The Religion You Can't Fake

This week's [music] Torah portion begins with Hashem, God, telling Moshe about the mitzvah shmita, the sabbatical year, in which no work can be done on the land. It says, "And Hashem spoke to Moshe, Moses, on Har Sinai, Mount Sinai." Why does the Torah specify that it was on Mount Sinai that the mitzvah of shmita was [music] given? All the mitzvahs were also given on Sinai. So, why emphasize that the mitzvah of shmita was given there? The Jewish people kept shmita for 394 years, [music] which means that 41 times in those 394 years, [music] the Jewish people downed their agricultural tools and put their trust in Hashem [music] and were rewarded with a miraculous crop that sustained them for three whole years. Now, if you're making [music] up a religion, you can't fake 41 shmitas, 41 times [music] when the produce of the sixth year provided for three years. The Torah specifically connects Mount Sinai [music] with the mitzvah of shmita to tell us that just as shmita provides a verifiable test that the Torah is true, so similarly, [music] the rest of the Torah, which was also given on Sinai, is the authentic word of God. [music]