With all the controversy surrounding the buying of vegetables during shmita (heter mechira – selling the Land to non Jews or buying from Jewish companies that in turn buy from arabs, the same arabs who we've been at war with for many years); I have the perfect solution: "Alim Yerukim L'mahadrin" grown by Gush Katif expellee Yosef Y'mini, and marketed by Yerok L'mahadrin Ltd. (tel. 02-6541477/8).
"Alim Yerukim L'mahadrin," with the kosher certification of Rabanut Yerushalyim (recognized by both hareidim and religious Zionists) grows the entire range of quality insect-free, green leafy vegetables in a specially designed greenhouse south of Ashkelon without the use of arab labor and no labor on Shabbat.
The floor of the greenhouse has a double layer of nylon on top of which the vegetables are grown in pots. This recognized method of shmita growing is called minutak in Hebrew. Additionally, the walls of the greenhouse are composed of one and half meters high of nylon and a special "bio-net" fine mesh netting which prevent the entrance of insects from outside the greenhouse. The greenhouse has double door entrances to further prevent insects from entering. The grower, Yosef Y'mini has some 20 years experience in growing insect free vegetables and employs both an agronomist and full-time mashgiach, both with many years of experience in growing insect-free vegetables.
Why don't all such companies grow vegetables using this minutak method during shmita? The start-up costs are high as the farmer has to purchase well over 100,000 pots, nylon floor coverings and other special equipment. One other reason to buy this product – I'm the mashgiach and I take my job of checking for insect infestation very seriously. When you call the marketer, ask to speak to Aharon or Moshe and tell them Yosef Shomron sent you.
Yosef Shomron – formerly of Neve Dekalim, Gush Katif
22 comments:
Even though it's endorsed by both Chareidi and Religious Zionists, this solution still does not capture the spirit of Shemittah. First of all, if produce would be growing wildly this nylon apparatus takes away access. It seems to me that this solution is Menutak from G-d's intention when He created the shemittah laws. Is all the soil imported from Chul? I imagine it is. Does that make the produce of the Land equivalent to MeChutz Laaretz? Does this produce have Kedushat Shviit? Isn't it a Mitzvah to davka eat the produce of the Land, that has Kedushat Sheviit? One is denying access to the Land to others. Good try but not the real thing.
I forwarded your comment to the writer.
Please remember that we're in the real world, and keeping shmitta shouldn't mean that families starve. That's why people/rabbis work hard to develop such solutions.
If you want to spend the next six years fundraising for financial support for all agricultural families...
I just read an article written in 2003 about Shemittah.http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/2284
Behar: Inyan Shemitah
by Rabbi David Ebner for Aloh Naaleh
Torah commitment is measured not merely in its observance, as meticulous as that may be, but also in the motivation behind that observance. One may choose to observe for many reasons that satisfy one?s own needs, desires, and comforts in life. But this is not kabalat ol malchut shamayim, accepting the yoke of the Heavenly Kingdom. Though it may be glatt kosher, it may also be nothing
The Torah introduces the laws of shemitah, emphasizing that they were revealed to Moshe at Sinai. Rashi quotes the Sifra to the effect that the laws of shemitah serve as a paradigm for all the laws of the Torah. Just as shemitah was completely formulated in all its details at Sinai, so, too, were all the other mitzvot, with all their particulars, given at Sinai.
But why was shemitah singled out for this purpose? Granted that the Torah wanted to make a point, but we are still concerned with the particular selection, the specific mitzvah chosen to serve as the archetype. In the spirit of the Maharal?s dictum, ?Devarim gedolim einam bemikreh? - ?Great things do not happen by accident?, we may reformulate Rashi?s famous question as simply ?mah inyan shemitah? - ?what is special about shemitah??
The experience of Sinai was first and foremost one of the commitment of na?aseh venishma, predicated on the people?s willingness to accept the yoke of the Heavenly Kingdom. According to the Ramban, this is the very meaning of the first of the Ten Commandments ? kablu malchuti - ?accept My kingship.?
In other words, the level of Torah commitment is measured not merely in its observance, as meticulous as that may be, but also in the motivation behind that observance. One may choose to observe for many reasons that satisfy one?s own needs, desires, and comforts in life. But this is not kabalat ol malchut shamayim, accepting the yoke of the Heavenly Kingdom. Though it may be glatt kosher, it may also be nothing more than Reconstructionist Orthodoxy.
In an agricultural society subsisting from year to year on its annual produce, the laws of shemitah are certainly problematic. Far from a vacation from work, they are a test of allegiance to royal decree, to an imperial order of the greatest difficulty. It is this characteristic of shemitah that makes it the paradigmatic representation of all the manifold commandments promulgated at Sinai. It is the question of what the mitzvot really mean to a person.
In this spirit, one might formulate a question: Immigrants to Western countries often saw the abandonment of Shabbat as a condition for basic survival. Yet, there were those who stood firm and fully observed the Shabbat. It is to those few that we owe the renaissance of Orthodoxy in the Diaspora.
Is not the mitzvah of living in Israel, and all its concomitant mitzvot, the contemporary equivalent of our (Western immigrant) forebears? Shabbat? Is it perhaps our modern inyan shemitah as we stand before the eternity of Sinai?
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Rabbi David Ebner writes from Jerusalem.
Aloh Naaleh is an organization dedicated to building Aliya motivation among North American Jewry. Torah Thoughts contributed by Aloh Naaleh members appear in the Orthodox Union's Torah Insights publication. Contact Aloh Naaleh at aloh-naaleh@aaci.org.il.
13 Iyar 5763 / 15 May 03
Dear Robin,
I lived in K'far Darom and learned much from the Torah and Land Institute - They have a web site if you're interested: www.toraland.org.il. Here in Elon Moreh we have a weekly shemittah class from Rav Katz of "Kosharot". Produce grown "metza menutak" does not have kedushat shevi'it. Many crops cannot be grown so that they have kedushat shevi'it because it is forbidden to plant them directly in the ground (that's why the nylon is necessary) or even harvest them during the shemittah year. (There are regions in Israel exempt from the prohibition of "sefihin", produce that grows naturally from seeds in the ground during the shemittah year, and also regions exempt from the prohibitions of shemittah.) During the time of the First Temple all produce could be permissively harvested, but during the time of the Second Temple growers would throw down seeds and then claim that the plants grew by themselves, so the Sages forbade all produce that wasn't planted before the shemittah year. Except for the produce somehow preserved, we've already eaten virtually all of the kedushat shevi'it vegetables, those planted in the ground before the shemittah year. It is a mitzva to eat produce that has kedushat shevi'it and Rav Katz said that when we eat produce with kedushat shevi'it we're eating a bracha, but if you want to eat only produce that has kedushat shevi'it, you'll be limited to fruits from trees until after the vegetables planted after the shemittah year ripen. During the previous six years growers used soil and other imported products. They also sold to us and exported impressive amounts of top quality vegetables, fruits, cuttings and plants. Is the importation of soil really a cause for concern? When a friend's baby tried to eat dirt from a planter she stopped her, but said it didn't really matter because it was the holy dirt of Israel. I commented that the peat was probably from Chul and she retorted that it attained holiness (It wouldn't really have kedushat shevi'it unless it came into contact with the ground) because it had come on aliya. While we should keep imports to a bare minimum, I liked that attitude. Isn't the real thing keeping agriculture in Jewish hands while not compromising on the laws of shemittah, as is done with heter mechirah?
Hadassa DeYoung, K'far Darom/Elon Moreh
Dear Hadassa DeYoung, amv"sh
Thanks so much for your comments!
It's really hard to understand what Hashem expects from us. Did Hashem really not wish us to eat fresh vegetables in the Shemittah year? I was thinking of ideas. Perhaps it wouldn't be a problem to leave a bunch of seeds on a Table and let the wind blow them wherever. Please ask your Shemittah teacher. It's an unnatural way of sowing and the farmer doesn't actually sow. As for the problem of farmers planting and then say it grew on it's own, that could be prevented possibly with surveillance cameras where it could be detected if there was actually sowing taking place. Is throwing seeds into the air in a haphazard way considered sowing? Le's assume that there is no uprooting of old crops and no deliberate careful sowing as in the other 6 years. Does Hashm really want the farmers to invest tons of money into buying plastic sheets and pots and earth, not to mention the work involved. Hashem wants us to eat, it makes sense that there be some way to make that happen for vegetables. It's quite clear that Hashem would want us to preserve what is planted in the 6th year since it says there will be enough for 3 years. But how can we preserve fresh cucumbers? Does Hashem really just want us to eat pickles? I asked Anita Tucker how she observed Shemitta. She said she had wanted to go on Sabbatical but the Badatz convinced her to use the Menutak solution since they didn't want to buy from the Arabs. But if we keep Shemita correctly then Hashem promises that we will not be thrown out.Hashem is true to keep His promises. I somehow feel that as an agricultural society, Gush Katif, had it kept Shemittah according to the spirit of Shabbat as suggested in the Torah, would never have been destroyed. I know that all the farmers kept Shemittah in the halachic ways as they were instructed. I am not being in any way judgemental Chas Vechalila. The people of Gush Katif are the creme de la creme. I also believe that if the entire Jewish Population in Chul and in Israel would have desired and yearned for EY as deeply as the people of Gush Katif, the expulsion would never have happened. It was only because we were lacking as a Nation that the tzadikim of Gush Katif the ones that took the brunt. Now that they are dispersed, their love for EY will be sowed in distant places and one day these sparks will have ignited a flame for Torah and EY.
Yasher Koach! And may Hashem please answers our questions soon!
Robin, so nice that you answered! Surveillance cameras can't change this halacha and we all know how often such cameras are circumvented. I can't imagine that Hashem wants farmers to have to deal with all that plastic either, and I KNOW that they don't. Our situation is not what it should be at all. We may live in Israel but we are still in exile. The shemittah isn't even a Torah mitzva now. It's a rabbinic mitzva because less than half of world Jewry is living in the Land now. In the time of the First Temple, when the Yovel was in effect there were bumper crops that lasted for years, and my grower neighbors always said that the year before the shemittah year the crops were especially large, but due to all of our collective sins we don't merit that today. In fact we didn't during the time of the Second Temple either. People were close to starving then.
Letting seeds blow was what used to happen. And then like I wrote before, during the time of the Second Temple unscrupulous farmers scattered seeds and claimed that the wind blew them. Someday we'll merit keeping the shemittah like our forefathers did in the time of the First Temple. Rav Katz also mentioned that the 70 years of the first exile correspond to 70 shemittah years (over hundreds of years) that were not observed. The best we can do now is save what we can from the sixth year, have all produce possible picked under the auspices of Otzar Beit Din and not rely on heter mechira. Growing menutak is important because people who would ordinarily buy from Arabs will buy menutak and thereby keep agriculture in Jewish hands. Farmers who do take a complete sabbatical generally find it very hard to get back into the market. There are always a few farmers who do take a sabbatical, but if they all did the Arabs would take over all the markets. Barak Melet in Itamar, who grows organic wheat for flour, grew a double crop last year, but it's just not feasible for everyone.
Gush Katif and the Arava are located in regions of Israel that are, according to virtually all opinions, outside of the area in which one is required to keep the shemittah laws. This does NOT mean that these areas are not integral parts of Israel. In the area conquered by Jews returning from Babylon the laws of shemittah are binding, whereas the in the area conquered only by the Jews returning from Egypt the laws of shemittah are not. Have a rabbi/teacher show you a map and explain. There are also other areas in which the laws do not have to kept as strictly as in others. So any preparations for shemittah that the growers did in Gush Katif was automatically adding stringencies. That's also why certain groups are so eager to buy from the Arabs of Gaza - it's like buying from Chul, but much cheaper. As for staying in the Land or not, the Sages also say that the Land will throw all of the rasha'im, and unfortunately that hasn't happened. The Sages words are not so simple.
We should be thankful that fewer and fewer growers are relying on heter mechira. This is my third shemittah in Israel, and every time people have been saying that if we keep the shemittah carefully, as best we can, we'll merit keeping it the way it's supposed to be kept. There are many shemittah books available. Buy a few and you'll learn more about the history of the Land of Israel than you thought possible from a book on shemittah laws. We'll do what we can and hope that Hashem answers our prayers. Be well, Hadassa
Very often in our enthusiasm to be very meticulous on the Halacha -which we should be -we lose focus of the spirit of the law . Focusing on the spirit and keeping the halacha meticulously at the same time is the ideal.
For me the last shmitta in Gush Katif where we kept the halacha meticulously by not doing heter mechira and not growing on the ground but totally detatched from the ground -The main motivation for many of us was the Lo Techonen Halacha -not to abandon the area and give the enemy around us encouragement to try to take over the empty land .
I had a neighbor who grew tomatoes all for export who grew detached -at a huge expense without much profit .Why?
For me this seventh year -was a "Mayein olam habah"(close to seventh heaven".
Seven days we work hard,here and there thinking of the shabbat ahead and save special foods, special clothing, special guests, special thoughts to share with our family and friends on Shabbat -Friday everyone goes crazy cleaning,cooking -there is tension to rush and be ready -!!! Then suddenly ,at a special moment, all is clean, all are dressed special, bright flames are lit flling the house with aspecial warm light. From that sudden moment on, each of us has his personal moment when he can truly feel that Mayein olam Habah -that moment that is like seveth heaven -that makes us wish at that moment -"if only every day and every moment in our lives would feel pure and good like this moment ."
For me the special thing about the seventh year was the strong connection with the land . All six years of hard work we stored up in us special feelings about the land -the bracha that came to the cursed land,the love the Gush Katif children had to land , the blessing of more produce from the land when we gave more vegtables to chesed org. for the needy, the faith in God you learn from planting and praying for a good crop etc. etc etc.
When the seventh year came and we had the opportunity to let the land rest --yet allow the greenhouse to flourish and give the best vegtables ever -when almost all was automated that had to do with benefitting the plant, watering,fertilizing ,spraying ,
cooling and more ,was all computerized and all that had to be done by non -jew workers was picking and where necessary replanting (seedlings that were grown detatched under hasgacha as well . Walking into my greenhouses that seventh year I often felt that the feeling of the Sabbath -Mayein Olam Habah (a feeling of seventh heaven -wow this is the greatest -if only this moment would continue forever) was inhaling deeply and smelling that intoxicating odor of fresh vegetables --almost growing on their own,almost artificially, while the ground rested and we ourselves came closer to this too(doing most of preparation work in sixth year) . This is trully the promise of the prophets for the great times ahead ---just like it was in the garden of eden ("renew our days similar to Eden" "Chadesh Yameinu Kekedem" . We will then choose to do good and right without hesitation and the ground will be blessed again and give it's produce continually without hardly any effort on our part . We will again enjoy the blessing of God on the land fully .Every day wll be shabbat !!!,every year will be the the seventh year!!!!-we will without labour of the ground have plentifull bounty.
So when you come to Israel this year and visit a greenhouse where shmitta is being kept meticulously halachicly yet it has plentiful bounty ---breathe deeply,catch that moment of May-ein Olam Habah (seventh heaven) and pray that all seven years will be like that moment,that the moment of shabbat.
I think that is what keeping shmittah is really about -connecting to the land ,loving it,appreciating it , and "all who now trully enjoy it (that moment of almost seventh heaven ) will be privaleged to feel great joy (in the future)"He will thus learn to recognize appreciate ,love and replicate God's goodness ,kindness and bounty in everything --everywhere.Then everyday and moment will be shabbat and every year will be the seventh-.
Stuart, is that my former neighbor? I wasn't a grower and experiencing the shemittah year without Gush Katif brings tears to my eyes. For two years I've prepared myself for this and it's as horrible as I thought it would be. I miss those greenhouses!! I miss my neighbors bringing me the freshest produce in the world, fresh from harvest!! G-d willing we'll all return and the crops will be even bigger!
Hadassa DeYoung
I think this solution is wonderful, I think it does express both the *word* and the *spirit* of Shemittah. the purpose of Shemittah is not for people to starve or for farmers to be unemployed (while everyone else just continues at their usual job...) or buying produce grown on our land by non-Jews (i.e. - allowing our enemies to descrate our holy land during Shemitta, and then paying them for it!!!) those things(starvation and unemployment of Jews, desecration of our land by our enemies) would be observing the letter of the law while missing the spirit.
the *land* will rest - and that is what happens here. of course, the greenhouses were built not just for the Shemittah but for providing insect-free vegetables during the other years too.
the ability to have vegetables while fully observing Shemittah (carefully not growing the vegetables in the ground, but hydroponically or in special pots that are menutak) without enriching our enemies, and also observing the other mitzvot involved (free from insects) - this is really the best of everything. it is no wonder that it is endorsed by both the Chareidi and Religious Zionists. I will certainly look for this brand when I shop for vegetables.
Leah S., Maaleh Adumim
I'm so happy that Yossi agreed to post his article on my blog. This discussion is wonderful!
Anita Tucker formerly of Gush Katif would like Robin et al to know that she unintentionally posted under her husband's blogger name "Stuart" on this blog.
bs"d
Thank you Anita for your inside, insights. They were precious and a perspective I have never yet heard from an insider. The fact that the spirit was there in the greenhouse in the shemittah year is important to know. You did most of the preparation before Shabbat and most of the work was automated. Can you enlighten me to one other question. Was bug free lettuce in fact developed as a result of keeping Shemittah by hydroponics or menutak?
Thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Personally it seems to me that on the Shemittah year the entire country should have the spirit of a kibbutz. How can we loan out money and release it? Won't we go broke? What's the point then of working? Shabbat is the spirit of sharing. I think that it would be in the spirit of Shemittah if the produce of the year would be shared by all. That seems to be consistant with making loans and releasing and Patoach Tiftach, opening up our hands to anyone that is needy so that there are no poor people. If the fruit in the field is hefker and open to all, then the produce of the greenhouse should also have the special spirit of being produced diffently for the Shabbat year. Again if this is so, the extra cost for the greenhouse preparation should be shared by all as well. I think by the end of the Shemittah year people will appreciate the laws of ownership and will try to pay back the loans but be grateful for not being required to do so. Given this special break people have of releasing loans. people might try to take a risk with a creative idea knowing that if it fails, they will not have to pay back. However, if they realize that there is special holiness in the money of the investor, they will try their hardest to make it work so that the investor makes a profit as well. What Shemittah means to me, is a generosity of spirit. Thank you Batya for giving me an opportunity to air some ideas, theoretical, to the experts.
Shabbat Shalom!
During shmitta, it's very common to see signs by fruit trees, saying that the fruit is "hefker." Anyone can take small quantities for private and immediate use.
Robin, the methods for growing bug-free vegetable were pioneered by the Torah and Land Institute of K'far Darom and do not involve hydroponics, rather barriers of fine mesh to keep insects out of the greenhouses and frequent inspections during the entire process from pre-planting to harvest to verify that no insects have infiltrated. The Institute has done research, including experimental greenhouses, with hydroponics. I wasn't involved with it and I don't know what the results were. Years ago I worked for Alei Katif in the inspection department so that's what my connection, by no means expert, to all this is. In Israel, growing "menutak" on a large scale was a process developed specifically for the shemittah year, but there are other uses for it. One of the growers would be able to tell you a lot more than I can.
Seven years ago and before this year, there was a fund organized for farmers who wanted to take a year off from agriculture and learn. The name is "Shomerei Shevi'it" or something like that. And then I had one dedicated neighbor who saved one-sixth of his income every month for six years and then learned Torah during the following shemittah year. I found that quite impressive.
And Batya, you're absolutely right. This is a great discussion. The Sages say that the air of Israel makes us wise, but look at how much the Land teaches us.
Hadassa DeYoung
Robin - not to eat most insects is directly from the Torah and an entirely separate issue from that of shmita.
To Anonymous, amv"sh
Yes I realize that. Somehow I was under the impression that growing vegetables by hydroponics was initiated in search of a solution to grow vegetables in the Shemittah year. I thought that perhaps such an environment that was menutak was also more sterile and therefore it was easier to create a bug free environment. But from your responses it seems that the two Mitzvoth of eating bug free produce and the mitzva of Shemittah have in turn generated distinct innovations which include growing by hydroponics and another innovation of creating a bug free environment with mesh.
Another shemittah related topic. Today I spoke to my dear friend living in Evan Sapir. She is a farmer. I asked her about eating vegetables in the Shemittah year. She told me that they have lots of vegetables in the winter. Apparently there is some vegetable that is prickly that grows abundantly in the Judean hills whose stem is edible and is similar to spinach. The name sounded even Arabic. My friend said there are other such vegetables. She didn't even know if they sell it in the shuk since you can just pick it in the hills. I was so excited to hear her talk about it. Finally a no cost, Shemittah option that has Kedushat Sheviis.
I hope that this product, "Alim Yerukim L'mahadrin" will satisfy consumers who are worried about fulfilling the dictates of Torah during the shmita year but do not want to buy from Arabs.
The product mentioned above with Yosef Y'mini's name on the back of the package as the grower solves the above dilemma. I suggest calling the marketer, Yerok L'mahadrin Ltd. tel.02-6541477/8) to find a retailer green grocer near you.
Robin, Shavua Tov and Hodesh Tov!
You have to be careful picking produce that grows during the shemittah year. If these spinach-like greens growing in the hills of Judea are not perennials then it is may be forbidden to pick them because of the prohibition of "sefihin". Before you pick anything during the shemittah year you should at least look at a table outlining when the crops have kedushat shevi'it, which is not necessarily from Rosh HaShanah as in the case of, among others, fruit from trees whose kedusha is determined largely by when they bud, and also a table of when and where crops are sefihin. Picking fruit from trees before they have kedushat shevi'it is gezel, if not outright theft. You should also verify that the trees are not orla. Care must be taken so that no damage is caused during the harvest also. (A neighbor of ours requested that anyone wanting to pick any of his crops should arrange a time so that no problems arise.) Classification of sefihin is determined by many factors and a halacha authority should be consulted before harvesting greens or anything else growing wild.
Rav Katz mentioned in one of his classes that Shabbat is a day of being careful and that the shemittah is a year of being careful.
Kedusha doesn't come easy... but the rewards are well worth the effort.
Hadassa DeYoung
bs"d
I agree that one has to be careful to give the produce that has Kedushat Sheviit with the proper respect. Let's remember that all of the laws of Shemittah is for LeAchla, to eat it. Sometime when people get things for nothing they are Mevayez it, meaning they treat it disrespectfully and don't appreciate it's true value. That is why focusing on treating Shemittah produce with the proper holiness is of utmost importance. This means that the main purpose is not first and foremost to be careful but rather to actually eat the food and then to be careful to recognize it's sanctity and treat it accordingly even if it's for free. (The initial focus is not shemittah garbage bins and saving the peels and being careful not to discard it in a disrespectful manner but rather to get as many people out there to eat the produce with Kedushat Sheviit). Therefore, we need to be careful not to make the laws of Shemittah so complicated so that people would be afraid to touch it with a ten foot pole. If vegetables grow abundantly on the hills why would anyone see the need to plant it on their own? I don't understand why sefichin comes into play here.
Robin, Shalom!
Have you studied the laws of sefihin to know what is and what is not considered sefihin? What we consider to be growing wild may not be classified in halacha as being wild. I looked up a few things and was surprised to see what is and is not permitted during the shemittah year. Some crops growing wild don't even ever have kedushat shevi'it. I hope that your wild spinach is indeed wild and that you are able to enjoy your harvest - it'll even be organic!.
Hadassa
1.Getting away from bugs and being bugged, am including a request that I saw inthe Efrat-chat that I thought brought out another problem of shmitta that has not yet been dealt with.
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"Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2007 10:07 PM
Subject: [efrat] A Shmittah problem.
A good friend whose profession is gardening, is having a tough time
>financially because of Shmittah.
> He is well practiced in the handyman and building arts and is looking to
> do small jobs.
> Please contact me by e-mail or phone if you need work done or
> have any leads.
> Thanks"
What is the moral financial obligation of those who hire the gardner's services during off years -when shmitta- year comes around. Obviously zero -according to above request.
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2.I have recently read about experiments being performed in greenhouses where the roots of rows of tomato plants sit in long white plastic bag attached to plastic brushes that open and close automatically-computerized according to preset needs. The roots of the plants sit in this plastic . They receive nourishment via a minimal spray of water and liquid fertilizer solotion automatically according to need that is reported to computer by sensor that reflects Ph ,humidity etc. in root area.
Every so often the roots of the full grown tomato plants that have reached the top of greenhouse are cut and then the plant rejuvinates. Of course the plant sits neither in soil ,land nor water -it is just hanging with the plastic only serves to cover roots from light. Though there will have to be clearer Halachic decisions made as to which actions not permitted in shmitta are applicable to a plant that is growing without any turf whatsoever.
Though as of now cutting the roots is extra work -The idea is to develop a system that would allow the same tomato plant in the greenhouse to be used for multiple years -saving work and expense replanting young seedlings, as well providing 100% continuous production of vegetables .
So there you are we are getting closer Shviit-shmitta every year. If this idea and others are developed -We will then have produce grown without turf all year every year with barely any work.
If planting these greenhouses is properly administered they could eventually be produced at a reasonble price so all who choose could afford to spend more time with Torah and good deeds.
We will surely feel grateful to Hashem for his amazing bounty as when we ourselves have made make a great effort to practically keep the spirit of Mitzvot ,as Hashem genrally blesses our efforts when made sincerely .
There will be plenty of land now available for all to come on Aliya, and build homes.
That will be a proper shmitta year -and shviit every year --and perhaps we are on our way towards this ,who knows.
This human effort to make every day shabbat ,every year shviit -shmitta , may perhaps be the effort needed to bring the better days towards which we all pray and look forward.
Anita, amv"sh
I really believe that the keeping the year of Shemittah is Naaseh Venishma. Look at all the fabulous ideas and innovations are coming through from just trying to keep the Mitzvah even when we don't know exactly where we are heading. See the unbelievable blessings that Hashem has in store for us. Thank you so much for your post. As far as the handyman wages, just keep the Mitzva to try to supply him with all his needs. Those that want to take advantage of the situation of not repaying loans will be found out. Only those that really wish to keep the entire Mitzva will be looked to for partnership arrangements.
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