If the Torah has chosen the particular commandment of shmitta to illustrate this fact, it must be that this mitzva expresses the general Jewish approach to life.

On the one hand, a Jew is enjoined "six years shall you sow your field and six years shall you prune your vineyard." A Jew must conduct himself and his affairs according to the laws of nature. One must plant and toil in order to eat. A Jew is not required to retreat from the world and sequester himself only in learning Torah and praying; on the contrary, he must fully participate in a normal lifestyle.

At the same time, the Torah commands that every seven years the Jew must abandon the land and allow it to have a Sabbath, and devote himself to learning, praying, and worshipping G-d. He then asks, "What will we eat during the seventh year, if we don't sow and reap our grain?" The Torah answers: "And I will command My blessing to be on you during the sixth year, and the land will produce enough grain to last for three years." Here the Jew is being asked to rely solely on G-d and not on natural law for his sustenance.

At first glance the two approaches appear contradictory. How can we be required to live according to the laws of nature, and simultaneously be asked to rely on the supernatural? But this is exactly what the Torah wants from us. We must synthesize both approaches to life. We must do everything possible according to natural law, at the same time believing in G-d's supernatural powers to sustain us.

Six years of active work followed by one of rest highlights this approach in a Jew's daily life. The six years of work are the obligation we have to elevate the world by imbuing it with holiness through our actions. The shmitta year allows us to recognize that despite all of our accomplishments, we are ultimately dependent on G-d for our well-being, and that trust in man and nature is misplaced. Once every seven years we sever ourselves from the natural world and rely solely on G-d. A Jew draws spiritual strength from the shmitta year, rededicating himself to the knowledge that our task is not to be subservient to nature, but rather to rule over the natural world and imbue it with holiness.

Similar cycles are to be found within a Jew's daily life as well. All day a Jew works in business or commerce, earning a living for his family, providing food, clothes and the like. But he must also dedicate certain times of the day for study and praying, thereby elevating himself from the mundane and connecting to G-d. Jews live their lives with a special combination of the natural and the supernatural.

Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe