Editing Shmita (section)

==Historical ''shmita'' years==

Various attempts have been made to reconstruct when Sabbatical years actually fell using clues in the biblical text and events clearly dated in fixed historically understood calendars. This is important because the system of ''shmita'' and [[Jubilee (biblical)|Jubilee]] years provides a useful check in deciding between competing reconstructions of the histories of the [[First Temple]] period and earlier and the history of the [[Second Temple]] period and later. There are explicit mentions of a Sabbatical year found in [[Josephus]], [[1 Maccabees]], and in various legal contracts from the time of [[Simon bar Kokhba]]. In contrast, no direct statements that a certain year was a Sabbatical year have survived from First Temple times and earlier.

The Jewish method of calculating the recurring Sabbatical year (''shmita'') has been greatly misunderstood by modern chroniclers of history, owing to their unfamiliarity with Jewish practice, which has led to many speculations and inconsistencies in computations. According to [[Maimonides]] (''[[Mishne Torah]]'', ''Hil. Shmita ve-Yovel'' 10:7), during the [[Second Temple]] period, the seven-year cycle which repeated itself every seven years was actually dependent upon the fixation of the Jubilee, or the fiftieth year, which year temporarily broke off the counting of the seven-year cycle. Moreover, the laws governing the Jubilee (e.g. release of Hebrew bondmen, and the return of leased property to its original owners, etc.) were never applied all throughout the Second Temple period, but the Jubilee was being used during the period of the Second Temple in order to fix and sanctify thereby the Sabbatical year.<ref>{{cite book |last=Maimonides|author-link=Maimonides |title=R. Moses b. Maimon Responsa|editor=Jehoshua Blau |volume=2 |edition= |date=1989 |publisher=Meḳitse nirdamim / Rubin Mass Ltd.|place=Jerusalem |pages=666–668 (''responsum'' #389)|language=he |oclc=78411726 }}; [[Babylonian Talmud]] (''Arakhin'' 32b)</ref> A Sabbatical year could not be fixed without the year of the Jubilee, since the Jubilee serves to break-off the 7 x 7-year cycle, before resuming its count once again in the 51st year. While the 49th year is also a Sabbatical year, the fiftieth year is not the 1st year in a new seven-year cycle, but rather is the Jubilee. Its number is not incorporated into the seven-year cycle. Rather, the new seven-year cycle begins afresh in the 51st year, and in this manner is the cycle repeated.<ref>[[Maimonides]], ''[[Mishne Torah]]'' (''Hil. Shmita ve-Yovel'' 10:7), whose ruling, in this case, follows that of the Sages in the [[Babylonian Talmud]] (''[[Rosh Hashanah (tractate)|Rosh Hashanah]]'' 9a)</ref> After the Temple's destruction, the people began a new practice to number each seventh year as a Sabbatical year, without the necessity of adding a fiftieth year.<ref>[[Maimonides]], ''[[Mishne Torah]]'' (''Hil. Shmita ve-Yovel'' 10:5–6); Maimonides, ''R. Moses b. Maimon Responsa'' (vol. 2), ed. Jehoshua Blau, Rubin Mass Ltd. Publishers: Jerusalem 1989, ''responsum'' # 389</ref>