In the wake of the draconian slash in the supportive budgets of the shomrei Shmittah farmers, the worry arises that this may endanger the continuation of halachic Shmittah observance altogether. This was brought up in a recent emergency meeting of the Keren Hashevi'is administration which heard about this cut and approached all the bodies involved, including the Chairman of the Knesset Financial Committee, MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni and government ministers, appealing to them to prevent the implementation of this cut decided by the government offices. This drastic cut would be a terrible blow to the heroic Shmittah observant farmers who find themselves in the final months of this seventh year, with the trials and difficulties increasing at this final stage, threatening their buckling under, when this vital mitzvah is the one which, our gedolim say, is protecting all the residents of Eretz Yisroel.
The drastic government slash is immediately effective. The heads of Keren Hashevi'is have appealed to the Agricultural Minister Uri Ariel, and to the chareidi representatives in the Knesset to prevent said painful move which would be a deadly blow to those farmers keeping Shmittah, threatening their continued observance of the proper execution of this vital mitzvah in its final, most difficult stages.
During this period when Jewry mourns the Churban, the heads of Keren Hashevi'is have mobilized donors in the U.S. and London to give counterpart funds so that every shekel donated to the Keren in Israel will be matched by their donation. Thus, every donation given in Israel will have double clout.
Rabbi Ben Zion Kugler, head of the Keren, and Director General, Rabbi Binyomin Cohen, answered to the directive of the gedolim and organized this special campaign to help farmers keep up with the difficult demands of the final stage of Shmittah observance until the sowing in the first months of 5776.
