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NEWS
Unprecedented Extent of Lands Left Fallow during Shmittah
By Yechiel Sever
In a special meeting which took place at the conclusion of the first quarter of the Shmittah year, with the participation of the administration of Keren Hashevi'is, convened on Tu BeShevat, the Judgment Day for Trees, a comprehensive report was presented by Chairman Rabbi Ben Zion Kugler and Director General, Rabbi Binyamin Cohen, describing the scope of activities to date. They reported that the lands laid fallow during this Shmittah stood at 311,186 dunam throughout Israel, with an additional twenty thousand dunam of fields having joined in the past months, reaching a total of 333,790 dunam (about 80,000 acres).
It was also reported that the number of participating farmers has risen significantly to an unprecedented number, where at the beginning of this Shmittah year, 3,078 farmers were registered and since Rosh Hashana, Tishrei 5775, another 522 joined the number. Regretfully, however, 147 backed out because of the heavy financial burden of large debts which they had no possible way of covering, nor could the Keren Hashevi'is provide sufficient coverage. As of Shevat, there are 3,453 registered gibborei koach Shmittah observers, with 12 million shekel aid being allocated to the farmers by worthy Yissachar-Zevulum partners among the tens of thousands of Jews from all over the country and the world who have rallied to the call to bolster the farmers in keeping Shmittah in response to the call of our gedolim.
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