וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֶל מֹשֶׁה בְּהַר סִינַי לֵאמֹר (ויקרא כה, א)G-D SPOKE TO MOSHE AT MOUNT SINAI, SAYING. (VAYIKRA 25:1)
Prior to commanding us to observe every seventh year as Shemitah, a sabbatical from agricultural work, the Torah specifies that this mitzvah was told to Moshe at Mount Sinai. Rashi explains that the emphasis teaches us that—just like Shemitah— all the mitzvos, with all their details, were given to Moshe at Mount Sinai.
Choosing Shemitah as the source of this universal fact underscores the centrality of the theme of Shemitah to the observance of the entire Torah.
The Alter Rebbe writes in Tanya (chapter 41) that, in its ideal form, the observance of every mitzvah is an act of mesiras nefesh, surrendering one’s life for G-d. When praying, observing a mitzvah, or studying Torah, while removing your thoughts from any physical concerns and remaining solely “united with, and clothed in, the letters of the Torah and prayer,” you are immersing yourself in the holy act as though you have already concluded your life in this world—an act of true self-sacrifice.
Simultaneously, the Torah demands that we perform each mitzvah in perfect detail, taking into account the precise laws of how, when, and where that particular act is to be observed. In so doing, we direct our unconditional readiness to surrender our lives for G-d into the concrete properties that make up a mitzvah, bringing infinite G-dliness into the finite world
This idea is inherent in the very observance of Shemitah, making it the exemplar for all others. The difference is only that with other mitzvos, the infusion of the limitless into the limited is expressed in how we approach the mitzvah, while in Shemitah it is lived in practice. For the entire Shemitah year, we abandon our natural means of sustenance and trust that G-d will care for us in ways that transcend the rules of nature. Yet unlike Shabbos, for example, when we remove ourselves from material work entirely, during the Shemitah year we still engage in non-agricultural business. We continue to work within the realm of the natural, while operationally subsisting on the supernatural, manifesting G-d’s infiniteness even in the world defined by limitations that He created.
—Likutei Sichos, vol. 1, pp. 273-276
