DEUT1645 Every seventh year, the entire Jewish people were not permitted to work the land (Leviticus 25:1-6) This was a special miracle that God guaranteed in the Torah that they would not starve (Leviticus 25:19-22); this would be unworkable in a modern secular society. What did all the Jewish people do during that year, since they could not work the land and essentially had nothing else to do? It is believed that the Jews sat and learned Torah during the Shemitah year. Thus, while putting their trust in God to give them food, they also grew spiritually during this Sabbatical year. (This is the origin of the modern concept of sabbatical, in which some educational institutions realize the importance of educators "recharging your batteries" every seven years.) At the end of this year, during the following holiday of Sukkot, the king would gather the entire people and also teach them Torah [this and following verses]. The overall effect would be that the people who had been so involved in their "business" would begin to realize another, spiritual side of life when they were forced to take a break from the regular pattern of work. In addition, they also had to realize that not everything depended upon them, but upon God. Although this does not relate directly to the economic system, these ideas played a very important role in the overall attitude of the people to the economy.