The Gemara on Amud Beis describes the downfall of a person who is not mindful of the laws prohibiting commerce with produce of the Sabbatical year:

A person who engages in commerce with Sabbatical-Year produce is ultimately punished with the loss of his wealth to the point that he is forced to sell his movable property and his vessels, as it is stated: “In this year of Jubilee you shall return every man unto his possession” (Leviticus 25:13), and juxtaposed to it, it is written: “And if you sell an item to your neighbor” (Leviticus 25:14).

The Gemara in Kiddushin (20a) elaborates on this theme:

⁦If a person has commercial dealings with Sabbatical-Year produce, which is prohibited, ultimately he will become so poor that he will have to sell his movable property, as it is stated: “In this Jubilee Year you shall return every man to his land” (Leviticus 25:13), and juxtaposed to it is the verse: “And if you sell any item to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand” (Leviticus 25:14), which is referring to an item acquired by passing it from hand to hand. This teaches that if one sins with regard to the Jubilee Year or the Sabbatical Year, which have many identical halakhot, he will eventually have to sell his movable property.

⁦If one does repent, ultimately he will have to sell his fields, as it is stated in an adjacent verse: “If your brother grows poor and sells of his ancestral land” (Leviticus 25:25). If no move toward repentance comes to his hand, he will have to sell his house, as it is stated: “And if a man sells a dwelling-house in a walled city” (Leviticus 25:29).

Rav Ruderman ZTL in his Sefer Sichas Avodas HaLevi (Bahar 53) speaks of the importance of mindfulness. The ability to be in denial is so powerful that the person cannot notice his progression toward disaster. Even on a nationwide scale, the first exile came as a result of neglecting the Sabbatical year. Since there is a promise that the produce in sixth year will be miraculously abundant to cover for three years Rav Ruderman wonders how could the Jewish people have not noticed this point. He also quotes a Ramban (Devarim 34:12) that essentially states that Moshe had to prepare the Jewish people to see the miracles. That is, they wouldn’t really get or appreciate what they saw without being taught to see it. Now we aren’t talking about subtle miracles. This is referring to the plagues, the splitting of the Red Sea and the Manna.

People seem to have a capacity to ignore and get used to anything. Hmmmm…What obvious signs and wonders are we ignoring today?

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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