הכתב והקבלה — מקץ שבע שנים במעד שנת השמטה בחג הסכות

Q — 'מקץ שבע שנים במועד שנת השמטה בחג הסכות' is famously hard. Chazal teach Hakhel falls in Sukkot of the *8th* year (the year after shmittah). But peshat would suggest Sukkot of the shmittah year itself. The standard maneuvers (rereading 'מקץ' as start, or 'שנת השמטה' as the first year of the cycle) don't quite work. Ramban admits the difficulty.

A — HaKtav VeHaKabbalah offers a tentative reading ('ולולי דמסתפינא') that solves the contradiction cleanly. 'מועד' here is not 'appointed time' but derives from the root ע-ד-ה meaning *removal, passing away*: 'לא עדה עליו שחל' (Iyov 28:8), 'מעדה בגד' (Mishlei 25:20 — removing a garment), 'למועדי רגל' (Iyov 12:5 — when the foot slips/passes from its path). 'במועד שנת השמטה' therefore means 'when shmittah year is *passing away*' — i.e., the Sukkot *immediately after* the shmittah year, which is precisely the year of Hakhel per Chazal. The peshat aligns perfectly. The chiddush is offered with the trademark HaKtav humility — 'were I not afraid to say it' — and resolves a verse Ramban had to leave unsettled.