Jewish Scene
Poll: 62% don't know next year is shmita year
Ynet
Published: 31.08.07, 10:16
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27 Talkbacks for this article
1. hilarious !
Michael ,   Haifa   (08.31.07)
It is to YNET's credit that it reserves space for the more comical aspects of Israeli life
2. Say What?
Mark ,   Elrom   (08.31.07)
The reason so many Jews feel shmita is irrelevant today is because we confuse the word shmita with shivta.
3. It is another scheme to strengthen the
Olej Gamur ,   Israel   (08.31.07)
orthodox and ultras hold over this , ever uglier, country.
4. Shmita
Miriam P. ,   Jerusalem   (08.31.07)
Majority of Israelis don't know about Shmita year, so what's new?? Many Israelis don't know much about Judaism at all. Very sad state of affairs.
5. THANKS TO THE LEFT, MOST ISRAELIS IGNORANT OF JUDAISM
Ben Avraham ,   Tel Aviv   (08.31.07)
6. 500 poll??? What do the other 4,500,000 have to say???
D ,   Israel   (08.31.07)
7. Would that also include
(08.31.07)
restraint from killing children
8. So most Israelis are boobs, duh....
Ilan ,   Ariel   (08.31.07)
We have to worry about the 62% of the population that is not only blantantly stupid, clueless about Judaism, apathetic about living in the land of israel, and has no reason for life other than "eat, drink for tomorrow we may die" not just on the smitta but because they have no moral or intellectual justification for the existence of the country they live in. Shmitta will pass, the damage of our ignorance will not.
9. Shmita and our neighbors
Eric   (08.31.07)
I think we should take the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran and toss them out the window....1 after the other. I'm not calling for a Big Brother / Athiest society but rather to stop living in the dark ages and complicating peoples lives and society as a whole. We need to stop looking for answers above, to the left, to the right, in the air, etc...the answers we are looking for are within each of us. Simply put, be your own person and find inner peace. Once we achieve that we can finally claim we are a modern people.
10. A majority of the secular DO think that it's relevant today
Dani ,   Tel Aviv   (08.31.07)
57%! That's wonderful!
11. #5
James ,   Raanana   (08.31.07)
I beg to differ, it is the religious who have destroyed Judaism. They have lost the way Very sad.
12. SO WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST US TO DO?
Helene ,   Israel   (08.31.07)
GO BUY VEGETABLES FROM GAZA? Don't think so.
13. Shmittah
Ruchamah ,   USA   (08.31.07)
Just as we keep Sabbath weekly and rest, so the Almighty, blessed be He, says that we are to give the Land its rest as well, every seventh year. In fact, it was because of not doing this mitzvah that we endured the Babylonian exile. He promises to provide enough of a harvest in the 6th year to see us clear thru until the harvest of the ninth year. The only reqwirement is that we BELIVE Him. Hat tip to those who are busy believing Him...
14. neither relevant today nor geographical is the biblical zion
(08.31.07)
15. There is a logic in Shmita year
Caroline ,   Israel   (08.31.07)
I came from a country where the sugar cane production is the main source of revenue and where the sugar industry researches are recognized and followed all over the world. In this country where you can count Jews on the fingers of your hand, the country without any connection to Judaism and consequently to Shmita, the sugar fields are burnt and left to "rest" for a year once every 7 years. This is to make the soil more fertile for the years to come. However this is not applied to all the agricultural areas simultaneously in order to avoid a year of famine. Therefore I understand the need for a "shmita" year though it should not be applied to the agricultural areas all over the country. I am not religious and with all my respect to religious people, I do not agree to pay higher prices for the vegetables to satisfy their religious needs. Same as in regular year, let them live the way they chose and don't let them to rule other people's lives!
16. You don't say...???
marya ,   sacramento, USA   (08.31.07)
Who can be surprised that so few know when the youth of Israel are taught Israel is an apartied state, that it is an occupier? It's more important to teach them how to put a condom on a cumcumber and that its evil to try to defend Israel. Every day the Left in Israel do everything in their power to discredit and undermine Judaism. YNET included. Shmita ... isn't that something you put on a falafel?
17. It is beyond hilarious!!!
Ram Bum ,   Haifa   (09.01.07)
What is all the talk about the year of the sharmuta? They did not teach us about it in the Rabbi Sharmutski Yeshiva. Or maybe I was out that day busy with the infidels over their driving when and where we tell them they should not… The sad part is that these ayatollahs tell us how to live and die…
18. 100 %
charles ,   petach tikva   (09.01.07)
of Ynet readers know it . I have read somewhere that we , thanks to the charidi rabbi's who want to be the only to control the kashrut , that prices will rise sharply . That's a good news for the already poorest Jewish Israelis , the inhabitants of our capital and Bne Brak , but they are mostly charidi , and they have to blame their rabbis . If they , those rabbis , want the shmitta year , ok , but why should seculars have to pay more because of this ? Why should seculars have to pay those rabbis big money ? Let their communities feed them , but they can't , they haven't enough for their parasytes of non contributing "students" .
19. ABSURD!
Jewish CANADIAN ,   Toronto   (09.01.07)
A modern agricultural industry-indeed a modern society- can not be run according to rules written by some ignorant men 2000 or 3000 years ago, How absurd, How pathetic.To see these ultra Orhodox living in the Dark Ages is to see a people wallow in ignorance-a people bent on destroying themselves and their country,
20. It is VERY important to let the land rest as the Bible says
Rivkah   (09.01.07)
to do. Failing to do that is one of the things that caused the captivity and diaspora of the Jews long ago. The Prophet Daniel said 70 weeks (of years) are determined upon the people because that corresponds to the number of times the land was not allowed to rest. 69 weeks of years passed before there was a gap for the Gentiles to be grafted onto the tree of faith. The seventieth week of years of Daniel's prophecy is the last seven years before the Messiah comes.
21. It is a known fact...
Roy Galut ,   Selah Washington USA   (09.01.07)
in modern farming that land is allowed to rest or is subject to a crop rotation is more productive the next year ...G_d knew what was best for the land.....
22. A modern shmita year
Sidney ,   USA   (09.01.07)
A year when every rabbi takes a vow of silence.
23. As usual, truth is in the middle & our ancestors were wise
Israel   (09.01.07)
As several posters have pointed out on this board, there is ecological sense in the tradition (if anyone has doubts, look up the results of exhausting agricultural land). But as other posters mentioned, it originated in a relatively undeveloped time, and hopefully (1) our farmers don't need a holiday to rotate their crops, (2) devoted Jews don't need economic collapse to celebrate our heritage.
24. 38 % impose their will
charles ,   petach tikva   (09.02.07)
If 62 % don't know that next year is a shmitta year , that means that they are not interest in this . That also means that 38 % impose their will on the majority of the Israeli population . That's not possible and has to be opposed
25. #15 is 100% right
freejay ,   Israel   (09.02.07)
It makes perfect sense but most morons here dont realise that! Its called survival of the smartest and we have to rest our land like we do ourselves., Any farmer knows this.
26. Interesting News
Yakov ,   Jerusalem   (09.04.07)
Here's an interesting piece of news I saw: Some Torah scholars from Jerusalem have created an organization where you can purchase a tiny tract of land in Israel- which you then don't touch for a year- and actually take part in the mitzvah of shmitta (as opposed to just trying to avoid shmitta altogether). Check it out at: www.shviit.com. It's cheap too- just $180
27. Interesting news indeed
charles ,   petach tikva   (09.04.07)
for the bank account of those rabbis
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