Learn The Laws Of Shemita Through A Game And Support Shop@Katif At The Same Time

From an email:

Learning the laws of Shemita through a game and supporting shop@katif at the same time

Learning the laws of Shemita through game.

Through many efforts, we have recently published a card game – "Go fish!" for Shemita based on Rabbi Yossef Zvi Rimon's Book.

The cards are comprised of real life pictures that convey the Ha'lachot of Shemita in the field, the garden and the house.

Short comprehensive explanations combined with exciting game-play, bring to an enjoyable learning experience intertwined with a deeper connection to the Ha'lacha of the lesser known world of Shemita.

רבעיות שמיטה

לימוד הלכות שמיטה דרך משחק.
בשעה טובה, יצאו לאור קלפים – רבעיות שמיטה על פי ספרו של הרב יוסף צבי רימון.
הקלפים מורכבים מתמונות טבעיות – אמיתיות. הממחישות את הלכות השמיטה בשדה, בגינה ובבית.
הסברים קצרים אך ממצים, ומשחק מהנה יוצרים יחד הנאה ולימוד, וחיבור לשמיטה ולהלכותיה.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Shmittah.

Shmittah Gets Bad Press

A response to the negative coverage that Shmittah is getting in the media

MUCH ADO ABOUT SHMITTAH

Rabbi Avi Shafran

Those “Ultra-Orthodox” in Israel are at it again, inventing new stringencies, coercing other Jews, trying to make a dishonest buck and generally making life unlivable for everybody else.

At least that is what seems to emerge from recent reportage about the “Agricultural Sabbatical Year,” or Shmittah, ushered in on Rosh Hashana.

The New York Times contended that an Israeli Chief Rabbi, because he respected a revered elder rabbinical leader’s judgment, is “considered” – by whom was not clarified – “a puppet” of the senior rabbi.

A New York Sun columnist insinuated that a religious legal decision was born of a desire to make money on the backs of the poor. “There are, after all, no farmers in the ultra-Orthodox community,” wrote Hillel Halkin, wrongly, “and plenty of rabbis and kashrut supervisors who will find jobs making sure that Jewish-grown fruits and vegetables are not, G-d forbid, being smuggled into the diet of unsuspecting Israelis.”

And a New York Jewish Week editorial both got its facts wrong (contending that the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, by setting a kashrut certification standard, had “disallowed” food of lower standards) and saw fit to invoke an unsubstantiated accusation of moral turpitude against one rabbi and the arrest of another’s family member as indictments of the rabbis’ religious legal opinions.

Some Israeli publications were shriller still. The Jerusalem Report characterized the granting of permission to local rabbis to set their communities’ kashrut standards thus: “Confrontation looms as the increasingly powerful ultra-Orthodox camp flexes its muscles and attempts to impose strict observance of the Shmittah commandment on all Israelis.”

Irresponsible media coverage of haredim is nothing new. But were such misinformation and provocation used against Jews rather than against some Jews, it would be roundly condemned as something worse than journalism-as-usual.

The facts:

The Torah enjoins Jews privileged to live in the Holy Land to not till or plant in Jewish-owned soil during each seventh year, known as Shmittah. What grows of its own is to be treated as ownerless and may not be sold. Shmittah-observance bespeaks our recognition that the land is the L-rd’s, and its merit allows Jews to, in the words of Leviticus [25:19], “abide in the land, in safety.” For Jews who believe that Israel perseveres only through miracles, Shmittah is no minor mitzvah.

When substantial numbers of Jews began to return to the Holy Land in the 19th century, some farmers among them endeavored to observe Shmittah; most, though, living in deep poverty, did not. As a result, in 1896, religious leaders, including haredi rabbis, approved a fall-back plan whereby land owned by Jews was technically transferred to the possession of an Arab for the duration of the Shmittah year. That way, Jewish farmers would be acting as sharecroppers rather than as tillers of their own Shmittah-qualifying soil.

During subsequent Shmittah years, many farmers continued to rely on that “sale loophole” or “heter mechira.” And when the state of Israel was created, the official state Rabbinate endorsed it as well.

A few farmers, though, opted to observe Shmittah in its original way, allowing their fields to lie fallow and relying on other income or charity (ultimately, on G-d), to make it through the months when they could not farm and sell produce. As a result, in the 1950s and 1960s, about 250 acres of land “rested” as per the Biblical injunction.

Later Shmittah years saw increasing number of farmers follow suit. Seven years ago, the number of acres left untilled had risen more than 200-fold from the 60s, to 55,000. This year, 3000-3500 farmers will be observing Shmittah, and 100,000 acres are expected to be left fallow in accordance with the Torah’s direction. Every major Orthodox kashrut-certification agency in North America approves only Israeli produce hewing to the highest Shmittah standard.

The reasons for the growth of Shmittah-observance are several, among them a general trend toward greater observance, recognition of the ad-hoc nature of the heter mechira, and the experience of farmers who not only did not suffer for their Shmittah observance but experienced unusual blessings.

So what’s with all the negative press? Good question.

This year, Israel’s Chief Rabbinate declared that while it still did not oppose reliance on the heter mechira, it was, for the first time, permitting municipal rabbis in Israel’s towns and cities, when issuing kashrut certifications, to decide for their localities whether to rely on that fall-back standard or opt for the original one.

From the reaction, one might think that the Chief Rabbis had declared an extra year of Shmitta rather than simply taken a pluralistic stance on religious standards. Israel’s agriculture minister, Shalom Simhon, thundered a threat to forbid imports from Arab-owned land (which meet the higher Shmittah standard). Media like the Jewish Week misleadingly described the new policy as some sort of prohibition. Even in cities where the municipal rabbi has not granted kosher certification for heter mechira produce, nothing prevents a vendor from selling such produce (sans a Rabbinate kashrut-sticker) – which will surely be less expensive than the rabbinically-sanctioned fruits and vegetables.

But, as the New York Times article admitted, about Jerusalem haredim: “The community is already among the poorest in Jerusalem, but the rulings of their rabbis matter far more to them than money.”

And speaking of money, Jews outside Israel are putting theirs where their beliefs are.

A 35-year-old organization, Keren Hashvi’is, raises millions of dollars each Shmittah year to help support Shmittah-observant farmers. Most donations are relatively small, from people of limited means – testifying to the broad and deep connection tens of thousands of Jews worldwide feel to their Israeli brethren farming holy soil. (In the United States, Keren Hashvi’is operates from Agudath Israel of America’s Manhattan offices.)

But jaundiced eyes see only haredi Jews poisoning Jewish wells. It is a truly strange panorama: Observers usually enamored of ecological and liberal ideals have somehow been transformed into fierce opponents of leaving nature alone, of providing Arabs with extra income and of permitting individual rabbis to rule in accordance with their consciences.

And in the background, religiously dedicated farmers are doing what they believe will merit security and peace for the Holy Land, with help from Jews across Israel and around the world.

Keren Hashvi’is, which accepts donations by credit card, can be reached at 1-888-9-SHMITTAH.

© 2007 AM ECHAD RESOURCES
[Rabbi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America.]

Technorati Tag: Shmittah.

Shmita--As Only The New York Times Can Report It

No surprises here from Mr. Erlanger:

As Farmers and Fields Rest, a Land Grows Restless
By STEVEN ERLANGER

JERUSALEM, Oct. 7 — As Israel’s Jews start a new year, the country finds itself in the middle of a fierce religious dispute about the sanctity of fruits and vegetables.

In the southern Israeli town of Kiryat Malahi, a man held a scroll of the Torah, which mandates shmita, a kind of sabbatical for the land which occurs every seven years.

Rabbis are pitted against one another, the state and the religious authorities are in conflict, the Israeli Supreme Court is involved, the devout are confused and the cost of produce is rising.

And a country in love with flowers and proud of “making the desert bloom,” in its own disputatious way, is letting much of its land go to seed.

Odd that Erlanger did not develop this angle:

But for many especially observant Jews, this is a dodge too far. They insist their produce must be grown by non-Jews on non-Jewish land.

No developing the story of how Palestinian Arabs are cooperating by selling their produce to Israel. No sense to reporting on that.

Technorati Tag: Shmita.

Now That Shmitta Has Arrived...

Jameel deals with his first "Shmitta Crisis"--and relates a Public Service Announcement about why vegetables will have to be washed very carefully.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Shmitta.

For Palestinian Arabs, Shmitta Is A Very Good Year

AFP reports on the windfall profits for Palestinian farmers since this is a Shmitta year--amounting expected trade volume of up to 400 million shekels ($100 million). While the article discusses those who will buy food from the Palestinian farmers and those who will rely on the Heter Mechirah, there is one issue that is not discussed till the very end of the article, and only briefly:

National Religious rabbis, who represent Israel's political right-wing, blast trade with Palestinian farmers as undermining the Jewish state.

"As a religious Zionist I do not want my state to strengthen those who are not exactly my friends because of the biblical law," Rabbi Daniel Sperber said at a Jerusalem conference on Shmita last month.

But [head of inspection of Palestinian produce in the West Bank, Rabbi Meir] Bergman says that trading with the Palestinians in fact strengthens Israel's security.

"The deeper the economic distress is, the higher the flames rise," he says. "And that is why we help - our buying from Palestinian farmers helps improve the security situation."

Maybe--but only one out of every 7 years.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Shmitta.

WILL THE INTIFADA TAKE A SABBATICAL? IDF To Import Gaza Produce On 'Shmita'

The IDF intends to import produce from the Gaza Strip on a trial basis ahead of the upcoming shmita (sabbatical) year, when Jewish farmers are forbidden by Halacha to harvest the land.

Since Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip in June and the closure of the Karni crossing, the IDF has refrained from importing Palestinian goods into Israel. In past shmita years, Israel relied heavily on produce grown in Palestinian territory.

Apparently Israel will talk directly with the Palestinian farmers and merchants themselves and with Fatah in Ramallah who are in charge of the Gaza crossings--and with Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank, near Jericho.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Shmittah.

RECORDINGS OF YU YOM IYUN ON SHMITTAH: This past Monday, YU had aOur Yom Iyun on Shmittah. Here are the links for the audio for all 3 Shiurim--each page also provides the marei m'komot.

Rav Yosef-Zvi Rimon
"Shmita Bizman Hazeh: A Practical Overview"
*The link to find out more information about JobKatif, Rabbi Rimon's special project, can be found at www.jobkatif.org.il.

Rav Michael Rosensweig
"Halachic Minimalism or Maximalism? A Conceptual Look at the Heter Mechira"

Rav Hershel Schacter
"The Diaspora Jew and Shmita: Halacha L'maaseh"

RA Dinner with President Richard Joel and Rabbi Kenneth Brander
"Building the Jewish Future Together"

Technorati Tag: Israel and Shmittah and Rav Yosef-Zvi Rimon and Rav Michael Rosensweig and Rav Hershel Schacter.

RELATING TO SHMITTAH: Israel Perspectives writes about how to relate to Shmittah--especially since it will revert from a Rabbinic to a Torah Mitzvah within the next 25 years.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Shmittah.

SMITTEN WITH SHMITTAH: Israel Perspectives reminds us that 5768 is going to be a Shmittah Year. He is helping to organize a weekly, English language, Shmittah shiur in his community that is scheduled to run from now until the start of the Shmittah year. He will be posting each installment of the shiur, along with the accompanying source sheets.

Find out more in his post and click on the link there to listen to the first shiur.

Technorati Tag: Shmittah and Israel.