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Sept. 7, 2007
Appreciating Israel's bounty
Shemitah years are designed to renew faith in God's caretaking.
BATSHEVA POMERANTZ ISRAEL PRESS SERVICE
"Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou
shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; but,
in the seventh year [there] shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the
land, a Sabbath for the Lord: Thou shalt neither sow thy field nor
prune thy vineyard."
Leviticus 25:3-4
Rosh Hashanah 5768 heralds the start of the shemitah (sabbatical)
year in the land of Israel, which occurs every seven years. In the
months leading up to the festival, the religious press is flooded
with articles about the importance of shemitah observance, detailing
the various methods for practically observing the year. While study
days and lectures reintroduce the topic from a timely angle, consumers,
restaurant owners, caterers and gardeners iron out the final details
for purchasing produce and tending gardens during the year that
the land is to lie fallow.
In modern-day Israel, only two to three per cent of the population
works in agriculture, where advanced technology is used to yield
an abundance of produce during the shemitah year. Contrast this
with biblical times, when society was 100 per cent agrarian: fields
and orchards received hefker (meaning "any man's property")
status and crops became available for all, as the Torah mandated.
Shemitah was an opportunity for farmers to increase their faith
in God as the provider of sustenance. As God said about the source
of food during shemitah: "I will command my blessing for you
in the sixth year, and the Land will produce [sufficiently for]
three years." (Leviticus 25)
In addition, farmers were able to recharge their batteries during
the shemitah year, study Torah and contemplate – similar to
the weekly Sabbath observance, which affords the individual a rest
and a chance for inner reflection.
"As we are not farmers today, we should focus during this shemitah
year on the holiness or kedushat shivi'it of the fruits of
the land," said Rabbi Yehuda Halevy Amichai, a scholar at the
Torah and Land Institute, which established Otzar Ha'aretz (Treasure
of the Land), a nation-wide initiative for farmers who want to observe
shemitah according to halachah and in partnership with like-minded
consumers. "A farmer naturally feels the shemitah year, but
we have to aspire to feel the holiness of the fruit in our homes."
The source of shemitah in the Torah is: "When you come to the
land, the land shall keep a Sabbath unto the Lord.... Thou shall
neither sow thou field nor prune thou vineyard – it shall be
a solemn rest for the land." (Leviticus 25) During the shemitah
year, plowing, sowing, planting, reaping and harvesting are forbidden.
Fruit that grows (by itself, so to speak) during this year is considered
holy and is traded in a special way.
The first shemitah followed the conquest and division of the land
of Israel by Joshua, until the Babylonian exile following the destruction
of the First Temple. During the 40-year exile, the few remaining
Jewish inhabitants were not obligated to observe shemitah, since
the majority of Jews were not in Israel. When Ezra and Nehemia returned
to the land of Israel, shemitah observance continued but became
rabbinically ordained – indicating a slightly reduced level
of observance. (Shemitah today is considered rabbinically ordained.)
The question of keeping shemitah arose when Jews came to Israel
in the 19th century and established agricultural settlements. In
1888, the year before a shemitah year, rabbis realized that the
struggling agriculture-based Jewish population would be paralyzed
if it were to observe it fully. After much soul-searching, many
leading rabbis in Israel and Europe agreed to permit the symbolic
sale of the land to non-Jews, known as the heter mechira.
Jewish farmers would then be able to work on the land and harvest
the produce.
The rabbis at the time stipulated that the necessity of the heter
would be discussed each shemitah to be sure it was really vital
for the economy and for survival. In 1921, Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak
Kook, Israel's first chief rabbi, further established the heter
mechira. He travelled throughout the land, explaining the laws to
farmers who were concerned about losing their livelihood. Yet for
educational purposes, Kook insisted that each settlement retain
a plot of land where shemitah would be observed according to Torah.
Today, with most farmers being secular, the heter enables them to
continue their work without losing their income. However, the heter
has always aroused strong opposition, mainly because it violates
the prohibition of selling the land of Israel to non-Jews. While
rabbis have introduced other widely accepted "permits,"
like the sale of chametz before Passover and the heter iska
(to allow the conduct of business with interest), the heter mechira
involves a legal fiction, according to those who view it as problematic.
"Most of the farmers in the country's kibbutzim and moshavim
use the heter," said Rabbi Zeev Weitman, who is responsible
for shemitah on behalf of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. "We
visit the farmers who are interested in the heter, explain to them
the significance of shemitah and help them find ways to observe
it."
An alternative mechanism that has been used for many shemitah years
is the Otzar Beit Din (Treasure of the Rabbinical Court).
The beit din appoints the farmers as its emissaries to grow, collect
and distribute produce, which thus retains its shemitah holiness.
This year, for the first time, the Torah and Land Institute is making
a concerted effort to centralize the Otzar Beit Din through the
Otzar Ha'aretz initiative. Joining the program before the year 5768
enables farmers to assess the amount of produce they have to produce.
"The main purpose of the Otzar Ha'aretz is to support Jewish
farmers in a significant way," according to Amichai. "Consumers
and farmers are linked together, since consumers are committing
themselves before the shemitah year to this method."
The farmers have invested tremendous resources in hothouses, detached
planting beds, etc., to enable them to supply the public with strictly
shemitah-observant produce based on advanced halachic solutions.
They cannot make this investment without knowing that they have
a guaranteed market for their produce.
The "detached" method was pioneered and fine-tuned in
Gush Katif communities, until their destruction during the disengagement
in 2005. It involved growing produce in hothouses, with plastic
sheeting separating the soil to prevent growth from the ground,
in line with shemitah requirements. It also ensures that the produce
is worm-free. "There used to be 350 such hothouses in Gush
Katif. Since the disengagement, very few farmers have set up new
hothouses in their temporary dwellings," Amichai observed.
Another option, which is avoided by the Otzar Ha'aretz, is buying
from non-Jews abroad and from the Palestinian Authority, for fear
the proceeds will be used for funding terror.
On a practical level in the kitchen, the kedushat shivi'it, the
holy produce, is treated with great respect. Vegetables that can
be eaten raw are only eaten raw. Vegetable oils can be used in their
regular manner for uses other than food – like olive oil for
the chanukiyah – but not in other ways. Even the peels and
leftovers are disposed of reverently in a separate bag. By using
such produce, one's appreciation for the uniqueness and holiness
of the land of Israel is greatly enhanced.
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