Shemittah Next Year 5768

Get ready for the Shemittah Year

Shemittah Guide

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Short Guide to Shemittah

HALACHOT OF SH’MITA

A: Shmita from the Torah
1) In Vayikra 25, the Torah lists four specific verbs describing farming; harvesting, picking fruits, pruning and plowing. The Rabbis use this to learn that only these four actions are forbidden Mideoraita (from the Torah).

2) Shmita is only considered Mideoraita (a biblical mitzvah) if the majority of the Jews are living in Eretz Yisrael. Today, since the majority of the Jews are not in Eretz Yisrael, Shmita is derabanan (a rabbinic mitzvah).

3) The Torah says, in the context of Shmita, that the land is here for us to eat from it, and the RaMBaN comments on the verse, that every bite of “shmita” produce one eats is another mitzvah.

B: Maintaining your garden or field

1) Maintaining your garden is allowed, but only on a “survival” level. a) For example, it is not necessary to water your flowers daily, but once a week would be appropriate. However, once you turn on the water, you can let it run as long as you want. b) You may prune plants, but only if the plant might die without pruning.

2) If you need to fertilize your lawn, it is better to fertilize before the Shmita year and use a fertilizer that lasts an entire year.

3) You CAN mow your lawn because you are not mowing it in order to make the grass grow, rather it is for aesthetics. However, it is better to make your mowing regular so that you don’t end up “pruning” the dead tops of the grass blades.

4) The laws of Shmita do not apply to plants inside a house or greenhouse, so you can take care of them like usual.

C: Buying fruits and vegetables

1) The ramifications of shmita effect fruits and vegetables differently.
a) Because vegetables have to be planted each year, the planting can not take place, and therefore all vegetables are considered shmita vegetables from Rosh Hashana until the following year.
b) Fruits, on the other hand, grow from existing trees and therefore the shmita rules apply differently. The laws of Shmita apply to fruit based on when the bud of each fruit first appears on the tree. Therefore, any fruit that has already begun growing before Rosh Hashana is not considered a Shmita fruit. However, any fruit which began its growth during the Shmita year, even though it will not be harvested until the following year, IS subject to the laws of Shmita.

2) Fruit that is subject to the laws of Shmita must be harvested with a shinui, in a different manner. The RaMBaM says that because picking from one’s entire orchard shows one’s dominion over the plot of land, the shinui that should be done in this case is only picking small amounts of fruit at a time.

D: Three soluions to the Shmita situation

1) Otzar Beit Din The Beit Din aquires a fieldand takes ownership of it. The prior “owner” of the field becomes an employee of the Beit Din and is hired to maintain it (see section B about maintaining fields). All produce from that field is then distributed to customers who rather than paying for the produce, pay the salaries of the “employees” of the Beit Din who work the fields.

• Otzar Beit Din is the best option because you are eating the produce from holy land, in a holy year.

2) Arava Dromit or Greenhouses Any piece of produce that was grown in a greenhouse (almost all Gush Katif vegetables) or anything that says on it ‘Arava Dromit’ is not subject to the laws of shmita because it did not grow directly in the ground. However, it is better to treat the produce as if it holds the holier status of Shmita.

3) Heter Mechira The land is sold to a non-Jew, in a similar way that chametz is sold before Pesach, and thus the land now owned by a non-Jew can be worked during the Shmita year with the following restrictions:

• According to Rav Kook- any Jew who works on land that was sold to a non-Jew, may not do the four actions of farming specifically forbidden by the Torah (see Section 1).

• Because the ground does not belong to a Jew, the produce does not have the kdusha of Shmita. However, it is still better to treat this produce as if it did have the status of Shmita.

4) Buying produce imported to Israel is an option. Produce not grown in Israel is not subject to any of the laws of Shmita, but is the least preferred option. Buying imported produce has a negative impact on the Israeli economy generally and a long term (beyond the year of Shmita) impact on Israeli farmers. It is important to maintain the Israeli economy!

5) Although Shmita requires that one pay extra attention to the special restrictions regarding planting, harvesting and consuming produce, it provides us an opportunity to eat food extra fortified in holiness!

E: In the kitchen…

1) No leftovers! Because all shmita year produce is holy, and is recognized as property of Hashem, we do not have the right to throw it out in a normal manner.

2) Any food that contains produce is subject to the laws of Shmita. This includes all fruits and vegetables AND foods like chicken soup, cholent, yogurt with fruit, etc.

3) After the effort is made to consume all produce that is served, if you still find you have food that will not be eaten and you want to throw it out, there are two appropriate ways of handling the food.

a) Take all the leftovers, wrap them in a plastic bag, and then dispose them.

b) Have a special container for shmita food waste. Each day, put the waste in a bag. Each subsequent day’s bag is put on top of the prior collected waste bags. After a few days, the food will rot on its own, after which time it is permissible to dispose of the waste. This is done by disposing of the bottom most bag each day.

• This is the more “mehadrin” approach.
• There is a custom to write on the special container “Shmita waste”, however, it is preferable to mark the containter “Kdushat shvi’it”, or “the holiness of the produce of the seventh year”.

c) Soup or cholent: because pouring bowls of leftover soup into plastic trash bags can result in a mess, it is permissible to leave the leftovers out in the pot or similar container until the food spoils on its own. It is then permissible to dispose of it in any manner.

d) Peels, pits, seeds, etc: Disposing of peels, seeds, etc. in any manner IS permissible, as long as there is no substantial quantity of edible fruit left. If there is a considerable amount of food left, dispose of the remains in the Shmita container.

e) Residue on plates: After scraping the leftovers into the Shmita container, any residue left on the plates may be washed out as usual.

F) The same way that we are commanded to work for six days, and then have Shabbat for Hashem, Shmita is Shabbat for an entire year. We need to look forward to it, and treat the halachot just as we keep the halachot of Shabbat. Hashem gave us an opportunity to live such holy lives, that even the food we eat will be extra fortified in holiness!