“Now there was no bread in all the world, for the famine was very severe...Joseph gathered in all the money that was to be found in the land of Egypt...as payment for the rations that were being procured, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s palace...Thus he provided them with bread... And when the money gave out in the land of Egypt...they came to him...and said, '...nothing is left at my lord’s disposal save our persons and our farmland. Let us not perish before your eyes, both we and our land. Take us and our land in exchange for bread, and we with our land will be serfs to Pharaoh'...So Joseph gained possession of all the farm land of Egypt for Pharaoh, every Egyptian having sold his field because the famine was too much for them; thus the land passed over to Pharaoh.” (Breyshit 47:13-20)
This portion of Torah provides the social, economic, and political roots for many of the mitzvot that follow in Torah, including shmita.
The transfer of wealth and land that takes place in this segment of text holds great significance. First, there is no overt opportunity for the Egyptians to reacquire their land and freedom; relevant to shmita. Second, despite well intentioned beginnings, the exchange for food puts a large amount of wealth and land under ownership of Pharaoh. Because ownership is transferred to Pharoah, ruler of the people of Mitzraim, eretz Mitzraim becomes not just land inhabited by Am Mitzraim—the people of Egypt—eretz Mitzraim comes to signify land owned by the nation and that nation's ruler: a ruler who is a wealthy landowner, head of state, and an Egyptian deity. The unequal distribution of wealth and land ownership under Egyptian rule for the first time in biblical history enables national motives and policy to preside over matters of labor and land. In a momentous usurpation of God's intents established in the Garden of Eden, one person—another god according to Egyptian understanding--holds the authority and power to govern how hard and for what people work. The conditions are such that this unequal balance of power will ultimately lead to the enslavement of an entire people and unfathomable human suffering.
The events and issues described above around Mitzraim are the malady. Shmita is their cure. Further details will be the topics of writings to follow.
