We have a tradition of augmenting the holy (kodesh-קודש) with the profane (hol-חול). Shabbat doesn't begin at sundown and ends 24 hours later on Saturday night. By lighting the Shabbat candles 18 minutes before sundown on Friday afternoon and waiting until three middle sized stars appear in the heavens Saturday night, Shabbat lasts for 25 hours (plus or minus depending on the Rabbi you ask and his calculations) instead of just 24 hours of a normal day. This addition in Hebrew is called a tosefet (תּוֹסֶפֶת ). Just like Shabbat, the sabbatical year has a tosefet too.
In Exodus 23:10-11, Leviticus 25, and Deuteronomy 15:1-6 God commands that every seventh year will be a sabbatical year wherein the land will lay fallow and all debts will be released. The sabbatical year begins on Rosh Hashanah. Although the sabbatical year and the intermediary days of the holiday are really different, they do share some similarities. That is why dappim TB Moed Katan 3b-4a discuss the origin of the tosefet shevi'it (the additional time added from the sixth to the seventh year) and how much time needs to be added.
"The Gemara elaborates:What are the extra days before Rosh HaShana? As we learned in a mishna (Shevi’it 1:1): Until when may one plow an orchard on the eve of the Sabbatical Year? Beit Shammai say: One may plow so long as the plowing is beneficial for the fruit already on the trees. Once the plowing serves to benefit only the tree itself and the fruit it will produce the following year, it is prohibited. And Beit Hillel say: One may plow until Shavuot. The mishna notes: And the statement of these, Beit Shammai, is close to being like the statement of these, Beit Hillel; i.e., in practice, there is little difference between the dates established by the two opinions.
The mishna (see Shevi’it 2:1) additionally states: And until when may one plow a white field, i.e., a grain field, on the eve of the Sabbatical Year? One may plow until the residual moisture in the fields from the rain ceases and so long as people continue to plow their fields in order to plant cucumbers and gourds, which are planted at the end of the winter.
"Rabbi Shimon says: If it is so that no set time was established, then the Torah has given an individual measure of time into the hands of each and every individual. One may plow until a self-determined time, as he can always claim that he is plowing in order to plant during the sixth year. Rather, a fixed time must be established: In a white field one may plow until Passover, in an orchard one may plow until Shavuot, and Beit Hillel say: Until Passover.” (Sefaria.org translation)
Approximately six months elapse between Passover and Rosh Hashanah and three months between Shavuot and Rosh Hashanah. That is an extraordinary amount of time to observe the sabbatical year especially when some prohibitions will flow over into the next year as well. I believe that because of this hardship Rabban Gamliel repealed the need for a tosefet. "And Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi said that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said in the name of bar Kappara: Rabban Gamliel and his court discussed and then voted about the prohibitions of these two periods, i.e., from Passover or Shavuot until Rosh HaShana, and nullified them, thereby permitting plowing until Rosh HaShana, the actual beginning of the Sabbatical Year.” (Sefaria.org translation)
The Gemara comes to the conclusion that Moses ordained a tosefet of only 30 days before Rosh Hashanah and Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai just extended it. The Gemara is astonished how Rabban Gamiel could repeal a law that our text establishes comes from Moses from Mount Sinai and is part of the oral law and not rabbinic in origin.
Rav Ashi explains how Rabban Gamliel justified his repeal. "Rather, Rav Ashi said: Rabban Gamliel and his court held in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael, who said that they learned this prohibition as a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai. But they learned this halakha only with regard to the time period when the Temple is standing. This is evidenced by the fact that it is similar to the other halakha stated along with it, that of the water libation, which was part of the service in the Temple. But when theTemple is not standing this halakha does not apply, and therefore Rabban Gamliel and his court nullified the prohibition after the destruction of the Temple."
Rabban Gamliel genius was the ability to make difficult decisions to allow Judaism to survive and adapt after the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Life was hard for the Jewish people at that time and he found a way which is brilliant and creative to mitigate the hardship of a tosefet. By the way, since the destruction of the Temple a Sabbatical year is still observed only in the land of Israel by a rabbinical decree (not on the level of a Torah law) so this law would not be forgotten.
How the modern state of Israel deals with the whole concept of the sabbatical year is the topic for another day.
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