and prevented the drying up of all sources of credit(M. Shev. 10:4). In this legal transaction one or both parties were required to possess realestate. The prosbul was used through a portion of the talmudic period but then the entire idea of the Sabbatical Year fell into disuse. as the Babylonian Talmud indicated.
The fact that this was observed at all in a poor peasant society is amazing and demonstrates the power of the goal of social equality. At least one scholar felt that they continued to be observed by some until the 11th century. The best evidence for their observance in the first and second centuries is the detailed discussions of the Mishnah and for a slightly later period in the Jerusalem Talmud. However, some Medieval scholars tried to revive the Sabbatical Year as also, in a modified form, some Orthodox Israeli farmers.
A much more idealistic and original way of dealing with the long-term effects of poverty was the Jubilee Year , a great social leveling mechanism (Lev. 25:10ff). After fifty years, all rural property was to be returned to its original owner, and all those that sold themselves into bondage and their descendants were freed(Lev. 25.10). Urban property was excluded; there is no discussion of the reason for this in the text or later commentaries. This verse proclaims these famous words:“Proclaim liberty throughout the land, unto all the peoples thereof,” which we in the United States quote but forget the next section. The fundamental principle undergirding this concept is that the land is inalienable— it belongs to God . This is highly idealistic and was probably never observed. Though the Book of Jubilees tried to reawaken this ideal.’