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Prof. Rabbi David Golinkin
Solutions 'unsatisfactory'
Photo: Dalit Shacham

Why is shmita controversy important?

Both Zionist and haredi methods practiced during Sabbatical year are unsatisfactory since they contradict the entire purpose of Zionism

For the past few months, a controversy has been raging in the State of Israel: How should Shmita (the Sabbatical year) be observed? Most Israelis view this as an esoteric argument between the haredim (ultra-Orthodox) and Religious Zionists. They may also think that the problem was solved by the recent Supreme Court decision on October 23rd, which instructed the Chief Rabbinate to follow its own Heter Mechira (symbolic sale of the Land of Israel to non-Jews). They are wrong. This argument touches on the very essence of Zionism as Israel turns 60.

 

According to biblical law, the Land of Israel must lie fallow during the Sabbatical year (Exodus 23:10-11; Leviticus 25:1-7). Haredi farmers follow the Hazon Ish, Rabbi Isaiah Karelitz, who prohibits exporting produce from the Shmita year, but allows certain leniencies such as hydroponics.

 

Other farmers harvest the Shmita year's produce as "Rabbinic Court agents" and sell it through an Otzar Bet Din (Rabbinic Court Warehouse). This legal fiction can help the individual farmer, but it will not solve the State of Israel’s dilemma because produce distributed through an Otzar Bet Din retains the sanctity of Shmita. It may not be thrown in the garbage; it may not be eaten by non-Jews; it may not be sold; and it may not be exported abroad.

 

Some haredi settlements are supported by donations from abroad during the Shmita year. As for consumers, most haredi Jews buy their produce during the Shmita year from Arabs. If all Israeli Jews followed these methods, Jewish agriculture in Israel would collapse; if the State of Israel followed these methods, Agrexco would go bankrupt and Israel would lose one billion dollars in agricultural exports every year.

 

On the other hand, according to Rabbi Kuk's Heter Mechira method, the land and everything planted on it are sold to a non-Jew for a period of two years (so that the Shmita year is covertly included in the sale). It is thus permissible to buy and sell Shmita produce, since it belongs to a non-Jew. It is also possible to engage in work that is only rabbinically prohibited such as irrigating, weeding, fertilizing and removing stones. On the other hand, the five kinds of activities that are prohibited by the Torah – sowing, pruning, reaping, harvesting grapes and plowing - are still prohibited during the Shmita year.

 

Historically, the Chief Rabbinate followed the Heter Mechira. However, this year, due to haredi pressure, the Heter Mechira was performed as usual, but the Chief Rabbinate gave local rabbinic councils the right to ignore it and demand that supermarkets and restaurants in their towns must buy all their produce from Arabs. Indeed, the local rabbinates of at least nine cities with over one million inhabitants immediately declared that this is exactly what they would do. The potential loss to Jewish farmers was estimated at 700 million to 2 billion shekels.

 

The rabbis of Tzohar, a group of liberal Orthodox rabbis, then threatened to set up rival kashrut supervision and certify all the food establishments who follow the Heter Mechira. Finally, on October 23, 2007, Israel’s High Court of Justice invalidated Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger’s decision; if the Rabbinate itself had performed the Heter Mechira, it could not claim that it is not legitimate! The Court ruled that the Chief Rabbinate must overrule any local rabbi opposed to the Heter and appoint in his place a rabbi who will follow the Heter Mechira.

 

All of the methods described above are unsatisfactory since they contradict the entire purpose of Zionism.

 

End of part 1 – to be continued

 

Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin is the President of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.04.08, 08:26
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