of value in return. Each person needs money and property. This world is predicated upon financial needs in which each man is for himself. Without working and making money a person can't feed his family.

This creates a situation in which everyone else is outside of one's own circle of need. One's own needs are primary, those of others are pushed into a corner. Conflict arises between store owners and customers, manufacturers and retailers, and people fighting over the right to purchase limited resources. There is constant strife to be first in line, to be most successful etc.

Negative character traits emanate from this reality. People see others as aggressive and trying to take what is their's. People plot, act deceitfully, steal and take advantage of others. The government then needs to legislate to counter these tendencies.

Shemittah opposes this worldview. Each person is commanded to abandon his focus on his personal success. Rather than make money from selling his field's produce, he is told to turn it all over to the public. Open the doors of your private property and allow everyone to feel at home. Release all debts. Stop being focused on "I" and stop worrying about your's and your family's financial advancement. Broaden your circle of life until it includes others as well. Just as you feed your family from your field each year, you offer others the same opportunity this year. Everyone is one big family. Everyone is equal. This is what the Torah asks of us during Shemittah.

Shemittah appears to be a big burden. It is a huge demand that we would be happy to give up. It seems unnatural to stop worrying about yourself, to fight against that tendency and to give yourself over to the needs of the public. It seems that the six years are "normal" life, and Shemittah is an abnormal temporary unnatural state.

But if you have a deeper understanding you will know that the opposite is the truth. Shemittah is the expression of the normal state of man. 

Shemittah - Overview - III

The Mitzvoth of Shemittah relate to all areas of life, the physical as well as the spiritual. It is not a purely spiritual Mitzvah such as Tefillin or Shofar, rather it reaches all the way down into actual physical life. Agriculture, the economy, the release of debts and relinquishing fields. It comes to reveal the facets of holiness that are hidden within physical life. It is also a very spiritual Mitzvah, a Shabbath to Hashem, as it ties together the physical and spiritual by giving a glimpse of the future when the physical and spiritual will unite to reveal the holy light of God in all aspects of life.

Throughout the years each person works for his own sustenance. One person has a vineyard, another an olive orchard and a third has a grain field. Each person worries about his own family and household. He puts great effort into his produce and nurses it to its fullest potential and then sells it to make money. This economic system allows him to provide for his family's physical needs. In the Shemittah year he is then ordered to abandon his field for everyone's use. The Torah orders him to give up his field for the economic good of the public at large. Every other year if a person wants grapes he goes to the market and pays good money for grapes. In Shemittah he can just stroll into his neighbors vineyard and eat as many grapes as he wants. The owners of the land have no greater rights to the fruit than anyone else including the animals.

What about the economic needs of the farmer? What about his family? How will he survive a full year? What does the Torah really want with this difficult Mitzvah?