What is the meaning of "ve'Chi Somru"?
Rashi (in Rosh Hashanah, 3a): 'Perhaps (If) you will say'.
Sifra: 'When you will say' - The fact that they will say is a given. 1
See Torah Temimah, note 109.
When will they ask what they will eat in the seventh year?
Ramban, Da'as Zekenim Hadar Zekenim, Riva and Rosh: Invert the Pasuk to read "When you will ask in the seventh year 'what will we eat [next year]?' " 1 - seeing as people normally eat what grew in the previous year. 2
If one is not permitted to plant, how can one say "ve'Lo Ne'esof es Tevu'aseinu"?
Rashi and Targum Yonasan: it refers to Sefichim 1 (and to wine and fruit of the trees ? Rashi, all of) which do not require planting.
R. Akiva in Pesachim, 51b, extrapolates from this Pasuk that the Isur of eating Sefichim in the Sh'mitah is mi'd'Oraysa. See also Torah Temimah, note 110, whose explanation tallies with the Rabbanan of R. Akiva.
If Yisrael enjoy a triple-harvest in the sixth year, what are they worried about?
Rashi: It is in anticipation of the people's concern as to what they will eat in the Sh'mitah that Hashem is reassuring them that the sixth year will yield a triple harvest to last until the eighth year. 1
Ramban: The Pasuk is referring to the seventh Sh'mitah of the cycle, 2 and they are concerned 3 that, if they eat what they have in the seventh year, what will they eat in the following year, which is Yovel! 4
Seforno (in Pasuk 21): Refer to 25:20:1:2. Ideally, the land would have produced the usual amount, and due to the qualitative Brachah, it would have lasted for two or three years. 5 Following their query however, Hashem switched from a qualitative blessing to a quantitative one. 6
Ramban: To which Hashem replied that, under these circumstances, He will bless them in the sixth year with sufficient for three years - Sh'mitah, Yovel and the year after Yovel. In that case, how can the next Pasuk state that they plant in the eighth year, which is the Yovel? Perhaps every Sh'mitah there is concern about the year after Sh'mitah (PF).
A system that would have saved time of harvesting, processing food and eating.
Seforno: Thereby granting them the peace of mind that they lacked, when they would see that there is enough food for the three years.
Seeing that all the producc is finished in the Shmitah, from where did they reap the corn for the Omer and the Sh'tei ha'Lechem in Yovel?
Moshav Zekenim (citing R. Yehudah ha'Chasid): They designated a field specifically for the Omer and the Sh'tei ha'Lechem, to which people had no access. Surely [Sefichim of grain] fell in Sh'mitah, and sprouted in Yovel. 1
According to R. Akiva, who forbids Sefichim mi'd'Oraisa, how can we answer? If it is forbidden to people, it is forbidden to the Mizbe'ach! (PF)
