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My wife has been on me for months to learn more about the Shemitah cycle. This is a once every roughly 7-year cycle from the Jewish calendar. I'm not Jewish, but am told it can affect financial markets, etc.

There is no guarantee that anything will happen that day, but considering some of the stuff that has happened in past Shemitah years, it is good to know about. For instance, on September 17, 2001 the Dow Industrials lost 684 points (7.1%). It was the largest point loss in history, but nowhere near the largest %age loss. Then, roughly seven years later, on September 29, 2008, the Dow lost 777 points, again the worse point loss in history but nowhere near the largest %age loss.

If you are noticing a lot of 7's here, you aren't the only one.

By the way the largest percentage loss in history came in the market crash of October 19, 1987, when the Dow lost over 22% in a single day. This too was a Shemitah year.

The Shemitah is thought of as a cleansing event. You could argue that Lehman Bros. declaring bankruptcy on 9/15/08 was a cleansing event. The cleansing occurred in that they didn't pay back nearly all the debt that they owed.

Is there any real truth to this or could it be a self-fulfilling prophecy? I'll let others decide that.

What does anyone else know about the cycle? Do you believe in it?

Not an expert by any means, and there is being much made of this that probably goes beyond the original.

But there is a biblical principle of 7 being a number of completeness, which runs through its theme, with rest/renewal on the 7th cycle. 7 Godly days of creation, where God rested in the last. 7 human days in a week with the last being for Sabbath rest. On a larger scale it also discusses 7 years in a Shmita cycle, which is a specific set principles about business and agriculture again with the theme being activities (harvest, debt, etc) should be rested/forgiven in the last year before another cycle starts over.

There does seem to be a natural period of about seven years in human nature/design, which is probably why God established this principle, but if so this behavior isn't literally the Shmita (or Shemitah as another spelling), but it might be the *reason* for the Shmita principles.

Certainly one can see some patterns tending to occur in those periods. I think that any validity to the Elliot wave stuff is in part based on that, combined with Jubilee periods of 50 (which is the year after completing seven sevens). I think the godless world still runs in these cycles, but I think humanity has to some extent lost synchronization, so there are individuals, groups, countries, etc that may be on their own seven year periods (or six year or eight year cycles) resulting in a lot of off-cycle disharmony. But I still think there is a tendency for us to see a larger roughly 7 year period of major events, as well as 50 year periods. Not necessarily exact periods, but approximately those.

Recyclersteve, there quite a few posts within some of the threads on this site about the shemitah cycle. It is something I have been reading about since 2010. Too much to type here. 68camaro gave some good tidbits. But the expert on it is Rabbi Johnathan Cahn. Litererally wrote the book on it and how it relates to modern business cycles. Check his books out or check him out on youtube. He's been a guest on many economic podcasts too.

Know that we are in the shemitah year now (the 7th year of a 7 year cycle) but we are also in a jubilee shemitah (the 7th cycle of 7 cycles) which means at the end of the shemitah (September 13th this year) all debts are supposed to be forgiven (or translated another way, all debts are 'shaken' or laid flat, destroyed). I am no expert. Know too, that it is a biblical Jewish cycle so to follow the shemitah is to at least acknowledge that it is Gods will (at least to the Jewish people).

Take it for what it's worth, do your due diligence on it.

I don't know all the ins and outs at all. But I know some elders are very interested in this jubilee cycle - especially in conjunction with the 4 Blood Moons.

One of the remarkable things about the human brain is it is hardwired to find patterns. Unfortunately, this basically ensures that if you are looking for a pattern, you’ll find one. They key is to try to find dates and numbers that disprove the pattern, rather than reaffirm it.

At least that's this heathen's opinion.

Recyclersteve, Like you, I have been having conversations with close friend about the Shmitah and bellowing is his response that to me says it best....

....I think you and I both agree that there is a bubble coming. However, it is coming based on sound economics. Including but not limited to such facts are that endless printing of money (QEI, II, III etc) is (and always has been) a sure way to take the value out of a currency. On the other hand, to try and predict the exact date ...especially based on some mystical collection of esoteric arcane writings seems hopeless.

First off most of the "points" mentioned are retreaded (or back engineered) to prove a point. For example the calendar dates are inaccurate as we are dealing with a number of different calendars. The use of Shmitah as a fundamental in the Jewish religion is somewhat incorrect. First off the good Rabbi Johnathan Cahn is a known crackpot with limited following. As is the entire practice of Shmitah followed mostly by true believers. As you know every religion has its own collection of people proving some absurd point thru the use of religion (as in Muslims convinced its okay to burn down the World Trade Center). There is more good AND evil done in the name of religion than most anything other doctrine. The Bible, The Koran and other such fine books have been used to prove both sides of an argument.

In three minutes you can see the best analysis of the use and misuse of the Bible to prove point in this out-take from "The West Wing" TV show (not exactly the usual source of scholarly information). However, I think it says it best ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5zCY0DtxTQ

Don't get me wrong I think a huge financial crisis is coming and gold and silver hold the only hope and the best storehouse of value. But predicting an exact date, especially using data such as the writings from 1503 of Nostradamus simply doesn't cut it.

In short, I agree crisis is coming... sometime... maybe in three days, or six months, or eight years ...but I just wouldn't cancel my appointments for next October.