18 October 2011

Their own sustenance

One crucial element in the laws of sheviit is that during the sabbatical year the entire population actively participates in their own sustenance. During that year people have to return to first principles, to remember how to fend for themselves. It is a year where people return to a more primitive way of life, as the complicated, interconnected institutions of a complex society cease their function. 
The objective of the year of sheviit is to disperse the excess and to digest it so as to make it no longer alienable. To accomplish that dispersal properly the population needs to be capable of receiving the excess and to make it inalienable in themselves. That inalienability is achieved through the population having to perform their own daily harvesting. 
It removes the mystique of the expert and returns the responsibility for each person's welfare to the person him or herself.  

No comments:

Post a Comment