Questions tagged [shmita]
the sabbatical year; every seventh year when the land in Israel lies fallow
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Spiritual significance of Shemittah in our days
In describing the deeper reason behind Shemittah, the Kli Yakar (Vayikra 25:2), sv. וכדי ליישב כמה דקדוקים בלשון הפר'
says that the goal of Shemittah is to instill into the jewish people faith in ...
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What is the emunah challenge in shemitah if there is a 6th year blessing?
The Torah says that in the 6th year of the shemitah cycle there will be a special blessing, an abundance of crop that is sufficient for the 3 upcoming years, so that there will be no shortage of food ...
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Martzeia in the eye?
The Torah describes how a slave who doesn't want to leave his master (by Shmitah) has to get pierced through his ear:
Exodus 21:6
וְהִגִּישׁ֤וֹ אֲדֹנָיו֙ אֶל־הָ֣אֱלֹהִ֔ים וְהִגִּישׁוֹ֙ אֶל־הַדֶּ֔לֶת ...
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Are women obligated in the positive commandment of remission on Shemitta?
According to Halacha, Jews are supposed to remit the debts of other Jews every 7 years during the Shemitta year, which has a positive commandment and a negative commandment (aseh sheba and lav sheba). ...
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I am trying to find the gregorian dates that are equivalent to Elul 29. but only those that close the 7-year Shemitah cycle since 2008 [closed]
I only need those that close the 7-year shmita cycle since 2008. This question is to do more research on the possibility that the messiah has been identified and prophesies in Isaiah are being ...
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Keeping Shemittah "When you enter the land"?
The mitzvah of Shemittah is introduced in the following way in Parshas Behar (Vayikra 25:1-4):
וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר ה' אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בְּהַ֥ר סִינַ֖י לֵאמֹֽר׃ דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ ...
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What are we supposed to do during the shemita year?
What are farmers (in Israel) supposed to do with all their free time during the shemita year? Are we, today, supposed to do anything special during the shemita year (in addition to actions related to ...
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How did they sacrifice fresh grain for Sukkos, during sabattical and Yoval years? [duplicate]
I seem to remember a commandment, specific to Succos, of a sacrifice of fresh grain. While reading this week (Behar) about the sabbatical (shmita) years, a congregant posed the question of what they ...
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How does the prohibition against non-fruit produce from shemittah year (איסור ספיחין) accomplish its goal?
According to the majority opinion in the gemora, the איסור ספיחין
is a Rabbinic prohibition to not eat shmitta produce, so that one does not secretly grow these things during shmitta(in violation of ...
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Houseplants during shmita
Plants that are in pots, sitting on paved ground outside,
Can one pull weeds from the pots?
Trim dead branches?
Are there different answers if the plants are hanging? Or under an awning? Or indoors?
...
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What is the Kashrut status of Sefichim harvested during Shmita?
There are a good number of articles online which explain the boundaries around produce grown and harvested during the Shmita year against halachic parameters, but not what happens if one cooks with it ...
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Does a car constitute land ownership for pruzbul?
What are the rules regarding land ownership for a pruzbul? Yad Avraham in Uktzin 3:10 quotes a gemara in Bava Basra stating that for a pruzbul to be effective the debtor (one who owes money) must be ...
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Does a Gemach that lends money need a Prozbul?
Does a Gemach that lends money need a Prozbul?
Individuals protect their loans from loss in the seventh year through Prozbul. Does a Gemach run by a committee of three need the same protection?
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Link between the Land of Israel giving fruit when Jews living there and biblical Shmita?
Shemita (the prohibition to work the land every seventh year) is today observed in Israel as a rabbinic commandment. It will become again observed biblically when the majority of Jews will live in ...
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Does the mitzvah to eat shmita produce apply to heter mechira?
i saw an article a few years back, I believe written based on a shiur by Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, promoting heter mechira.
Towards the end of the article, he was advocating why heter mechira was ...
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Does the shemita year cancel a loan of a sefer?
Every seventh year, in the shemita year, all loans are cancelled.
If I lent my friend a Sefer, does that get cancelled by the shemitta year?
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If shemittah passed, is it still honorable to repay a debt?
If Reuven owes Shimon $10, and shemittah passed, and Reuven remembered he never paid Shimon, yet he still wants to, should he? Is it honorable?
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Is Shemittah a mitzvah bein odom laMokom or bein odom lechaveiro?
The Ksav Sofer says about the owner making his produce ownerless in the 7th year,
ואם אז יפקיר הכל שיהי׳ העני שוה לו ליטול כל מה שירצה אין לו ואהבה לרעך
יותר מזה
If a person makes his ...
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How can Biur Sheviit precede Biur Maaser?
The Mishna (Maaser Sheni 3:2) rules that one should not buy Terumah with Maaser Sheni money since one thereby further limits who can eat the Maaser Sheni which could lead to it being wasted. The ...
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Why was Shmitta specifically chosen to teach that the intricacies of all mitzvot were given at Har Sinai?
(related to "Ma Inyan Shmitta Eitzel Har Sinai" but not the same)
Parshas B'Har starts off saying Hashem spoke to Moshe on Har Sinai and instructed Moshe about the mitzvah of Shmitta.
Rashi ...
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Is Shmitat Ksafim practiced after a Yovel?
Many link between the Yovel and Shmitat Ksafim, like in Shu"A H"M 67:
"דין שמיטה ופרוזבול ובו ל"ח סעיפים:
אין שמיטת כספים נוהגת מן התורה אלא בזמן שהיובל נוהג"
Is Shmitat Kasafim actually ...
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The underlying reason for Shemitat Ksafim?
I've researched the topic for a while and I could not find a single interpreter discussing the reason (טעם המצווה) for canceling loans after the Shemitah Year.
I know it is a Machloket (see my ...
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What happens to the debts after Shmitat Ksafim?
The question is rather simple - What happens to a loan after Shmitat Ksafim (I refer only to those entitled for Shmitah):
Is the debt fully annulled and the Shtar/agreement invalidated in this world'...
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Bikkurim during Shemita
During shemita, every 7th year of the agricultural cycle, the land of Israel is to be left completely fallow. One is forbidden from working the land which includes: plowing, planting, pruning and ...
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Why is Hakhel done specifically after the shemittah year is completed?
Devarim 31:10-12 mentions that at the end of shemittah (Sabbatical) year all of Israel should gather during the holiday of Succot to hear the Torah read.
I gather that the reason Succot is chosen is ...
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Does one need to worry about shmitah on Arab produce in Israel?
I often go to the Arab Market in Jerusalem's Old City to buy nuts and fruit because the quality is good and it's the cheapest I've found. I haven't seen a halakhic issue with their roasted nuts since ...
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Is the Samaritan Sabbath Year Concurrent with the Shmita?
Samaritan literature claim they observe a Sabbatical Year, and presumably a cycle of sevens in their calendar. However it is difficult to find actual years that this was practiced. The only concrete ...
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Can a non-Jewish slave convert and exit slavery this way?
Once entered into slavery, they have a semi-conversion whereupon they must keep a certain set of limited rules. Can they choose to fully convert and then be freed at the appropriate time of Shmita and ...
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Do convert slaves and Jewish slaves get released at the same time?
If a slave had converted prior to being acquired, do they also get released on Shmita and the Jubilee year?
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Shmittah in Space
Inspired by this question.
There are certain halachos, such as Shmittah, which only apply in Eretz Yisrael. My question is: is it a din in the land of Eretz Yisrael or the airspace of Eretz Yisrael? A ...
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Questions regarding counting for Shemitta and Yovel
Leviticus 25:8 (Sefaria English translation):
וְסָפַרְתָּ֣ לְךָ֗ שֶׁ֚בַע שַׁבְּתֹ֣ת שָׁנִ֔ים שֶׁ֥בַע שָׁנִ֖ים
שֶׁ֣בַע פְּעָמִ֑ים וְהָי֣וּ לְךָ֗ יְמֵי֙ שֶׁ֚בַע שַׁבְּתֹ֣ת
הַשָּׁנִ֔ים תֵּ֥שַׁע ...
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Hydroponics – Allowed on Seventh Year?
Would hydroponics be allowed in Israel on the seventh year, when there are additional restrictions on farming the land?
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Can a partially moldy shmittah etrog be disposed?
In a recent pamphlet from Sh'or Yashuv Yeshiva (5 Towns), I read that a shemittah etrog must either be eaten or left to rot until it is inedible.
Usually, when people see mold on food, they throw the ...
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Israeli esrogim after shemittah [duplicate]
Regarding esrogim the year after shemittah, when you prepare them to be made into jam, is it muttar to throw away the seeds?
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May the Shmittah Etrog be used to make lemon-scented deodorant or furniture polish?
My son brought me a pamphlet produced by Yeshiva Sh'or Yoshuv (Far Rockaway, NY) that discussed the laws of the 4 minim. (If I can locate an online copy, I'll edit in a link.)
Near the end of the ...
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Vilna Gaon, Gog and Magog war and Hoshana Rabba
1) I read on Soul Mazal, the following:
"...The Vilna Gaon on the Mechilta (Shmos 14:20) says that the Gog U'Magog war shall begin three hours before "Hanetz Hachama" (crack of dawn) on Hoshana ...
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What to do with a sh'vi'it etrog
Last year (5775) was a shemitah year, as such, etrogim produced in Israel end up becoming sh'vi'it (produce of the seventh year). One of the boxes I saw mentioned that the etrog should be disposed of ...
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Commisioning a pruzbul in Monsey area
What are the procedures for commissioning a pruzbul, e.g. in the greater Monsey, NY area? Are there local batei din or shul rabbis who do this? Can it be done online?
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"Planting" astroturf during shmita
I previously asked about Planting grass during shmita, and discovered that it is forbidden. But what about astroturf (synthetic grass)? Would there be any problem with installing that during the ...
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Large scale hydroponics and Shmita
The gemara in Nedarim 59 (among many other places) discusses the concept of shmita produce and plants grown from them retaining their status when the original "seed" isn't destroyed when planted. In ...
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Questioning the Rambam's Reasoning on Yovel / Shmita
In the answer to the question Why is Shmita only Rabbinic Nowdays? it quotes the Rambam as requiring that each tribe be settled on their tribal plot:
משגלה שבט ראובן ושבט גד וחצי שבט מנשה, בטלו ...
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Is it necessary for the 12 tribes to be settled in Israel in order to keep shmita? [duplicate]
Some commentators say that it is necessary for 12 tribes to be settled in Israel in order to keep shmita (rambam) but the fact is that two of the tribes had given up their shares in Israel to live on ...
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Kadosh-status of fruit grown during shmita but picked afterwards?
If a fruit that has grown on a tree during the shmita year and is only picked in the 8th year (not a shmita year) does it have a kadosh (holy) status since it grew and was ready to be eaten during ...
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Shinui and Shemittah: Is there such a thing?
I don't remember the exact words used in the pesukim to describe shemittah, but I do remember that it uses a very similar lashon to shemirat Shabbat. As in, it is forbidden to work the land because of ...
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Eating specifically fruit of shmitta
Is there an inyun to specifically eat fruits that have kedushas shvi'is? How much must a person go out of their way to buy such fruits? Let's say they cost more, how much more must they spend? Is this ...
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Using an Esrog that has on it Kedushas Shvi'is
There will be a question this coming Sukkos (as there was somewhat last sukkos as well -- according to some opinions) because the esrogim will have kedushas shvi'is (the ones grown in Israel) If there ...
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Making a bracha on the fruit with kedushas shvi'is before another fruit
In halacha we find that various foods come first in the order of the brachos we make on them. So to for fruit (for example if one is the fruit is from the 7 minim or not.) What about if I would have a ...
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Making Vitamins from Fruit of Shvi'is (Shmitta -- the 7th year)
There are certain things a person can and can't do with the fruit of shmitta and in what way they are allowed to eat it.
Could a person (or perhaps a company with the ability to produce such products)...
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What is to be done with food illegally harvested in shmita year?
If some food was harvested and sold and this was done on shmita year, and this harvest is later found or left in ones possetion,without having purchased it, is it permissible or desirable to be eaten ...
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The Chofeitz Chayim on World War Three
I read the following:
בְּשֵׁם הֶ'חָפֵץ חַיִּים' כָּךְ בִּשְׁנַת תשע"ה 75 שָׁנָה אַחֲרֵי פְּרוֹץ הַשְּׁנִיָּה צְפוּיָה לִפְרֹץ הַמִּלְחָמָה הַשְּׁלִישִׁית
שָׁמַעְתִּי מֵהגה"צ ר' צְבִי מֵאִיר ...
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