For the source text click/tap here: Rosh Hashanah 8
To download, click/tap here: PDF
One would expect that the yovel year, much like the seven shemitta cycles that precede it, would begin on Rosh Hashana, the first of Tishrei. However, the Torah clearly tells us that the unique laws of yovel begin on the tenth of that month, on Yom Kippur. The shofar is ordinarily associated with Rosh Hashana, and the unique prayers of the day are arranged around it. However, when it comes to yovel, the shofar blast proclaiming a return of man to his estate and to his family is sounded on Yom Kippur. Why?
The Rambam (Hilkhot Shemitta Ve-yovel 10:14) explains:
From Rosh Hashana until Yom Kippur servants were not sent to their homes nor were they subjugated to their masters, and fields did not return to their owners. Rather, the servants would eat, drink and celebrate, with crowns upon their heads. When Yom Kippur came the Court would sound the shofar, the servants were sent to their houses and the fields returned to their owners.
We explore multiple voices in this discrepancy between the onset of shmitta vs yovel.