Over eight months have passed since the beginning of this
shmittah year. Recently we read in the Torah about
how golus comes about choliloh through the
desecration of shmittah, as opposed to the divine
promise of "I will command My blessing upon you." Those
wishing to benefit from this promise, must ensure that their
sins do not prevent its fulfillment (see Chazon Ish,
Shevi'is, 18:4).
It would seem that activists involved in encouraging
shmittah observance this time round, are somewhat
troubled. In previous shmittah years, we felt that
the truth was beginning to filter through, and that circles
far removed from shmittah observance were becoming
convinced of the duty to stop using the heter as a
means of evading shmittah observance. This
shmittah year looks different.
The struggle for shmittah observance this year has,
to our astonishment, been more difficult than in the past.
On the eve of this shmittah year many people
(including myself) thought that the truth would win, and
that nobody would dare to rely on the heter mechirah
whose originators thought they were dealing with a
pikuach nefesh situation. Even at the time, most of
the gedolim opposed the heter. It is
incredible to think that people would stick to this
heter, claiming that the reasons for its original
application still exist, when in the opinion of experts, if
the whole single-year farming sector would refrain from
sowing crops during shevi'is (including the Arab
sector), the cost would be about NIS one billion, which is
also approximately the cost of running elections for prime
minister, or a third of the cost of the last wage agreement
with civil servants. Is this really a pikuach nefesh
situation, which can overturn Torah prohibitions?
It goes without saying that, unfortunately, even if there
would be no heter, most farmers would still sow, and
we would only be able to prevent religious farmers from
relying on an invalid heter, and to prevent innocent
traditionally observant Jews from sinning.
On this topic of figures, we should point out that in the
current situation, even if the heter would be
annulled, the said figure would nevertheless not be reached,
since unfortunately most farmers would still sow during the
shmittah year. However, this is not our topic at the
moment. We are concerned with the fact that some religious
Jews supported and continue to support this "heter"
which, according to the gedolim both past and present
has no halachic validity. Moreover, the reasons which the
original heter was based on, no longer apply.
Everybody knows that the letter and request signed by the
gedolim a year ago against those seeking to uproot
shmittah by means of a "heter" causing a
chilul Hashem was not addressed to nonobservant Jews,
but to religious ones. The aim was to ask the Chief Rabbis
that they should at least not actively support the
heter, and declare that this was what the Torah
commanded, and whoever wanted to, would listen and act
accordingly.
When the request of the rabbonim fell on deaf ears,
and Lilienblum's method of abolishing shmittah won
the day, there was still hope that they would surely not
spurn others who wanted to observe mitzvos ho'oretz,
and that those who disregarded the call of the
gedolim, would not scorn others who did not. However,
as we know, this hope too was dashed, and anybody attempting
to minimize the chillul Hashem was harassed, whereas
any dealer trading in sefichin produce became a hero
of the rabbanut, being supported and encouraged by
them. They would organize a hechsher for him from
rabbis who have no connections with obscurantists, who have
no knowledge of worldly matters, and who understand that a
rav in Mevasseret Zion has to give a hechsher
to the Co-Op in Yerushalaim and that the rav of Co-Op
with the blue square has to give a hechsher for Bat
Yam, as long as shmittah destroyers are not
affected.
It would be a pity to waste ink on describing the sale
procedures of those in charge of the "heter." Suffice
it to cite the case of a chareidi family which had strangers
trespassing on its property who sowed there during this
shmittah year. Having no choice, and in the wake of a
ruling from a posek, they turned to the courts. In
the course of the trial, the trespasser produced a
certificate from the rabbanut confirming that he had
sold the field. How does the rabbanut authorize the
sale of Reuven's field by Shimon against the owner's will,
just in order to be able to desecrate shmittah?
Woe unto us, the Torah tells us that if shmittah is
not observed, we cannot live in Eretz Yisroel, as it
says, "For the land shall lie forsaken without them, and
shall be paid her shabbossos, while she lies desolate
without them," and as Chazal say in Toras Kohanim,
"They did not do so, therefore they were exiled, and the
country necessarily remained untilled," and in Medrash
Rabboh: "Moshe said to HaKodosh Boruch Hu, `Why
have they been delivered to these nations?' He said to him,
`Because they have desecrated the shevi'is'." In
Ovos it says that the Jews are exiled because of the
sin of non-observance of shmittah and see also
Shabbos 33.
We have been taught that it is our duty to say that we are
responsible for this great rage, and we must examine what we
must do to minimize the chilul Hashem and act to
promote shmittah observance.
As Rav Moshe Nechemia Kahanov zt"l wrote in the
introduction to his book, Shnas Hasheva, "Since this
sin was responsible for our exile from our country and the
desolation of our land, every Jewish person is obliged to
make amends for this great sin either passively (in theory)
or actively (in practice)." (Rosh Dovor, pg. 3).
It seems that within our circles too, people do not have a
clear enough picture about the extent to which we are duty
bound to further shmittah observance. Perhaps this is
because we do not look at events as much as necessary from
an emunoh perspective, to feel and understand that
all the occurrences connected with yishuv eretz
Yisroel are dependant on mitzva observance in general,
and shmittah observance in particular.
If I may be permitted to quote something I heard from Rav
Zvi Ordentlich, the rov of Beitar, who gave a shiur
in Beitar to the evening kollel of the beis
hamedrash for Halochos Related to Settlements together
with the Dirshu Hashem Ve'uzo fund. After the
shiur he made various comments. He mentioned that the
nationalist camp had come up with the slogan "Let Zahal
win." Today we all know how meaningless this slogan is, but
we must carry a banner saying "Give shmittah
observers a chance to win." We believe that if we want to
dwell securely in our country, we have to keep
shmittah. Everybody should have internalized this
simple truth.
It sometimes seems that because of wariness, or perhaps
because of a certain fear, we do not enthusiastically
internalize this basic fact.
With siyata deShmaya shmittah observance in both town
and countryside is on the increase. There are also more
people studying the halochos of shmittah:
"Whoever deals in the halochos of shmittah and
yovelos, it is considered by Hashem as if he has
observed the mitzvos connected with these in all their
details" (Rav Moshe Kahanov, ibid.)... Moreover,
nowadays even a shmittah observer in an urban area
not only keeps shmittah in theory, but also in
practice, since he needs to be familiar with procedures of
purchasing agricultural produce, arba minim, flowers,
as well as methods of looking after plants and gardens.
The tests he faces can certainly not be compared to those
faced by the farmers, but he too is obliged to know the
halochos applying to him. He has to know that the
halochos of shmittah do not end on the 29th of
Elul, to hear from his rov what he has to be careful of, and
to accept upon himself the meticulous observance of
hilchos shmittah "especially at a time such as this,
the ikvesa deMshicho, when we pray to Hashem for
light in this twilight hour, and we have to make every
possible effort" (Rav Moshe Kahanov, ibid.).
The same applies to the many questions asked even by young
talmidei chachomim about practical halochos
relating to shmittah. It would be advisable for them
to find out about the rulings of rabbonim on practical
shmittah topics, such as non-Jewish produce, the
borders of Eretz Yisroel, detached produce, otzar
beis din distribution, produce planted during
shevi'is and so on.
In these matters, it is inappropriate to rely on any
particular kashrus division or committee, because
even if these undertake their supervisory duties on a
satisfactory level, anybody using their services is still
duty bound to find out which halachic guidelines the
division or committee is bound by. A kashrus beis
din, committee or division, which act according to
halocho are bound to have a posek whose
rulings they follow. This is true even for ordinary
kashrus matters, and is even more likely to be the
case for hilchos Eretz Yisroel and especially when it
comes to shmittah- related halochos.
Many halachic issues are in dispute, and although a
kashrus committee or division will surely follow the
rulings of its posek, our rabbonim have ruled that
such a committee does not make rulings for the general
public, being a body with the purpose of acting according to
halocho and serving the religious public. The public
should make enquiries, and the kashrus committee has
to give answers, since as part of its service to the public,
it has to give it complete information about details and
reasons for their actions, so that everyone can be in a
position to make a choice, otherwise the public could sin
unwittingly.
It should be pointed out parenthetically that it seems that
giving out complete information does not make a
kashrus committee more popular. It sometimes seems as
if some members of the public do not want to hear exactly
what is happening, and would rather calm their conscience.
They would prefer it if the kashrus committee would
repeatedly tell them that everything is
lemehadrin.
This is not the appropriate place to point out all the
kashrus mishaps which can result from this attitude,
but we wish to be amongst those who are willing to be called
fools, and not to hide any information from the public,
since anyone acting this way risks becoming wicked in the
eyes of Heaven.
In order to practice what we are preaching, and in response
to many questions, we would like to explain briefly the
situation in stores under our supervision (the mitzvos
ho'oretz division of the Jerusalem rabbinate) with
regard to the otzar beis din corner.
Recently some of these stores have been selling produce from
the Gamzu settlement which is under the supervision of
otzar beis din in a separate corner. Next to this
corner the stores have put up a sign stating that the
rabbonim of that beis din are responsible for this
otzar beis din and not the shmittah division
of the Jerusalem rabbinate.
In the wake of this notice, the department was inundated
with requests for clarifications about it. In response, we
say the following:
The otzar beis din procedure, when conducted in the
proper halachic manner (see Mishpetei Eretz Shevi'is
and Mishmeres Hashevi'is) is the appropriate method
of distributing shevi'is fruit. HaRav Eliashiv just
recently signed a letter supporting the otzar beis
din headed by Rav Nissim Karelitz, in which he mentions,
inter alia, the efforts of the Ridvaz zt"l to restore
shmittah practice to Eretz Yisroel by ensuring
that kedushas shevi'is wine was distributed by fields
observing shmittah, "which we have not merited since
the destruction of the beis Hamikdosh" (introduction
to the Beis Haridvaz). However, it must be understood
that there are disputes concerning the procedures of the
otzar beis din. Not all the otzros beis din
are run along the same lines, and even among the strictly
observant botei din methods differ with regard to the
melochos undertaken, methods of calculating costs,
distribution of fruit at distribution posts or in shops
which also sell other fruit, as well as other matters.
Moreover, unfortunately not all otzros beis din are
strictly supervised by rabbonim. Rav Moshe Sternbuch, in his
sefer, has already described an invalid otzar beis
din acting like any other year, without observing
shmittah.
As for the matter at hand, we debated for a long time
whether to include fruit from the Tnuva otzar beis
din, especially in the current period, when there is no
alternative fruit outlet, but also with regard to the
future, when we expect non-Jewish fruit and fruit from
chutz lo'oretz to come on to the market, because
these may be very expensive, and there may be families who
will not be able to afford them. On the other hand, we have
reservations about several matters with respect to this
beis din, especially regarding its method of
calculating and paying its shlichim, and other
halachic guidelines.
We therefore turned to our rabbonim, who advised us to set
up a special corner in fruit stores with this otzar beis
din from the Gamzu shmitto-observing settlement,
with our supervisors examining the price paid by the fruit
consumers, ensuring that we observe "our duty to make our
actions reflect observance of the Torah, and if the price
fixed is the same as that of any other year, the
mitzvah of shevi'is is forgotten. It does not
matter how much effort was involved, as long as there is a
clear difference." (The Chazon Ish in Igros Chazon
Ish, vol.2, letter 73).
And the poskei hador have also ruled that there be a
clear difference in the price between otzar fruit and
other fruit sold on the market. However, since we did have
several reservations about the methods of this beis
din, as a result of which our rabbonim ruled that we
should not distribute its fruit, we decided to publicize the
truth: that the responsibility for the procedures adopted by
that beis din lies with it, and not with us, and the
consumer is free to make his own decision.
