The rulings cited do not have the sweet odor of charity; mankind stems from the devine art. All are by nature the province of sanctity, whether we like it or not. Their lives and their livelihoods... to forgive debts is a direct commandment. I will question the art of reasoning backward from the end one desires when the spirit of the Word is broken. The priests were discarded, as they were corrupt. Shop for your rulings and you will find that not all those vested with authority dispose of it with so little grace. Peace. Giles Paul Arthur Martin.

all it really means to the consumer is higher prices for fruits and vegetables, and less of a selection, unless imports are increased from over seas. It means for the rabbic councils more money as they demand money for the yearly "sale of the land to non jews so that food can be grown in the land of Israel. So in essence the consumer is taken advantage of again, while certain parties get rich off it.

The Shmita year is to give the LAND a rest. It does not matter who one sells the land to because the land is STILL BEING WORKED even if it is by a non-Jew. What is it so hard for the Rabbis to understand? "the land shall have a Sabbath of complete rest". Answer - bring in produce from abroad. Do not work the land in Israel, both Jew and non-Jew. The ownership of the land does not make a difference. Let our holy soil rest!

There is a third method for greenhouse growers to observe shmita without "selling" the land to our enemy or buying produce from our enemy - that is growing in pots above the ground. This was widely done in Gush Katif - at least until the expulsion. Halachically this is a sound alternative and doesn't provide parnassa to our enemies who, in any case, should be encouraged to leave the Land.

I agree with #4!! Lets have people who have experience with this advise us what to do. I seriously doubt a Rabbi who has never set foot outdoors can honestly advise people what to do. Those with experience should lead the way.

I wonder if these brilliant rabbis would be willing give up 13 months of their parnassa?

Aviad Kleinberg writes the typical anti Haredi story with such discriminatory words like "advanced halachic trick" or "eat the shmitta cake". he is less concerned about reporting the true facts and more interested in creating havoc with jewish law. Here is another Jewish journalist trying to show that bigotry is still alive and well in Eretz Israel.

Finally, a sensible solution. This way the rabbis won't have to fear bringing the wrath of god down on their heads, and the average Israeli consumer, who probably couldn't care less about this shmita business, can avoid getting screwed.

There are several slurs in this article, most notably one regarding proz bul. The point of Hillel's workaround was that despite the injunction not to avoid lending, the poor were suffering from people not lending. Hillel didn't put his reform in place to benefit the rich (in any case there was no interest charged), but in order to protect the poor. This shows how dishonest Kleinberg is in his assertion that the Rabbis do not care about social values. BTW, I'm sure that they didn't pull in fat salaries from NGO's in order to advance a social agenda either. They did it because they believed in justice.

Why not divide arable land into 7 sections and let the sections take turns to lay fallow? If the main purpose is to give the land a rest, that would fulfill the letter and the spirit of Jewish law. This selling the land to a non-Jew looks like somebody's trying to pull the wool over god's eyes.

Em-i think the answer is yes-if that was G-ds commandmant. No need to wonder anymore!

I liked your article about the rabbis and shmitta. I was going to check and see how qualified you were to write such an article, but your article with it's erudite Torah quotes answered the question for me. You are a total IGNORAMUS and a AZUT PANIM!

This essay is filled with hate, without any attempt at valid reporting. Why do the secular elite so hate their own religion?

Of course, you are right -- all those wonderful hydroponic greenhouses in Gush Katif were wonderful, especially for shmita. Unfortunately the people who backed the expulsion don't care very much about shmita...

either this guy is totally ignorant or he is a great self hating jew. i am gonan go with plain heretic. 1. no belief in G-d as is evident from comments on shmita 2. no belief in torah as is evident from the belitteling of the talmudic sage Hilel 3. no belief in judaism as is evident from the priority of social justice over divine will. I do feel bad for him since he is not alone on these warped views. the main trouble is the ignorance of the facts. torah is very large and it is divinely given. if you dont realize how serious it is you wont ever bother to figure out what G-d wants from you. instead you are likely to become your own god and decide what is right and wrong on your own. pity...

This writer needs to take a good look at himself in the mirror. His criticism of "the rabbis" and of Judaism reeks of self-alienation and self-hatred. You're Jewish man - why be so ashamed of it? Or maybe not ashamed of it, but rather just of "the rabbis". If only they would just go away and let us be good secular Jews (whatever that means).

It may come as a surprise to many people, but built into the Halacha are "Heterim" to get around the Halacha. How can this be? How is it possible that the Law itself has loopholes to get around the Law? Is this not an internal paradox, a hypocrisy of the system, something that makes a mockery of the Law itself? But the answer is just that. The "loophole" is just as much the Law as the Law itself. It is not less than the Law. It is the Law. This concept is hard for the average person to comprehend since, in his mind, things must be black or white. But, the Halacha is not so. It is far more complex and subtle and it accounts for so many shades and tints that the spectrum of events of life are covered with extremely high resolution, and not just two shades of grey. It is not just meat or potatoes, but a vast array of vegetables and fruits and spices and sauces. And that is its beauty. Thus, as long as one uses the correct principles of the Law to find ways to "get around" the Law - this workaround is the Law, too.

The issue itself and the responses of the vast majority of the talkbackers to the issue indicate a primitive third world mentality, worthy of study by anthropologists

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.

When people write articles advocating "social justice", and bash rabbis, halacha and Judaism at the same time, it would be intellectually honest to do a bit of fact checking before starting the slander. 1. Rav Kook (not "Cook"; don't you know how to spell?) was NOT the innovator of heter mechira, rather Rav Yitzchak Elchanon. 2. The Chazon Ish didn't suggest the "property of the court" idea...it goes back to the Tosefta (the period between the Mishna and Talmud)...approximately 1800 years ago. [Tosefta Shvi'it, ch.8 halacha 1-2] The Tosefta explained HOW IT WAS DONE DURING THE TIME OF THE BEIT HAMIKDASH. 3. The removing debts "pruzbul" was created since although the Torah had the correct idea; people stopped lending money. I'm sure even a cynic like the author of this YNET article would admit it's better to lend money to poor people and reclaim the debt later, than not to lend them money at all. Give the rabbis a bit of credit...they understood human nature. 4. Throwing in the last line about "worrying about bugs from lettuce or the sanctity of the Land" is exactly what one would expect of a typical ignoramus: No Fact checking, No intellectual honesty, just the throwing around of the only catchphrases he ever heard and cobbling this drivel together into a YNET article attacking Jews. I hope he doesn't sprain his arm from all his patting himself on the back for being so "clever". For a much more fact filled explanation on shmitta (with no lies), see it here: http://muqata.blogspot.com/2007/05/matters-of-lettuce-life-and-death.html Shana Tova, Jameel@TheMuqata

"why those who will fight to preserve the honor of a corpse are so dismissive of the bodies and honor of the living." It's interesting that there is a disproportionate number of orthodox Jews volunteering in the many different chessed organizations, including Magen Dovid Adom, food for the poor, soup kitchens etc. I recently spent a day sitting with a woman in the oncology department. Many different organizations came in to offer us their services gratis. Most of the people volunteering for those organizations were orthodox.

Israel would be blessed by Hashem even more if they followed the Torah and not the Talmud. Period.

That sounds like such a good idea! So nice that they are enabling people outside of Israel to fulfill Israel-specific mitzvot.

Please visit http://shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com for an interesting perspective.