Talmud˙˙˙Covenant Anew

Relationship Of The Oral Torah To Mashiach ben Yoseph

I will resume the series on the judgments upon Egypt and their relation to the judgements upon the nations shortly.  Before I do, it is necessary to state, for those who are prepared to understand this, what the relationship of the Oral Torah is to Mashiach ben Yoseph.  I will attempt to do this by discussing the shmita year.  "The sabbath year (shmita Hebrew: שמיטה, literally "release") also called the sabbatical year or sheviit (Hebrew: שביעית, literally "seventh") is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah for the Land of Israel," (definition from Wikipedia).

Halakha  Of The Seventh Year and The Messianic Era

If the halakha  of the seventh year is the halakha  of the Messianic Era, what is the halakha  of the sixth-year onion? The halakha  is the ruling of the sages who sit in Moshe's seat as to the correct decision as how to read and practice the instructions of the Torah.  Clearly, there is a prophetic aspect to the Sabbath year, an aspect which speaks of the era when Mashiach will "rule the nations with a rod of iron".  That is, when he will teach the nations repentance according to the instructions of the Torah, through the example he sets with his beloved Torah-Israel, Torah observant in all its twelve tribes. Since there is also a halakha  of practice for the keeping of the seventh year Sabbath, every Torah instruction for that practice represents a ray of prophecy for the Messianic Kingdom.  The Talmud takes up the question of the halakha  of the onion that is planted and grown in the sixth year.  What is the Torah's instruction for how it shall be dealt with in the seventh?

Jerusalem Talmud Sheviis 48b ArtScroll trans. (including amplifying texts):

Sixth-year onions on which rain fell during the seventh year, and they then sprouted, if their leaves were dark, they [both the leaves and the onions] are forbidden, because it is clear that they grew from nutrients drawn from the ground. But if they became pale, they are permitted, since it is clear that they did not draw their nutrients from the ground.

The Seventh Year Onion In The Mishna - What Is It?

The Mishna is drawing a line around the seventh year.  The onion is a medium for that line because when it is exposed to moisture, such even as a sprinkle of rain, it is possible for it to grow new leaf shoots.  If such leaf shoots draw from the onion itself this is one thing, but if they draw from soil this is another thing.  We are given a means for determining whether the onion is produce of the sixth-year, the seventh-year, or the eighth-year, (or the year that follows), depending on the case involved.

How Is The Seventh Year Commandment of Rest To Be Fulfilled?

How, unless Israel draws such a halachic line in agriculture and consumption, is observance of the commandment of rest during the seventh year to actually be accomplished?  Just as each weekly Sabbath Day must be marked with a line at the beginning and at the end in order to be universally and faithfully observed, so the Seventh Year Sabbath must be marked with a line which distinguishes it in Torah instruction and observance of instructions from the sixth year and from the year that follows.

It is not the approximate year but the precise year to which the commandment refers, and therefore the action of drawing the line must be made or there is no observance at all.  It is not only the adherence to the line but the drawing of the line itself that is an essential and critical element of the commandment.  The sixth-year onion is an aspect of that line on the one side and the "eighth-year onion" is an aspect of that line on the other side of the seventh year.  What is the metaphor of the sixth-year onion for the Messianic era.  Categorically, the sixth-year onion is a legal issue which serves to speak of the footsteps of Mashiach.  It is a prophetic ruling of the Oral Torah which points faithfully to inform those who know the Torah of the moment when the Messianic labor pains will end and the Messianic Kingdom will be born.  However, it is known that no one can know that exact moment except G-d  the Father.  How, then, is this onion to be understood?  First we must clarify how it is to be understood halachically as a way to understand it prophetically.

The Onion That Is Dark

The onion that is dark is the onion (daily life-sustenance) that partakes of the soil of this age.  It is not permitted.  This is the "wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes in diverse places," etc., which cannot be embraced as the ruach/spirit of life, for it is the ruach of death, and in the measure of a testimony that brings to Mashiach but is not Mashiach.  This is because what partakes of the "soil" of the present order only leads up to Sheviis, the shmitta year (and not of the rest of Sheviis itself), and therefore "wars and rumors of wars" represents those strong efforts to believe in and preserve this world.

More accurately, those aspects of the footsteps of Mashiach which are of the category of "wars and rumors of wars" are the aspect of the Torah's power to bring the judgment of death and its correction to our strong efforts to believe in this world and preserve this world.  For, like the sixth-year onion in relation to Sheviis there are two sides to the "wars and rumors of war" that lead up to the Messianic Era. Understand the following carefully.

The sixth-year onion is, on one side, or in one aspect, produce for the six years that correspond to the present era of this world, the present world order.  The six years are like the six days of the week.  In relation to the Sabbath they are secular, the days of this world order.  On the other side, in a changed aspect, when the rain from heaven, the rain from the seventh year, touches the sixth-year onion and when it is claimed for the purpose of the halakha of Sheviis, the seventh year, the sixth-year onion becomes an aspect of the line that defines the commandment and makes the Sabbath Year's complete observance possible.  Just so, while "wars and rumors of war" are sinful on their own terms, when they are claimed by the prophetic Torah as a measure of the labor pains of the Messianic Era, they are made Torah.

Eliyahu and Mashiach ben Yoseph

If "wars and rumors of wars" are put in the context of the love of this world, this is the ruach/spirit of death, but if "wars and rumors of wars" are put in the context of correction from the love of this world, this is the ruach of Eliyahu and the path of Mashiach ben Yoseph.  It is both Eliyahu and Mashiach ben Yoseph who are involved in defining and claiming elements of this world for the sake of Torah. For Eliyahu carries the prophetic work of the Oral Torah up to, and then forward, the work of Mashiach ben Yoseph, to prepare the way for Mashiach ben Davíd.  No one should be confused by the idea of two Messiahs.  The ruach/spirit of Mashiach manifests in two aspects. One is represented by Yoseph.  The other is represented by Davíd. Yoseph represents the body, the bride, and her slowly coming of age.  Davíd represents the head, the bridegroom, which is to say, the Son of Davíd, the Mashiach.

Just as Yoseph was anointed by the word of prophecy to rule in Israel in order to prepare the way and enable the scepter to pass to Yehudah, so the children who serve and obey the G-d of the holy covenant, as did Yoseph in exile, are anointed, through the ruach of Mashiach which dwells in them, to prepare the way for the restoration of Divinely appointed rulership over the world of the house of faith, the rulership of the house of Davíd.  And it is Eliyahu who leads all who are anointed with the ruach of Mashiach, for he guides them in the prophecies of the Oral Torah in order to prepare the way.

The ruach that takes hold of the sixth-year onion is first the ruach of Eliyahu.  This is the ruach which takes hold of what sustains the present era, and in taking hold of it claims it for prophecy. This is the onion that is dark, and is not permitted because it partakes of the soil of this world.  Nevertheless, Eliyahu takes a hold of it and holding it in his hand uses it for halakha, and so also for prophecy.  It is in this way that redemption of the natural is made possible.

The Onion That Is Pale

The sixth-year onion that does not partake of the soil of this world, of "wars and rumors of wars," is the pale onion, which partakes only of the aspect of, "this good news will be declared unto the ends of the earth, then the end will come."  This is the ruach that is entirely of Mashiach ben Yoseph, the regenerate ruach set apart from the natural.  For it is the ruach that is in this world but not of it.  This is also the "eighth-year onion", because this onion is the metaphor of everything in the world being claimed by the rule of the Mashiach of Israel in his redemption of Israel, "the eternal onion,"just as if it had not come from the sixth year at all.  Once Mashiach has made atonement for the transgressions of Israel in the commandment of the shmitta year, it is as though the very same onion, the dark onion, which partook of the soil of this world and was illegally harvested, the wars of Israel according to the flesh, is turned into the pale onion, the permitted onion.  It is the very same onion.  This is the idea of the justification of life.

It is the action of drawing the halachic line, therefore which corresponds to giving a true and faithful witness to Hashem through a national observance of His commandment.  And this is the Talmudic testimony of determination of halakha that must be made, the action of drawing the line for the kosher good news, because the "onion of the wars and rumors of war" is nothing at all until it is defined by the word of Torah.  As it is written in Amos 3:7 -
7 For Adonai Hashem will do nothing, unless He reveals His counsel unto His servants the prophets.

And therefore we read:
Revelation 10:7 But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of G-d  will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."

Just as none of the judgments that came upon Pharaoh came from Hashem except as interpreted through the prophecy of Moshe, so it will be in the coming of Mashiach.  The judgments of Israel's redemption, the footsteps, or birth pangs, of Mashiach do not come except by the word of Mashiach, and the end does not come except by the Talmudic line of holiness being drawn around the good news of Israel and Her Mashiach, which must come from those who sit in Moshe's seat.  This we will see, then, is the aspect of Eliyahu and of Mashiach be Yoseph, preparing the way for the Son of David to embrace Yerushalayim, his bride, as it was said to Yochanan, "You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.” Rev. 10:11


Addenda:

The following is from http://www.star-k.com/kashrus/kk-shmitta-5768.htm  See the full article there for a complete treatment of the subject.

        I. Working The Land - What Is Prohibited?
        The laws regarding the land are extremely complicated and not very relevant to people who don’t own land in Israel, so we will deal with this only briefly.  In general, all work intended to enhance the land, to prepare the land for producing a yield, or to enhance vegetation is forbidden.  Therefore, one may not plow the land, plant seeds or saplings, or even prune trees because these activities promote growth and are considered forbidden forms of work.

        Some other prohibited activities include watering, fertilizing, weeding and other essential fieldwork.  If the purpose of the work is to protect what has already grown from becoming ruined, or if trees are in danger of dying, certain activities are generally permitted.  Since these laws are very complicated, a posek, Torah authority familiar with these laws, should be consulted.

        Flower pots at home in the land of Israel present their own problems.  A posek should be consulted for instruction on proper shmitta plant care.

        II. The Produce of the 7th Year - Pairos Sheviis
        In order to facilitate an understanding of fruits and vegetables that are permitted or forbidden, we must clearly define the four W’s:  Which produce are we speaking about?  When was the produce grown?  Where was the produce grown?  Who owns the land?

        Which produce?  There are essentially three categories of produce concerning shmitta:  1. Vegetables, e.g. tomatoes, lettuce, carrots; 2. Legumes (kitniyos), pulses and grains, e.g. corn, peanuts, wheat; and 3. Fruits of a tree, e.g. dates, figs, pomegranates.

        When was the produce grown?  There are different time frames in effect for the different types of produce.

        Continue Reading

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Also see Charting the Course of Shmitta at:
http://www.star-k.org/kashrus/kk-ChartingTheCourseOfShmitta.htm
Also: http://www.shemayisrael.com/shmitta1.htm from where the following is taken;

To Acknowledge That the A-mighty is the Master of the Universe
(Page 47) At the root of the mitzva lies the purpose to establish in our heart and set firmly in our thoughts the conception that the world was brought into being as a new entity out of nothing, for in six days Hashem created the Heaven and Earth (Shemos 31:17) and on the seventh day He rested... We are obligated to spend all our time: day by day, year by year, counting six years and resting on the seventh. And thus this matter should never depart from before our eyes; it is akin to our practice of counting the days of the week as six working days and (then) the seventh, a day of rest. For this reason (Hashem) commanded (us) to leave ownerless all that the land will produce in this year, apart from resting in it, so that man will remember that the land which produced fruit for him every year does not produce it by its own power and virtue but that there is a L-rd and Master over it and when He so desires He commands man to leave them ownerless.

(Sefer HaChinuch Mitzva 84)

Shmitta and Shabbos
(Page 99) The seventh year is compared to the seventh day -- Shabbos. Just like Shabbos is a relief from the stress of the week and gives us the ability to compose and collect our thoughts, likewise the year of shmitta is an opportunity to reflect on the past six years. This is an important basis in serving Hashem. We must realize the purpose of our creation and what we must improve. This comes through contemplation and peace of mind.

(Beis Yisroel, Behar 5727)

The Holiness Of Shmitta Fruits
(Page 163) "Then the land will accept her rest..." What makes the mitzvah of shmitta outstanding? The Alshich explains that a holiness is reflected like a light from Above and settles in the ground. It is the strength of this holiness that produces the fruit and not the natural energy of the ground. Therefore you are not the owner of the fruit. It belongs to all of Israel, since they all share equally this Heavenly Holiness.