Sabbatical On Shabbat and Shemitah

(1) Hashem spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: (2) Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of Hashem. (3) Six years you may sow your field and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in the yield. (4) But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath of Hashem: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. (5) You shall not reap the after-growth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untrimmed vines; it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. (6) But you may eat whatever the land during its sabbath will produce—you, your male and female slaves, the hired and bound labourers who live with you, (7) and your cattle and the beasts in your land may eat all its yield.

(13) Speak to the Israelite people and say: Nevertheless, you must keep My sabbaths, for this is a sign between Me and you throughout the ages, that you may know that I Hashem have consecrated you. (14) You shall keep the sabbath, for it is holy for you. One who profanes it shall be put to death: whoever does work on it, that person shall be cut off from among kin. (15) Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of complete rest, holy to Hashem; whoever does work on the sabbath day shall be put to death. (16) The Israelite people shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time: (17) it shall be a sign for all time between Me and the people of Israel. For in six days Hashem made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day [G-d] ceased from work and was refreshed.

(2) "a Sabbath to the L–rd": Just as the seventh day of creation is called "Sabbath to the L–rd," so, the seventh year. "your field you shall not sow, and your vineyard you shall not prune": (See Section 1:4 above)

שבת לה׳ [THEN SHALL THE LAND KEEP) A REST ‎'לה‎ — This means a rest in honor of the Lord (not a rest for the Lord, as in v. 4: שבת שבתון יהיה לארץ, “there shall be a strict Sabbath for the land”, i. e. for the land to rest) in the same sense as these words are used in the case of the weekly Sabbath (lit., the Sabbath of Creation) (Exodus 20:10) where 'שבת לה‎ cannot mean “a day for God to rest” (Sifra, Behar, Chapter 1 2).

(10) but the seventh day is a sabbath of your God Hashem: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements.

שבת לה' אלוקיך, that is, [it is a day dedicated to] studying, teaching, keeping and performing [the commandments associated with it], and delighting in it the very nature of such a day on which instead of “serving” the needs of one’s survival in a hostile environment one can concentrate on serving G-d. As in: “wine and pleasant fragrances have brought me an enlightened perceptive.”

Shabbat for Hashem your G-d. Scripture underscores "your G-d" (Elokecha), [the name of] which implies the aspect of G-d that takes care of you and your needs. It is not G-d's will that one attain some profit by means of [your] activity on the holy Sabbath. Thus, one should not do anything that brings one profit or provision. Accordingly, it is understand that any and all business, like commerce, is forbidden on Shabbat, even if there is not explicit text cautioning us from it.

(2) It is from the roots of this commandment to affix in our hearts and make a strong impression in our minds [about] the matter of the world having been created. As (Exodus 20, 11) "in six days did God make the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day" - in which He did not create anything - He imposed rest on Himself. And in order to remove and uproot and eradicate from our thoughts the idea of the eternity [of the world] - which the deniers of the Torah believe in, through which they destroy all its principles and break through its walls - did the requirement come upon us to expend all our time, day by day and year by year, for this matter, by counting six years and resting on the seventh so that this matter will never depart from between our eyes for all time. And this is similar to the manner in which we count the days of the week [by dividing them] into six days of work and the seventh is a day of rest. Therefore, He, blessed be He, did command to render ownerless all that the land produces in this year - in addition to resting during it (i.e. during the year) - so that a person will remember that the land which produces fruits for him every year does not produce them by its [own] might and virtue. For there is a Master over it and over its master - and when He wishes, He commands him (i.e. the master of the land) to render them (i.e. the fruit) ownerless. And there is another benefit in this matter - to acquire the trait of letting go (i.e. of one's possessions), for there is no one more generous than he who gives without hope for recompense. And there is another benefit - the outcome of this is that a person will add to his trust in God, may He be blessed, since anyone who finds it in his heart to give and abandon to the world all of the produce of his lands and his ancestral inheritance for an entire year - and educates himself and his family through this for all of his days - will never have the trait of stinginess overcome him too much, nor will he have a deficient amount of trust.