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Because the coming year 5768 is a Shemitah year, in which the Torah commands us to let the Land of Israel lie fallow, we present here the first installment of a 2-part review of some of the laws applying to this special year.

Although several sources were used in preparing this summary, we are especially thankful to Harav Yisroel Gans, author of the pamphlet Laws of shvi'is: A practical Guide, published for Shemitah year 5733.

And G-d spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai: Instruct the children of Israel and say to them: When you come into the Land that I have given you, let the Land rest (its) Sabbath before G-d.  For six years, you may sow your field and prune your vineyard and harvest your crops.  But during the seventh year, the Land must (celebrate) its Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath of G-d.  Do not sow your crops and do not prune your vineyard.  Do not reap (for yourself) the grapes of your private vineyards, for it is a year of rest for the Land.  The (produce ) of the year of rest shall be for all to eat: for your men and women slaves, your hired servant, and for foreigners living together with you.  The cattle and wild animals of your Land shall also eat of it.

-- Vayikra 25:1-7

What is Shemitah 

1. The Torah commands that once every seven years, Jewry is forbidden to work the soil and trees of Eretz Yisroel and requires us to declare ownerless (hefker) whatever the soil and trees yield of their own accord (Shvi'is produce).  In Hebrew, the seventh year is termed Shemitah (year of release) or shvi'is (the seventh).
2. Shvi'is produce must be eaten and treated with sanctity (kedusha) -- neither dealing with it commercially (buying or selling) nor destroying it
3. Shvi'is produce must be removed from the house (bi'ur) when the same kind is no longer found in the field.
   

When is Shemitah observed

4. Shemitah year (5768) is observed from the first day of Rosh Hashana, Tishrei 1, through Elul 29.

5.  When a majority of Jewry lives in Eretz Yisroel, Shemitah observance is mandated by the Torah. To our great regret, only a minority of Jewry  dwells in the Land today and the observance is required under rabbinic authority. [Some hold that Torah authority still applies.]

Where is Shemitah observed

6.  The agricultural laws of Shemitah apply in Eretz Yisroel. (See B'midbar 34, where its borders are delineated.)  Therefore, Shemitah laws also apply in Trans-Jordan (state of Jordan) and Syria, as at least parts of these countries are within the boundaries of Eretz Yisroel.

Working the Soil and Trees

7.  The Torah prohibits plowing, sowing (planting), pruning, and harvesting (picking) when these are done in their usual way.  Other ways of working the land, such as weeding, crop dusting, or supporting trees are prohibited rabbinically.

8.  All work intended for improving a tree, its fruit, or produce of the soil is forbidden.

9. Work that is vital for a tree's survival -- i.e., without which it would die or rot, or a large part of its fruit would be lost -- is permitted.  However, plowing, planting, seeding, and pruning are always forbidden. 

10.  An expert should be consulted to determine whether agricultural activities constitute maintenance or improvement.

Why Shemitah? 

Although it is impossible to give complete and definitive answers regarding the rationales of the Torah's commandments, several suggestions have been offered by various scholars to explain Shemitah.

The Shemitah year, parallel to the observance of Shabbos, reminds us that G-d created the world in six days and He rested on the seventh.  We thus do not work Eretz Yisroel's land on the seventh year, as it is really not ours: it was created by and belongs to G-d and given to the Jewish people as His tenants.

We also declare all products growing that year to be free for all to take.  It is not our efforts that enable the Land to bring forth its bounty.  That power belongs to G-d, and we show this recognition by not taking the produce for ourselves alone, allowing man and animals to partake thereof freely.

11. Cutting branches for the sukkah is permitted, provided that you cut whichever branches come to hand and do not select them to simultaneously prune the tree.

12. Potted plants inside the house or a roofed-over porch may be treated as usual.  They are not to be taken outside or onto an unroofed porch. Potted plants kept in a ground floor apartment - if they have a hold in the bottom and do not stand ina special dish -- have all the strictures of shvi'is.

13.  Reaping or picking of shvi'is produce must be done differently than usual, both as to the method used -- a knife instead of shears ,for example --- and in the quantity harvested at any given time, namely not harvesting the whole crop at once.

14.  Fruits are not to be picked before they ripen.

15.  These laws also apply to odoriferous flowers, which have the sanctity of shvi'is.

16.  A tree planted by a Jew in Shemitah must be uprooted.

Forbidden and Permitted Crops

17.  Though the Torah itself permits the eating of shvi'is produce, the Sages have forbidden eating cereals (grains), vegetables, and legumes that grow in Jewish fields during the Shemitah year.  This ban, known as "issur sefichim", applies both to crops growing spontaneously and to planted fields.

18.  Vegetables from a Jew's field which began to grow in the sixth year and ripened in the shvi'is year are not forbidden as sefichim, yet they have sanctity (kedusha) if harvested after Rosh Hashana.

19. Grains and legumes that have attained more than one-third of their growth before Rosh Hashana may be eaten and they have no shvi'is sanctity.

Shemitah Fruits

20. All fruits may be eaten and are not banned as sefichim, yet they have shvi'is sanctity.  Fruit that began to develop (chanotah) in the sixth year, even if it completed its growth and was picked in shvi'is, has no shvi'is sanctity.

21.  If the Jewish owners of trees did not declare the fruits ownerless in accordance with the halacha, of it they did forbidden work on the trees -- the custom of Jerusalem is to ban these fruits.  The Chazon Ish, however permitted their use.

Produce of a Non-Jew

22. All produce that grew in the fields or on the trees of non-Jews (and the necessary work was performed by gentiles) may be eaten.  According to the custom in Jerusalem, the gentile produce has none of the restrictions of shvi'is -- kedusha and bi'ur.  Thus one can buy, sell and treat th eproduce of gentiles as in other years.  Many vegetable store throughout Israel sell such produce: vegetables in the winter and fruits, as well, in the summer.  Some, however, maintain the opinion of the Chazon Ish that the gentile produce, though permitted to be eaten, has all the restrictions of kedusha and bi'ur.

Part II of this review will discuss the laws of the sanctity of shvi'is products and of bi'ur (removing them from the house once they are no longer available in the field).

This article is printed on the Yad L'Achim Wall Calendar Tammuz 5767.

Subscriptions may be obtained at Yad L'Achim, 579 Fifth Avenue, Room 1420, New York, NY 10017. Tel # 800 709-2005

For UK and Europe contact the Manchester office at Yad L'Achim, 114 Leicester Road, Salford M7 4GF, Manchester, England, Tel (0161) 740-9993 

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